James hustled down the hallway, and came around the corner to the gigantic dining room where the smell of fried chicken permeated the air. Aunt Mary was sitting at the table with her back toward him. Her bare feet were folded under her chair, idly rubbing against each other. James felt a tingle come across him as he momentarily gazed at his aunt’s giant soles. He shook himself to his senses when he  suddenly remembered what he had just done in her shoe. He swallowed hard and kept approaching the enormous chairs and table.

On the right was Peyton, Mary’s normal sized child. She was sitting in the next chair over with her legs and bare feet stretched out. James watched intently as she absentmindedly flexed and curled her toes. Peyton was always nice to James, but she could also be quite aggressive and playful with her teasing at times. And due to her competitive nature, James had caught her cheating numerous times at various games over the years. He would never forget the time when he accused her of cheating and she tackled him and pinned him to the ground. He was being nice and ‘let’ her win of course, but he shuddered to think of how that would play out now that she was a hundred times bigger than him. But to her credit, everytime he had seen her since he shrank, she had always been pleasant to him.

James was close enough to the table now that he had to be careful. He didn’t want to get stepped on by either his aunt or his cousin. He looked around for the ladder to the top of the table but couldn’t find it. He reached for his earpiece so he could tell his aunt that he was here…, but…, his face drooped when he didn’t feel it in his ear.

“Oh no,” he said, looking around the floor in a panic. “No, no, no! Where did it go?!” he looked back toward the hallway that he had just come from and realized that it must have fallen out somewhere along the way. What was he supposed to do now?

“Aunt Mary!” he shouted from the floor. “Aunt Mary, I’m down here!”

But his aunt Mary couldn’t hear him because Peyton was talking and her booming voice easily drowned his tiny screams out.

“Damn it,” he said, running to the other side of the enormous chair. “Peyton, stop talking!” he shouted up at them, but his cries didn’t even reach their ears. The giant women could not even perceive the tiny voice at their feet.

“Alright then…,” he said, putting his hands on his hips. Then he put on a brave face and ran toward his aunt’s feet, kicking her pinky toe as hard as he could.

“What in the-,” he heard his colossal aunt say as she looked under the table. Her enormous eyes locked on the tiny boy at her toes. The sight of her cosmic eyes on him was sobering. He was afraid she might be mad at him, but instead, she smiled excitedly. “Well James, there you are, I was just about to check on you! Come here, little guy,” she said, reaching down and letting him climb into her hand.

“I didn’t know tiny tweedle dee was coming over today,” Peyton said laughingly as she watched her mom set the tiny boy on the table next to her shrunken brother. “Did you come to play with tiny tweedle dum?” she asked, directing her attention to James.

“Peyton, be nice,” Mary laughed. “Your father and uncle went on a fishing trip, and so I thought it’d be nice if he came to visit this weekend. It’s hard for them to get together as often since they both caught the virus.”

“Well, if he’s going to be here the whole weekend, then I think he should learn not to walk around our feet. Remember what happened to one of the guys you hired to paint our trim?” Peyton scoffed with a laugh.

“Yes, I agree,” Mary said. “James, why didn’t you use the ladder to get to the table? You know how dangerous that can be.”

James looked up at his giant aunt and sheepishly tried to explain that he had lost his communicator. He pointed at his ear and shrugged his shoulders. Mary furrowed her brow as her tiny nephew’s voice squeaked nonsensically at her.

“James, did you lose your earpiece?” she asked. “Where did it go? You just had it in the living room.”

“I-I don’t know…,” he said apologetically, but his giant aunt couldn’t hear him.

“What?” she said, looking at the shrunken boy, waiting for a response. “Oh that’s right, I can’t hear you. Here, let me try this,” she said, lifting her miniscule nephew up to her enormous ear.

“I said…, I don’t know!” James shouted down the vast ear canal before him. “I’m sorry aunt Mary!”

Mary brought her nephew around to the front of her scowling face again. “It’s okay James,” she sighed. “I’m sure Micahael has a few spares you can borrow after dinner. But I have to ask again, why didn’t you use the ladder? I literally JUST talked to you about that in the living room.”

She held him back up to her ear. “I-I didn’t see one…,” James muttered, noticing the giant strings of hair cascading over his aunt’s equally gigantic ear. He had ever seen someone’s ear so close up before. He could see every little detail in her skin, as well as all the way down to the deep dark abyss of her ear canal. He bet he could probably sit right in the curve of her ear and easily talk to her. But before he could suggest that, Mary lowered him back down to the table. He felt like he was on an elevator that was moving too fast.

“Well, it’s right over-...,” Mary paused, looking around, “hey, where did it go?”

“I think it fell down when you bumped the table, mom,” Peyton said, reaching down and setting it back up.

Michael shook his head and looked up at his giant mom and sister. “You know, with how often those things keep falling down, we ought to think about permanently fastening those things to the tables.”

“I need to move them to vacuum,” Mary said, biting into a piece of food. “We’ll keep a better eye on the ladders, won’t we Peyton?”

“Of course,” Peyton said, smiling at the two tiny boys on the table. James couldn’t tell if she was sincere or teasing them. He hadn’t seen his gigantic cousin in a while and had lost his ability to read her. She was beautiful though; like a younger but more stylish, version of her mom. But that meant nothing when it came to deciphering her mood.

“So, did Michael tell you about his new job, James?” Mary asked, trying to start dinner conversation.

James nodded his head. “I think that’s great.”

“What’s that?” Peyton asked overdramatically. “What did he say???”

“He said ‘yeah, he thinks it’s great,’”. Michael said. He had to relay what James said to the giant women through his own earpiece. 

“I think it’s gross,” Peyton quipped. “Who would want to spend their life at the feet of customers at the spa?”

“But you usually can’t get a salary like that unless you go to college,” Micahel said looking up at his sister. “Why not pursue a career in that field of work but without the enormous amount of debt added to it?”

“Career?” Peyton scrunched her eyebrows together and scoffed. “That’s not a career. That’s a miserable dead end job. Not to mention the mortality rate.”

“The mortality rate is less than 1% Peyton,” Michael said. “That’s no worse than the mortality rate for other trade jobs for tinies.”

“Hmm, that’s true I suppose…,” Then Peyton smiled and looked at her mom. “Hey mom, I wonder what the mortality rate for tiny trim painters is?”

“Peyton, be nice,” Mary sighed, “I already feel really bad about that!”

“Did something happen?” James asked, looking at Michael and then up at the two gigantic women. “That’s the second time she’s mentioned that now.”

“Dude, don’t ask about that, I’m eating…,” Michael said with a mouthful of food.

“Sorry…,” James said with an anxious face.

“James is asking about it?!” Peyton smiled devilishly. “I think he should know if he wants to.” She giggled and took another bite of food. She looked expectantly at her mom, wanting her to tell the story herself.

“It was an accident,” Mary said. “I came home and forgot they were working here. I came inside the house and wanted to use the bathroom and it just so happened that he was in my path.” Mary paused and then sighed. “And it…, …it, …didn’t end well...”

“Yeah, not for him at least. It was the loudest crunch I’d ever heard in my life!” Peyton said to her tiny brother and cousin with a smirk.

“Peyton!” Mary suppressed a giggle. “You are not helping!”

“She killed him?” James asked shakily. He didn’t know why, but he just assumed some tiny person had gotten hurt. It didn’t cross his mind that he had died.

“Yeah…, he was killed,” Michael answered blankly.

“Yes, that’s true…,” Mary sighed deeply, “but it was an accident!”

“It was just a good thing you were wearing your heels instead of going barefoot. That would have been gross!” Peyton said, shaking her head in disgust.

“Okay, I’m done…,” Micahel said, dropping his food. He couldn’t handle the stomach ache from hearing the story again.

“Yes, let’s move on,” Mary said, shifting her tone. “Anyways, I think you have a great job lined up Michael. But now, what about you, James, do you have something lined up for after graduation?”

“Uh…,” James stuttered. He was just so taken aback by the story he had just heard that he couldn’t speak. He wondered if that tiny worker was squashed by the very heels he had just been in. Imagining his gigantic aunt crushing somebody under her high-heel was mortifying and electrifying at the same time.

“James?” Mary asked again.

“Oh god, I think we broke him,” Peyton giggled.

“James, honey,” Mary said, “you okay, sweetie? It was just an accident.”

“Uh, yeah, no,” James stammered. “That’s uh, fine. I was just thinking about something, um, different. But no, I don’t have anything lined up. My mom really wants me to go to college.”

“He says his mom wants him to go to college,” Michael reiterated. 

“That’s typical of your mom,” Mary sighed, shaking her head, “she’s going to make herself sick trying to keep up appearances like that.”

“Yeah, I know, I should just get a job with Michael,” James chuckled.

“Dude, that would be awesome,” Michael said, perking up again. “I can’t get you an interview! Do you want me to?”

“Really?” James asked, tipping the scale from intrigue to excitement.

“Maybe you two should just start your own nail service,” Peyton laughed, deducing the conversation from Michael’s responses.

“Wouldn’t that be cute?” Mary smiled. “The two of you working together?” Mary leaned forward and sighed. “Who knows, maybe even I would hire you guys out and you could do my feet, wouldn’t that be adorable!” Mary beamed excitedly.

James’ heart dropped upon hearing that. He had only just discovered his obsession with his aunt Mary, but now, for some reason, the thought of being put to work at her feet was something so tantalizing that he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Huh…,” Peyton said, taking a sip of water, “well, you’d just better hope that she treats you guys better than she did that little painter guy.”

“Oh my lord, Peyton,” Mary covered her face with her hands. “You’re going to give me a complex about that!”

“Well, a guy is dead now, so a complex doesn't seem that bad by comparison actually,” Peyton teased her mom.

“Okay, I’m going to clean up,” Mary said, standing up. The intimidating pose of the giant woman hovering over them was seared into James’ brain. “What are you boys going to do now? Play more of your games?”

“Yeah, probably,” Michael said, getting up and walking toward the rickety ladder.

“Don’t you guys want a lift?” Mary asked the tiny guys, holding out her hand. “I’ll even break your mom’s rule for you, James.”

“Nah, we’re fine mom, thanks,” Michael said, wanting some space from his gigantic family members.

“What are you guys playing?” Peyton asked.

“Mario Kart, but might do some Smash Bros. later, who knows,” Michael said.

“Nice,” she said, also standing up. The sight before James was just as mesmerizing as it was intimidating.

“Are you going to play with them?” Mary asked.

“Nah, I’m going to paint my nails,” Peyton said, grabbing some dishes from the table to help her mom clean up. “My fingers and toes are pretty chipped. I’m starting to look like trailer trash.”

“Why don’t you hire these two little entrepreneurs to do it for you?” Mary said, winking down at the two tiny teenage boys. “I’m sure they’d be willing to help you out with that.”

“Ew, no way,” Peyton scoffed. “I don’t want these two losers messing up my nails, I’d rather just do it myself.”

“Okay, well it was worth a shot, sorry boys,” Mary said, putting the last of the plates in the dishwasher. “I’m going to shower, I feel so gross from today.” 

“Come on, man, let’s go,” Michael said, climbing down the ladder. 

James was right behind him climbing down too.  They reached the floor and crossed over to the wall so they could follow the trim boards back to the living room. Every once in a while, the heavy footsteps of one of the giantesses would make the floor rumble. It sent a shiver down James’ spine each and every time.

He was ready to play some games again, but couldn't stop thinking about his aunt. Specifically, about being put to work at her feet. He wondered if he would have an opportunity to do so this weekend.