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Chapter One: An Atypical Day In Bullet Bay

It was a beautiful late spring morning in Bullet Bay, a small community in Matheson county on California’s sunny central coast. Matheson county was nestled between Santa Barbara county and San Luis Obispo county.

Two eighth grade twin sisters were inside the Dollinger residence watching the news with their parents and older brother. A news story about an escaped female mental patient was being shown. There was a knock on the door, and their thirteen year old cousin entered the home. 

“Storm, we almost left without you!” said Lathan, the seventeen year old brother of the twins. “Lana and Lexi have been ready for twenty minutes! I told you yesterday I have something I need to do before school this morning, and I need to drop you three off earlier today!”

“Sorry cuz,” Storm replied. “I couldn’t make up my mind what to wear.”

The three girls carried their backpacks to Lathan’s car, a muscle car from the late 60’s.

Lathan didn’t pay attention to the three girls in his back seat as he drove his car to the junior high school. When he dropped them off, they were wearing extremely short cutoff shorts and tank tops. 

“Hey, you weren’t dressed like that when you got in the car!” said Lathan.

“We are now!” said Lexi.

“If you three get kicked out of school today for being dressed like that, I’ll be at the farmer’s market over by the high school. My coach wants me to score some almonds for him, so I’m trying to get there and back to the high school before first period.”

“Okay!” the twins said in unison.

“You two sound like you’re in stereo!” said Storm.

The three girls walked to the quad of their junior high school as other students arrived.

Lathan drove to the farmer’s market and parked his car. When he got out, he spotted a woman with a duffel bag who looked familiar. After a moment he placed her: she was the woman who escaped from a local mental facility and was on television before he left for school.

“Hi there!” said Lathan as he approached her. “I think you were on the news this morning!”

“On the news?” the woman asked. “For what?”

“They say you broke out of a mental facility not far from here,” Lathan answered. “There is a reward for turning you in!”

“I’m a time traveler from six thousand years in the future!” the woman replied. “I came back here to witness a historical event. My onboard computer in my time pod took the image of a local woman and I used my technology to imitate her. I was unaware that she was at large!”

A police officer arrived and spoke with someone who pointed the woman out to him. The woman gave her duffel bag to Lathan. “Hold onto this for me!”

Lathan was still holding the duffel bag when the woman was arrested.

Meanwhile, back at the junior high school, first period hadn’t started yet, because Lathan had gotten his sisters and cousin to school earlier than they had anticipated. The three girls who ruled their school, dressed in their violet and green cheer uniforms, approached the three Dollinger girls.

“Lexi,” said Lana, “it’s Taffy, Becky and Christine!”

“Why are you dressed so trashy?” Taffy Trollope asked. “It isn’t Halloween!”

“Taffy, just because you’re from the richest family in town doesn’t mean you’re in charge!” said Lexi.

“Yeah!” said Lana. “And just because you’re a cheerleader doesn’t mean you rule the school!”

“What kind of names are Lana and Lexi? And Storm?” Taffy asked. “Those sound like porno names!”

“Yeah?” said Lana. “Well, Taffy Trollope isn’t a great name, either! Trollope sounds like a dish at an all you can eat seafood buffet!”

“Can I have some more Trollopes with my sushi?” Storm asked, and the three Dollinger sisters started laughing. “And your cheer uniforms look like they were designed by a guy who was locked up in a mental institution!”

“Who combines green and purple?” Lexie asked.

“You look like comic book villains with those colors!” said Lana.

Just then, the vice principal came out to break up the confrontation.

“Girls, why are you dressed provocatively?”

“It’s almost summer, and we wanted to dress for the weather,” said Lexi.

“You can’t come to school dressed like this!” said the woman. “Come to the office, all three of you!”

Once they were in the office, the principal asked them to come in.

“The vice principal told me how you were dressed today, it’s a shame. Did your parents let you out of the house dressed like this?”

“They didn’t know we had these clothes,” said Storm. “We changed in my cousin’s car on the way over here.”

“As students at this school, you have boundaries. As members of society, you also have boundaries. Who bought these clothes for you?” the principal asked. “The money had to come from somewhere!”

“We stole a credit card and bought these clothes ourselves!” said Storm.

“I have you over a barrel,” said the principal. “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I won’t tell on you for stealing the credit card, as long as you do something for me.”

“Like what?” the twins asked in unison.

“My son is a student here. If one of you becomes his girlfriend for the rest of the school year, I won’t tell your parents what you were up to. But I still have to make you go home and change.”

“We’ll think about it!” said Storm, and the three girls got up and left.

Before leaving, Storm told the principal, “We charged a stolen credit card, we got charged with indecency at school… soon, I’m not sure how, we’ll be the ones in charge!”

The farmer’s market wasn’t far from the junior high school, so the girls walked over there, hoping Lathan was still there.

They spotted him when they got there, sitting in his car with a duffel bag the strange woman had given them.

“So I was right,” said Lathan, “you three did get kicked out of school for being dressed like that!”

“We just have to go home and change,” said Lexi.

“What’s in the bag?” Lana asked.

“Do you remember that lady on the news this morning?” Lathan asked.

“Yeah, the escaped mental patient,” said Lexi. 

“What about her?” Lana asked.

“I met a woman who looked just like her, and she gave me this duffel bag. It’s filled with gadgets. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get them to work. From what I can discern, one of these devices can make someone grow to colossal size!”

“Use it on me!” said Storm. “Then I can get revenge on Taffy Trollope!”

Lathan got out of the car and aimed the device at Storm, and she grew to about fifty feet tall instantly. Her clothing and shoes grew with her. A second later, she collapsed on the asphalt. She had trouble breathing. 

“What’s wrong?” Lexi asked.

“What did you do to her?” Lana asked.

“I forgot to activate the gravitational field attenuator!” said Lathan adjusting the device. He aimed it at Storm, and she was able to sit upright. She stood up and looked down at her cousins. 

Lathan continued: “Her mass increased in proportion to her size, but her weight increased too, and it almost crushed her. The gravitational field attenuator enables her weight to remain the same as at normal size, even though her mass is gigantic!”

Storm picked up a car very easily, and set it back down.

“Her strength has increased in proportion to her size!” said Lathan.

“Make me into a giant!” said Lana.

“Me too!” said Lexi.

Lathan aimed the device at them, and they grew to the same proportionate size as Storm.

“Make us bigger!” said Storm.

“What are the upper limits of that device?” Lana asked.

“Yeah,” said Lexi, “how big can we get?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m inputting the size parameters now!” said Lathan. “Storm, how tall are you at normal size?”

“Five feet tall!” Storm replied.

“That’s 60 inches. I can get you up to 360 feet tall easily!” Lathan replied.

Lathan pointed the device at Storm, and she shot up in size. 

“You look like you’re an inch tall, Lathan.” said Storm.

“Make us bigger, too!” said the twins in unison, and Lathan aimed the device at them, and they too shot up in size. The towering teens were taller than all of the buildings in Bullet Bay.

“Now it’s time to get revenge on Taffy and her pint sized friends!” said Storm, and the teenage trio stormed off toward their school.

“Don’t cause any damage or hurt anyone!” Lathan yelled, but they were too far away to hear him.

To Be Continued!
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