"I really want to go to Sharky's party," said Nick, "it's going off right now, but if I go there, I'll shrink at nine o'clock."
"I promise I won't go to the party until after you're shrunk!" said Flora. "I'll take you with me!"
"Have you figured out what to put me in so I don't get crushed by anything?" Nick asked.
"I've got a necklace that has a little metal box with little holes in it so you can breathe," said Flora. "I'll wear it around my neck!" Flora got up and went to her jewelry box and got it. "See? If you're shrunk down to a centimeter tall, it should be just the right size to contain you comfortably!"
Nick took it from her and looked at it. "Yeah, this should work!" Nick handed it back to Flora.
Meanwhile, back at Sharky's house, a lot of white people had shown up for the party, lured by the promise of free beer. Chuy approached one of them.
"It's almost nine o'clock, don't you want to be with your family when you shrink?" Chuy asked one of them.
"I don't believe anyone is getting shrunk tonight!" said the white guy. "I think this whole thing is one big hoax, and everything will be revealed for what it really is in the newspaper tomorrow!"
"But what if you do get shrunk?" Chuy asked.
"Then collect me and hand me over to the hottest Latina in the room!" replied the white guy.
Just then, Soledad Suarez and her friend Summer's Moon entered the party.
"I'm here, so now the party can officially start!" said Soledad. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Soledad Suarez, Sharky's younger sister. If any cute guys want to hook up with me, 'I'm eighteen now, so you don't have to check with my big brother! If he has anything to say about it, just talk to me in private, and we can hook up!"
Nacho approached her with the red rose he had brought for her. "I got this for you, Soledad!"
"Oh, how nice!" said Soledad as she took the rose. "Let me get a vase for it!"
After Soledad left the room, Summer's Moon stood looking at Nacho. "She isn't into you, I hope you know that! She's just trying to be nice to you so she doesn't look like a bitch!"
"How do you know?" Nacho asked.
"Because I'm her best friend!" said Summer's Moon. "I've known her since we were in grade school!"
Soledad returned with a vase filled with water, with the rose inside. She set it on the table, and Summer's Moon whispered in her ear.
Soledad replied out loud: "Maybe it's better if I don't tell him and just don't press the issue!"
Soledad walked over to the computer chair where Gordo was sitting. "You're gonna have to get up, dude! I'm the captain of the computer in this house!"
Gordo got up and Soledad sat down and swiveled the chair so the back of the chair was facing the dining room, but she was sitting backwards on the chair with her right arm propped on the neck of the chair.
"Do you know what tonight is?" Soledad asked everyone in the room as a group. "Tonight is the night of destiny!"
"It's only a night of destiny if that Conquistadora is legit!" said Gordo's girlfriend Flaca. "What if she doesn't come through?"
"If people don't get shrunk tonight, I'm going to be so pissed!" said Soledad. "I even bought little plastic containers with different colors to keep all of my captives in!"
"I don't know why you went through all that effort if all you're going to do is swallow them!" said Sharky.
"It's not for their benefit," said Soledad, "it's for my benefit!" Soledad pulled out a pink plastic cube and pulled the lid off. "I even cut airholes into the lid!"
A white guy approached Soledad. "Hi, I'm Chad, I go to Rio Hondo!"
"HI Chad!" said Soledad, shaking his hand.
"If I get shrunk, can I be owned by you?" said Chad.
"If you get owned by me, I'm going to swallow you!" said Soledad. "I hope you know that!"
"I know, I know that!" said Chad. "That's why I want to be owned by you! If I really get shrunk, I just want to get it over with so I don't suffer much!"
"Yeah," said Soledad, "you can be owned by me. Just stick close to me, because it's almost nine o'clock!"
"Can I ask you one more favor?" Chad asked.
"What?" Soledad asked.
"Can I make out with you before I get shrunk? I've never made out with a hot Latina before!"
"Yeah, you're kind of cute!" said Soledad, and she got up and the two of them started French-kissing. Nacho noticed this, and couldn't take his eyes off Soledad.
"You okay, Nacho?" Gordo asked.
Nacho ignored him and continued to stare at Soledad.
"Nacho!" said Gordo, even louder.
"Forget it," said Chuy, "he's mesmerized!"
Meanwhile, Soledad was making out hot and heavy with Chad. "Tell me," said Soledad, "what are you going to do once you're shrunk down to ant-size and you're inside of my belly?"
"I'm probably gonna beat off!" said Chad, and Soledad pushed him away.
"That's gross!" said Soledad. "Don't talk to me that way!"
"But getting swallowed is my sexual fantasy!" said Chad.
"But I don't want to hear about it in detail!" said Soledad.
"One minute left!" said Sharky. "It's almost nine o'clock! That clock on the wall is synchronized with the atomic clock in Colorado, it's really accurate!"
All eyes were on the clock on the wall as the seconds hand got closer to the twelve. When it was twenty seconds away, many of them started counting down out loud.
"Twelve! Eleven! Ten! Nine! Eight!" they chanted in unison, until they got down to the final three seconds: "Three! Two! One!" And instantly, everyone in the room who wasn't Mexican shrank down to ant-size. Up in orbit, the Conquistadora's neutrino dissimilators did their thing and fired on the surface of the Earth and targeted anyone who didn't have a transponder card to protect them. In cities across the world like Stockholm, Berlin, and Paris, which were largely devoid of Latinos, the streets seemed empty as anyone who was out on the sidewalks was reduced to ant-size instantaneously. In some places, car accidents were caused because drivers were reduced to ant-size while at the wheel of their vehicles. back at Sharky's house, Flaca wasn't taking it too well.
"Oh my God!" said Flaca! "It really happened! I don't believe this!" Flaca put her hands on the sides of her head.
"Flaca!" said Gordo. "What's wrong? You sound like you're freaking out!"
"I didn't think this was really going to happen!" said Flaca. "This is like a bad acid trip or something!"
Meanwhile, while Flaca was trying to pull herself together, Soledad licked her finger and collected Chad and put him inside her pink plastic cube. She wandered the room, collecting other shrunken people the same way. There was fierce competition, because each Latino and Latina had the same idea and wanted to collect as many shrunken people as possible. When all the shrunken people were collected, some of the Mexicans gathered at the table and set their captives on the table top. Soledad returned to her computer chair and straddled it like she did before, with her left arm on the backrest. She dumped her captives onto her arm.
"I only got five of them!" said Soledad, licking her lips. "But I'm going to have so much fun with them!"
Just then, Rica Luna arrived. "Did it happen?" she asked. "Did the shrink-rays really work?"
"Yes!" said Soledad. "Look, I have five of them marching around on my arm!"
"I want to swallow some of them!" said Rica.
"You're not swallowing any of mine!" said Soledad. "My belly is their destiny, and nothing can change that!"
"Does anyone else want to donate some shrinkies?" Rica asked.
Several guys approached Rica and offered her some of their captives.
"Is there any tequila?" Rica asked. "And some salt and lime? I want to do this right!"
Sharky left the room and returned a moment later with some tequila, a shot glass, salt, a lime, and a knife. He cut the lime in half, and left everyhing in front of her.
One of the guys left a few captives in front of her, so she poured herself a shot of tequila and she licked her hand, put some salt where she had licked it, then licked her finger and collected the four captives and dropped them onto the salt on her hand between her thumb and index finger. She drank the shot of tequila, licked the captives and shot off her hand, then took a bite of the lime. When she lifted her arms in victory, everyone in the room cheered.
Meanwhile, back at Irene and Roland's house, Nick was shrunk and lost on the folds of the blankets of his unmade bed. Flora entered the room, looking for him.
"Nick?" Flora asked. "Where are you?"
Nick jumped up and down and yelled, but Flora couldn't hear him. She lifted one of his blankets, sending Nick tumbling. The movement of Nick's body caught Flora's attention, and she spotted him.
"There you are!" said Flora. "I'm putting you in the necklace and taking you to Sharky's. Rica called me and said she's on her way over there, so I'm going to have her look after you while I hunt for Shelly Schwartz!"
Flora collected Nick and put him in the necklace, then got in her car and headed toward Sharky's house.
Flora picked up Vikki De La Cruz on the way to the party, and stopped to get some chips and salsa. Flora and Vikki entered the party each carrying a bag of corn tortilla chips and two jars of salsa, and set it all on the table. Then she set the necklace in front of Rica, who was seated at the dining room table.
"Here's Nick," said Flora. "I've got to go do something Rica, I'll be back in a while. Can you look after Nick for me?"
"Yeah, no problem!" said Rica as she took the necklace and opened it and dumped Nick out. As Flora left, greedy hands tore into the bags of chips and several people started munching on the chips and salsa.
Nacho had made his way over toward Soledad. He noticed the captives astride her arm as she straddled the chair.
"You're not really going to hurt those shrinkies, are you Soledad?"
"They're ending up in my belly eventually," said Soledad, "so in that regard, I guess you could say that I am!"
"The Soledad I know would never hurt a shrinkie!" said Nacho.
"Nacho look," said Soledad. "I know you've got a crush on me, but I'm interested in someone else!"
"Who?" Nacho asked. "Let me talk to him!"
"It's Nicky Vasquez!" said Soledad.
This got Rica's attention.
"I made out with Nicky yesterday!" said Soledad. "He's the only man I'll ever love!"
"Flora's cousin?" Nacho asked. "He's right there with Rica! He's shrunk!"
"You made out with Nick?" Rica asked. "When did this happen?"
"Yesterday," said Soledad. "He came over to talk to my brother, and we spent some time alone together. I'm probably the last girl he kissed before he got shrunk!"
"Nick!" said Rica, holding him aloft in the palm of her hand. "You betrayed me! You made out with Soledad right after you made out with me!"
Rica tossed him back into her mouth. "I'm teaching you a lesson!
"You'd better not swallow him!" said Soledad. "He belongs with me! He said he wanted us to alternate, you look after him for a day, then I look after him, and we trade off."
Rica tilted her head back and laughed. "It sounds just like Nick to say something like that!" Rica felt around her mouth with her tongue. "I don't know how to say this, but I think I just accidentally swallowed Nick Vasquez!"
"You better not have!" said Soledad.
Rica got up and approached Soledad, then opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. "See? Nothing there! I don't think it's too late! He's probably swimming around in my gut right now wondering how he's going to survive!"
At that very moment, that was in fact what was happening. Nick was swimming around within the contents of Rica's stomach, trying to hold his breath. There was a small pocket of air at the top of her stomach that allowed him to breathe, but he still tried to conserve air by only breathing when he absolutely had to. He was surviving, but for how long?
To Be Continued!