It was a Friday morning. I got out of bed feeling ready to tackle the day. I went down to the kitchen, had some coffee and a little breakfast, then decided to wake Annie up. I pushed open the door, and entered the room, which was dimly lit by a few rays of early sunlight which managed to penetrate the closed blinds. I saw her curled under the blankets, facing away from me.

  "Annie, it's time to get up."

  Annie didn't respond, so I said it again. After a third time, she finally stirred and let out a soft moan. I approached the bed.

  "Annie, come on, you'll be late."

  Slowly she turned to face me. Her eyes were still closed. She let out an short grunt, signaling that she wasn't going to comply, then she squinted her eyes, and scrunched up her nose. I started to shrink.

  "Annie, no!"

  Quickly, I reached out to try and wake her, but my hands grabbed the side of the bed instead. I struggled to get a hold of the bed as the expanding fabric loosened my grip from it, and I watched the bed rise up in front of me. Soon, I was an inch tall. Great.

  This meant I had to climb the bed again. Fortunately, I knew how this time. I walked behind the nightstand and found the lamp cord. Quickly but carefully, I ascended the nightstand, and made the short leap to Annie's bed. I was going to wake her, whatever it took. Her head rested on the pillow, facing towards the ceiling. I saw her right ear not far from where I was, and I knew what I had to do. I climbed up the pillow and approached her head. I walked up to the ear, and shouted, trying to wake her. Finally, she started to stir. I was sure I had woken her, until I realized her head was turning -- and heading right for me. I turned to run, feeling for a moment like Indiana Jones, but I wasn't fast enough, and Annie's face pinned me to the pillow. The impact wasn't too rough, but I found I couldn't move. It felt like Annie's cheekbone was resting on my body. After a few minutes' struggle, I was able to slide myself sideways out from under her cheekbone, then forwards toward the light. When I emerged I saw I was under her nose. I could hear her slow breaths as she slept. I crawled out onto the pillow and stood up. I saw her sleeping face, intimidating in its size, yet peaceful. I figured that climbing up her head to her ear was too dangerous, so I decided to do what I could from where I was.

  "Annie, please wake up!"

  Finally I decided to try something different. I walked up to her nose, and gave it a good push. I shouted for her to wake up. I pushed on her nose some more. Finally, putting both hands on her nose, I jumped up off the pillow to try and get some more leverage.

  "WAKE UP!" I screamed. And she did.

  I held on to her nose for dear life, as I realized she was sitting up. I was holding onto the bridge of her nose with both my hands, feeling a rush of air as she moved. Her head came to a stop, as I clutched her nose tightly, my legs dangling helplessly below. Suddenly I felt her head tilting back, as she let out a yawn. I felt my feet touch her upper lip, but I didn't dare let go of her nose. She brought her head back down, blinked her eyes a few times and opened them. Finally, she saw me.

  "Good morning, Will."
  "Annie! Help me!"
  "Will, what happened? Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! I must have been shrinking in my sleep again!"

  I felt something touch my feet. Her thumb. I felt it brush past my knees and press against my chest. I felt her finger on my back as she pinched me gently, and lifted me away from her face for a better view.

  "Thank God, Annie. I thought you weren't going to get up. Now, quick, unshrink me and get ready for school."

***

  When I got back to the condo, I was glad to be done with work for the weekend. I decided to see if Annie would like to go out for the night. It was the time of year that the annual fair in our town was open. There were plenty of rides and games. As much as Annie's games at home intrigued me, I thought she could benefit from some time out of the house. Plus, I hadn't been to the fair in years, and I still had happy memories of it, so taking Annie would be my excuse for indulging my own inner child. She enthusiastically agreed, and we were off to the fair.

  It was a pretty typical fair, held on a disused farm, with a ferris wheel, games, and plenty of concession stands vending unhealthy food. I walked along the dirt paths leading through the maze of attractions, keeping a watchful eye over Annie. She seemed thrilled to be there, as she darted to and fro, dazzled by all the shiny lights and attractions. I did my best to keep up.

  At one point, Annie started playing that game where you have to shoot at a target with a water gun. Annie gave it her best, but didn't have very steady aim, and after several tries, gave up in frustration. She wanted to leave the stand after that, but I asked her if I could try first.

  I picked up the water pistol, eager to see whether I still had my old skills. Annie was watching me, with a frustrated, skeptical look on her face. I smiled at her, took aim, and squeezed the trigger. I held the stream of water steadily in the target zone, while a bright red balloon inflated above the target. Suddenly a bell rang, and little light bulbs blinked in succession. I smiled at Annie, and got a jealous smirk in return. I decided to let her pick out a prize for herself. She pointed to an over-sized, pink stuffed bear. The concession operator plucked it down from where it hung on the wall with some difficulty, then passed it to Annie. She clutched the bear excitedly. We started walking away from the stand. The bear was so big, she could hardly see where she was walking. I was about to remark on this, and possibly suggest carrying it for her, when suddenly, she shrank the bear until it rested in her palm, no bigger than an apple, then stuffed it in her pocket.

  "Well," I thought. "I guess I should have seen that one coming."

  Walking around the fairground with Annie, I thought of the times I had come there with Linda. I had won her prizes, too, but she never seemed as grateful as Annie. In fact, she didn't seem to have that much fun at the fair, although she seemed to enjoy sitting next to me on the ferris wheel.

  "Will, would you like to dance?" Annie asked me suddenly.
  "Well, I... not really. I'm not that good." I responded.
  "It's easy! I'll show you. Come on!" Annie grabbed my hand and ran towards a large wooden barn.

  I began to panic. I was awful at dancing. I never remembered there being dancing at the fair, but apparently there was now, and Annie was dragging me there.

  We entered the barn, and I didn't hear music, didn't see a DJ, or even square dancing. Instead, we entered a cacophony of annoying sound effects and chattering voices. It was a video arcade. The walls of what used to be a barn were now lined with all sorts of noisy arcade games. Annie brought me to the back corner of the barn, where there stood one of those dancing games where you hit the buttons with your feet. No, not the one you're thinking of. This was a generic knock-off, with a poorly-translated Japanese title, like "Everybody, Let's Dancing!". My initial dread started to subside, as I realized what Annie meant when she had suggested dancing. Being an inveterate video game junkie, this was more up my alley.

  I took the spot on the left, and she took the right. I was able to keep up for the first few rounds, but not really having played this sort of game before, I lost to Annie on the higher levels. After losing at the water gun game, Annie seemed to have regained her confidence on her home turf. Even to the point of blowing me a friendly raspberry.

  It was getting pretty dark out by the time we had finished "dancing." We were walking towards the car, when we passed the ferris wheel.

  "Will... can we ride the ferris wheel before we go?"
  I nodded.

  As we sat on the ferris wheel, we were able to get a good view of the entire fairground. It was a relaxing way to end the day. I was really looking forward to the weekend. I tried my best to let any thoughts of work dissipate in the cool, autumn air. Suddenly, I felt Annie leaning against me. I looked over at her, and saw she was sleeping. For now, I didn't want to move and wake her, but I felt a little awkward in this position. What if someone saw us like that? Maybe it was silly, but I thought someone might have gotten the wrong idea about us. I looked out over the crowds, and they all seemed to be going about their own business. I just let her sleep until we had to go.

  We walked to the car, both tired after a fun night. She didn't say much during the ride home, and when we arrived, I saw that she had fallen asleep again. I tried to wake her, but she was out cold. Finally I walked around the car, opened the door, and decided to carry her into the house. As I carried her, I was praying that she wouldn't accidentally shrink me again, and come crashing down on top of me. Fortunately, nothing of the kind happened, and I made it to her room, and gently laid her in bed, before heading back to my own room for the night.