Percy shrank himself to tiny size in the machine one day, and teleported himself into Ingrid’s garden. He walked over to the back patio of the house, which had an all-glass sliding door leading into the back room, where he now knew Ingrid liked to sit and read. He looked in and saw her. He had to make his discovery by her look accidental, not contrived.

He looked and noticed an umbrella beside him, leaning against the patio pillar. He managed to knock it off balance, even at his size, as umbrella points do not create the greatest stability for the object that they support. He gave a sudden movement as Ingrid looked up. She walked over to the door as he backed away, turned and ran. This would make it convincing.

He heard her footsteps gaining on him in mere seconds, and then felt and saw her hand grasp him from behind and lift him up.

“I haven’t seen a fellow your size since I was a teenager,” she said, “But that was at school, which is in the same suburb as this house. Let’s see if you’re any good.”

There was no mocking this time, no taunting or teasing, just a matter-of-fact detached interest in his potential as a meal, as Ingrid’s tongue came out and tasted him. She licked her lips in front of him in several directions, carried him to the kitchen and dropped him into a bowl of salad that she’d prepared for her lunch. She had none of her teenage desire to make fun of his plight, nor to draw it out, merely the original appreciation for the taste of him without the slightest concern for his welfare. She believed him to be a different victim from both the boy whose lollies she had taken and the tiny boy whom she had eaten.

“Help yourself while you can,” she said, “I’ll save you for last.”

“Thank you Mrs Giant,” he said.

“You’re welcome. I’m happy to make conversation while you’re waiting for me to eat you as well.”

“Okay,” he said, and decided to find out what had intrigued him most, “Did you eat the other fellow my size too?”

“Yes. He was delicious.”

“Do you think of him much?”

“Often. He was the most enjoyable meal of my life, about to be equalled by you, I suppose,” she said, to his elation at being remembered all those years, “I’m glad you came here trespassing. I need something to cheer me up at the moment.”

“Are you going through something?” he asked, knowing full well that her husband’s activities had left her a lot of grief.

“Yes. I suppose it will sort itself out eventually.”

“I’m not trying to delay my fate, but you said we had time to chat. Would you like to talk it out with me? Maybe I can help.”

“Thank you. That would be nice,” said Ingrid, “The boy I dismissed with maximum ridicule when I was a teenager, when I had a preference for the kind of bad news that evolved into my homicidal ex-husband … well that boy has become the man who just saved me from being murdered by my ex-husband. I’m grateful, and there’s nothing to distract me from appreciating just how cute he is now. I know he still loves me. He dumped his girlfriend before we even got back from the rescue. He even loved me enough to risk his life to save me while he thought I was still married.”

“How did you meet?” asked Percy, keen to get her perspective on it without her being aware that she was telling it to Percy himself.

“I helped myself to some of his lollies,” she said, “Just like I’m helping myself to you. I always eat whatever I like, whenever I can, without sparing a thought for the feelings of the owner … or the feelings of the food in your case. If you do have any thoughts on my situation with my rescuer Percy, I’d welcome them, but my gratitude won’t cause me to spare you. I’ll eat you up soon and get on with my life, whether with Percy or someone else. For you, there’s only the rest of this luncheon and the ride across my tongue and down my throat to look forward to.”

“I guess I’ll be one of the INGRID-IENTS,” said Percy.

For the first time she smiled, only for a second.

“Percy’s a wonderful man, but if he resents my having rejected him in favour of continuing with the boy who eventually tried to kill me, he won’t be likely to ask me out soon.”

Percy wouldn’t tell her to take the first step. He could see that, behind Ingrid’s confident exterior was a woman who wanted to be courted. She didn’t want Percy’s forgiveness. She simply wanted him to understand that she had done what she thought best as a teenager, and that she would like to do what she thought best now as an adult, which this time would work in Percy’s favour. As soon as he had left her stomach and restored his size, he could think how to approach her. Now all he had to do was say something reassuring to her as tiny man, without giving the game away, and then prepare to be eaten again, which he knew he would certainly enjoy.

“From what you’ve told me, he probably doesn’t know you like him that way,” said Percy, “He’d be thinking that you’re just grateful for the rescue, but he doesn’t want to get himself hurt by another rejection.”

“Of course, that’s it!” she said, lifting the second last piece of lettuce into her mouth, “I’ll say something to compliment him.”

He remembered the night that her teenaged self had complimented his dress sense the year after their initial unpleasant encounters. It was then that Percy understood that Ingrid had liked him back then. She had appreciated his good looks, but scorned his soft personality. Now that she had come to like it, she would love him even more than she had ever loved her ex-husband, he hoped.

“I hope it works,” he said as she cleaned her mouth with a glass of water, “I’m sure it will. You’re a lovely woman, Mrs Giant.”

“Thank you, and call me Ingrid as you say goodbye. I think it’s time for you to go, and you’ve made me feel much better.”

Ingrid lifted him to her mouth and gave him a giant slow kiss.

“Oh Ingrid, thank YOU!” he said, having never forgotten how good the first gobbling felt, and having now been the recipient of a kiss from her amazing mouth too, “Goodbye darling, and here’s hoping that the quality of Percy is not drained.”

She now gave a delightful open mouthed laugh at his Shakespearian pun.

“That’s it. Away with you,” she said happily and licked the shrunken Sneaky Spy several times and then rubbed him on her neck and slid him into her mouth.

He enjoyed the gulping pressure of her adult mouth and slid down deep inside her, waited for a while and then teleported back to his machine and full size.

He soon heard a knock at the door, and went to see that it was Ingrid.

“Oh, don’t you look nice,” she said, “Could you stand some company?”

“I’d love it … if it’s you,” said Percy.

Returning the compliment would not give away his having been the tiny man who advised her, given that he was following her lead.

“Thank you,” said Ingrid.

“Would you like to sit in the garden?”

“I’d love to.”

They sat and talked for some time. Percy had no further doubts about her interest in him, and felt that an absence of words would spare them both from any awkward recollections of their teenage memories.

He eased his arm around her body slowly, and felt her move to do the same. Even sitting down her head was still a little higher than his. He lifted his finger and ran it over her lower lip. It was unlikely that this would lead her to guess that he had once lain on top of it at tiny size.

“Is this alright?” he asked.

“It’s lovely.”

Percy had two sudden realisations, both of which left him elated. One was that he could visit her at tiny size whenever he liked and be mistaken for yet another tiny man and eaten, role playing out any story that fitted in with her movements at the time. He could also enjoy her love and romance at his full size, without her ever knowing that she was participating in both experiences with the same man every time.

The second realisation was the fact that, on the night of their first meeting, she had said, ‘You’re a little short to be attempting something so bold’ the first time he had touched her … only her hair. Yet at his tiny size, he had been given the opportunity, and for that matter no choice but to touch her tongue, her throat, and the passage down to her tummy.

Percy put both arms around Ingrid and moved towards her. She responded positively, and their lips pressed against each other’s. As he felt her tongue making its move to his mouth, he was constantly aroused at the recollections of his time with his whole shrunken anonymous body inside her mouth. With memories like that in his mind, and the chance to renew them periodically, he would always be aroused beyond belief whenever he thought about Ingrid at all.