* * * * *
When most people talk about "blind panic," they usually refer to a state of fear so intense, one literally cannot think. And, thus, one cannot clearly foresee the results of certain, potentially unwise actions.
In Bob Bullfinch's case, he vaulted over the side of one of a pair of ballet-flat moccasins (with a speed and agility born of that self-same panic), and landed on his back. Just like a contender in the running high-jump! He then sprang back on to his feet and ran all the way to the toe end of the moccasin.
Unfortunately, for him, that moccasin (and its left-footed counterpart) belonged to the British gymnast Elizabeth Tweddle. "Beth," to her friends. And, she was scheduled to compete in the individual uneven bars event!
Now, this particular apparatus was similar to the parallel bars used by male Olympic gymnasts...with one difference. One bar was slightly taller in height than the other. Hence, the name. Beth, of course, was a little nervous about her chances for a gold medal. The same as all the other girl gymnasts. In her case, though, her anxiety was not being alleviated by the persistent ticklish feeling she was having in her right-footed moccasin!
"What the bloody deuce do I have down there?" she muttered: "A feather?"
Because, from the very first moment she had put them on, something kept making her flex her fourth and fifth toes. Although, she was naturally and completely unaware that it was Little Bob attempting to keep from having his ribs crushed by those same two toes!
Just the same, when her turn came to approach the portable springboard, she put a determined smile on her face. Because, she knew practically everyone in the United Kingdom now had their eyes on her.
[Indeed, most of the home-viewing male audience over 40 admired how svelte she looked in her bluish-black leotard with the Union Jack emblems patriotically decorating each sleeve.}
Finally, the buzzer sounded. Followed by the wooden, baritone-sounding "boing" of the springboard. And, Beth was on the uneven bars. Hopping from one to the other. Performing circular acrobatics at arm's-length that would have dislocated the shoulder blades of anyone else. And, mid-air leg splits that might have herniated a man twice her age!
Little Bob, of course, could see none of this. Not from his present vantage point. He was totally pre-occupied with keeping himself from throwing up all over Beth's toes during the rolls, spins, and flips. Nor it did help that every time she brought her feet back together, at the end of each mid-air split, the collision of her ankles sent a seismic vibration through his shrunken body that was positively jarring!
Needless to say, the G-forces of that routine inevitably made him black out. Thus, he was totally unaware that the Chinese girl who had intended to wear him within her leotard, during her routine, won a silver medal, regardless! While Beth came away with the bronze, and Aliya Mustafina of Russia came away with the gold.
It was only when she finally returned to the privacy of the girls' locker room that Beth finally reached deep down inside that right-footed moccasin. Determined to discover what had proven so ticklish to her.
"Bloody Blazes!" she exclaimed at the top of her lungs.
Aliya Mustafina, puzzled by that outburst, came over to look at what her Olympic roommate was holding in the palm of her right hand. Consequently, she was prompted to give forth with her own exclamation:
"Bozhemoi!"
They stared down, in mutual unblinking astonishment, at the naked shrunken man who was just now reviving. And, when Little Bob was conscious enough to perceive those stares, he could only mutter four words of his own.
"Oh, no! Not again!"
tbc
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
NORTH GREENWICH ARENA,
LONDON, ENGLAND
6 AUGUST, 2012
LONDON, ENGLAND
6 AUGUST, 2012