Lyndalvorer went to her computer after lunch that Saturday, looked at Dirk’s photograph email attachment, and wasted no time in replying to Dirk’s email.

“You’re a very appealing young fellow, Downwardboy. It makes you look very delicious, might I add. I’m surprised you were hesitant to put this photograph up, unless it was to avoid recognition by any of us who might one day devise some way to miniaturize you. Rest assured, I’m working on it, and I am a science teacher, by the way.

Lyndal.”

He was so out of control with excitement, that part of him felt he had to tell her who he was. As long as he stayed right next to the outlet of the Trans-D tube, with his backpack and laptop close at hand, there would be no risk of being eaten by her.

He thought more about Lyndalvorer, and whether or not to tell her who he was. He decided to sleep on it, and went home.

After much deliberation, Dirk returned to the same Trans-D tube he had used, this time on a Sunday. He sent Miss Cartwright a new email.

She checked her emails on the Sunday afternoon and was amazed.

“Dear Miss Cartwright,

This is going to sound unbelievable to you, and it is incredible to me too. Try to imagine how it feels to me to be writing to you like this.

I will now tell you the whole truth about me. I knew about Garth even before I read your story. I am Dirk. I followed you into the school, the day you chased us, after you’d given up on me, to see if I could save Garth. I watched you, and heard you tell him about this website.

I watched you eat my friend. Up until it happened I was dreading it, wishing I could do something to save him, yet not wanting you to know I was hiding under the cupboard. I knew that you would have eaten me too.

I saw your body and your face looking satisfied as you did it. I looked up at your tongue as you prepared to do it. I found myself feeling something as well as the fear. I was aroused. I was excited. I was fascinated. I was confused. Here you were eating my friend. I didn’t want to end up facing the same outcome, but yet I couldn’t stop thinking about how pretty and exciting your mouth and your body looked. I have thought about it ever since.

So I snuck back into the school with my wireless internet laptop and found that the internet technology had been successfully duplicated on your world, just like almost everything else in history it seemed, except the size differences.

You were so right when you said we had a special connection. By rights I should be hiding on my world, making sure you never have another chance to grab me and eat me too.

I don’t intend to let you find or capture me, but I would like to keep emailing you. We could talk about the fun of you eating me, so long as I don’t really have to end up as a giant science teacher’s main course.

This means so much to me, and I am too thrilled about it to begrudge what you did to my friend. Please let me know if it is of any value to you to pursue this.

Downwardboy Dirk.”

Lyndal Cartwright was lost for words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the Monday, after school, Amos decided to be a little more open about his feelings for Colleen. They had been catching the same bus home from school. Colleen lived in the next street parallel to Amos’s.

On this day, Amos kept talking to her, after they’d alighted from the bus, and they soon reached the point, where he would usually turn off into his own street.

He asked her if she would like to go out with him.

Colleen laughed in his face and walked off.

Lyndal Cartwright was still elated on the Monday night. She had spent the day at school, knowing that Dirk could have been in the school gardens at any time, thinking about her in the way he had indicated, and sending her emails from his wireless internet laptop.

That afternoon, she sent him another email after school.

“Dear Dirk,

It is so nice, and so surprising, to finally know who you are.

I am strangely touched that my actions have enabled me to have such an effect on you.

You should realise the peril you are constantly entering though, since your email won’t work from your own world. For the mere pleasure of communicating with me, you will have to be constantly taking the risk of bringing your computer into my world… where I can get you, Dirk.

I will never stop trying, and one day I just might do it.

My best friend is Christinel on this site. She is still hunting someone she met five years ago, who escaped her a few times back then.

“You know I have been successful in eating some other boys from your school, both then and now. It will be my pleasure to continue hunting for you, and I am grateful to you for letting me know you are prepared to return to my world. I will enjoy second guessing your arrivals and trying to ambush you.

As well as all this, of course, is the enjoyment of reading your emails.

So, let the games (or the hunts) begin.

Your dear friend, until I catch and eat you,

Lyndal.”

There was only one thing that Lyndal did not know.

Dirk had done lots of walking around both the school grounds and the forest of his own world before deciding to send his confessions to her.

He had located most of the other Trans-D tubes, and tested them all, and noted their relative locations in the Giant girls’ school. He was fairly sure that Lyndal did not know about them. Even if she did, she could not possibly anticipate which one he would use each time, let alone when each time would be.

Dirk and Lyndal enjoyed weeks and weeks of playing their hunting game and testing each other with tricky questions in both cyberspace and the school gardens. There was one time when she abandoned her computer during a lengthy after school chatting session between them. He had chosen the Trans-D tube she knew about, and he soon heard her approaching his garden spot, as she crawled through, rustling the plants wherever she went.

He folded up his laptop and got it into his backpack, and put it on his back in record time of only a few seconds. The backpack had been padded with his school jumper and some books, to protect the laptop a little more. Just as she came into view and lunged for him, he jumped into the Trans-D tube and made it safely back to his own earth.

She smiled at how close she’d come and went back to her computer and typed another email.

“I almost had you that time, Dirk. Just think. It would have been the last of your emails, in fact the last of everything for you, and the happy end to my hunt, little quarry. How long do you think you can keep winning this game? Yet you are not winning, are you little quarry? You are merely delaying your losing of this hunting game.

 The time will come, when I will catch you, and you know the rest. Yet I know now that you will keep coming back, despite the perils, because we are connected, because I excite you, little quarry. If it’s worth something to you, and I’m sure it is, then be apprised of the fact that you excite me too. I simply adore being able to debrief (what just happened between us in the garden) over the internet like this. You have no idea what pleasure it brings me, or perhaps you do.

Until next time, little quarry,

Lyndal.”

Mrs Long wrote some more verses of ‘The Thin Edible Shrinking Student’ and sang them to Casey:

She parked at a hillside, placed him in the basket, and carried it down to a tree,

Positioned the rug on the grass, and sat down. Then she licked her nice red lips, with glee.

"It's time, little pixie, or goblin, or gnome. Now I shan't need a plate or a bowl,

To lick you a few times, and then put you into my mouth, and I'll gobble you whole."

He suddenly realized the true implications of her saying "pixie" or "gnome."

Since she didn't know who he was, he must tell her, if he ever hoped to get home,

He thought, as her tongue used his shoulders and cheeks for the pleasure of each lengthy lick.

Before he could get in a word, he was inside her mouth, and he had to be quick.

In moments, his chance to explain would expire, but the boy held his panic in check;

And then Mrs Robertson gulped, and he found himself trapped halfway down her long neck.

He stretched out his arms and his legs, in the hope that her next gulp could not move him down.

She soon coughed him up, and then held him in front of her face with a confident frown.

"If you don’t keep still, when I'm gulping you down, I may well have to tie your hands too,"

She said; and he answered, "I'm sorry. I don't think you actually understand who

Is going to end up as your picnic lunch. I'm Stefan, a new student of yours.

I shrank, with my serum, which seemed not to work, and then you came to lock all the doors."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jenny knew that Mrs Long would never help her to increase Willy’s size. She had approached every scientist she could find until she finally met Androline: a woman who had never considered inventing a miniaturizing process or an enlarging process, but felt that she could come up with a way. Jenny volunteered to be her test subject for a miniaturizing process, and went for several appointments.

“I believe the answer lies not in chemicals, as all the other scientists you’ve mentioned have tried, but in radiation,” said Androline, “Radiation could pass through the pores of the skin and affect your entire body, and any clothing you were wearing at the time.”

After a number of appointments, Androline had found the right type of radiation with which to bathe Jenny. After a few treatments, in which Jenny was confined to a radiation chamber, Androline achieved a permanent effect, which she believed would enable Jenny to permanently acquire the power to reduce in size and regrow at will.

“I want you to remain here, so that I can test the effect for a few days,” said Androline, and let both Jenny and Willy live in her laboratory. Willy was now 5 foot tall. Jenny was able to reduce herself to a height of 6 foot 6 inches. As she could regrow to her full giant size at will, Androline did not need to stay at the laboratory overnight and look after them.

After 3 days of consistent testing, they learned that Jenny could only retain her 6 foot 6 inches height for 18 hours at a time. For the remaining 6 hours of any day, from the time she first shrank to 6 foot 6, she would automatically shoot back up to a height of 20 foot tall, not nearly her full giant size, but nonetheless more than three times the height of Willy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dirk had been so aroused by Lyndal’s email, just as she had planned. He wrote back to her:

“Dear Lyndal,

I know just what you mean. I am already consumed, in a sense, consumed by the desire to return to continue our exciting interludes. I’ve thought and thought of you endlessly, but it all comes down to these few lines I’ve just written,

Dirk.”

Soon he received the most challenging reply yet.

“Dear Dirk,

I find myself aching to taste your delicious flesh, even if I can’t actually swallow it. I have an idea. I could purchase a pair of handcuffs, drop the key near the outlet of the Trans-D tube for you, and handcuff my hands together behind my back. Then I could lie down in the garden and you could approach my mouth. I could put out my tongue and lick you, but I wouldn’t have my hands free to force you into my mouth. When we’d both indulged ourselves enough, I could turn around, so that my hands were just near the Trans-D tube. You could throw the key into my hands and jump into the tube and escape.

So what do you think, Dirk? Would you dare to live a little more dangerously?

Lyndal.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~