As it was a common occurance, Paul was the first one to wake the next morning. He awoke with an odd sort of optomistic feeling, as if he had had an uplifting dream that had just slipped from memory at the brink of conciousness. Dispite the fact that he was still small and didn’t have many allies he still felt that he had a purpose seeing this competition through.

Perhaps it was Vera. His feelings for her seemed to grow deeper every day they were here together. She was the only person here not wrapped up in some power or domination scheme or a hasty relationship. Paul knew he himself came short in some categories; he had already gotten into a fight with Dale, as well as power struggles with both Carla and Dale. His hands were not clean by any means. But he hoped that if he could play a clean game from here on out Vera would see that he really wasn’t some kind of bum like Dale.

Vera was waking up around the same time. She didn’t sleep very deeply and was still a bit groggy, but decided to take a page out of Paul’s book and do some morning exersizes. For her, seeing the massive world around her was no longer something that provoked fear but rather a determination to toughen herself up, to make herself the best competitor she could be.

In the other room Hailey was waking up. She had slept nice and deeply and had pleasant dreams. It was good to be the queen, and knowing Jerry, Paul, and Vera were all on her side there was virtually no way she could fail. She gave a little squeese to her teddy bear Jerry and put him on her lap as she stretched.

Jerry had not slept well at all. He kept coming awake all night and he was afraid to move for bothering Hailey. At one point he could’ve sworn he heard something moving in the room, but he figured he was just imagining things. In any case, he was not in a good mood. He felt that more and more Hailey was not keeping true to her promise not to treat him as she treated Dale. Each day he felt less like a man and more like a toy. Well, perhaps today was the day to do something about it.

“Did you sleep well, cutie?” Hailey asked, standing as she rummaged through the closet for something to wear. She cast off her nightgown and stood naked in front of the closet. She rotated her body in a way that was meant to arouse Jerry, who she must have thought was still awed by her immense size and womanness. It was undeniable that Hailey was attractive, thought Jerry, but she was beginning to interest him less and less.

“Yes,” Jerry lied. Hailey pulled on panties and a bra, then a tank top and a miniskirt. She was thinking about the tiny men looking up the long pillars of her legs in awe and the thought made her feel sexy. She wanted to dress for maximum appeal to get the men to think about her just a little bit more.

“Here, how about this for you today?” Hailey said, pulling a shirt and pants combination out of Jerry’s suitcase. To Jerry’s dismay she began to dress him just as she would a doll. Hailey did move slowly with loving care, but Jerry still felt humiliated at this babying.

“Let’s go out and make breakfast,” Hailey said. “I’m sure the othes will be getting up soon.” Hailey went out into the hallway and towards the kitchen. Cooking for eight people had never been so easy now that the other seven were all shrunk. Hailey stopped and smiled at the thought—all the other contestants combined didn’t even match her weight. It was an exciting thought.

Paul and Vera arrived in the kitchen seperately within a few minutes of each other. Hailey greated them warmly and the four of them joined in a morning chat. Paul and Vera were feeling decently that morning, and their moods seemed to pick up similarly-sized Jerry just a little bit.

In the other room, the trio of Carla, Andy, and Marie was waking up. Andy was the first to wake up and his figeting quickly woke Marie. Shortly after Clara was also awake and the three of them were stretching, grinning at each other over memories of the wild evening they had shared.

Andy could not be happier. He was over the idea of Marie sharing with them and as long as Carla was large, he was happy. She radiated a sense of confidence and leadership that he admired, and found very favorable in nighttime situations.

Marie was giddy over the experience and could still scarcely believe she was here getting dressed with two giants that she had just had sex with. She was miniscule at eight inches tall and even these shrunken people were far bigger than her. She felt that she was in a fairy tale—an x-rated fairy tale with a whole different sort of happy ending.

“Can we do this again?” Marie asked up to Carla. Andy felt a slight pang—he had hoped to get Carla alone after last night.

“It all depends.” Carla said. “It depends on what sizes we are and how we all feel after today. Who really knows what will happen?”

“Okay,” Said Marie. She was a little dissapointed that Carla didn’t automaticly accept her, but she didn’t give up hope that there was going to be more fun later on.

Soon they joined Hailey and the others at the breakfast table which meant that everybody was present except Dale. As usual, Dale was sleeping in, avoiding contact with the others for the longest time he could muster. He was really depressed about the whole situation—he had no allies, and he had blown it with the only person who showed him any kind of liking.

Dale didn’t even feel like trying anymore. He felt that he would limp through the remainder of the competition, go home, and never come back. But something told him that he should still get out there, still be a part of the group, and still act like he had some remote chance of winning this thing.

So Dale got dressed and went out to join the group. Now that all eight of them were there, breakfast could begin. Like before, Jerry, Paul, and Vera all crowded onto Hailey’s large lap, and Andy and Marie crowded onto Carla’s smaller—but still adequate—lap. The growing alliances were becoming aparent even at the breakfast table. Hailey, the girl with one more person than Carla, felt secure that she was the winning side.

As they finished up their breakfast, the inevitable question of the day’s events came up in conversation.

“So do you think there’s going to be some kind of game?” Vera asked.

“I don’t think so,” Said Carla. “Last year this day was the beginning of ‘erratic shrinking’, remember?”

“Yeah, but remember Betty told us the game wouldn’t go exactly as the last one went.” Jerry pointed out.

“It’s been pretty consistant so far,” Vera said. “Only minor things have been different.

“I have a feeling things will be different,” Andy said.

“How so?” Asked Hailey.

“I’m not sure, really,” Andy said. “I just think they’ll be different.”

Shortly after breakfast Hailey cleared away the dishes and they started discussing ways of spending their morning. Just a few minutes into the conversation, however, Sherri entered the house, hailf sized.

“Hey Sherri,” Hailey said as the co-hostess entered. “Any news from the big house?”

“Just that Betty will be down in a couple of hours.” Sherri said. “Until then you have the time completely to yourselves to do whatever you want.”

“We were justing thinking about that.” Hailey said.

“Hey, here’s an idea,” Paul said. “There’s four of us at quarter-sized. What if we all played a game of soccer?”

“That’s a good idea,” Said Jerry, greatful for an opertunity to break away from Hailey. Vera nodded her approval as well. Andy instinctively looked to Carla for permission as if he was a child. Carla frowned slightly at this faux pas but gave him a short nod, indicating that he was free to go.

“What should our teams be?” Andy asked.

“Let’s mix it up.” Jerry said. “Me and Vera versus Paul and Andy.”

“Isn’t that quite even?” Paul asked.

“Hey, don’t underestimate me,” Vera said, giving Paul a playful slap in the arm.

Paul shrugged. “Hey, whatever you say!” He said. The four of them left through the door to play a game of soccer with a ball half as tall as they were. Left in the kitchen was a motley group of the biggest and the smallest people.

“Hell, why not play a game of catch?” Suggested Carla out of the blue. She certianly didn’t want to hang around in an awkward situation with Hailey and Dale. She looked to Dale. “You interested?”

Dale was a little taken aback, but said, “Sure.”

Carla handed Marie to Sherri as she made her way out of the door. “Hold on to her for me,” She said.

Sherri hesitated for a moment, then put Marie down on the ground. “Hey, let’s make it ‘Monkey in the Middle’,” Sherri cried and ran to join the other two. Now it was merely Hailey and Marie in the house by themselves.

For a moment neither of them said anything. Marie couldn’t help but stare upwards at Hailey, taller than a six-story building from her perspectave. Hailey enjoyed the attention as she stared downwards at the tiny doll on the floor next to her feet.

“Well,” Said Hailey. “It’s just the biggest and the smallest left together.” Hailey reached down and without even asking picked Marie up around the waste and lifted her. Marie scrambled to hold onto Hailey’ hand while she was raised into the air.

“Tell me, how does if feel to be so small?” Hailey asked, cuddling Marie against her bare shoulder. Hailey’s face filled Marie’s vision and she found it hard to avoid that large, curious stare.

“It’s…exciting, but it’s also really scary,” Said Marie in a meek voice. Hailey couldn’t help but smile at the response. Marie was so very cute, and Hailey knew she probably shouldn’t take advantage of her in the situation. But as before, her feelings were starting to get the better of her.

“I noticed you slept with Carla last night.” Hailey said.

Marie was a bit shocked at this change of topic. This really was none of Hailey’s business, but since she was in such a position of power she could not help but answer her.

“Y-yeah,” Marie said, even meeker than before.

“I didn’t know you liked girls,” Hailey said.

“I—I don’t, really, it was just a kind of…” Marie trailed off. She had no idea what to say.

“I’m not in to girls either, usually,” Hailey said. “But I am wondering what it was like? Can you tell me?”

“It was—interesting…” Said Marie, growing continually uneasy.

“Carla’s four times your size,” Hailey noted. “But…if you’re interested…I’m eight times your size. God Marie, you’re so cute!”

Hailey’s thumb and pointer finger started running slowly up Marie’s tiny legs. She didn’t know what to say but she was starting to shake with nerves.

“You’re so delicate,” Said Hailey. “I bet you’re so small that you could…slide right inside.”

Marie found her voice. “Please…put me down,” She said, trembelling.

“I’m sorry,” Said Hailey as she paused rubbing Marie’s legs.

“Please,” Repeated Marie. Hailey hesistated. Though Marie was such a cute doll Hailey couldn’t forget that she was a real person. Hailey listened to Marie’s request and put her down saftely on the ground. Once Hailey removed her hands Marie took several steps back. She was now looking up at Hailey with a look of fear more than anything.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.” Hailey said, feeling ashamed. Marie didn’t say anything, but kept looking up at her. For a few more moments there was silence. Finally Hailey said, “Just please don’t tell the others.”

There was another pause as Marie started to take some deep breaths and calm herself down. She was starting to realise that there was a dark side to being small. It wasn’t just the fun she liked to think of it as being. If Hailey had been more serious on wanting to experement with her, there would be nothing Marie could do about it.

Without saying anything else, Hailey turned away and went to take a hot shower in an attempt to forget what just happened. Certianly Marie wouldn’t take it too hard, she had already been with on girl much bigger than her—besides, Marie wasn’t going to support her anyway. Hailey kept thinking of all the ways she could tell herself not to worry about it.

At that moment Marie’s mind changed. She no longer wanted to be the cute tiny thing. She wanted to grow, and grow as big as she got. She was fortuanite enough to scare Hailey into not playing with her this time, but who knows about next time? She wanted to be big enough to defend herself against others and have a sense of dignity one could not have as a doll.

Meanwhile, the four quarter-sized people were enjoying their game of soccer. Like Paul predicted, he and Andy handed a fairly good defeat to Vera and Jerry. Then they switched teams putting Andy and Vera against Paul and Jerry at which point Paul’s team still pulled ahead. They played in the final combination Paul-Vera and Andy-Jerry, and Andy’s team handed Paul’s team a suprising upset by beating them by one point.

Regardless of who won, it was a welcome change for the four of them to forget their prejudices and alliances and just play as teemates. Andy couldn’t help but notice that Paul had mellowed out a bit in the last few days. Shrinking must have really humbled him, Andy thought, even more than it has the rest of us.

The odd group of Sherri, Carla, and Dale were actually enjoying their game fairly well. The typically moody Carla was becoming quite animated as she ran around the yard tossing the ball. Even Dale was starting to show signs of being the brutish jock that he was at the beginning of the game. Sherri was her same bubbly self and could not be more delighted that the contestants were relaxing; letting their stress levels down. The only bone Sherri had to pick was in this game of catch Carla and Dale were both taller than Sherri, so whenever she got stuck in the middle she stayed there for a long time.

“Hey, no fair!” Sherri said as a grinning Carla through the ball well over her head and Dale easily catched it. “I’m too short!”

“As if size was ever absolute in this place,” Carla said, catching the ball from Dale.

“That’s it!” Said Sherri in mock outrage. “I’m going to go get enlarged to full-sized, then who’ll be laughing?”

Sherri pretended to walk away, but then stopped as the three of them broke into laughter. The game was over at least for now.

“So what’s been up with you?” Carla aske Dale. “You haven’t been out so much?”

“It’s Hailey,” Dale said. “You know we had a thing at the beginning, I don’t want to be around her when she’s so big.”

“Come on,” Carla said, “You were hiding away even before she was the Queen.”

“Well,” Dale said, “I guess I uh…just couldn’t get into the swing of things. You know, it’s really unnatural, this shrinking.”

“You have to just roll with it,” Carla said. “What happens if you’re coaching and your best player breaks a leg?”

“That’s different, in sports I know how to handle things.” Dale said. Embarrased, he started turning away but Carla grabbed his arm.

“Don’t run away from this!” Carla said firmly. “Maybe you’re used to being the large-and-in-charge jock and having confidence in everything you do, and this is a shock to your system. But there’s no need to go and hide like a baby!”

Dale didn’t say anything and Carla could read a look of distress on his face. She decided not to push it. The poor jock was completely out of his element here.

“I’m going to hit the bathroom.” Said Carla and dashed of for the house. Dale tossed the ball to himself a few times, trying not to pay attention to the overlarge buildings or grass near him.

“She’s right, you know,” Sherri said. Dale looked at her and took a deep breath.

“You can’t prepare yourself for this game.” Dale said. “Shrinking. What an unnatural thing this was.”

“Some of the others seem to enjoy it,” Sherri suggested.

“I guess,” Dale said, looking down at the grass. “You know, I’ve never been a very introspective person, but I think I’ve learned something about myself. I’ve relied on my size and strength over others for my self image for most of my life. I’ve always been a big guy, always athletic. Now…”

“It’s a profound shock to your system.” Sherri said, nodding.

“Yeah,” Dale said.

“It seems there’s a pattern to that,” Sherri said. “The athletic people are usually hit the hardest by the shrinking percicely for the reasons you just told me.”

“If you would,” Dale said. “Please don’t tell the others. I don’t like talking about my personal life as it is.”

“Don’t worry.” Sherri said. Craking a smile, she said, “But if you think this means I’m going to go easy on you, forget it!” Sherri punched him in the arm and then took of in a run to another part of the house.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” Said Dale, a hint of a smile coming to his face.

When Carla entered the house she used the first bathroom instead of the second one because she heard the shower running. She was glad to play ball with people other than her usual hangouts; both Andy and Marie were looking to Carla as a protector and leader, and while Carla liked playing that roll most of the time she also wanted to relax and just have fun with others. Although she had been urging Dale out of his shell. Oh well, Carla thought, it’s one of my habbits, pushing people.

Carla left the bathroom and turned to walk outside. But then she saw something she did not see on the way in. Marie was standing on the side of the room standing and looking at her feet, her already miniscule form further diminished by her stance to the point where she made herself pratically invisible. She was unmistakedly upset.

“Hey girl, what’s wrong?” Carla said, rushing over to her. Instantly Carla felt guilty about leaving Marie in the house with Hailey. Something must have happened.

“I don’t want to be small anymore,” Said Marie, looking up at Carla. A couple tears were visable on her cheek.

“Why, what happened?” Carla asked.

“It’s just…” Marie said. “Hailey’s scary. It’s scary, I’m so vaunerable!”

Marie walked over to Carla and Carla picked Marie up, holding the small girl in her arms and rocking her back and forth. “We’ll fix it.” Carla said. “I’ll find a way to make you bigger.”

“I’m sorry if I’m being a wimp,” Said Marie from Carla’s shoulders. “I’m just scared, that’s all.”

“It’s completely understandable,” Said Carla. “I’d be scared if I was that small!”

Marie didn’t know why she wasn’t telling Carla the full story of how Hailey acted towards her. Maybe it was because Marie felt embarrassed about the whole thin, or maybe it was just because she didn’t want to cause trouble for Hailey. In either case, Marie could tell that Carla knew there was more to the story than it seemed, but fortuanitely she didn’t press it.

“Would you like to go outside?” Carla asked, thinking some fresh air and sunshine might help to make Marie feel better.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Said Marie. Carla put her friend back on the ground and they walked together towards the door. Once Carla opened it, Marie dashed out into the yard. The sun and air on her face made Marie feel much better. As she ran she reminded herself that these sizes were not permanent and it might only be a matter of minutes before things are changed around again.

Paul, Vera, Andy, and Jerry were sitting in the shade after their game talking. It was an interesting occurance; if you ignored the massive house, the knee-deep grass, and the towering bushes it almost looked like a normal gathering.

What was also interesting, Andy thought, was how much he and Paul were starting to find that they had in common. It was true that their lives had taken very different directions, Andy towards the technical and mathmatical while Paul went more towards the physical. But it turned out they had a lot of similar ideas about things in the world. Andy was slowly finding out Paul wasn’t the Navy brat he thought he was.

“So you don’t think an economic slump is coming?” Paul asked Jerry.

“Not really,” Jerry said. “Things seem to be going well.”

“If you read closely in the paper the signs are pretty evident.” Paul said. “There’s no drive to the market. In a few years things will slow down completely.”

Sherri came running along to join them. They rearranged their circle so there was enough room for her to fit. It wasn’t until after she sat down with them that they started to realise that she was their own size. She had been half-sized before.

“What have you been up to? Sherri asked.

“Just talking about the economy.” Andy said.

“Huh, that’s not something I know much about,” Sherri said, “I’m just lucky my personal economy is going so well after last season!”

There was a little laugh around the circle. It was well known that she had become a million dollars richer last year by winning the Shrinking Show.

“So what have you been doing with your winnings?” Asked Vera.

Sherri knew she was going to get tired of answering this question eventually. “I quit my job and spent a little time travelling.” Sherri said. “I spent about two weeks in the mountians and went abroad for a while. When I came back home I bought a nice house by the ocean. That’s about it.”

“Do you get bored at all?” Vera asked.

“Not really,” Sherri said. “I’ve been doing a lot of projects on my own. I’ve also made a number of apperances on talk shows!”

“What were those like?” Jerry asked.

“Pretty hilarious,” Sherri said. “They would ask me ‘How did it feel to be shrunk?’, but they had no idea I had actually been shrunk!”

They all laughed over that. “What did you tell them?” Jerry asked.

“I answered truthfully, they thought I was still acting!” Sherri said to more laughter. “Really, though, after that they started asking questions about what it was like to be in the show, how the selection was like, what it was like to work with everyone else, normal stuff like that.”

“That must have been really cool,” Andy said. “To them you were a famous actress.”

“I know, right!” Sherri beamed. “I’m even listed on Wikipedia as ‘Living SRIL Actresses’!”

“That’s when you know you’ve made it, when you’re on Wikipedia,” Paul said.

“Have you been asked to act in anything?” Vera said.

“Actually yeah,” Sherri said. “Believe it or not, they want me to play a college girl in a sitcom they’re filming in two months!”

“Are you going to take it?” Andy asked. “You should!”

“I’m not sure,” Sherri said. “I’m not really an actress! And besides once you’ve done the shrinking show, doing something where you remain full-sized and go off a script seems much less interesting!”

“That’s a good point,” Jerry said.

“I guess we’re all going to be celebraties after this to some extent,” Said Andy.

“Yeah,” Sherri said. “And you’ll all have Wikipedia pages about you.”

“Imagine that.” Paul said.

“Have you kept in contact with anyone from the first season?” Jerry asked.

“Well, Tom,” Sherri said, trying not to smile. “And I talk to Cameroon and Annie occassionally. We’re the half that still keeps in contact.”

“I’m not surprised the others wanted to shut this out of their minds.” Vera said.

“What, you wouldn’t come back after this season?” Sherri asked.

“I don’t know,” Vera said. “Maybe.”

“I wouldn’t,” Paul said.

“I don’t think I would,” Jerry agreed.

“Well, I think I’d come back,” Said Andy. The others looked at him and he read the words not surprised on their faces.

“Dale’s not going to come back,” Vera said. “Carla might. Marie might. Who the hell knows about Hailey though?”

“You might be surprised,” Sherri said. “When I was first shrunk I thought I’d never come back here, but here I am co-hosting the show!”

“I was curious,” Andy said. “You had a thing going with Tom, but at the end you had something going with Cameroon. How did that triangle resolve?”

“You’re really bringing back memories now,” Sherri said, “Well, none of us lived near each other so nothing could be really worked out. I’ve been single for most of the past year.”

“I bet you got a lot of suiters,” Jerry said.

“A few, suprisingly not that many, thanfully,” Said Sherri, raising her eyes. “I did have a brief fling with a guy in the mountians, though. That only lasted a week.” Sherri looked down at her watch, and said, “We’d beter get inside, Betty’s due in five minutes!”

Sherri jumped up to tell the others. In the meantime the four of them made their way to their feet. Andy had been made even more excited by Sherri’s discription of life after the shrinking show. Her celebraty fascinated him, and he had a hard time believing that she started out as just another contestant a year ago.

Jerry, on the other hand, was surprised by the feeling he had: attraction. He always knew Sherri was a very pretty girl, but he was starting to realise that he had feelings for her. The fact that they were both short statured and Sherri’s good nature really appealed to Sherri. He wondered fleetingly if he could ask her out sometime. He didn’t know if there was a company policy forbidding it, or even if Sherri would be interested. He had the feeling she would be a much better partner than Hailey.

Paul and Vera hung back for a second. Just in case they were about to be different sizes, they wanted to plan their strategy first.

“So what do you think this is going to be?” Paul asked. “Erratic shrinking?”

“Could be.” Vera said. “I think it’s all downhill from here, sizewise.”

“I can’t imagine getting much smaller than this,” Paul said.

“We’re just going to have to brace ourselves.” Vera said. “But no matter what, we’ll support each other.”

“Right,” Paul said. They brought their faces together in an open-mouthed kiss. Paul realised how much he loved this woman, and knew that he would do anything to help her, even if she didn’t know he was being helped.

Pretty soon they had all filed into the kitchen. All eight contestants plus Sherri were there, waiting for Betty’s arrival. The quarter-sized people were shocked to realise that Sherri, who had just a moment ago been siting with them in the circle, was once again towering over them at half-size! How could she have gotten to the compound and back so fast?

They would not have to wait long for their answer. Right at the top of the hour there was a wrap at the door. Hailey walked forward and opened it.