The next morning Paul was again the first one up. After brewing his customary cup of coffee, he went outside to jog and do pushups. As a policeman, Paul liked to keep in constant shape in case he had to tackle someone or be involved in a chase. Now with the treat of being shrunk looming over his head, Paul responded by working harder.

It was a number of hours before anyone else got up. In fact, Jerry was the only other person up before noon. Quietly coming into the living room, Jerry decided to watch soap operas on the TV as he waited for everyone else.

Marie was the next up, alert and exited about a new day as a two-and-a-half foot woman. She went outside to the place where Paul was doing jumping jacks in a white tank top. Marie marveled at the size and power of Paul, especially the arms which whipped back and forth rapidly above his head.

“Hi, Paul,” Marie said, coming up to him.

“Hey,” Said Paul in between breaths.

“Do you always do this?” Marie asked. There was a pause as Paul finished the rest of his set.

“Yeah,” Said Paul. He picked up his towel and started to wipe the sweat off his face and neck.

“You must be pretty strong.” Marie said, admiring Paul’s tight muscles.

“I can bench quite a bit.” Said Paul, wiping his head.

“Could you bench me?” Marie said with a  sheepish smile.

“Ha, you’re just a feather!” Paul said. “Even if you were full-sized it wouldn’t be much of a challenge. You couldn’t weigh more than a hundred.”

“Can I be in you workout any other way?” Marie asked, her little toes curling in excitement.

“Hmm,” Paul said. “Tell you what. I’m going to do pushups next. You can climb on my back. It won’t be much extra weight for me but it’ll be something.”

“Cool!” Marie said. Paul lowered himself down into pushup formation and Marie climbed on his back. Marie was small enough that while her head was near his head her feet only came down to his lower back. She was obviously too small to reach all the way around Paul’s body but she gripped it the best she could.

“Ready?” Paul asked. “One…two…three…” Paul began doing pushups in a rapid methodic way, breathing in and out sharply as he did it. Marie whooped for enjoyment as she felt her ride going up and down. She could feel the huge strong muscles working underneith her body, and that thought was very attractive to her.

After Paul reached his desired number he stopped, allowing both he and Marie to catch their breaths. Paul straightened himself up, causing Marie to slide gently to the ground. Paul stood up fully, his sweaty body towering over Marie. He grabbed a towel and dabbed at his sweat-filled face.

“I’m going in for a shower.” Paul said, tossing the towel down and striding back into the house.

“It was fun!” Said Marie. She smiled in delight. She smelled a considerable amount of Paul’s sweat on her, so she decided to take a shower too. It was a challenge at this size—the knob was above her eye level and the tub was nearly twice her height in length. She thought about calling Calra for help, but she was not sure she was comfertable with her friend seing her naked yet, so Marie decided to deal with it and do it herself.

The water came down in thick globs and was travelling faster than normal when it got down to Marie’s level. It hit her in a random pattern of thuds, not enough to hurt but hard enough that it felt like a massage. At her size it felt much more water was coming down on her, although the majority of it wasn’t hitting her tiny frame. It didn’t take long before she was completely washed off.

By this time both Carla and Vera had gotten up. They took upon themselves the task of fixing breakfast for the group. Dale and Hailey slipped out of bed and quietly made their way over to join Jerry at the TV. Both of them were very nervous about being around the big people. Dale in particular shied away from the sight of the two towering ladies, backs turned, working on breakfast.

Andy emerged completing the picture. He walked over to Carla and Vera and joined them in light conversation. When Marie came out of the shower she joined the three taller people. She was struggelling with a  full-sized comb to get her hair to come out right, and Carla took pity on her. Carla set Marie on one of the stools and combed her little head of hair for her.

When Paul emerged he went into the living room and watched television with the small people, much to Dale’s dismay. Jerry could see Dale and Hailey’s uncomfort at Paul’s presence, so he tried to engage Paul in a conversation about politics. With Paul’s attention focused on Jerry, Dale and Hailey felt a little better.

Before long breakfast was ready. The eight of them sat down around the table and, having learned their lesson from yesterday, Carla and Vera only prepared food for five people, leaving the small people to split the fifth serving. Indeed, half a muffin more than filled Jerry up and Marie couldn’t even finish hers. Dale finished the rest of Marie’s half but he felt awfuly full afterwords.

They cleaned the dishes, Marie once again taking per place drying them. When it was all done, Paul announced: “We have a whole afternoon ahead of us. Who wants to play basketball?”

Andy, Carla, and Vera all jumped at the chance, but the little people felt a little dienfranchised. Marie was certianly interested, provided she could ride on someone’s shoulders, but the others seemed less interested.

“Can I ride on your shoulders?” Marie asked to Paul, thinking of the great ride she would have up at twice her height.

“Sure,” Said Paul, lifting Marie onto his shoulders. Marie gripped onto his head and started feeling emotions she hadn’t felt since she was six years old. However, she found herself more and more attracted to this muscular giant.

“Hey Dale, why don’t you join, you’ve played basketball before!” Said Paul.

“No thanks, I’ll stay inside.” Dale said.

“Come on.” Paul said. “You can ride on Vera’s shoulders. I’m sure she’ll be gental.”

Vera nodded, stepping over to Dale. “It’ll be fun!” Said Vera.

Dale thought about it for a bit. He really didn’t want to be a kid on mommy’s shoulders but at the same time he thought it would be worse to back off from a challenge from Paul. “Okay,” He said.

Vera leaned down to pick up Dale. Dale was astonished and scared by the size of Vera’s hands as they came near him. They wrapped around his waste and efforetlessly the woman picked the shrunken football coach off the ground. This was the closest Dale had been to a giant thus far, and he was awestruck by Vera’s proportions. Her muscles, her bones, her curves…everything was expanded to astounding proportions. Dispite his embarrasment he felt a strange attraction towards the giantess.

Vera settled Dale on her shoulder as his feet dangled near her chest. She rearanged her pony tale so it trailed over Dale’s right leg. Dale was not afraid of hights, but the thought of being supported by a constantly moving human being was unnerving.

“Either of you want to join?” Paul asked. Jerry and Hailey both shook their head no. “Okay, your loss.” Paul said, and with that he lead the others outside.

They teamed up Paul-Carla against Vera-Andy, and they began play. Quickly the Paul-Carla team started to win, since Vera was very cautious about the little man on her shoulder. Paul, while also cautious, was much less so, resuling in Marie whipping around and whooping at the top of her lungs. Andy and Carla were about an even mach for each other, but the lack of a person on their shoulders ment they could get a greater slice of the action.

After the Paul-Carla team was up about twenty points, Marie called for a switch of riders. Paul ablidged, picking up Marie and setting her on Carla’s shoulders. Vera follow suit placing Dale on Andy’s shoulders. Andy could hardly hide his awkwardness, but he managed to go with it.

The game started to become a little more balanced, but with the dominant players now unincumbered by a rider they soon dominated. It was still a lot of fun for Marie, though. Even though Carla was not as fast or strong she balanced Marie with much more care. Andy become stiff and was too afraid to run from place to place for fear of Dale falling off.

The game was becoming a one-on-one match between Paul and Vera, so Carla and Andy stood back and watched it go on. Within a few minutes they had withdrawn from the game completely and had sat down in a patch of grass, little Marie and Dale sitting between big Carla and Andy. Paul and Vera didn’t even seem to notice.

“That was fun,” Said Carla, still panting and sweating a little.

“I’ll say,” Andy said. “I was kind of afraid when Dale was put on me. I didn’t know how well he would stay on.” Everyone expected Dale to say something, but the little man remained mute.

“What’s wrong, tiger?” Carla asked Dale. “You haven’t said much in the past few days! You were very talkative when you were big.”

“Oh, I’m fine.” Dale said, feeling vulnerable. “It’s just—it’s weird. I never expected to be in a situation like this.”

“Yeah,” Said Marie. “But it’s a lot of fun, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know about that.” Dale said.

“What do we look like from your size?” Andy asked.

“Huge,” Said Dale, bluntly. “Very, very huge. Unbelievable.”

“It could have well been any one of us.” Carla said. “At any rate, it could all change tonight.”

“How do you think it’s going to go?” Andy said. “Do you think it will be like last season?”

“I don’t know.” Carla said. “It might be. I sure hope no matter what it is that it’s a closed vote, though. I don’t like the idea of everyone knowing who I want to shrink or whatever.”

“I dowbt they’ll do that this early in the game,” Said Dale, trying to reassert himself, “Later on though.”

“When we all hate each other more, right?” Carla said, and they all laughed a little.

“What I wonder is how small we’ll get.” Said Andy. “I know in the first season everyone eventually got shrunk down to four inches at some point, and…”

“Please,” Carla said, holding up her hand. “I don’t want to think about that just yet.”

“Yeah,” Dale said. “Three feet is scary enough.”

“I think it’ll be fun to be smaller.” Marie said. “Although I don’t want to be booted out of the competiton early. Do you think that’ll work the same way, elimination, I mean?”

“I don’t know.” Said Carla. “I hope they don’t make elimination size smaller, though.”

“They might.” Andy said. “But then again they might not. They might keep it the same for consistancy factor. Everything else has been consistant with the first season so far.”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” Dale said. “I just hope there’s a little bit of time before we start shrinking further.”

Back inside, Jerry and Hailey were watching TV and chatting. Being smaller made both of them feel more vaunerable in general, and somehow that freed them up to talk about things they usually wouldn’t.

“At one point I wanted to study Astronomy,” Hailey said. “I know I might not look it, but I’m really into stars.”

“I’ve always been into cooking myself.” Jerry said. “My dream is to open my own resturant. I don’t have the money, though. But I never thought I’d be a delivery guy for four years. When I took the job I told myself six months, tops.”

“I’ve never stayed at a job much more than six months.” Hailey said. “It’s—I don’t know, nothing I’ve done really fits me. This taxi cab thing is going on seven months now. I kind of like it, though. It makes me feel important, carting people from place to place.”

“Yeah,” Jerry said. “More interesting than food, I suppose.”

“I guess I also feel a little important being on this show.” Hailey said. “I mean, it is going to be broadcast everywhere. I just wish there was some other way besides shrinking to do it.”

“Yeah, it’s quite a price.” Said Jerry, looking around the gigantic living room and all the things that they would normally take for granted.

“I still want to see it through.” Hailey said. “I don’t really have any allies here, though.”

“What about Dale?” Asked Jerry.

“Dale? He’s fun,” Hailey said, “But there’s something about him. I don’t think he likes me for anything more than phisical. I tried talking to him last night, but he just told me he was too tired to listen.”

“And you can’t get used to it.” Jerry said. “Before long, you and he may be totally different sizes.”

“That’s really strange to think about.” Hailey said. “Things just don’t line up. I mean, I’ve seen movies and everything, but still, it’s strange.”

“I don’t know.” Jerry said, as his mind started drifting away from the moment and onto other possibilities he may come across in the future.

Outside, Paul and Vera finally finished their game. Paul won, of course, but Vera put in some serious competition. It had really been a good time for them, especially when the others left and it was just one on one.

“We should do that again,” Vera said, wiping herself off with a towel.

“Yeah.” Paul said. “Provided that we’re both full-sized in the future.”

“Yeah,” Vera answered, still not wanting to think about that. Shrinking still worried her, and in the mind was a running thought that was trying to figure out who wanted to shrink her. If she went through everyone individually it didn’t seem so bad, but she still had a feeling that several of them out there were gunning for her. Maybe Dale after she picked him up, or Carla to get her out of the way, or Jerry…

Paul went inside and poured himself a large glass of juice, gulping it down rather fast. Vera followed him in, and the four on the ground decided it was time to get inside too.

The rest of the afternoon was mostly uneventful. Once again it was maily talking and watching TV, although a few of them decided to take another walk around the grounds. Certain people, such as Dale, Hailey and suprisingly Andy were dissappering for hours at a time, presumably hiding away in their rooms.

At dinner time it was once again Paul, Carla, and Vera that did the cooking. They ate dinner more or less normally, with the small people finishing collectively half a serving. Paul and Andy did the dishes, and with the novelty worn off, Marie went to play with Carla and Vera in the living room.

Eight o’clock was fast approaching now, and all the contestants did their best to try and ignore it. They knew they were bound to be pitted against one another and if they talked about it they were sure that tensions would arise.

Carla, Vera, and Paul were sitting in a line on the one couch, with Marie in Carla’s lap. Andy was in one chair, and Dale and Hailey shared another. Jerry was alone on the floor, looking at all the giants perched up on the couch.

The nerves were rising, possibly moreso than in the first round because this time nobody really knew what was going to happen. If it was like the first season, one of the big people would be shrunk. But of course, it may be nothing like the first season. Multiple people might be shrunk, and people might be shrunk to less than half-size already! With the game’s unpredictable charicter nothing could be ruled out.

In what they would come to understand to be Betty’s habit of absolute punctuality, they heard her sharp knock on the door at exactly eight o’clock. At first they all just looked at each other, none wanting to be the one to open that door. Finally, Paul decided to be the man and open it.

“Good evening,” Said Betty, as she walked through the open door to see the group of very still, anxious looking people on the couch. “I’m glad you’re all excited about the evening’s events!”

A few people smiled weekly. They were too nervous to really way anything.

“Well, let’s all come on down to the compound so I can explain things.” Betty said, “Come on!”

Some more reluctant than others, the eight of them came off their couches and chairs and joined Betty on the walk to the compound. Marie was pretty excited about the whole thing; who knows what would happen in a shakeup? Carla was nervous, though. Although she wasn’t as scared as Vera she still didn’t want to be shrunk.

Paul knew that several people would be gunning for him because of his strong authority and powerful figure. He had to do whatever it took to block himself from being shrunk, if that were possible. Dale on the other hand knew the only thing he really wanted was to be re-enlarged.

Betty opened the door to the windowless shrinking room and the contestants stepped inside. Sherri stood half-sized waiting against the far wall, and there they found three boxes on little tables about two feet high, and a small stack of notecards next to eight pencils. They knew it was some sort of voting right off—but three options? Weren’t there only shrink and enlarge. Possibilities flooded their minds, but there was no consensus on what the third box could mean.

“Today will not be very different from the first vote of the first season.” Betty said once the people were gathered, the small people by neccesity in front. “One of the full-sized people will walk away half-sized, and one of the half-sized people will walk away full-sized.” The contestants looked at each other. Most of them had suspected that it would work this way.

“You will vote in a secret ballot.” Betty said. “You will put the name of the person you want to shrink in the box on the left, and the name of the person you want to enlarge in the box in the middle. Now, the box on the right is the block box. The block box is important, because you can use it to prevent something from happening. If a name of a small person is drawn from the block box they will not grow, and if a name of a big person is drawn they will not shrink. So in the block box place the name of the person you want to remain the same size. If the name in the block box is the same as any other name, then another card will have to be drawn.”

There were a lot of raised eyebrows and sideways glances. No one had expected anything like a ‘block box’, but when they thought about it they realised it was a neat way to stop something from happening. Of course, by all odds the block box probably would not go into effect at all, but it was an intreaguing possibility.

Sherri started passing out three cards and a pencil to each of the contestants as Betty continued talking. “I will call you in reverse alphabitical order to put you cards in the boxes. After that is done, I will draw a name for each. If your name is picked from one of the first two boxes you will stand on this far wall here.” Betty indicated the wall opposite the boxes. “But you will not enter the shrinking chamber yet, because the block box might prevent the change from happening. Now, write your names down, and choose carefully.”

There were a couple of minutes of silence as the contestants made their picks. Some made their decisions very fast, jotting down the three names almost immediately. Others took longer to contemplate strategy, thinking for a whole minute or two before they made their selections.

“Has everyone finished?” Betty asked. All the contestants nodded. “Okay, good. Now you will place them into the appropriate boxes, starting with Vera.”

This had definitely taken Vera some thought. She knew she didn’t want to shrink herself, obviously, and she didn’t want to shrink Paul either. It was between Carla and Andy then. She rather liked Carla, but was a little worried about her taking control. But as long as Paul was in charge things would be fine. Andy was an odd one and Vera frankly didn’t know what to make of him. Vera decided to be on the safe side and vote Carla for shrinking.

As for enlarging, Vera certianly didn’t want to see Dale re-enlarged. Hailey annoyed Vera, but Marie and Jerry were both fine. Jerry was a gental guy and didn’t seem leadership material, so Vera thought it would be safest to enlarge him.

The block vote was the easiest. She cast it for herself! If she could stop herself from being shrunk that would be the best thing that could happen.

“Paul, you’re next!”

Paul also had to choose between Andy and Carla, knowing that he wanted to see Vera remain full-sized. Andy was a good guy, but Carla was more of a leader. Paul’s thoughts matched Vera’s very much on this, and Paul also cast his shrinking vote for Carla.

As for enlarging, he knew Dale was out, and Jerry was out too. Paul didn’t really like Jerry too much, incompatable personalities or something. Marie was cute shrunk, but it didn’t really matter either way what happened to her. But Paul had an idea: what would be better to embarrass the living hell out of Dale than to enlarge his lady friend? Since Hailey posed no threat to him, he cast his enlarging ballot for her.

The block vote was easy: it was cast for himself. A chivelrous man would have put his block in for Vera to protect her, but this was a secret ballot and it was a competition after all.

“Next: Marie!”

Marie walked forward, the boxes almost as high as her head as she dropped the nearly letter-sized papers into them. The shrinking vote had been a process of elimination for her. She loved Carla and wanted her to remain full-sized. She also liked the vision of big sturdy Paul and wanted to keep him that way. Marie felt bad about shrinking Vera, who was very nervous, so she cast her ballot for Andy.

She slated herself for enlargement. Sure it was fun to be small, but it was a competition after all and fundinemtally she was in it to win just like all the others.

As for the block vote, she obviously didn’t want to keep herself small, so she decided to use it on Carla to keep her big. Carla was almost turning into a big sister for her, and if she could to anything to keep her large that was fine by her.

“Jerry, you’re up!”

Jerry walked up to the high tables and cast his votes. For shrinking, he really only wanted to see Paul shrunk out of the group. The arrogent, strutting man would lord over the rest of them if he was given the chance. That vote was easy.

The enlarging vote was also easy: himself.

The block vote was a little trickier. He went through the other three big people and really didn’t see anyone he wanted to protect. He knew Vera was scared of shrinking but strategicly that was nothing to go on. Thinking of the small people, he decided Dale was the best person to keep small. If Paul and Dale were both shrunk then the two loudest personalities would be kept at bay.

“Hailey, your turn!”

Hailey decided to cast her shrinking vote for Vera. Some might think it heartless to vote for somebody who fears it, but Hailey thought Vera was acting silly. She was more annoyed with her than any of the other big people.

It was obvious that Hailey voted for herself to be enlarged.

As for the blocking vote, there was nobody big she wanted to protect, but if she voted for another small person to be blocked then there was a chance the second vote picked might be hers. So who to keep small: Dale, Marie, or Jerry? Marie was a little too happy for Hailey’s taste, so she voted for her.

“Next up is Dale.”

Dale’s first two votes required the least thought of all. There was nobody he would rather shrink than Paul. The rest could be giants for all he cared but Paul had to be taken down to scale.

As for enlargement, it was obviously going to be himself.

For the blcok vote Dale was at a bit of a loss. He didn’t want to protect any of the big people and he didn’t have anything in parcticular against any of the small people. Marie was fine, and Hailey was fine. But Jerry—Dale was not so sure about him. He decided his block vote was best cast for Jerry.

“Now Carla.”

Carla walked up to the boxes which were lower than her waste. When thinking about her shrinking vote she fleetingly considered shrinking Andy to give him what he wanted. But she dismissed that as a silly thought, and decided to go with Paul. She was really turned off by his arrogence and frankly didn’t understand what Marie and Vera saw in him. He really should shrink.

As far as enlargement, Carla decided to be loyal to Marie. She was sure she was getting a block vote from Marie, provided she wasn’t foolish enough to cast it on Paul, so Carla thought she would to what she could to help her friend. Having Marie small was fun, but her loyalty trumped that feeling.

As for her block vote, it wasn’t too hard to cast it for herself. She suspected there might be someone out there aiming for her and it was better off to be protected.

“Finally, Andy.”

Andy walked forward to the boxes. He had seriously considered writing his own name for shrinking, and his hands had trembled holding the pencil knowing he had that kind of power. But he felt it was better to make a strategic choice and vote for Paul, since his assertive personality was the biggest threat to Andy himself.

For his enlargement vote Andy decided to cast it for Marie. He didn’t want one of the men to be enlarged, and he had personally thought Hailey was a little ditsy. Marie was a very attractive girl, and somewhere inside his unconcious he would love for her to be taller than him.

Strategicly, he should have cast the block vote for himself. But Andy decided he would let his feelings come out on this one issue. If someone wanted him to shrink, he would let it happen. But there was one person he wanted to protect: Carla. He took an instant liking to Carla the moment he met her and would love to do anything to keep her big and powerful, so that is how he casted his votes.