The walk to the front of the house took longer than either Marie or Jerry suspected it would, and by the time they finally got there Jerry’s little burst of energy was wearing off and his legs were starting to ache worse than ever before, causing him to slow down.

“Here, let me carry you again,” Marie said, and Jerry felt her hands under his armpits as she lifted him up and put him on her shoulders. Jerry felt Marie’s firm shoulders rotate as she trekked on for both of them.

As it turned out the gates to the front were not even shut and they were able to walk right in. The whole time they walked across the circular ending of the driveway Jerry kept getting the feeling that someone could pull up anytime and see them. It seemed, however, that no one was in the compound except for the contestants, the hostess, Sherri, and Tom.

Jerry could only muster enough mental curiosity to vaugely wonder what rooms all those extra windows were for and who worker or lived there as they passed by. His normal curiosity was much blunted by his physical exaustion and his drive to make it back to the house as quickly as possible.

Marie started carrying Jerry once they crossed the fence that seperated the front area of the compound from the sides and the back. They walked along the long grassy yard opposite the one in which they had played capture the flag with water guns, a game that seemed like it took place over a year ago from Jerry’s perspective.

“You’re really trooping!” Jerry said as Marie pressed on along the side of the compound, the house becoming increasingly visiable around the far corner of the compound. “Aren’t you tired at all?”

“Ah, it’s not that bad,” Marie said, though Jerry could tell by the sound of her voice that she was panting a little.

“Do you want me to get off and walk for a little bit?” Jerry said.

“What, and slow us down, are you crazy?” Marie breathed, and laughed. She tightened her hands around his ankles as if showing her commitment to carrying him.

“Marie,” Jerry said. “If we win this thing…”

“If you win this thing.” Corrected Marie.

“No, if we win this thing, because there’s no way I could have done it without you,” Jerry said. “I want to give you a bigger share of the winnings than five thousand dollars.”

“Aw, no Jerry, that’s okay,” Marie said, though he could tell in her voice that she was flattered.

“No really, you deserve it,” Jerry said. “You only lost the ping-pong game because Carla was being really unfair, and you’ve helped me here so much.”

“Jerry, I couldn’t accept that from you!” Marie said, declining him friendily.

“Just a little bit?” Jerry asked. “How about 5%?”

“That’s fifty thousand, there’s no way I can take that much!” Marie said. She didn’t speek for a moment, then said, “Well, I guess I could accept half a percent.”

“Just five thousand?” Jerry said. “How about two percent, twenty thousand? That’s a nice solid payment towards a home.”

Marie sighed. “I guess I can’t talk you out of being generous.” She grinned. “Okay, what about one percent, plus you come shopping with me in the city and buy me nice things?”

“It’s a deal,” Jerry said. Marie took her right hand off Jerry’s ankle for a minute to shake his much smaller hand.

It was high noon and they finally were making their way out into the open in the yard they had all become familiar with durring their stay at the house. The sun was at its hottest ever but at the same time Jerry felt that he didn’t care quite so much. The end was in sight.

            Vera and Dale had made their way to the back door of the house. They were now within the property and they just had to find a way in. Since the back door was the closest spot to where they emerged, they came there try and find a way in.

            “Well, the door’s closed.” Dale said, stating the obvious first. “And there’s no other way in that I know of.” He put his hand on his chin and bent forward, thinking.

            Vera’s heart was still thumping from the vigerous walk but only now was it starting to die down a little, and with it the optomism she had been carrying. Had she really come this far just to be faced with a closed, locked, and impregnable house?

            “Maybe there’s a hole in the panelling, or a pipe we could crawl through,” Dale thought out loud, but his voice was very unconvincing.

            But then the idea struck Vera. “Windows!” She exclaimed out loud.

            “Windows?” Dave asked, not following.

“One of the windows might be open.” Vera said. “That could be our only way in!”

“But the windows are so high off the ground, how will we get up there?” Dale asked.

“When Marie was cooking the other day I was standing on the countertop and I noticed branches of a bush coming straight up to the kitchen window…” Vera said. Abruptly she got up and took off in a run towards the east side of the house. Dale quickly got up and followed her.

Vera rounded the corner of the house and ran out to a point where she could clearly see all the windows of this side of the house.

“A-ha! I see it!” Vera said, pointing joyously at a window that was open halfway down the house, and in front of it was a large bush with its branches extending all the way up, waving in the wind.

“You were right!” Dale said, catching up to Vera and looking where she indicated. “Do you think those branches could hold our weight, though?”

“Dale, we weigh next to nothing.” Vera said. “Those twigs look sturdy enough for us. Come on, let’s go!”

The two of them sprinted over to the base of the bush, which to them was like a great tree that stood alone in a clearing. The branches were low enough for the two of them to climb them. They did not know this, but this was also the bush under which Andy and Marie had made out durring the beginning of their short-lived fling, twice the size that Vera and Dale were at currently.

Vera climbed up the branches first with Dale following shortly behind. At first the branches were thicker then their wastes and completely uneffected by their miniscule body weight. The higher they got, however, the more the tinning branches sagged under them, and the further the branches were from each other.

They were walking along a branch a good two and a half feet from the ground, still a foot shy of the windowsill height. Vera had mapped out a visual path to go to get to the windowsill, and she was fairly confident that the branches between here and here would support her weight.

Next to her, though, Dale was shaking as he tried to follow her cautiously along the branch. He was breathing more heavily than he had durring any point of their walks, and it looked like he was afraid to take another step.

“That’s the one thing,” Dale said. “I’m not good with heights.”

Vera almost wanted to laugh, but restrained herself. “Well, that doesn’t make being small any easier,” Vera said. “Well, we each have our own thing. I’m claustrophobic myself.”

Vera scooted along the branch and looked at her next target. It was about eye level an arm’s-reach ahead of her. Calculating her move, she leaned forward, going into a controlled fall as she grabbed the thick twig with both hands. She hung suspended from it for a second before swinging her body. On the second swing she swung her right leg up and over the twig and using that foothold managed to pull herself on top of the twig. It sagged an inch or so when she got on it but otherwise it was holding her.

Dale, however, was staying where he was, looking up at Vera with a look of fear in his eyes. Vera looked back at him and said, “Hey, aren’t you coming?”

A moment passed before Dale responded, “I don’t think I’ll be going with you from this point on.”

An unexpected pang of emotion hit Vera as he said that. Was she—actually sad to loose his company.

“Are you sure?” Vera said. “We’re so close. Don’t you want to finish it together?”

“It’s okay,” Dale said. “I helped you the best I could. And if you win I still get immunity whether I’m with you or not.”

“Well, it’s your choice,” Vera said, no trace of anger left in her voice. “I guess you’ll just have to wait here for Betty to pick you up or something.”

A totally different kind of flicker of fear passed over Dale’s face, but left him pretty quickly. “Well, I’ll have my immunity so she’ll probably just carry me back to the compound.” Dale said.

“Well, I’ll see you later,” Vera said, inching over to another twig where she pulled herself yet higher.

Abruptly she turned around to Dale again. “Wait.” Vera said. “You said you knew where the victory cup was?”

“Yeah,” Said Dale, shock filling his face upon realising that he almost forgot to tell her this crucial piece of information. “Sherri was debriefing me in the control room, and while she was talking I caught sight of one of the screens. The cup is in the center of the kitchen table. Sherri didn’t mention it and I kept my mouth shut. I’m sure the other person they sent out doesn’t know about it.”

Vera smiled, a genuine beaming smile that bridged her face. This was better news than she could have ever hoped for—she knew where the victory cup was and Jerry almost certianly didn’t.

“Thank you, Dale,” Vera said, before turning to continue her ascent. She made her way up two more branches, the last of which came almost all the way up to the windowsill. By this height they were very spindly and sagged considerably under Vera’s weight. Still, Vera inched along slowly and at the very end she managed to put her hands on the top of the windowsill, pulling herself up and over onto the sill itself.

Before she dissappered from view, she turned back to Dale to say her final pre-victory goodbye. “Hey Dale, before I go,” Vera said. “I just want to say thank you for all the help that you have given me and—well—I think I’ll be be able to let my grudges go.”

Dale smiled back up at her. It was the most animated she had seen him so far today and the most positive she had seen him the entire game. “I know you’re going to win, Vera.” Dale said. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

With that Vera gave one final wave before dissappering from view and heading on through the open window and into the kitchen.

At the front of the house Marie picked Jerry off her shoulders and put him down on the ground in front of her. Jerry had come and gone through this front door many times durring his stay here but never did he have to come up to it all of one-sixteenth-size, and it certianly looked imposing for a house of its exceedingly small size. Even the stairs would seem an insurmountable task if slightly-larger Marie wasn’t there to help him.

But Marie wasn’t looking at the stairs. She was scanning the base of the house for something else. Curiously, Jerry asked her why she was doing this.

“I know how to get into the house.” Marie said. “There’s a definite way to get inside, I just have to find it.” Marie started walking slowly towards the house.

“What is it?” Jerry asked, walking to keep up with Marie.

“I came across it one night when I was going through my bag in the closet.” Marie said. “It was a trapdoor, almost invisible. I picked it up and it seemed to connect to a system of tunnels under the house, build expecially for someone your size.”

“Really?” Jerry said, but as soon as he said it he was hit with a wave of revelation. It was obvious that this system must exist! This was how Sherri had been able to sneek around the house undetected all these times, this was how she managed to sneek off after they had sex without opening any doors!

“Hey, I found it!” Marie said, pointing to a spot and sprinting towards it. Following her, Jerry saw what she was looking at. Concieled by shadows, shrubs, and clever craftwork that made it look like part of the base panelling, was a tiny door that lead to a five-inch-high tunnel that ran under the house.

“Jackpot!” Jerry said. “Let’s see if it’s unlocked!”

Marie pushed the door gently and it swung open. She whooped out loud, rejoicing.

“Excellent!” Marie said. “Now we just need to get inside and find that cup and we’ve won!”

“I have some ideas,” Jerry said.”

“Well, you go first,” Said Marie, indicating the door. “I’m a bit big and if I get stuck I don’t want you to be delayed.”

Jerry stepped up into the hallway and walked forward. It was much darker in here than it was outside, the only light coming from the doors and dim bulbs that lit the way. The tunnel was low and narrow, just a head taller than him and barely wide enough for a person his own size to squeese by him.

Marie had to really cram herself in to fit. She had to duck down as she walked and even then she took up most of the room in the hallway. It was a good thing to be a bit bigger outside, but as soon as she came in here her size was more of a liability than an asset, and she wished she could shrink herself down to Jerry’s proportions.

The hallway seemed a mile long and Jerry could scarecly believe it was under the same little house they had lived in for the last few days. The tiny tunnel certianly gave the whole house an illusion of great size, as if it were some sort of bunker or warehouse.

Jerry noticed that Marie was lagging behind him. She was having trouble moving through the tunnel at any respectable speed and was getting snagged on any irregularity she came across.

“Having trouble, Marie?” Jerry asked, looking over his shoulders at the taller woman.

“Don’t wait around for me.” Marie said. “If I get stuck you’ll have to go on and win the game yourself.”

“It’s not that bad,” Jerry said, but Marie shook her head. Suddenly her eyes lit up with an idea.

“Hey, pretend we’re in some sort of cave and I’m a monster you have to run away from.” Marie said, her expression tinkling with mischeif.

“No, just…” Jerry starred.

“RAWR!” Marie growled in mock menace, throwing her arms up in front of her and causing Jerry to jump.

“Okay! Message received,” Jerry said, breaking into a smile and turning around to continue his way down the hallway. Marie continued to fight her way forward through the constricted hallway.

Jerry noticed several hallways branching off on the side but he didn’t know which one to pick—there were no labels that he could see. He knew that he had to get out of the main hallway sooner or later or he would keep on walking straight through to the back door on the other side. Jerry decided to pick a branch to his left a little before halfway down.

“I’m going this way,” He shouted back to Marie, indicating the side hallway.

“Okay, just go ahead and start looking, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Marie said.

Jerry moved quickly down the side hallway, which seemed to terminate abruptly halfway across the length of the house. Where it terminated, though, he could see a latter that lead up to a closed trapdoor. He climbed the first three steps of the latter and found that the trapdoor came off quite easily. Reflected sunlight shined down into the tunnel as Jerry climbed up and out.

Jerry found himself inside one of the closets of the look-alike bedrooms. Since everyone was moved out of the house the closet was empty, a shoe rack the size of a child’s playground set and truck-sized hangers the only things that remained. The door to the closet was partially opened so he made his way out into the bedroom, where the sun poured in from the windows.

“Where could it be.” Jerry said. There were so many hiding places. It could be on the bed, on the headboard, under the bed, on the dresser, in any one of the dresser drawers…and that was just in this room! There were several other rooms of this configuration, not to mention all the others. The victory cup could be in any one of them.

There has to be a simple solution, thought Jerry. If he and Vera had to search the entire house for the cup it could take hours, expecially with their limited sizes. Never durring the course of his long trek through the desert did he think that there would still be a long portion of the competition still to go after he made it to the house.

There was the sound of movement coming from the closet as Marie pulled herself out of the tight opening, having no need for the ladder. Finally free of the constrained space, she rushed over to Jerry and noticed the concerned look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Marie asked.

“The cup could be anywhere.” Jerry said. “Literally, anywhere.”

Marie knew it was true. She had no idea where the cup was—Sherri had not told her anything about it. She would hate to have the final leg of this competition turning into finding a needle in a haystack.

“Simple, it has to be simple,” Jerry mumbled, trying to think.

“What?” Marie asked.

“The location of the cup, it has to be simple,” Jerry said. “Well, cups are usually in the kitchen. Let’s go there.”

“That makes sense.” Marie said, and the two of them turned to make their way out of the bedroom and into the main hallway towards the kitchen.

“You know Betty’s sense of humor,” Jerry said. “I bet it’s going to be right up on the table or something like that.”

Fortuanitely the kitchen counter was right below the window ledge so it was a drop of only a couple of inches for Vera. She had almost done it—she was now in the kitchen, in almost exactly the same spot she was standing when Marie was cooking the meal. Now she just had to see if it was there…

…and it was. Sitting in the center of the otherwise-clear kitchen table was a single small glass. It had a small ribbon tied around it—ironically the same kind of ribbon used in the maze game—and there was no mistaking it. Vera knew that she was perhaps a mere minute away from winning the game. All she had to do was figure out how to get over there.

First Vera surveyed the scene. The table was at about the same height as the counter, maybe slightly lower. It was surrounded by four chairs which were decently pulled in to the table. Unfortuanitely there was no way to travel between the counter and the table while remaing at the same level. It seemed that the only way Vera was going to get there was by climbing down using the drawers and then climbing back up using the chairs. But it was at least twice her body height from the floor to the chair and three times her body height from the chair to the tabletop. If only Dale could have mustered the balls to overcome his fear of heights he might be here to help her.

Vera had to think of another way over. She couldn’t climb up so she had to think of a way to get across without dropping to the ground. Nothing was coming to mind, however. Every idea was ridiculous or fanticiful in some way: using some object as a bridge, somehow floating over…none of it was very sound. If only there was a simple and easy way to cross over.

Suddenly, Vera got it. She had almost completely forgotten about the pack on her back as she had become more or less used to it, but she was pretty sure it had what she needed. She almost ripped it off her shoulders and threw it down in front of her rummaging around until she felt her hand touch…

Rope.

Vera pulled out toe rope and almost kissed it. This was the way she was going to cross the divide between the counter and the table. She would tie one end of the rope to a fixture on the counter—the sink would work well—and make a lasso to ring around the top of one of the side support colomns of the nearest chair.

The idea was almost like something from a movie.

The rope was firm and strong, and Vera had no dowbts it would hold her. She first went about tieing one of the ends to the base of the sink. Then she found the other end and tied a lasso, estimating the size of the top of the chair’s support colomn and making it slightly bigger so that it would hopefully get lodged in the crafting near the top and not slide down to the bottom.

Finally, Vera was ready to toss the lasso to the chair. It was a bit of a distance from where she was standing but she knew she was generally a good aim. She took aim and threw the rope but went wide to the left, the lasso smacking quietly against the chair before falling towards the floor.

Vera quickly grabbed the rope and pulled it all back in with fireman speed, readying herself for another throw. She threw it and missed again. She cursed under her breath and realed up the rope. She tried it a third, fourth, and fifth time, missing each time. Each time she missed she felt time slipping away. She did not know where Jerry was but he could be in the house this very minute—he could have found another way in and his assistant could still be with him.

Vera took a deep breath and focused on the target. She had a pretty good idea by this point how the rope felt in her hands and moved in the air. She looked intently at the chair and visualised the rope sailing through the air and looping itself around the top. Taking a deep breath she brought her wrist back and tossed the rope. It went up and over the gulf of space and came down right on top of the side fixture. Vera pulled it tight. She couldn’t believe it—she had done it!

The rope was still not tight and she had to go back and adjust her knot by the sink. But her end on the chair held firm, stuck against the metal fixture and unlikely to budge. Now that she made the rope tight, it was time to cross.

Vera put her two hands on the rope just off the counter and pushed her body gently off the edge, now just supporting herself by the rope. She would have to do hand-over-hand climbing to get over the floor since there was no way she could walk it like a tightrope.

It was a long way down and even without Dale’s fear of heights it was difficult to put one hand in front of the other and head away from the safety of the sturdy counter and be reliant on a mere rope for support. When she moved her hand there was a moment in which she was only supported by one of her hands, and the motion made her body rock dangerously as she headed further away from the counter and out into open air.

“You are a crazy woman,” Vera said out loud to herself. “You are a crazy, crazy woman.”

The thought occurred to Vera that in real life she was only three feet above the ground, and thought that made her laugh out loud. She was only waist high to herself at normal size and she was worried about falling to her death. She was not sure how much damage a fall of ten times her body height would do to somebody of her stature, but somehow the knowledge that she was only three feet off the ground gave Vera further resolve to continue.

Vera had just passed the midpoint of the rope and was now starting on an incline. It was trickier but it also ment that she was getting closer to the chair and ultimitely the table. Her upper body was starting to get a little tired from the effort but she fought it, knowing that in only a minute she could have this game all wrapped with the victory cup in her posession.

Suddenly Vera saw motion out of her right eye and to her horror she saw that Jerry had just entered the kitchen. Not just Jerry, but Marie—and she was a slightly bigger scale than Jerry! This brought a sudden rage of fury to Vera—Betty or Sherri was trying to rig the game! But I’ll show them thought Vera, I’m almost there.

“Oh my god, she’s almost got it!” Marie shouted, and the two of them took off towards the table. Jerry could feel his heart pounding in his ears and for a moment all soreness was forgotten as this was do-or-die time.

“We have to get you up there before she gets there!” Marie said as the two came up to the table. “I can hoist you up to the chair and then pull myself up, then I might be able to get you up to the table!”

“I have a better idea!” Jerry said. “Move Vera’s chair!”

To Vera’s horror Marie and Jerry ran to the base of the chair the end of her rope was tied to. She still had about a quarter of the length to go and started to speed up her process, going as fast as she could without risking slipping and falling to the ground.

Jerry came to the front right leg and Marie to the front left. They started pushing with all their might, hoping the chair might budge. It wasn’t budging at all and Vera thought she might be safe after all. But suddenly the chair shifted just a little making a rubbing sound against the floor and slacking the rope just a little bit, sending shivers of panic throughout Vera.

“It’s working!” Jerry said. “Push again, now!”

The chair mooved again as Vera felt the rope droop. Now battling against an incline and a rope that now sagged much more readily under her weight Vera pushed on, nearly getting to the chair.

This time when they pushed it the chair rocked a little and for a wild moment Vera thought the chair would tip all the way over. But just a few more hand-over-hand movements and she would be there. She moved forward a bit and finally she was able to reach out with her legs and make contact with the chair. She quickly pulled herself forward off the rope and onto the top right colomn of the chair. The table was slightly lower and a couple inches away. Vera would have to time this perfectly.

But then there was another shift and Vera felt the chair vibrate as it moved yet further away from the table and she decided that timing be damned, she had to move now if she wanted to be able to move at all. She lunged towards the table trying to give herself as much forward force as she could muster.

Vera’s top half hit the table and all she could think of was an irrational picture of Marie grabbing her feet and pulling her off the table, even though Marie and Jerry were well below. Vera hoisted her entire body up onto the table in a blind panic, landing just beyond the lip in a heep.

Waisting no time, Vera got to her feet. As she did so, a rush of relife swept her body. She was on the tabletop now. She was safe—all she had to do was run forward and take the glass to win the game. She could even hear Marie exclaiming “No!” below.

Vera broke into a flat run making it to the center of the table in no time at all. The victory glass sat right there in front of her, her height, shiny, and light. She wrapped her hands around the base and hoisted the cup into the air. A moment later she was aware of flashing lights and buzzers, but her mind could not even process the thought right now. She had won, she had won.