Reviewer: Barrowman Signed
Date: August 04 2015
Title: Chapter 1: Report 1: Preliminary Findings
A difference of opinion. 16 year or older sibling taking care of a younger one is not a problem, much younger sibling taking care of an older one's punishment session with the consent of both parents and that they give her full autonomy over him/her?
Abby (in oversight)
"No more of that. Just because you're small doesn't mean you have to act as such," she exclaimed with narrow eyes. "Claire is your sister, Corey. She's not going to hurt you, she's not going to mistreat you. She's not even going to punish you."
"Well," Abigail added, giving him a slight smile, "not unless you give her a reason to, anyway." Corey had to fight down another shudder as he continued to stand frozen underneath her gaze. "But you're such a wonderful boy...most of the time, anyway. So I don't see that happening."
"It's also the lightest punishment I can imagine giving you for what you did," Abigail explained to him, her voice taking on a certain chill. "You should count yourself thankful that I'm simply letting Claire watch over you for the weekend. That I don't believe in more...corporeal forms of punishment at home. Like some parents do. Because we both know you wouldn't care for that. "
What kind of corporeal punishment could be worse than that humiliation? I can't think of any. And to give a young girl such a taste of absolute power over someone. Corrupting the daughter in the process. Because you can just feel by al those words, this won't be only this weekend. He will be punished in that way for everything light or even if Claire lies about stuff.
Maybe a misinterpretation in what's to come next in Oversight. But the Abby in The Shrink Act Files seems more sincere about helping Corey.
Abby, "Yes. All we want is to teach a lesson and change the behavior, not change Corey. We would never want that.
Author's Response: It's a fair concern you have. What has to be understood here is the context of the world. There's enough of a divide from reality here to put it more into pre-dystopic society territory. Attitudes of this population are universally more relaxed about responsibility with shrunken individuals, which ties into their views of power, right vs wrong, and placement in the social ladder. And the segment in Shrink Act Files does show a Corey impacted somewhat by the time he's spent in his family's care. More docile and willing to submit to Claire's style of conversation, even if she's totally unaware of it. Abby's mention of Corey possibly earning punishment in Short Weekend is with the inherent understanding that Claire won't actually do anything to mistreat him. Still, I definitely won't say you're wrong to wonder about the potential unhealthy side effects of characters being given reign over tiny people. That's an issue my TimeOut stories explore, to a certain extent.