Studentloan-09

“How did it go in there Eight?” the older woman said half knowing the reply.

“Strange Aunt Sara, totally strange”  

“Sara?”

“Yeah - I wanted to give him the wrong name.” she was proud of her cleverness  “I think he’s really scared.  Maybe not shit in your pants scared, but close.”

“Most of them are.  Think about what you must seem like to him.  Did you shut the door?”

“I made sure the latch clicked.”

“Good girl.  Most of them try to make a run for it at first.  I can’t blame them.  His world got turned inside out.  He’s going to be numb.”

“How come you weren’t in there?”

“Good cop, bad cop.  I shrank him.  You’re naturally friendly and wouldn’t hurt a fly.  This is important so be honest.  Did you have an urge to hurt him?”

“No..”

“Even though he made your life miserable..”

“No!  He seemed so helpless.”

“He’s on the floor now looking for a hiding place.”

“Really?  How do you know?”

“Most of them try.  We’ll give him a few minutes more.  The room looked tight enough.  He could go behind books or up under chair cushions.  Everything else will be out of reach. We’ll find him easily enough.”

“Then what?”

“I’ll scare him.  I’ll tell him if he’s going to do that he gets shrunk again.”  Dorothy held her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart to make her point.

“That’d suck.  It’d be hard to see his face.”

“The reason I shrunk his car was to make him start thinking about that.”

“Aunt Dorothy?  I have a question.”

“About shrinking him again?”

“Well, sort of.  I don’t think I could take care of him.  He’d be like an insect… it just wouldn’t work.  But I remember the dollhouse Dad made for my Barbies.  It was as big as a desk..”

“We’ll cross those when we get to them.  I have a carrying case that he’ll have to live in for a few days.  We’ll find an apartment big enough too, but for now we’ll have to adjust.”

“How big is it?”

“The case?  It’s like a little dorm room.  It’s one sixth size.  We used that at first because we thought we could use Barbie products.”  She paused for a sip of water.  “I usually went with a tenth or twelfth.  More convenient and It gave them more room, but you can still see them well.    A few were too difficult and were shrunk twice.  One was in a box without a top when a spider got him.”  The young woman looked sick.  “We were so shocked.   I never did it.”

Dorothy looked down at her hands and continued.

“I told him we only shrunk one twice.  It was a lie to make him behave as he gets used to being tiny. That’s why I shrank the car twice. To let him know it was possible.”

Eight thought about the Ferrari in her bag. “I don’t know that I want to do this Aunt Dorothy…”

“Give it a month or two.  I’ll be behind you all the way  If you want to quit then, no problem.  But I’ll need time to find a new caretaker.” She hugged the shaken girl.  “Let’s check on him.”

They walked to the room and the young women turned the door handle.

“I’ll watch the door when you go in. He probably won’t try to escape that way, but you never know.” Dorothy said matter of factly.  “Just be very careful if you pick him up and don’t step on him.  He’s much more fragile than any doll you had.”

The young woman tried to bring back her usually cheery self as she walked through the doorway.

“I’m back!” she said as she closed the door behind her watching the floor to make sure he didn’t brave running past her. 

Aunt Dorothy had been right.  He wasn’t on the chair.

Eight stared “OK, I can understand if you wanted to stretch your legs CJ, but we need to leave soon so you have to come out.”   

She went over to one of the bookcases and pulled out all of the books she thought he could reach while constantly glancing around her.  The space behind looked too tight for him.  She took one of the books in case she had to deal with a spider.  She didn’t like them and there was a big web in the corner full of old bugs. 

“Come out C.J., or at least call out if you’re injured or something.   If It’d be fun for me to chase you we can do that later, but not just now.”  She turned his chair over on it’s side.  There was a small hole on the bottom, but it seemed too small.  She’d come back to it later if she had to.

She tried the doors on the large cabinet across from his chair.  The workmanship was beautiful.  It must have been very expensive.  It was flush with the wall and all of the doors were locked except for a drawer that would have been at least twenty feet up for him.  Still she checked it.

“If you don’t come out soon I’ll call for Aunt Sara.  She told me if you gave too much trouble she’d shrink you again.  In a way that’d be easier. You could live in a glass box with big house on the corner of my desktop.  I’d rather have you larger, but you have to admit the smaller size has some advantages.”  Moved a large planter .. nothing.  

“Either there’s a hole I don’t know about or you’re behind the other bookcase.  She walked over to the corner next to the wall and noticed a what must have been a two inch wide space at the bottom that left a space large enough for him to squeeze into.  She dropped the book and tested the weight of the bookcase.

“I think you’re behind this.  It’s pretty heavy and I’m worried moving it might hurt you.  Come out on your own or speech up if you’re caught.”

nothing

“If you don’t come out I’m calling Aunt Sara… she can help me move this safely and might think you’re a troublemaker.  If you come out now I won’t tell her.”

“Down here Eight!”

He was standing next to the book.

“I panicked.  Everything inside me told me to run.  Just don’t tell her!”

“OK C.J.” she said bending down towards him.  “Our little secret…”

He threw up in arms in resignation and was staring at the ground.

”Know what?” she said almost whispering.  He looked up a bit, but didn’t say anything.”

“If it was me, I'd've made a break for it too.”