“Happy New Year, hun,” David said as he raised his fresh cup of coffee toward his wife. Scarlet smiled and raised her cup as well.

“Happy New Year.”

She sipped back the warm brew, letting the flavor of the roast wash over her tongue and travel down her throat.

“Mmm...Santa made a good pick this year.”

David chuckled. “Well, he did have a good informant.”

Scarlet made a face and sipped again before putting down the cup.

“Let’s go peek in on the girls.”

Her husband nodded and the two of them rose, leaving the kitchen and entering the living room. The pair of girls were still playing on the floor with the dollhouse that Kristin had gotten for Christmas...and having a grand old time of it as their excited giggles indicated.

“Hi Krissy, are you playing nicely in here?”

The four year old turned her head and grinned. “Uh huh! We are!”

Scarlet smiled. “And wasn’t it a nice surprise for Auntie Evelyn to stop by today?”

The other “girl” turned around, her much more mature pajamas dragging a bit on the carpet as she looked over at the two adults. She was blonde, of athletic build...and in her early 30’s, just like Scarlet. The child-sized woman smirked.

“Yea yea...tease all you want!” she said in a high, childlike voice.

Scarlet laughed. She was happy that her good friend had come to visit. Scarlet and Evelyn had known each other since college, and Evelyn had been nothing but the world’s most awesome “aunt” ever since Kristin was born. This year, Evelyn had hoped to come by for Christmas, but a family emergency had kept her home. This disappointed Kristin and Evelyn felt really bad about it, so the women had planned for her to visit on New Year’s Day instead. And when she found out that Scarlet had spent her year-end bonus on a matter compressor, she suddenly concocted a plan for how she was going to “make it up to” her so-called niece.

Scarlet smiled as she watched the two same-sized girls play. Evelyn had brought a whole bunch of dollhouse furniture and outfits for Kristin, and the little girl’s eyes had lit up like nothing before. They had been playing for an entire half hour at this point, starting from the moment that the shrunken Evelyn had made her grand entrance, dragging the bag of gifts along.

“I’m just glad you could make it today. Krissy so enjoys playing with you.”

The shrunken woman laughed. “I love it too. Sorry I couldn’t make it for Christmas.”

“Nah...that’s okay!” Krissy said with a smile as she pushed a couple of her dolls in a plastic convertible. She seemed to pause a bit like she was thinking, before turning to her playmate.

“Aunt Evie...is this the smallest you can be?”

Evelyn seemed a little taken aback by the question. But she figured it was a natural question for the little girl to ask...after all, even she still found the whole idea of being shrunk to play with her four-year-old niece to be an odd one.

“Why do you ask, honey?”

Kristin rolled the convertible back and forth again.

“It’s just...you’re so fun to play with! Like a real kid! I just wonder if you can be smaller? Then you could live in my dollhouse and take rides in my car!”

Evelyn laughed. “Ooooh...now I see. Haha, you have quite an imagination, Krissy!”

“Would that be really fun for you, Krissy?” Scarlet’s voice cut through the room, reminding the girls that the two full-sized adults were still there.

Evelyn turned and looked at her friend, while Kristin just shook her head emphatically. “Uh huh! Uh huh! It would be so much fun!” the little girl shouted excitedly.

Scarlet turned to the cabinet on the wall and, reaching up, slowly removed the matter condenser, or “shrink ray,” from the shelf. As she woke it up from sleep mode and loaded her friend’s profile, Evelyn raised an eyebrow, slowly getting to her feet.

“Scarlet...you know it’s just a joke right? I mean...you’re not seriously thinking about…”

Scarlet smiled as the device chimed and she aimed it directly at Evelyn.

“Well, Evie, you said you wanted to bond with Krissy! And don’t worry, she takes very good care of her toys!”

Evelyn opened her mouth to protest but all that came out was a high pitched squeal as the device emitted a blue light, striking the woman straight in the chest. Instantly, the already small woman began to shrink, dwindling down in size rapidly until the program finished, leaving her under 1 foot tall, almost the exact same size as Krissy’s dolls. The shrunken woman squeaked another protest as she looked around the room, which must have looked gigantic to her at this point.

Kristin squealed with delight and bounded over to her doll-sized Aunt, reaching down and picking the woman up in her chubby hand.

“Yaaaay!” the little girl cheered. “We’re going to have so much fun! Dressup, and you and ride in my car, and we can decorate your room too!”

Scarlet laughed as she could only hear Evie’s squeaks of protest as Kristin turned and began to play with her newest doll. She placed the compressor back high on the bookshelf and turned to her husband.

“Let’s make breakfast.”

He nodded in agreement, and the two of them made their way back to kitchen, leaving the backdrop of excited chatter and panicked squeaking behind them.