The Dream of the Elongated Woman II

Keeping my head perfectly still I began to contract my neck. Simultaneously, I twitch my abdomen, utilising the same muscles I’d use to pull in my tummy. As my neck shortens, so my midriff lengthens, my arms and upper body travelling along the path laid down by the loop around the room. I revel in the shift in sensations travelling down what passes for my spine, as in perfect sympathy one part of me gives up its elongation to another. As my torso approaches the bed, it’s clear from my hovering viewpoint above that it will not clear the narrow space between mattress and floor. My unextended legs stand up. With barely an effort my hands stretch to encompass the underside of the bed. Elbows wedged against the floor, a feat of strength propels my forearms upward, lifting the bed the few inches necessary to accommodate my trunk’s passing. Once my shoulders have shimmied past, I lower my load, allowing my arms and hands to return to their customary size. At last my neck attains its original length, the top and bottom of my frame in true proportion while a rubbery expanse of stomach connects my breasts and underarms to my hips in a giant circle about the room. I relax, letting myself coil to the ground like some massive serpent. This time I let my waist and legs thin out before whipping them back into shape from under the bed. With an audible ‘twang’ my body snaps to its usual size, sending a shudder of pleasure across my skin. I stand and walk to the front door of the apartment.

The glass had been replaced on the table for a good thirty seconds now. When Ralph took his Gingold, his elastic powers usual reached potency in under a minute. The last time Sue had tried it she had felt the first cramps after two. She waited nervously, wondering which feeling would strike her first. Rather self-consciously, she lifted an arm and attempted to elongate it. Nothing happened. Another minute passed, two, three, and while she had suffered from nothing more than the mildest dyspepsia, neither had she gained any superhuman powers. Her concoction had worked too well. The Gingold’s effects were negated completely. She went to bed with mixed emotions, greatly disappointed that she hadn’t become the Elongated Woman, yet proud that she had solved the mystery of the liquid’s side effects.

The clock radio that lay on the cabinet by Ralph’s side of the bed read three-fifteen. The Dibneys’ bed was empty, a trickle of light brushing against its foot from a crack in the bathroom doorway. On the other side of the door a wretched concerto of unhealthy noises was playing itself out.

It had been an hour since Sue had felt the first pain. Had it been this bad that first time she had tried the Gingold all those years ago? Or had the sheer intensity of it been enough to blot out her memory of that earlier attempt? If she had remembered torment like this there would have been no way she’d have dared risking such agony.

As the last throes of nausea subsided, Sue went to the basin and washed the cold sweat from her face. So much for her ‘cocktail’. All thoughts of the small victory she had allowed herself earlier had disappeared. Like her previous encounter with Gingold, this one had ended in disaster. Finally, painfully, her dreams of mimicking her husband's elastic powers had ended.

Outside in the empty hallway I push open the fire doors opposite the elevator and nip through, hoping to be too quick to draw attention to my barely clothed body. I climb over the banister that spirals down the stairwell for the five floors that separate our apartment from the ground. Perching on the cold metal handrail I watch my feet dangle above the dizzying drop and idly deliberate over which of my thighs I will make longer.

As she dried her face with a fresh towel, she was aware that something wasn’t quite as it should be. She peered closely at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, looking for any signs of the lingering effects of her allergy attack. The colour was slowly returning to her cheeks, but other than that there was nothing. Sue went to replace the towel when slowly the truth began to dawn on her. She hadn’t moved from the basin. Yet the clean towels were kept on a shelf below a small airing cupboard. On the far side of the bathroom.

Sue held the towel out in her arm. She was still a good five feet away from both the shelf and the rail where an old towel hung. There was no way she could have got it from either location.

Unless…

Slowly, incredibly, her arm extended. Still not fully taking in what was happening, Sue matter-of-factly draped the towel over the rail and retracted her arm without thinking. Even though she was half-asleep and weak from exhaustion she knew she hadn’t imagined what she had just seen.

Immediately, she stretched the same arm out again, then retracted it without a pause. She let out an ironic laugh as she repeated this action twice more, seeming not overly impressed with this turn of events.

Success. In the middle of the night when she was dead on her feet. After enduring the most painful experience she’d ever been through. It was just typical.

This time I let gravity do the work. I focus on the weight of my foot as it swings to and fro like a pendulum. I let the downward pull dominate and feel my left leg stretch away out of view. I’m struck by the sight of my legs together: the right one with its thin-muscled thigh and calf, limited in ambit by knee and ankle; the left an unearthly, prehensile thing with no respect for boundaries. I give a shiver as my foot touches cold concrete way below. At will my other leg responds, transforms until it too becomes as drawn out as the left. Both feet on the ground, I teeter like a circus stilt-walker, slipping away from the bannister. I turn my attention upwards and grow, neck, back and waist extending like a time lapse of a flower seeking the sun. I’ve stretched twice as high again by the time my head reaches the top of the stairwell, my superhuman balance performing feats almost as impressive as my elastic powers.

Sue hadn’t the heart to try out her new abilities. It would be too distressing to feel the excitement of testing her elastic powers only to know she’d have to go through agony if she ever wanted to gain them again. The small dose of Gingold she’d taken would be enough to keep Ralph stretchy for six hours or so. She’d be her normal, inelastic self by the time she woke up in the morning. It was a shame, but as a spike of pain gradually eased its way into Sue’s skull, she knew she needed sleep now more than anything else. With one final, barely-aware stretch of her body she wormed her way back onto the bed and under the covers. Her last waking thought was of whether or not she would tell Ralph about her little experiment.

Back at the apartment, I search through the old wardrobe that is the lone occupant of our undecorated spare room. Discarded clothes, intended for recycling or the local charity shop, hang within. Among the musty blouses and faded jackets I find one of Ralph’s former costumes, a red and blue number from some years back. It would fit, the unusual elastic material it was made from being designed to mimic the shape of the wearer – no matter how long and thin that might be. I look out of the window at the late afternoon sun. There’s still half the day to play with. I think about going out for some fun.

At breakfast, she found she could retrieve the milk from the fridge without having to leave the table. She was still as flexible as ever. Later that morning she popped out to pick up a few groceries. Reversing at the parking lot was much easier when you could stretch your neck round and look straight out of the rear window. And the products stacked on the highest shelves were easy to get hold of when you could add a few inches to your height with a thought. Back for lunch at noon, and a fork dropped down the back of a cabinet presented no problem for Sue. She simply elongated her fingers and retrieved it without any fuss.

Preparing for a shower, Sue wriggled her way out of her clothes without unfastening anything. Once under the water, she found she could scrub and massage any part of her body just by reaching for it. Sat on her and Ralph’s bed before getting dressed, she wondered why her elongation abilities had persisted despite the usual time limit having long expired. Ralph had mentioned how he often got twinges some time before the Gingold’s potency failed that would remind him to top up if he wanted to maintain his elasticity. Sue had felt no such warnings and, to the best of her knowledge, was as stretchable as she’d ever been. At the back of her mind she entertained an unlikely, yet undeniably exciting possibility: what if the reaction of the Gingold and the allergy suppressant had permanently gifted her with these powers? Would she still have them tomorrow, next week or in a year’s time? Whatever the answer, with her illness from the previous night now an unhappy memory, she determined that she wasn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste. She sat up and contemplated what to do with her extraordinary body first...