Shrinking Night Delight.

I was just arriving home from work, tired from a long day of checking out annoying customers at the Jenny Downs department store when my cell phone rang. Thankfully I was pulling into my driveway so I could answer it. Bringing the vehicle to a complete stop in the dirt drive, I brought out the phone and replied, “Hello? This is Sarah Collingsworth.”

“Sarah. Hi, how are you.” Carien’s voice blasted through the speakers. “It has been a while since we have been able to talk.”

I rolled my eyes. “We ate lunch together at work.”

“Not what I mean. It’s been a while since you have been over for a gaming marathon.”

“Ya, the last time we have actually gotten together was about three months ago.”

“Ya, before all of your size-changing nonsense happened.” Carien laughed.

I tapped my finger on my chin. “I thought I told you to keep that private.”

“Sarah, you grew into a massive giant a few weeks ago in front of the town.”

“Yes, but the news people said they don’t know who it was.”

Carien laughed again. “Well, still, you have size issues.” There was a pause. “Well, can you come over tonight?”

“Yes. I am free for the night.”

“Sweet. It will be a date.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Figure of speech. Does seven work for you?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I will see if anyone else wants to come and see you then. Have a good one, Sarah.” She hung up.

I stepped out of my vehicle. It was already five p. m. That gave me only two hours to change out of my uniform and have dinner before heading over to Cariens. I knew that she was just going to have a stockpile of junk food for the night. I walked inside and immediately went upstairs.

When I reached the top of the steps, I started to flip off my work shoes. It was nice to be able to flex out my feet after a long day at work. I pushed the bedroom door open, throwing off my jacket onto my bed. I went to the dresser and pulled out a red and blue t-shirt. I then sat on the side of the bed and wormed my way out of my work pants. They felt a size too small for me, but my boss wasn’t going to pay the extra money to get me a new pair.

Once my work pants were on the floor, I rummaged for some sweats, slipping them on. I then walked back downstairs, heading for the kitchen. I had quite a few options for dinner, bland t.v. meals, try and prep a quick rice meal, or cook up roast from last night. I picked out the leftover roast, knowing I would need the energy to keep up with Carien for the entire night.

I stuck the meat into the microwave and set the timer for three minutes. I then tapped my fingers on the counter as I watched the meat spin around and around. I was starving as I had forgotten to bring my lunch to work today.

Finally, the timer dinged. I swung the tiny door open and reached in, but I had to pull my hand back after almost burning my fingers. Waving my hand to try and cool the food, I set the timer again to let the meat rest. Afterward, I pulled out my food and set it onto the table. Before sitting down, I made sure to grab some silverware, then I dug in.

The food tasted better then I remembered, melting into my mouth. It had been a dollar store roast but turned out surprisingly good.

After I had my dinner, I checked the time, it was five-thirty. I had another half hour until I should be getting out of the driveway. I went into the living room to see if anything interesting was on that I could watch in the meantime. Turing on the t.v. my ears were blasted. I jabbed at the remote to turn the volume down as quickly as I could.

“That was annoying.”

I flipped through the channels, looking for something of value to watch.  Soap opera, nope. Crime show half over. Not interested in trying to figure out the plot. I don’t like westerns. Commercial, skip. Paid advertisement, paid advertisement, ugh another paid advertisement. Is there anything even on at the moment, or am I going to have to get out a book?

Eventually, I landed on channel three and the news. I decided I would read until they got to the weather and head out early. I picked up a book I had started reading, “Winds of the North.”  It was an adventure novel about some lone survivalist up in northern Canada. I wasn’t too far into it yet but seemed interesting so far.

I only read two pages before a comical caught my eye. “New Fredrick’s Fancy Brownies. Are you looking for adventure? A chance to have the wildest and exiting food of your life. Are you looking for the chance to become a towering giant?  They showed a clip of me from a month ago trapped between buildings when I was a giant.

“Well, try our new brownies, and maybe you could grow too.”

“Fredrick’s Fancy is not responsible for any actual size change events.

If any events do occur, please consult your doctor.”

I put my book down, seething. “Where does that creep get off using me in his commercial? It is a good thing he moved out of the state, or I would…” I stared off into space.  What would I do? Try one of his products, grow and crush him? I would go to jail for that. Just calm down, Sarah.

Once the commercials ended, the news came back with the weatherman standing on the screen. I took a sigh and slumped down onto the couch. There wasn’t much I could do with Fredrick for now. As long as no one knew it was me in that commercial, I guess I was okay with my giant self being shown all over the country.

Channel three’s weatherman was young and new, fumbling around with his words as he pointed to the green screen. “Hello, everyone out there. It is a nice and sunny day we will be having today, I think. Yes, it is.” He brushed his wavy black hair. “We are going to have a nice cool night with highs in the seventies. Expect to see showers or two. I mean a shower or two. Ugh.”

I turned off the television, having all of the information I needed. I went back into the kitchen, heading for the door, picking up the car keys off the counter as I went. I also made sure to grab a jacket in case of a pop-up shower.

Once outside, I rushed over to the car and started it up.

It was going to be a decent twenty-minute drive over to Carien’s. Once the engine was started, I tried to find a good radio station to listen to, settling in for some blues music.

I then slowly pulled out of the driveway and was off. I made sure to roll my windows down and enjoy the gentle breeze. The last time I had driven down this way, I had been dealing with Fredrick’s Fancy product's side effects, growing right out of my old junk of a car. I was still borrowing my neighbors, trying to find the money to afford a new one. On the salary that Gregory gave me, it could be a few more months until I earned the money.  Maybe I should have another giant to boss talk to get a raise.

I arrived at Carien’s house before I knew it. She lived in a small suburban distract between my house and the downtown area. I slowed down and pulled onto her street, which was deserted, signs about a soccer tournament dominating people’s lawns.  At least there is no traffic.

After a few more seconds, I drove into Carien’s driveway, or I tired. I found there were already four other vehicles parked in her driveway. Sighing, I pulled ahead and parked on the street.  I guess she called quite a few friends for tonight.

Getting out of my vehicle, I walked to the door. Carien’s house was a two-story building with blue paint and a quaint little garage. The front door had a stainless steel window above the doorknob. As I approached, I could see flashing lights from the rooms upstairs. It seemed that Carien was getting a jumpstart on the festivities already.  Typical, she can’t wait for anyone.

Once I was halfway across the lawn, Carien swung the door open wide, a controller in one hand and a pop can in the other. “Sarah. You made it. Good. Come on in. The others are upstairs.”

I walked up to the door. “Who else is here?”

“Oh, those I could rope in that were not interested in watching some kids kick a ball around at tonight’s soccer tourney. Ugh, sports am I right.”

I followed her inside. “But you have been to an e-sports event in California.”

“That is different.”

I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to argue the point. E-sports was the game version of soccer and brought in massive crowds and huge prize pools. I never went to watch the games in person, though like Carien did.

“So, I will ask again, Carien, who else is here?”

“Andrew from down the block. Tess. She said she had met you before at a Dungeon Delvers group or something. Oh, and don’t hate me, but Gregory is here.”

“Wait, what?”

She lowered her voice. “I was talking loosely at work today about this with Andrew when I was leaving, and he overheard me and forced his way here. I didn’t have a choice.”

I sighed. “Why would Gregory want to even come here?”

“Beats me, but just try and have a good time?”

She turned and walked upstairs. I crossed my arms, trying to think of how I was going to get through tonight without picking a fight with Gregory. I slowly walked up the stairs and into a darkly lit room where Andrew, Tess, and Gregory waited. I looked around but didn’t see Carien.

Andrew and Gregory had their eyes glued on the screen, racing against each other on a kart racer. Tess looked at me as I entered and waved. Her dark hair had grown out since the last time I had seen her. “Long time no see. I see that you don’t have such a long neck anymore.”

I blinked. Had it been that long since I had seen Tess? I shrugged my shoulders and responded, “Eh, it was a one-time mishap.”

“If so, why haven't you come back to the Dungeon Delver’s group?”

“I don’t know. Been a bit busy and well embarrassed.”

Tess laughed. “It is fine. Patrick and I miss you. And if you are worried about Tim, well he became frustrated to the point that he went to find a new group.”

I laughed. “Well, one problem solved, I guess.”

Gregory’s shrill voice rose up. “Will you keep it down? I am trying to focus and…”

“Winner.”

“Dammit, all you made me loose.”

Well, I am not sorry about that, Gregory.  I thought to myself.

He threw his controller down and looked at me. “Well, surprised to see you here.”

“Carien, didn’t tell you I was coming?”

Andrew turned to face us. He had short red hair and green eyes. “No, we all thought we were the only ones that were going to be here.”

Gregory narrowed his betty eyes. “Well, besides me. I knew Andrew and Tess were going to be here. But if I knew I was going to have to spend the night here with you, Sarah.”

He turned away. “Come on, I am going to get even with you, Andrew.”

Andrew turned back to the screen. “Ya, whatever.”

Carien walked into the room, a tray of marked glasses in hand. “Well, I hope everyone is getting along, alright.”

Grunts came from the racing pair. I looked at Carien and said, “Peachy.”

She started to hand out the glasses. “I thought we could have a drinking game to spice things up while we have an unofficial competition.”

Tess took the bottle and started drinking. “Who needs a game?”

Carien raised an eyebrow. “There isn’t any alcohol in them.”

“Aww.”

“I don’t want people to get wasted tonight and make it even easier for me to beat them, but I still thought we could spice things up.”

I looked at the bottle Carien had given me. “Then why are our names on them?”

“Umm, just so we don’t mix up our germs and such.”

She shrugged. “Anyways to start, let's take a mouth full when Gergory spins out.”

Gregory looked over his shoulder for a moment.

“Hey.”

“Lighten up.” Carien looked at us. “Sound good.”

Tess was looking at her feet. “Are you sure this isn’t alcohol?”

Carien narrowed her eyes. “Can we just start?”

We nodded our heads. It didn’t take long for Gregory to spin out of control. He wasn’t very good at the kart racer game. When he did, I unscrewed the cap on the bottle and took a few sips. The water tasted fresh and crisp.

After I set the bottle back onto the table, I felt a familiar feeling spread through my body.  No, it can’t be. Before I knew it, I had shrunk a full foot. It felt like a sudden ripple went through my body. I looked at Tess, who was still mumbling, “I don’t get the point of this.”

All the while, Carien was smiling at me.

“Look at Sarah and see Tess.”

Looking over, she laughed. “Oh my.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What is going on, Carien.”

“Lighten up, sweetheart. Hopefully, Gregory won’t be too bad, and you won’t have to drink too much and such right.”

I sighed.  So this is why she wanted me over.

Unluckily for me, Gregory was a lousy driver. And every time he spun out, I took a drink, every time shrinking. It became harder to grasp the bottle, quickly having to switch to using two hands instead of one. No one seemed to care that I was becoming tiny fast. I became fed up and yelled at the top of my little lungs when I was only three feet tall.

“Ok, Carien, this has gone on too far. I can’t shrink any more than this.”

She looked down at me. “Aww, she is cute at this size.”

I wasn’t the only one that gave Carien a strange look. Gregory and Andrew though went back to racing. Tess crossed her arms and said, “I don’t think Sarah shrinking like this is so funny, Carian. What if she becomes even smaller?”

“It would be funny, right?”

“Umm, no,” I yelled. “I am done with this drinking game.”

“Ugh fine. There is some water downstairs you can have. Get it, and you race me next.”

I stood up and walked out of the room, frustrated. I came here to play some games, not one being of them, a shrinking game. I hope this is the last of the Fredrick’s Fancy that Carien has, I don’t want to get any smaller than this. Being the size of a toddler for the night is bad enough.

I walked downstairs and wandered around until I found Carien’s kitchen. I then opened the door on the fridge, it took more effort than I anticipated, and I swung around and fell flat onto my butt. I rushed back to my feet to keep the door from closing again. I then looked for some water. Looking up, I found that all the beverages were on the top shelf, out of reach. “Already, my size is becoming an issue.”

I climbed on the bottom rung of the fridge and reached for a bottle. As I started to pull it into my arms, the ledge below my feet gave out, and I went tumbling to the ground with an assortment of apples and oranges.

“What is going on down there?”

“Nothing, I just had a little accident.” I looked at the mess I had caused.  Carien is going to flip when she sees all of this. Well, it is a bit of payback for making me shrink.

I held the bottle in my armpit and ran back upstairs. When I returned, Gregory was in the corner sulking, I could already tell that he had lost again. Andrew and Tess were debating who was going to win in their face-off, and Carien held a controller out for me. “We were waiting for you.”

“Thanks. I went as fast as I could.”

“Well, let’s get this little competition underway, shall we?”

I took the controller and started to race Carien. I found racing her easy, Carien wasn’t that great. Still, it was funny that even with the enlarged controller in my hand, I quickly ran laps around her. By the final stretch, she was swearing. “Ugh, come on, you fucking kart go.”

“Even when you shrink me, you can’t beat me.” I took a gulp out of my water bottle as I crossed the finish line.

“Ya, whatever. But I doubt you will win this little tourney.”

I looked at her. “Why do you say that?”

She smiled. “Oh, nothing.”

Andrew and Tess were up next. It was the first close race of the night, every few seconds the lead would change. It wasn’t until the final lap that Andrew took a commanding lead after forcing Tess into a wall.

Everyone congratulated Andrew expect for Gregory, who had walked outside for a smoke break, still upset about losing earlier. Carien smiled after he had left and said, “Should we lock him out?”

I looked at her like she had gone mad. “He is still our boss. I don’t want to get fired.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Ya lets not insult that poor loser any further Carien.”

Andrew agreed. “Also, next time, don’t invite him. He is bumming me out.”

“Ugh fine. Fine. Tess, can you go and check on Greg and tell him that short stuff and Andrew will be racing soon.”

I looked at Carien. “Umm, short stuff?”

Carien started to back out of the room after seeing the eye I was giving her. “Hey, Tess, wait up.”

After they were gone, my body started to feel weird again. I realized I was shrinking once more. Andrew looked at me in surprise as I went from three feet tall to only one. He then crossed his arms. “Well, I doubt this is going to be a very fair race now, is it.”

“Why do I keep shrinking? I went and got myself a new bottle of water and everything.”

Andrew started to snicker. “I can’t take you seriously at that height.”

“It isn’t funny.”

“It kind of is.”

I crossed my arms. “Well, my size doesn’t matter right now. I am still going to beat you in our race.”

Andrew took a moment to calm down and then looked at me. “Oh, is that right.”

“That is right. Want to make a bet on it.”

He looked me over. “Sure. Easy money as you are not large enough to easily use the controller.”

“Five bucks that I beat you.”

“Fine, fine. Easy money.”

We heard laughing coming from down the hall as Carien, Tess and Gregory returned. Both Gregory and Tess had a surprised look on their faces as they entered the room and saw I had become even smaller. Carien, on the other hand, just smiled. “Did some grab the wrong water?”

“Just wait until I grow back to my normal size Carien.”

“Oh, come on. Admit this makes things more enjoyable.”

Changing size was a bit fun, but I wasn't going to tell Carien that. Besides with Gregory here, I wasn’t going to let him get any funny ideas that it would be ok to change the policy I had tried to set up before.

“Look, I am not ok with this.”

Gregory muttered under his breath. “Trust me, don’t test her on this subject unless you want a giant crazy lady trying to crush you.”

Carien laughed. “I can handle myself. Now let's get this last race underway, shall way.”

Andrew waved his hand. “I would like everyone here to know that there is a bet on the table. Sarah thinks she can beat me at her size and is willing to stake five dollars over it.”

My cheeks became flushed with embarrassment.  Thanks for telling everyone, Andrew.  “Look, can we just get this started?”

Andrew picked up his controller. “Fine by me.”

I pushed my controller onto a pillow where I could see the screen and then did my best to try and play the game. I found it hard to reach from one side of the controller to the other, so I tried standing on it, using my feet to use the joystick and my hands to press the buttons. It was awkward but worked well enough to keep me from falling behind Andrew. By the second lap, I had things figured out and was working on catching with him.

On the third lap, I managed to catch him. We were neck and neck as we went around the track, each of us passing the other only to lose the lead a second later.   I could hear Andrew searing under his breath. Then the final stretch came. We were neck and neck. My muscles were sore, and I was ready to fall down in exhaustion.  Just a bit more.

Then the victory music played as we crossed the finish line. We both crossed at once and waited for the game’s loading screen to tell us who actually won. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the game’s highlights played and then TIE.

There was silence for a moment. I had never seen a tie before in a racing game. I knew that it could happen, but it was very, very rare. Taking deep breaths in, I fell down onto the controller, exhausted.

Eventually, Andrew said, “Well, let’s go again. We need to settle this bet.”

I shook my head. “No way. I am way too tired.”

“Oh, come on.”

I looked up at him. “Hey, I worked my ass off racing you. Give me a break.”

He waved his hands, “Fine, fine.”

Carien clapped her hands together. “Well, now, what do we want to do?”

Tess shrugged. “I was only over here for this racing competition.”

Andrew nodded. “Same.”

Greggory looked around. “Well, this isn’t what I expected, so I am going as well. You people suck.”

Carien looked at me. “What about you?”

“Umm, once I return to my original size, I am going home before you trick me into drinking or eating any more Fredrick’s Fancy products.”

“Fine. I just wanted to have some fun.”

The others said their goodbyes, leaving one by one, though Gregory dashed off without saying a word. After they were gone, Carien walked over and sat next to me.

“I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable tonight, Sarah.”

“You are sorry for making me shrink?”

She blushed. “I just . . . I don’t know. I wanted to have a good time and thought it would be fun.”

“Next time, ask.”

“Well, I have one more surprise.”

“You didn’t sneak more shrinking juice in for me, did you?”

“No?” She leaned in close and gently kissed me before looking embarrassed. “Umm, I have to go. I trust you can find your way out after you grow back to your normal size.” She ran out of the room.

I blinked. The kiss caught me off guard. I hadn’t been expecting she had been acting this way because she liked me. After I had dumped Matt, I hadn’t been thinking about romance in general. I didn’t know what I felt about Carien right now.  I need some time to think about this.

I jumped down onto a pillow below me. I was going to get some rest, and hopefully, in the morning, I was my average size again so I could head home.  Tonight has been a bizarre one. At least I didn’t lose my five bucks on account of being short.