Cut Down to Size

The good news for Brian was that the shrinking had stopped, and hopefully it would not resume. The bad news was that he hadn't shrunk a few inches or a foot or two. No, it was a lot worse: he had gone from 5 foot 9 inches tall to 2 foot 4.

28 inches tall, and 15 pounds on a good day.

Now he was sharing an apartment with his nine year old, of whom he had custody. Brian was divorced and given his current condition was on sick leave from work; he had money from a thrift savings plan and savings bonds, too, but he didn't know how long that would last.

Living at this size wasn't easy, and fortunately he had some help from his brother, sister is law, and nephew who lived a mile away.

So on this Saturday morning--as was tradition, a time to go out and eat breakfast--Brian woke up and slid off his bed to the floor. He made his way to the bathroom and urinated. He had to stand on a phone book to be able to do that. The bathroom sink was an almost as tall as he was and he had to get on a stepstool to wash his hands.

Matty was just getting up and putting his clothes on. A Red Sox T-shirt, jeans, socks, sneakers. At this point the tip of Brian's head was level with the third-grader's waist (Matty was just shy of four and a half feet tall, and probably weighed about five times as much as his dad.)

Speaking of sneakers, Brian still had some of his old clothes in his bedroom--including some men's size 12 sneaks that were absurdly huge now. Three times as long as his four inch long foot.

Brian had thrown on some toddler sized sweat pants; he had already had his socks and T-shirt on, as he'd worn them to bed.

A knock on the door, and Matty opened it. The doorknob was a bit too high for Brian at this point. There was Brian's 16 year old nephew Mike, who was absurdly tall. The tip of Brian's head didn't even come halfway between Mike's kneecap and waist. Yet if he had been his previous size, he would have been only an inch or two shorter than the fast sprouting lad.

Driving was out of the question for Brian at this point and of course Matty was far too young, but Mike had just gotten his license. He knew, of course, that kids who just learn to drive can be reckless (and occasionally died in horrific car crashes from speeding and inexperience). But he hoped Mike would do well. Brian had kept his car on the road despite his shrinkage, and he would let Mike drive the three of them to the breakfast place.

A 40 year old man the size of a one year old--so ridiculous, he thought to himself. The world was so huge now, as were the people in it. His nephew was now a long and lean mountain rising above him, with tussled brown hair on the summit. He weighed maybe 140 pounds but to Brian it may as well have been a ton.

After saying their niceties, Brian suddenly found himself being picked up.

"Mike! I can walk down the stairs myself..."

"Uncle Brian, you know it's tough--your legs are too short." It was true: each step was nine inches high and his kneecap was 7 or 8 inches up. He'd practically have to crawl down the stairs as a result, so his nephew had picked him up--grabbed him under his armpits with those titanic hands, and easily picked up his 15-pound uncle. Brian's legs kicked a bit, as if trying to escape.

15 pounds. Brian used to have a cat that weighed maybe 11 pounds, and he was barely more than that. Outweighed easily by more than a few dogs.

Off they went into Brian's Kia, where he was placed in a car seat in the back (Matty went into the front passenger seat). If Brian had simply sat down on a regular car seat, he wouldn't be safe, of course.

At Brian's size, he was too small to see out the side window--in fact even with the booster seat he couldn't see much.

2

He got unbuckled from the booster seat by his nine year old son--who by rights should have been in a child seat himself (the law said he would need one till he was 4'9" and he was 4'5").

Swell--there was a wait. It was a good place for breakfast but tables and the counter filled up fast on a weekend. So people had to wait in a small area next to the front door, and were seated as tables opened up.

"Hey, Lisa!"

"Oh, Matty--how are ya? And I see you got your (snicker) Dad!"

It was one of his son's classmates, another nine year old--a girl who was a few inches taller than Matty. She looked down at him and giggled a bit. After all, how many times does anyone see someone the size of a one year old who is actually 40--complete with beard? And unlike most dwarves, who were a bit chunky, Brian was a bit slimmer by comparison which made him look even more tiny--and he felt horrible about it.

"Hi," he managed in his high pitched voice--he almost sounded like a cartoon character.

"Oh, you're Mr. Hosler--I think we met at the PTO meeting!"

It was Lisa's mom, who had been a few inches shorter than he used to be.

"Yes--Mrs. Willis. Hello." He put his tiny hand in her huge one and shook it. "I was...a bit different back then, but I hope to be better soon."

"Yes--we saw that bit about you on TV, and in the paper. I know it must be horrible but at least you stopped getting smaller." She noticed her daughter trying to hold back her laughter and stared over at her. "Now, Lisa, this poor man doesn't deserve that. It is a disease and nothing to laugh at."

"Harding, table for three?"

Before he knew it, a ten year old boy almost collided with him as he and his parents were heading through the door and into the dining room. The boy hadn't noticed him--but when he looked down to see that he'd bumped into a man and not a toddler, he burst out with a guffaw.

A few weeks back, he would have been a puny 4 foot 8 boy, maybe 85 pounds. Now to Brian he seemed 12 feet tall and seemed to weigh over a ton.

"Excuse me, kid?" Brian's nephew looked down at the ten year old, whose face suddenly changed expression.

"Gee, I'm sorry, mister..."

"Say you're sorry to him, not me," said Mike.

The boy's parents were on their way into the dining room but saw what happened, and stepped in.

"Aw, okay, sorry lil' dude," said the boy to Brian, trying to have a serious expression on his face but a smirk and a smile crept upon it, and he and his parents went into the dining room.

Lisa Willis took some pity upon Brian. She crouched down to talk to him--though that almost make Brian feel worse. He felt like a very little boy who was being talked to by a bigger kid or an adult, and the fact that Lisa had to crouch down to better see him "eye to eye" made him feel even smaller. (For a split second he remembered one of those "Super Nanny" shows on TV: "Get down to your child's level and make them feel less uneasy... then let them know what behavior you expect of them.")

"Mr. Hosler--I know we kids can seem mean sometimes, but try to excuse us--I mean, him. He doesn't know any better."

It was a third grader, twice his height, trying to be the understanding adult--talking to a toddler sized man.

"It's okay. I know you guys get pushed around by bigger kids, or by grownups, and when you guys see a grownup like me being THIS small, well..."

That's when the waitress said Hosler, table for three, was now ready. And into the dining room stepped a 16 year old teen, a nine year old boy, and a 40 year old man.

The oldest of them...was the smallest.

3

Shrinking had been a relatively new phenomenon, and scientists and doctors could only conclude it was a strange blend of genetics and a virus that triggered reduced size. Only a few people around the world had it, one of the first being a man who shrank from 5'11" to 4'2". Pictures in newspapers showed him posing next to his 12 year old son, the tip of the man's head being level with the boy's chin. In most cases, people lost nearly two feet at the very most.

One interesting case was a man who was 6'11" and didn't like being so tall. He got his wish, getting down to 4'10" and he now has to shop in the boys' clothing department. "I shrank a little too much, but now I don't bump my head getting into my car any more." Though now he has to scrunch his seat up close and even sit on a cushion.

Brian Hosler had the most extreme case yet. The rate varied, sometimes being rather unnoticeable but in one day he found he had lost three inches in the space of about 24 hours. As he got down to 28 inches, it stopped for good. There were constant re-adjustments to be made, especially in the clothing department. Step stools were bought, as were rods similar to venetian blind rods--he would use these to turn a light switch on or off.

He had already been divorced for about a year or so before the shrinking started. Brian insisted on he and Matty living in their own apartment rather than living with relatives. Often, eating at home would consist of easy to prepare frozen dinners. Getting around meant either hitching a ride with a friend or relative or using public transportation. Certainly Matty would not get his license for another 6 or 7 years.

Riding Matty's bike was out of the question for a toddler sized man.

One of the biggest obstacles was his comparative lack of strength and certainly size. Even eating: forks, knives, and spoons seemed huge for a man whose hands were just under three inches long. Anything over three or four pounds was almost impossible for him to lift.

And he had his hands full one night when Matty had some of his friends drop over. They ordered some pizza, watched TV, played games, but then some of them got rowdy and it was tough for Brian to control.

Just some nine or ten year olds, you may think. Try being able to deal with kids that age when you're an adult the size of a ONE year old!

One of the kids decided to get a beer out of his fridge. Brian would have no part of a ten year old drinking booze.

"You put that back right now! You're not old enough!"

The beard on Brian's face made him look adult. The high pitched voice indicated otherwise.

Brian went right up to the boy and reached up to take the beer away. He was waist-high to the lad and even if he reached up all the way his hands couldn't reach up to the middle of his chest.

The boy put the beer on top of the fridge, far out of Brian's reach. Suddenly Brian felt huge hands reach around his scrawny arms and he was lifted up easily. The boy reached around his back and carried him away.

"Bwian must go beddy bye now," laughed the boy.

"Put him down, Kenny, he's my Dad!"

"Well, OK..." Kenny let go and Brian fell down onto the carpet (as they were now in the living room).

He rolled around onto his side; Brian tried to get up and he saw the huge white-stockinged feet of Kenny on one side of him, and his son's equally hefty gray-stockinged feet. Far above him were the two school kids; Kenny was trying to reach down and pick Brian up again but Matty gave him a hip check which sent him sprawling onto the sofa.

One of the other kids grabbed Brian and picked him up, then deposited him next to the fridge. "Bwian's beer is up there, do you want it Bwian? You'll haveta get on a chair-- no, you still wouldn't be big enough. But WE are!"

"Yeah," said Kenny coming in to the room. "We don't let little kids drink our beer!"

Matty ordered his friends to leave. "Come on, guys, this isn't right."

"Yeah, he might grow back to normal and kick our butts!," laughed one boy.

Brian looked down at his puny body and thought, I'm not sure that will happen...

4

It was early on Sunday morning--the sun was out but not too many people were awake. Matty was still sleeping but Brian had awakened and decided to go for a walk. He got dressed but chose to go out of the apartment barefoot.

He had trouble opening doors (especially the upper latch part) so he had an unconventional way of getting out if he so chose: a pet door. Embarassing as it may have seemed, it was possible for the petite man to duck down slightly and make his way outdoors through it. The door measured 14 inches by 20 inches. Of course every dimension for Brian seemed two and a half times bigger than the actual size; it almost seemed like it were 35 inches by 50 inches.

He made his way down the back stairs (which weren't as steep as the front ones), down to the driveway of the apartment building, and out to the sidewalk. From there he hopped down off the huge curb onto the street, made sure no cars were coming, and crossed the street to a local park. (The street seemed truly wide to him but fortunately, Sunday morning at the time was not a time to expect any cars.)

Then he walked over the grass (hoping his bare feet would not come into contact with broken glass, but the park was in good shape) and looked over at the swing sets the "big" kids used and a basketball court with an impossibly high hoop. He did see someone headed his way, a jogger who had a golden retriever on a leash and he was walking/running with the dog. The man stopped as both decided to take a breather; both walked closer to Brian.

The dog's shoulders were level with Brian's armpits. He estimated the dog had to weigh at least four times what he did. He could have ridden the canine like a horse if he wished.

It was a friendly mutt who wagged its tail as Brian pet the top of its head. Brian and the man chatted about how nice the weather was, and the man said he felt bad about Brian's situation (everyone in town knew about Brian and his dilemma).

As they left, Brian found a quiet spot and sat down. A Sunday morning, about 7 am or so, and here was the reduced man sitting cross legged on the grass, and just thinking about his situation. Why was he the one to go through this? Why we he the one who got cut down to size? In some ways, life was..interesting...at this size, but there were also many embarassments, inconveniences, dangers, and frustrations.

Must he spend the rest of his life the size of a one year old?

He thought of what he told Matty after the other kids had left.

"I'm still your father and you have to obey the rules--and your friends do, too, or they can't come over here anymore."

"I tried to tell them to behave...sorry, Dad."

"I'll tell Kenny's parents what he did, and talk to the other moms and dads, too." (He wondered if the parents would hear his high pitched voice and might hang up, thinking it could be a prank call.)

Brian was lucky Matthew was such a good kid--not only did the boy try to get his kids to stop misbehaving, but Brian was fully aware that if Matthew wanted to, and were mad at his father, he could easily have beaten the crap out of him.

"Matty, this is extremely tough for me. You can't imagine what I have to go through, being this small."

"I'm here to help ya, Dad."

"Thanks, son. I know you're trying. Maybe I can grow back but if not..."--Brian gulped, finding it difficult to get the words out-- "...if I gotta stay small, it will be even tougher with time. I get so frustrated and...scared."

Matty imagined what it must be like to be a 40 year old man who is in danger of being beaten to a pulp by--kids.

"Be strong, Dad...I'll be around to help."

He hugged his father--instead of a father helping to console his small, nine-year-old son, it was a nine-year old trying to reassure his tiny father that all would be fine.

--------------------------------

Brian got up from his seated position on the grass and started to head back to his apartment. He had needed a little time to clear his mind. On a quiet Sunday morning, he needed to get some fresh air, hear the birds singing, and sense the city "waking up". As he headed back, he could smell coffee from some houses. At others, Sunday papers he probably would be too weak to lift were thrown on doorsteps.

The little man headed back home, and got back in through the pet door.

5

As Brian got in through the pet door, he was thinking it was a good thing that the dog he'd met was friendly. It weighed much more than he and had it been a vicious mutt, he could have been mauled.

It was interesting: in some ways the world, now much bigger to him, could still be a good place and he simply was observing it from a lower and smaller vantagepoint. But it some ways life could be more dangerous for a 28 inch tall, 15 pound man. Any of the kids that were at his place could have beaten the crap out of him. Crossing a street meant waiting for the right moment and dashing across it as fast as his miniscule feet could take him, lest a gargantuan car mow him down (which was why it was a good idea to let someone like Matty lead him across--and big Mike could carry him, like a baby).

Everything was grossly distorted now--people's arms, legs, feet and hands seemed impossibly huge. Distances seemed longer (again, having to walk on four-inch-long feet...) Forks, knives, and other objects were tougher to handle and things he could have easily lifted before now were impossible.

As he entered the kitchen he saw Matty was up and dressed and he informed his son he'd gone for a little walk.

"Barefoot?"

"Well, I just felt like it. More natural...feeling the grass underneath me."

"I'll get breakfast for us--waffles OK?"

"Sure, if you want! Thanks."

The difference between the two of them was this: Matty opened up the fridge and got the waffle package out from the top freezer. He walked over to the microwave and put a couple waffles on to a plate then put the plate into the oven and hit the buttons, and so on. For Brian he would have had to drag a chair (if he had to) next to the fridge and strain to reach the waffle package. Get off the chair and go over to the counter where he'd have to use another chair to reach the plate and the microwave, etc., and reach up to get the syrup. Even then, if some objects weren't near the edge, he'd have to do something like climb ON to the counter and attempt to reach them.

He thought of an old Sunday comic, "Rose is Rose", in which both Rose and Jimbo Gumbo imagined they had regressed to being kids again (three feet tall or even smaller) and giddily reaching for coffee, the coffee pot (filling it with water), and so on. These were fantasy segments where one or both characters would imagine themselves that small (and young) again but of course in reality they were still big. Not the case for Brian, who would STAY small throughout.

Brian, who would go over to the kitchen table and sit on a chair-- with a phone book or two to help him better reach over the top, legs dangling down beneath him. One waffle would be plenty for him, IF that. Brian, who got a cup of coffee from his son and had to use both hands (his right curled around the handle and his left supporting the bottom) to help him drink it (and even then, Brian had to ask for a fairly small cup for his baby sized hands).

Brian, who had to look up even to four- or five-year old kids.

His wife Sharon had been divorced from him for over a year and was now living halfway across the country. She expressed pity and concern for him in their occasional phone calls since this had happened (Sharon had left him for someone better looking and more wealthy); usually she wouldn't call him but she did a few times more recently.

"Shouldn't you move in with Ed, Margie, and Mike? They can take care of you and Matty."

It was a helpful suggestion and she did have a good point. Brian did treasure his independence--being able to help bring up Matty and have the two of them in a place of their own, rather than being part of a relative's household. Though there were times when he got frustrated at his powerlessness and thought about doing just that.

When Monday would come, Matty would be off to school and Brian would be alone at home to watch TV or do things on the computer. (Be a good boy Bwian, he laughingly told himself, and daddy Matty will tweat you to some ice cw-eam! Yes, sometimes he felt like he was a little kid. The "little" part was certainly right.

He would occasionally go for a walk and be instantly recognized (for TV and newspapers told of his plight.) He found some women took pity on him and would be sympathetic toward him. He would sit on a park bench next to a young mother (with a toddler--bigger than him--by her side) and she would talk to him about how horrible things must be for him, and Brian would joke that maybe she could adopt him and be his "mommy". Sometimes the woman would even take his tiny hands in her huge ones and hold them to added emphasis and support. It would make him feel better for a moment but he couldn't help feeling like he actually was a toddler himself, and this woman was his mother rather than someone he could hook up with (honey, leave your husband and kids and join me and my son--we could use a lovely lady like you to help us--well, actually those were things he thought; he wouldn't dare say them).

But a few days later Brian felt odd and he could sense something was wrong. He got up on a chair and got a foot long ruler from the top of a bureau, then got down again, stood next to a wall, and made a mark where the top of his head was. He took the ruler and measure up to it. One foot, two feet, and...

...two and a half inches.

A queasy feeling hit him and he slowly crouched down, and grabbed his socked feet with his tiny hands and he looked up at the gargantuan furniture.

_He was shrinking again. 26 and a half inches tall_...

6

He looked like a small baby down there on the floor, hunched over, shaking his head in disbelief. Yes he had lost an inch and a half which might not sound like much but the very fact that the shrinking was starting again was the final insult. He was trying to keep his wits about him and enjoy life but now it had clearly gotten much worse for him.

He was not the 5'9" single father he had used to be. Bit by bit as he got smaller and everything else, larger, he felt like more and more of his existence were being taken away. All he had accomplished was for nothing.

He had gotten down to 5 feet tall, the height of a twelve year old boy, and was stared at by adults and kids alike (smartalecky 13 year olds would stand next to him, even the shorter ones who were only a couple inches taller than he, and look down at the bearded little guy). One day he got to the same exact height as Matty and he wondered how much longer his parental authority would last. Matty did get a kick out of the fact that much of his clothes could now fit his dad, though Matty's sneakers were a size too big for Brian. Then down to waist high and even smaller, and then just as he was thinking he'd be stuck at 28 inches, it got even worse.

Why was he being punished? What did he do wrong to justify being cut down to size?

He walked into his living room, past the bedroom doorknob that was 8 feet up and the almost 12 foot high light switch. Yes, there was a rod on it to help him turn it off or on, but how long would he be able to reach that?

He climbed up onto the sofa and curled up, seeming even smaller than ever. Brian wondered if he soon could wind up as a pretend-doll for some little girl, a grown man who could be a "baby son" to a six year old "mommy". He reached over for the TV's remote control (one of those huge cable TV models with various buttons for on demand and such) and surfed around the dial till he found a cable news network. (Speaking of TV, he wondered if a crew from Discovery Channel would soon be paying him a return visit, for an update on their special "Shrinking People" which he had appeared on.

There was a news item that interested him: hormones had come out for the shrinking people which could well restore their size. One shrunken man, who had gone down to 4'2", had gained 7 inches of height with this new hormone. They weren't sure how much height one could gain but it was a start.

But I'm heading in the opposite direction, he thought. I'd be happy now just to stop the shrinking.

The key turned in the latch; it was Matty, back from school, and he had brought someone: Kenny.

"Uh, hi Mr. Hosler--I just wanted ta apologize to ya..."

It was the ten year old who tried to drink one of his beers-- yes, even reduced to toddler size, Brian still wanted to have a new brew once in awhile--and had picked him up and belittled him. And dropped him.

"Yeah, dad, he's sorry..."

"Your mom probably yelled at you about it, Kenny," mumbled Brian. "Are you sorry because she made you apologize, or are you just really sorry?"

The boys could barely understand what Brian was saying. His voice had gotten even higher.

Kenny sat down on the sofa, and Brian could feel the weight of the boy on the edge of the cushion (a boy who probably weighed at least six times as much as he--at the age of ten!)

"Yeah dude like, I mean Mr. Hosler, I know what I did was wrong an' stuff."

Brian nodded and sniffled a bit; he was still a bit emotional about what he had found out earlier. He mumbled a thank you to Kenny and then looked up at his son. Bleary eyed, he mumbled, "The shrinking started again. I lost almost two inches."

"Oh my God..."

Brian nodded and climbed down from the couch; he stood next to Matty. Brian's waist was now a couple inches shy of the nine year old's kneecaps.

"I give up, son--I can't really be your dad anymore if I'm this small. We'll have to move in with Uncle Ed and you can be one of his sons and I'll be...your baby brother, I guess."

Matty crouched down to look his tiny father in the eye. Over on the sofa, Kenny was shaking his head in disbelief.

"We can stay here till the end of the month. I had given the landlord first and last month's rent but we can start moving the stuff out eventually and go over to Uncle Ed's."

"Can we--can a doctor help you out?"

"Well, they are working on some kind of medicine that could make me grow a bit, but first they need to stop the shrinking. I don't know how small I could get."

Matty sat down on the sofa and picked up his father as if he were a little baby and sat him on his lap. They almost looked like a ventriloquist and his dummy.

"Dude maybe I should go," said Kenny. "I know it's a bad time..."

He did leave, and Brian could only wonder how long it would be before he'd be as big as a newborn baby.

7

The new member of the family was 17 inches long and weighed between 5 and 6 pounds. That would be fairly tiny for a baby. Problem was, it wasn't a baby; it was a 40 year old man named Brian Hosler. For he had shrunk further and now was actually slightly smaller than a newborn. And the family he'd joined was that of his brother Ed (Brian's son Matty also moved in).

Brian was about two inches shorter than the kneecap of his 16 year old nephew. Brian's 9 year old son Matty was over three times as tall as his dad, at a statuesque 53 inches of height.

When they ate together, sometimes Brian would stand on top of a chair and lean over to reach the food. Sometimes he would be in a sitting position next to the belly of one of the family members, sitting on his or her lap, though he would slip sometimes so the family member might hold him gently, one hand pressed against his tiny body.

The media, of course, was delighted that he had shrunk some more. It did bring some extra money into the extended family, for the various interviews and photo shoots. Discovery Channel showed that the Hoslers had converted a guest room into a bedroom for Matty and Brian. The third grader slept in a regular twin size bed while on the other side of the room, there was a toddler bed meant for someone twice Brian's height. Brian steadfastly refused to be given a crib to sleep in.

Clothes had become a problem, as even newborn duds seemed a bit big on him. "Babies are a bit chunky compared to him," Ed Hosler told the press. "But we have had some clothes made for him by relatives and some manufacturers."

That meant sweat pants with a ten inch waist and a seven and a half inch inseam, extremely tiny white socks, and shirts that seemed slightly long on him, reaching almost down to his knees, with the "short sleeves" reaching past the elbow. Getting around meant being wheeled in a stroller or being hugged to someone's chest by a baby carrier. Walking was good too, but his legs were so short and feet so small (two and a half inches long) that it took awhile to get places. (Mike saw a news story on the Net about the world's tallest man, who stood 8 and a half feet tall, with 17 inch long feet. It was true--his feet were the same size as Uncle Brian!)

He couldn't reach anything over 22 inches off the ground. He couldn't lift too many things (too heavy). His voice was even more high pitched than ever and sometimes he was tough to understand.

"I can't really go out by myself," he told the Discovery Channel (they had to subtitle what he was saying so viewers could understand). "When I was about 25 inches tall, I tried and I had a tough time."

Did he ever. Just a walk by himself, but he was soon spotted by some kids--maybe 11 to 13 years old. He had shaved off his beard but was still recognizable as the world's smallest man, his body proportions much more like an adult's than those of a baby. A lot thinner, and weaker.

The thirteen year old went right up to him and looked down with a huge grin at him. He was a titanic figure looming over him; legs, arms, and a torso many times Brian's size; a huge mass of hair covered his ample head. He was a huge giant whom Brian immediately feared.

He was five foot one inch tall.

Hands reached under his armpits and hoisted him up so fast Brian thought he might throw up. He got a close up view of the boy's face and felt even more puny than ever. The boy spoke with a voice that hadn't quite matured yet; he was at the age where a boy's voice could be mistaken for a girl's, yet it boomed out at Brian with great force.

"The little man! Hey, saw ya on TV, where'd your beard go!"

"Look at him!," an 11 year old lad exclaimed. "Let's toss him around like a football."

"I'll step on him--no, sit on him!", laughed one twelve year old.

"Hey, cute little sneakers," said the 13 year old. He took the right one off and flung it into the bushes. "Oops! Hey, maybe it'll fit some squirrel!"

"Please put me down..."

The 13 year old took the other sneaker off and also threw it into the distance. Then he tossed Brian over to the twelve year old. "Catch!"

Brian had weighed about 8 or 9 pounds by that point, but the kids could still toss him around with ease. Then when the twelve year old tossed Brian to the eleven year old, the throw was errant-- he collided with the boy's belly and arms and fell down to the ground.

Brian reached around and tried to pull the 11 year old's right sneaker off. It took some strength for his tiny hands to get it off, but he did just that. Of course he could only toss it a few inches away. "Whattaya doing!"

"Not fair that the baby can do that!"

The next thing Brian knew, the 13 year old crouched down and pinned him to the ground with one arm. The others could have tried to help, but one was enough--Brian couldn't get up with the lad holding him down.

By that time his nephew Mike had shown up--he spotted his uncle down on the ground--and he easily pulled the 13 year old off his uncle and scared off the kids.

That was when Brian was 2'1". Now he was 1'5"...

8

The entire world was grossly magnified to Brian. Heights and distances were four times as big, and weights exponentially increased. He was literally knee high to many adults.

Brian knew he was 17 inches tall but he couldn't help but think of dimensions as being what they were before when he was almost 6 feet tall. Thus, he would look up at a doorknob and estimate it was up 12 feet or so; the lightswitch next to the bathroom was only 17 feet up. His 9 year old son, close to 18 feet tall. The kitchen sink was maybe 12 or 13 feet up; his older brother, close to 24 feet tall.

Some five year old kid? 14 feet tall.

To get something from a cabinet--without help--he'd have to somehow get up on to a chair, which was 5 feet tall, scamper up to the counter, reach up to the cabinet, and somehow pull it down. Coffee cups were OK but glasses were as much as two feet high. The refrigerator was a massive appliance whose door he couldn't open. The handle was too high; he supposed he could stand on a chair but even then it was a rather heavy door.

He was so small he could sleep in the small bathroom cupboard that held towels.

There were long days alone in the house, as Ed and his wife were both at work and Matt and Mike both at school. He had resigned himself to the idea that if the shrinking had stopped for good, he'd have to live as the freakishly small brother Ed had. Maybe years from now, Matty could marry and he could be their little one--move in with them. Hah. Was he still Matty's father?

At less than baby size, not quite. Everyone cared for him, fed him (tiny portions of course). He still took baths in the 24 foot long swimming pool they called a bathtub; someone would usually fill it to about his thigh level (about 7 inches), place him inside and give him a tiny bar of soap, and leave him to bathe, then go and pick him up again.

He probably could take a bath in the kitchen sink but it was beneath his dignity.

The whole thing was he had grown to be a man and had responsibilities at home and at work. When he got too small for the latter, he first went on sick leave and then "retired"; as for the former, how could he be a single father for his son when he was so small? When he had to fear being attacked by little kids--or dogs or cats--bigger than him if he dared go outside for a walk?

The long days at home usually involved TV or the computer. The media had told of his further shrinkage but thankfully was leaving him alone lately.

All he had to ask himself, again, was why? Why did he deserve this fate when he had done nothing wrong? Of course he answered himself: life isn't fair. It isn't fair for the kids born with horrid diseases that cut their lives short, or the family wiped out by a drunken driver, or casualties of war. Thankfully he had a family to help him out but he wanted to have his privacy at times, or at least he wanted to be able to say he was still a man--he still could do good, be a father, or whatever; now was he just a pet? A very small baby? What was he?

The experimental process he had heard about helped out some of the others who had shrunk, giving them a few more inches at least. It did nothing for him--in fact he felt he could be shrinking again. The special 18 inch ruler would confirm that. In a week or two he was down to 12 and a half inches tall. Not much bigger than the shrunken people in "Dr. Cyclops".

And now of course, the world had gotten even more ridiculously vast. Adults were 36 feet tall, his son up to 27 feet. Chairs were too high for him, though various step stools around the house helped. He only weighed a pound or two. The media came calling again and were only too pleased to give his other dimensions: a 7 inch waist, 5 inch inseam, and his feet were 1.7 inches long.

He used to think 28 inches tall was ridiculously tiny. Now he was less than half that.

He stopped thinking in terms of feet and stuck to inches. He knew his son, for example, was about 53 inches tall (actually he had now gained an inch), not 27 feet tall. He was a foot high, and that was that, but it still hurt to think about what used to be.

His brother Ed would pick him up with vast hands and place him in a baby car seat that was way too large, but it was the best they could do. I used to be about the same size as Ed, he thought. And he used to be able to drive a car, one of these massive machines, with ease. He used to be able to look DOWN at kids or pets and reach objects easily. Now he was a bit bigger than the length of one of his nephew's sneakers.

One meal any of them ate could feed him for a week.

Well, as it turned out, 12 and a half inches tall was the end of the shrinking. He would have to get used to it.

There were times when he thought about ending it all--perhaps running out in the street and letting one of the spaceship-sized cars flatten him. But he tried to appreciate life for what it was. His big family was there to help--and come to think of it, he DID have privacy when they were off to school or work (but he COULDN'T have the ability to just go off for a walk...go to a state park, get back to nature...he was too small.

But for every bad thing in the world there were so many good things, and he had a family of giants around to love him, even if he was smaller than most cats.

(END--though there could always be sequels or maybe someone here can do your own take on a story like this!)

9 (Cut Down To Size Even More Pt 1)

The shrinking continued and Brian was down to 8 inches tall. It stopped for awhile and as usual he didn't know if it would pick up again or not. He was so small he could sleep in his 9 year old son's sneaker (in fact he was the same length as Matty's foot), and his nephew Mike's sneaker would be even more spacious (a 16 year old whose sneaker seemed 9 or 10 feet long to Brian!) Of course he wouldn't actually sleep in one of their sneakers--not only the safety concerns of what might happen if they should put the shoe on while he was there, but the sneaks were...aromatic.

His body was about 2 and a half inches wide; hands less than an inch long, feet maybe 1 and a quarter inches, and he weighed less than a pound.

What had drastically changed for Brian besides his size was the loss of control he had--for getting THAT small meant that out of concern for him, family members were really strict about what he could do, where he could go, and so on. He wondered if he were now a pet and perhaps could wind up in a cage. (Maybe some day...)

A typical day would begin with Matty waking up in the other side of their bedroom. Brian was on a makeshift bed on a table--foam covered by fabric with light cloth for sheets and small, cut up towels serving as a blanket. If he had to urinate during the night, a shot glass was provided nearby. Strong string would enable him to get down from the table if necessary, but usually his mode of transportation was in the hands of his son, nephew, brother, or sister in law.

They all had either work or school on weekdays; Brian certainly had nowhere to go but they wanted to make sure he could take a bath and eat breakfast. For the former, he wound up in the bathroom sink with splinters of soap. Either he could wade or swim around and take a bath, or choose to let the faucet serve as a shower. The faucet was about three quarters of an inch above his head--to him, that was about 7 inches. He would use facecloths as towels and someone would hand him his makeshift clothes.

He would sit or kneel on the kitchen table as they had breakfast, with someone cutting him small pieces of eggs, sausage, toast, and so on. A saucer served as a plate. Coffee cups were almost waist high to him so the best they could do was a bottle cap of liquid for him.

Today however he would not be staying home. Matty had plans to take him to school. He didn't want to alarm his adopted parents, though.

"I'll protect you--it'll be fine. I need you for a school project." Great, he'd be performing for a science class or something.

"I'll get ya right after breakfast and put ya in the book bag."

Not if he could help it! Matty put his father back on the table in his room as part of the ruse. As far as his parents were concerned, Brian would be staying home. As his mother and father each prepared to leave, they called Brian in to the kitchen to give him his lunch.

It was Brian's chance to escape. He went over to the lamp and started climbing down the lamp cord. He had just about made it to the floor when he heard footsteps approaching. Gotta hurry! Brian attempted to run over to a bureau where he could hide.

"Be careful, you don't want to miss the bus," said Ed Hosler as he left.

The footsteps belonged to his son. Brian ran fast but the 40 foot tall third-grader easily made it across the floor quickly and the next thing Brian knew two sneakers, each of them almost eight feet long, came right for him. Brian tried to change direction but the left sneaker collided with him; he tried to grab on to something and found he had grasped some of the shoelaces on top. It kept him from being thrown several inches (to him, several feet) away.

"What the---?"

Matty looked down and saw the eight inch man trying to hold on to his shoelaces for dear life; but in alarm, Brian had let go and he was catapulted several feet (to him) away. Another pair of sneakers broke his fall, and a huge hand reached out to him.

"Brian! You could get hurt--were you trying to escape?" (Matty had stopped calling him "Dad" when Ed had adopted him.)

"I don't care!," screamed Brian in his impossibly high voice. "You can't force me!"

But the next thing he knew, he was being placed into the top compartment of Matty's backpack, with the zipper open a few inches for air. Matty put the backpack on, instructing his father to crouch down--and he promised he would try to make sure he didn't bump into anyone or anything.

When he got to school, he found himself being placed into Matty's locker. "Science isn't till third period," he had told...Brian. He was quickly taken out of the bag and placed on the bottom of the locker. There would hopefully be enough air, though the air vents of the locker were a good forty feet above him. It was fairly dark but at least he was safe, for now. Outside, pre-pubescent voices could be heard shouting and laughing.

Inside, he saw that mini candy bars and various other objects lay about, and Matty had left him his mp3 player to listen to.

Science period started and he was Matty's project, indeed--most of the kids knew who Matty's dad was (the original dad, at least) but here he was to show off a physics and general science project. How much could an eight inch man lift? How high could he jump; why was his voice so high?

"Eww, I don't wanna catch it," said one boy. "I don't wanna shrink."

"You don't catch it--well, maybe there is a virus involved but it's genetic," said the teacher.

"So....Matty might shrink too?," giggled one girl.

Brian loved his nine-, soon to be ten-, year old son, but this was ridiculous.

10 (Cut Down to Size Even More Pt 2)

Brian could have told the teacher, and everyone else, that he had been taken against his will and apparently against the orders of Matty's "new" parents (who no doubt would not have approved of this, which is why Matt wanted to keep it secret). He kept quiet. His lack of size meant a loss of dignity and control and the best he could do is perhaps tell Ed and Betty what Matt had done. Matt no doubt would be punished.

And what about Brian? He worried about that part. Would Matty take it out on him, since he "told"? For God's sake he was the boy's father, even if he could be abducted the way he was this morning. Matty owed him some respect and loyalty--and he doubted Matty actually would get angry and take it out on him, but...why take chances? Yes, yes biologically Brian _was_ his father but his son, and everyone else, held a huge size advantage on him now.

It would not seem like something Matty could do, but for one moment Brian got it in his head that the sneakers he bumped into earlier in the day could easily come down on him and crush him to death. After all, Brian had ceased being his father. Maybe Matty no longer saw him as human? He was a toy; that's right, a toy that somehow came to life and could entertain him, keep him company. Coming soon, especially if Brian shrank some more: The Daddy In The Cupboard.

Maybe I shouldn't tell Matty's new parents--I could tell Mike instead.

"Now, where are you keeping your father, Matty? I hope it isn't in your locker."

"Actually...yeah."

The kids laughed. "Can you put my dad in there too? You'd haveta shrink him first," said one classmate.

The teacher looked concerned. "Mr. Hosler is a real human being, and your father, of course, Matty, and he should be treated well. But he shouldn't be carried around by you and he certainly shouldn't be stuffed in a locker. Tell you what--I only have a half day today, Brian, so I could drop him off at your house on my way home." The teacher knew where the family lived. "Put him through the mail slot or something."

"Naw, I can take him home when I go home."

"Well, let me keep him here for now and I'll tell Mrs. Bridges he's here, in the desk, and she'll make sure he's okay."

The room was unoccupied for the next period and the teacher put Brian in the desk. The teacher went to another room...and that was when Brian noticed he'd left his cellphone in the compartment with him.

It was an Oystr phone, and it was closed. Brian was able to pry it open, though (maybe this bit about people having more muscle power, relatively, if they got smaller happened to be true). He turned it on and dialed Mike.

After a couple rings, he heard Mike's voice come on.

"It's Uncle Brian. Matty took me to school. I'm in some teacher's desk!"

People had a tough time hearing Brian's high pitched voice but the words "Brian" and "school" were pretty obvious. Matty took his dad to school?

"Did Mom and Dad say it was OK?"

"Probably not! Can you get me?"

It was lunch period at Mike's high school so Mike was able to get into his car and drive the one mile or so to Matty's school. He asked the receptionist if he could see his brother Matty.

"Is it important? I can give you a copy of his schedule and you can find where he is..."