Mike Rowe Fox, 4 Inch Tall Giant

Mike Rowe Fox, all of 4 inches tall, lived in a mousehole in my apartment. He called it The Mouse Pad. "Though maybe we can now start calling it the Fox Hole!" Ah.

Mike was used to being so small. He'd skitter around looking for food (being so tiny, he had to eat constantly to maintain his metabolism), or ride in my pocket. Mike would climb up telephone or power cords to get on top of a table. I joked that maybe I could make him an elevator, like they had in "The Littles" (the Liliputian-sized family used an old soup can and string...)

But Mike got to be a giant one day, and he didn't even grow. He sat down on my lawn and looked around. Suddenly he heard a voice call out to him: "Giant! We need your help!"

A four-inch tall giant? It was true. Mike looked to his right and saw a tiny raccoon about one eighteenth of his size (about a quarter of an inch tall). Amazed, he put his right paw down and instructed the micro-coon to climb aboard, then he brought the raccoon up to his face.

"Giant? Not me. More of a mouse-sized fox."

"Well, to me you're a giant, though you're not as huge as others I've seen. Anyway, we need help in our land of Microfurry."

"You mean there are others like you, in a tiny village? Wow, this is kinda like that Joe Ekaitis story 'Gulliver Mouse'...this mouse winds up in Liliput and becomes a giant to the tiny furries there. Of course, I'm from Liliput myself, though it no longer exists--anyway, show me to your teeny tiny town!"

With that, Mike walked a few feet, instructed by the tiny raccoon, and there, beyond a stretch of trees, was the tiny land of Microfurry. The mini masked bandit introduced himself as Millrod.

So there it was, a stretch of houses less than an inch tall. Further away were various small businesses; restaurants, clothing stores, repair shops and more. Mike heard shouts of "a giant is coming, run for your lives!" as he made his way closer. He almost had to giggle. Four inches tall and a giant! But these furries were even smaller. About the size the kids shrink to in "Honey I Shrank the Kids".

"We have a tyrannical ruler who is very strict," Millrod explained. "He has a group of furs who help him out, and whenever the people try to revolt against him, we're defeated. He takes away our liberties and our property and makes our lives miserable."

"And you want me to be the big, powerful giant who runs him out of town?"

"Well, it couldn't hurt."

Mike sat down carefully in a field, making sure furries were safely out of the way. He smiled, knowing that while he was only as tall as a coffee cup, here he would be considered a giant well over 100 feet tall.

To me (your narrator), the tiny furs of Microfurry would be a quarter of an inch tall. To Anthrocoon (100 feet tall), they'd be just about microscopic. Anyway, Mike sat down and gently told the furs of Microfurry that he was not there to destroy them. If anything, he could help them.

A wolf couple looked at each other, and the husband told his wife, "I don't know if I should believe him! He's probably sent by Subinch." Subinch was their tyrannical ruler.

But Mike sure seemed friendly enough. An anthropomorphic fox, wearing a T-shirt and shorts. A towering figure (to them) in red and white.

As it turned out, Subinch, the unfair ruler of Microfurry, was heading by the field where the mighty giant Mike Rowe Fox happened to be, and Millrod pointed him out to Mike. "Get this giant monster out of here!," shouted Subinch to his sidekicks, who were frozen in fear.

"I'm here to bring justice!," said Mike. "The time has come to end your hate and cruelty!" Mike reached over to pick up Subinch, but as he did the furries of Microfurry were amazed to see a pair of huge fingers pick up Mike Rowe Fox...yes, the 100 ft tall (to them) giant was being abducted by a giant who was 18 times HIS size (that is, an amazing 6 feet tall! Hey, when you're between one-fifth and one-quarter of an inch tall, that is MEGA gigantic!)

In a flash, the tiny (to us) fox was placed into a cage, and the giant human got up and walked away. The Microfurries were astonished as the 1,800 foot tall (to them) being walked away, on sneakers that seemed over 250 feet long!

Subinch smiled and said, "Even mighty giants are no match for me!"

In the cage, Mike yelled, "Let me go! I need to save those tiny animals!" The giant who had taken him probably didn't even notice the Microfurries, as they were mere specks to him. All he saw was a mouse-sized fox.

"Please let me go! I need to help those little furries..." The "giant" paid no attention to Mike's pleas.

Back in the land of Microfurry, tiny Millrod Raccoon felt very powerless. His only hope had gone. The mega-giants who stood 6 feet tall were way too big to notice furries his size. But a four-inch tall furry like Mike...small enough to notice them, big enough to help--why, surely he could assist them, couldn't he? But he had been taken away by the mega-giant.

------------------- His once chance to be a hero...a giant...and it was gone. Mike slumped inside the cage, feeling much smaller and powerless than the four-inch-tall fox he was. The giant opened the cage and practically tumbled Mike out onto a kitchen table.

"This is amazing," said the giant, almost to himself. "What a find--a teeny little fox..."

"Please let me go, sir...Some furries need my help desperately!"

"Ah, so you talk--and there are more of you?"

"Well, kind of...the furs MY size are spread out all over the world. We had to leave Liliput-- my land--when you giants took it over." Mike stood up and gazed at the bearded man looking down at him. "No, I am trying to help some furries much smaller than myself, and you came along and foxnapped me!"

The giant didn't seem to care. "You are truly a miracle...a miniscule fox who TALKS! Not only would you be fun to have around here, but I could put you on TV...or you could be a great kid's toy, or--"

Mike was enraged. He knew it was risky to take on a giant like this guy, but he didn't care. "Look, pal! I may be tiny but I've got heart and guts and I treat people and furs with respect! That is, as long as they're deserving of respect. I'm not so sure YOU deserve my respect. How dare you grab me like that, especially when I'm trying to help some others?"

The giant laughed...was this tiny fox trying to pick a fight? He played along. "OK, what do you mean by that."

"I MEAN that I was trying to help out animals as small to me as I am to you. They live in a land with a mean king who treats them like dirt, and I was just about to-- well, I was gonna either reason with the guy or help them defeat him, but you deprived me of that chance." He walked over to the giant's hand and placed his miniscule paw next to one finger. "See my paw? They're about half as big as that. A quarter of an inch tall, if that..."

The giant seemed impressed. "Whoa. Even you'd be a giant to them!"

"But I'd be a much better giant than you would!"

The giant, who said his name was Porter Davis, was nice enough to feed Mike. Then he put him back in the cage and carried him off to his brother's house to show him off. Just then, a shadow fell across the land and Porter looked up. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by paws a good 17 feet long; above those was the furry body of a giant raccoon. It was Anthrocoon, 100 feet tall, passing through the town!

Porter ran off in terror! Anthrocoon heard Porter's screams and looked down to see the tiny human fleeing into the woods. "Don't worry, it's only me. I'm friendly." Anthrocoon lay down on the ground just as Porter tripped over a branch and fell down, the cage being flung several feet away. As Porter got up, he saw the titanic face of Anthrocoon--pointed ears, round eyes and a "mask", a cold, black nose surrounded by whiskers. It was so big he almost fainted! Porter grabbed the cage. "You OK in there?," he asked.

"I guess so," replied Mike. "You see that? That's how big YOU seem to ME! And how big I seem to those little creatures I mentioned."

Anthrocoon could barely see the cage Porter carried, and Mike's voice was a very faint whisper. "Somebody in there?," Anthrocoon asked Porter.

"Ah, yes Mr., uh Giant Raccoon, it's just a little fox."

"It wouldn't be my friend Mike, would it? He's about flea-sized to me." Anthrocoon saw the cage and perked up his ears to hear Mike.

"Hi Anthrocoon! Hey, I'm a giant now...well, I found some furries much smaller than me and I'm gonna help them-- well, I was until this guy found me..."

Anthrocoon looked at Porter in mock surprise. "Did you put my microscopic friend in a cage?"

"Well, I was, uh, just about to free him..."

"Don't worry," said Mike to Porter. "Anthrocoon won't put YOU in a cage. There is such a thing as a friendly giant, you know."

Anthrocoon, the 100 ft raccoon; Porter, the 6 foot human, and Mike, the 4 inch tall fox all went over to the tiny city of Microfurry, whose furry citizens were about a quarter of an inch tall. Mike confronted Subinch.

"OK, I'm back...now, Subinch, your days of rule are over--the citizens have spoken and you should be removed!"

"How dare you speak for them! They support me!"

Not quite. A loud rain of boos from the assembled Microfurries made that clear. "Well, I have my backers and my army..." But Subinch's backers and his army all looked up at Mike and seemed to connect with him--they knew that Subinch was wrong but only were with him because he would have tortured them if they weren't.

"We're not with you, either!," shouted Subinch's backers.

"Yes, you're evil and you made our lives miserable!," said Millrod Raccoon. "Imprisoned us unjustly...taxed our wages so that all our labor went to you...passed laws that made just about anything a crime. Your days are over!"

Some of Subinch's FORMER backers went over to the jail and they freed all the unjustly incarcerated inmates. Cheers went up from the crowd. Subinch was in disbelief. "I am your leader, not this giant fox!" But several Microfurries grabbed him and put HIM in prison! He was later convicted in a trial.

The Microfurries celebrated and had a vote: their new leader would be the brave and wise Millrod Raccoon, and Millrod appointed a tiger named Ingerson as his second in command. Now, there would be justice, peace and order.

Millrod went up to Mike Rowe Fox, who was 18 times as tall as any Microfurry but a mere 4 inches tall. "You were a great help! I knew I could depend on you."

"Aw, I just helped a little. I'm sure you'll be a great leader. Though I will say that I helped teach a giant a thing or two," Mike said, referring to Porter, the 6 foot tall human. "Oh, and speaking of giants... there's one here so big you probably can't see all of him--and he probably can't see you. But you do have one thing in common."

Millrod could sense the presence of Anthrocoon. His thoughts floated down to him. "Fellow raccoon, you have done well. I am a 100 foot tall giant and in some ways you are a giant as well. You're only tiny in size, but not spirit."

"Thank you...I only want to do what's right."

"You will. You may be too small for me to see but you and your fellow Microfurries are just as important as the 'bigger' furries and humans of this world."

Porter and Mike asked the Microfurries if they wouldn't mind relocating their miniscule city so that rain or snow wouldn't wash it away. Millrod and the Microfurries all agreed on that. So now the city of Microfurry is in a corner of my living room. 4 inch tall Mike Rowe Fox checks in on them once in awhile. Porter and I do as well, via a magnifying glass. And Anthrocoon communicates with Millrod in his own telepathic way.

As I type this, Mike Rowe Fox looks up at me and says "yes, even a four inch tall guy can be a giant!" He trips over the mouse cord, though, but I place my hand out and he falls into it, unhurt.

Yes, Mike, you may be as tall as a coffee cup but you are a giant. You've proved it!

END