I’m going to do a complete examination. We’ll do a blood work-up. And we’ll take X-rays. And we’ll see what shows up.”
“Am I…going to keep shrinking?” I asked.
“I can’t really answer that, Danny. Wish I could. My guess is that this is something glandular.”
“Glandular? What does that mean?”
“I’ll explain later. Let’s get started.” He pressed the stethoscope against my chest.
I shivered. Why are they always so cold?
He pressed it all over my chest and throat and back, listening intently. Then he poked a light into my ears and studied them for a long while. He checked my throat and studied my eyes.
His expression remained grim. The blond eyebrows arched tensely over his green eyes. He didn’t make a sound.
A nurse came in, tapped my arm a few times, and tied a blue plastic cord around it. “You can look away if you want to,” she said, raising a hypodermic syringe.
“It’s okay,” I replied.
She jabbed the needle into my arm. I watched the dark red blood flow into the glass vial. She filled four vials before she pulled the needle out.
“We need to do a brain scan,” Dr. Hayward said. “Then I want to send you for other brain tests.”
My mouth dropped open. “You don’t think that this is all in my mind, do you?”
The doctor handed me my shirt. “Of course not. I’m just looking for a clue, any kind of clue as to what is causing this growth loss.”
He turned and pulled a glass bottle from a cabinet. He twisted off the cap and poured a thick blue liquid into a glass. “Drink this down.”
I raised the glass to my mouth, but then quickly lowered it. It smelled horrible! Like skunk juice. “What is it?”
“It’s a kind of ink, Danny. When you drink it, we’ll be able to follow it through your system on an X-ray machine.”
He pushed the glass toward my face. “Go ahead. Bottoms up. Hold your nose while you drink. It might help get it down.”
I held my breath and pressed the glass to my lips. The liquid poured onto my tongue, thick as motor oil.
“This stuff is so gross,” I gagged. But I pinched my nose and choked it down.
Dr. Hayward smiled at me. “Very good. Now get dressed, Danny. I’m sending you to a lab across town for the X-rays. I’ll go explain everything to your parents while you get dressed.”
“But…when will we know what’s wrong?” I asked, the disgusting taste of the thick blue liquid lingering in my mouth.
“We’ll have the tests back in two or three days,” he replied. “Then we might be able to explain…” His voice trailed off.
“Two or three days?” I cried. “But—but—I could disappear by then!”
His blue eyes seemed to fade. He patted my trembling shoulder. “We’ll make sure someone keeps an eye on you.”
The X-rays and brain scans and tests took all day.
At the end of it I was so exhausted, I could barely move or speak. Dad drove us home. Mom held me on her lap like a baby.
“Don’t worry, Danny,” Mom said. “Dr. Hayward will find out what’s wrong with you. Then he’ll figure out how to turn things around.”
She was trying to sound brave. But her voice quivered, and tears bubbled up in her eyes once again.
Dad turned the car into the driveway, and I saw someone sitting on the front lawn.
Megan?
Yes. She waved to us. And I realized she wasn’t sitting—she was standing!
“Look!” she cried. “Danny—do you believe it? Look! I’m shrinking, too!”
I jumped out of the car and ran across the grass to her. “Megan—how did it happen?”
To my surprise, she started to laugh.
I stopped with a gasp when I saw she had her shoes strapped to her knees. Her legs stretched on the grass behind her.
All a joke. All a stupid joke.
“Get up, Megan!” I shrieked. I grabbed her arm and tried to tug her to her feet. “It’s not funny! It’s not!”
Mom hurried up to us, her expression stern. “Megan, what are you doing?” she asked sharply.
“Sorry, Mrs. Marin. I just—” Megan grabbed her shoes off the grass and climbed quickly to her feet. “I didn’t mean—”
“We have a very serious problem here,” Mom told her. “It isn’t a joking matter. It’s very frightening and…and…”
Mom bit her lip to keep from crying. She placed a hand on my shoulder and started to guide me to the house. “We’d better go inside. Good-bye, Megan.”
“I’m sorry,” Megan repeated, following after us. “Could I come in? I’d like to talk to you. I—”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Mom said. “Some other time, Megan.”
“But, Mrs. Marin, I want to apologize. I really—”
Mom cut Megan off. “Danny has had a very rough day. I’m sure you do feel bad. But I think he should be with us now.”
She pulled open the front door.
I heard a shrill bark.
No time to move. No time to get out of the way.
“No—Rocky!” I screamed.
Our big Irish setter, barking happily, burst out of the house to greet us. He leaped high—and his front paws came crashing down on my shoulders.
I was too small to stand up to him. He outweighed me now. And when he stood up, he towered over me. I fell back, fell off the stoop.
I landed hard on my back on the concrete walk.
Long red tail wagging furiously, Rocky jumped on top of me.
“No, Rocky! No!” Mom screamed.
“He’s crushing me!” I shrieked.
So heavy…he was so heavy…
“Helllp! Get him off!”
Mom and Megan were screaming, too.
I raised my arms to shield myself as Rocky jumped again.
I saw a fast-moving shadow. Then realized it was Dad.
He stepped between the charging dog and me.
Rocky gleefully leaped up, his front paws hitting Dad’s chest. “Good boy. Good Rocky!” Dad cried.
Holding on to the dog, he turned to me. “Get into the house, Danny. We’ll have to keep Rocky in the garage until…until you’re normal-sized again.”
He was petting Rocky, holding him by the collar. “He’s just happy to see you. He doesn’t realize…”
“I know,” I said. I hurried to the house, following Mom. I had to run to keep up with her.
“Danny, I have to talk to you,” Megan called. She said something else, but Rocky’s excited barks drowned her out.
Mom helped me back up the steep steps and into the house. I wanted to answer Megan, but Mom closed the front door after us.
I let out a long sigh of relief. “Rocky is just too big,” I said. “Why don’t we have a nice, little wiener dog?”
Mom didn’t smile. She had a hand clenching her chin. Her head was tilted as she studied me. “Danny, go stand next to the marks in the hall.”
The back of my neck prickled. “Why? We just measured me this morning, remember?”
“Don’t argue,” she replied sharply.
I sighed again and made my way to the wall. I backed up against it, standing beside the pencil marks.
My legs began to tremble. My shoulders still ached from where Rocky’s paws had landed on me.
I didn’t like the grim expression on Mom’s face as she studied the pencil marks.
I heard a tiny cry escape her throat. “Danny—I’m so sorry. So sorry.”
“Huh? Why, Mom?”
She shook her head sadly. Her eyes glistened with tears. “You’re two inches shorter.”
I groaned. “Oh no. Mom—what are we going to do?”
She shook her head and didn’t reply.
“Mom?” I had to reach up really high to grab her hand. It was cold and wet. “Mom?”
She squeezed my hand. She turned her head away.
I guessed she didn’t want me to see her crying.
&nb
sp; I took a deep breath. Two inches shorter? From this morning?
Why was this happening to me?
Why?
I decided to go upstairs and try to do some homework. I needed something to think about besides shrinking.
Before I could sit at my desk, I had to stack two phone books on my desk chair. Then I grabbed the chair arms and hoisted myself up.
When I sat down to face the computer, I had to stretch as far as I could to turn it on.
The keyboard suddenly appeared as wide as a piano. Tapping my fingers on the desktop, I waited impatiently for the computer to boot up.
My tiny hand barely fit around the mouse. I moved and clicked until the speakers buzzed and the monitor screen lit up.
I don’t know how long I sat there. An hour. Maybe two. Staring at the computer. Forcing myself to concentrate. But it was useless.
I’ll go downstairs and get a snack, I thought. Then I’ll come back and try again.
I started to lower myself from the phone books.
But the floor suddenly seemed a long way down.
I must have shrunk even more.
I’m too small to get out of the chair!
“Help!” I screamed. “Mom! Dad! Somebody—help me!”
Dad came running in. His mouth dropped open when he saw me sitting there.
He quickly tried to cover up his fear. Too late. I’d already seen the horror on his face.
“I’ve shrunk more—haven’t I?” I said as he lifted me off the phone books on my desk chair.
He nodded solemnly. “I—I think you have, Danny.”
He carried me downstairs and measured me against the wall. Then he shook his head sadly. Mom stood behind him, the color draining from her face.
“Well? Give me the bad news,” I insisted, trying to be brave. My voice came out tiny and high, like a five-year-old’s. My heart fluttered against my chest.
“Two feet,” Dad replied in a whisper. “You’re two feet tall now, Danny.”
I gasped.
Mom stepped forward quickly. She had her hands clenched into tight fists. A tissue was balled up in one fist. Tear stains streaked her cheeks.
“Let’s call Dr. Hayward,” she said to Dad. “Maybe he has some news for us.”
Mom told Dad Dr. Hayward’s number, and he punched it in. He waited a long time. I could hear ring after ring.
“I’m getting a message tape,” Dad said, frowning. “There’s no one in the office.”
He left a message, asking Dr. Hayward to call us right away. Then he turned off the phone and stared at me. “Where do you want to sleep, Danny? Maybe we could put together a little bed for you.”
“No,” I interrupted. “I want to sleep in my own bed.” I swallowed hard. I suddenly remembered those movies I’d seen on TV—the one about the shrinking man who has to live in a dollhouse and the one about the father who accidentally shrinks his kids and they get lost in the backyard.
I used to think those movies were funny.
But now I didn’t.
“Just don’t lose me, okay?” I whispered. “Don’t let me out of your sight.”
“Of course we won’t lose you!” Mom cried. She picked me up and hugged me.
But how long will they be able to see me? I wondered as we headed up to my bedroom.
Mom and Dad tucked me tightly into my bed. I sank into the pillow. It was nearly as tall as I was!
They left a dresser lamp on so they could see me easily. “We’ll look in on you every few hours,” Mom promised. When she kissed me good night, I felt like a little baby.
I was the size of a little baby!
They tiptoed out, and I shut my eyes. I felt very tired, but I was afraid to go to sleep.
What if I shrink down to the size of a bug?
What if I completely disappear during the night?
I tossed and turned for what seemed like hours. Worrying. Worrying about shrinking down to nothing. Worrying about disappearing forever.
Shafts of pale yellow light slipped through the bedroom blinds. Slanted down over the darkness.
Woolly, gray blobs, like headless sheep, dotted the ground.
I squinted into the light, my heart pounding, my whole body trembling in terror.
My body?
I glanced down at my hands, my legs, my bare feet, toes poking from my baggy pajama bottoms.
“I haven’t disappeared!” I cried out loud. My voice came out in a tiny mouse squeak.
I hadn’t shrunk to nothing. But where was I?
The gray blobs glimmered in the shafts of light. Sunlight, I realized.
I raised my eyes to an enormous structure of wood and dark cloth. It loomed over me like an airplane hangar.
I stared at it for several seconds before I realized I was gazing up at my bed.
Tossing and turning, I had fallen out of bed during the night. And now I stood on my dark carpet surrounded by dust balls as big as cactuses. My bed so high above me I couldn’t see the pillow or the sheets.
With a sick sigh, I gazed down at the floor.
I must be about the size of a parakeet, I realized.
I’m shrinking faster and faster. I’m only three or four inches tall!
How will anyone find me down here?
I didn’t have long to think about the question.
I heard the thunder of footsteps. So loud I raised my hands to my ears. The floorboards shook. My tiny feet bounced on the carpet.
“Danny?”
I recognized Megan’s voice. It boomed into my room as if on a loudspeaker cranked all the way up.
“Danny? Are you awake?”
Her shouts made my eardrums throb. The sound seemed to explode in my head.
More thundering footsteps. A shadow fell over me, blocking all the shafts of sunlight.
I saw two enormous white sneakers, as big as cars. They stopped at the foot of the bed.
“Danny? Where are you? Are you in here?”
I pressed my hands harder over my ears. Her calls were too loud. My head felt about to break open.
“Megan—I’m down here,” I squeaked. My voice was so tiny and faint. “Can you hear me? I’m down here.”
The big sneakers thudded closer.
I could see white socks poking up above the sneakers. I struggled to see Megan’s face. But she was as tall as a mountain. I couldn’t see that high.
“Megan—look down! Look down here!” I pleaded, screaming as hard as I could.
“Danny, are you hiding?” she called.
She didn’t hear me. And she didn’t see me.
And now she was moving toward me. CLUMP CLUMP CLUMP. The enormous shoes. Like army tanks.
“No—please!” I cried. “Megan—look out!”
I started to run out of the way.
I saw the sneaker rise up. Saw the rutted, gray sole float over me.
“Megan—noooooo!”
I raised my hands to protect myself as the heavy shoe tilted down over me. Lower…
Lower…
I gazed up at it, gritting my teeth, trembling in horror—and prepared to be crushed.
“Noooooo—!” I threw myself onto the floor. And landed hard on my stomach. Spun over instantly. Spun again.
And rolled under the bed.
I heard the thunderous crash of the sneaker hitting the floor.
CLUMP. CLUMP. Megan walked quickly, searching for me.
“Megan—down here!”
How could I get her attention?
“Megan—?”
A corner of the bedsheet drooped nearly to the floor. Maybe…maybe I could grab it and pull myself onto the bed.
I raised both hands and jumped. I made a frantic grab for the sheet.
Missed.
I landed back on the carpet. Turning, I saw Megan starting to leave the room.
“No—wait! Please wait!” I pleaded.
I leaped again—and my hands wrapped around the corner of the sheet. Grasping it tightly, wrapping my legs aroun
d it, I struggled to pull myself up.
Up, up—an inch at a time.
But no. I wasn’t strong enough. My arms were as thin as bird legs. With a furious cry, I started to fall.
I saw a blur of movement. Something wrapped around my chest and waist.
“Danny—?” I heard Megan’s startled cry.
She had her fingers wrapped around me. She raised me to her face. Her enormous face. I felt as if I were peering at a huge billboard of Megan!
A cartoon I had seen many times on TV flashed into my mind. I pictured a laughing giant holding a trembling little mouse between his thumb and forefinger.
“Danny?” Megan’s dark eyes were as big as basketballs. “You—you’re so tiny!”
“Don’t squeeze so hard!” I begged.
Her fingers loosened around my waist.
She could hear me!
Her mouth dropped open in amazement. It was like staring into a dark cave. Her teeth hung down from her giant lips, lips as big as house shingles.
“I don’t believe it!” Megan exclaimed, holding me close to her face. So close I thought for a moment she was going to swallow me!
“Please whisper,” I begged. “You’re so loud. Everything is so loud.”
“Sorry,” she whispered. “You’re so cute. Like a little bird.”
“I don’t feel cute,” I snapped. “I’m really scared, Megan. You almost stepped on me before. And if I get any smaller…” My voice trailed off.
She lowered me away from her face. Her huge eyes continued to stare.
She raised something in her other hand. It took me a moment to recognize it. I saw fat metal bars. It looked like a prison cell.
“A birdcage?” I cried.
Megan nodded. “I brought it from my house. Remember my canary, George? He used to live in it.”
“But—but I’m not a canary!” I protested.
Gripping me around the waist, she lowered me to the open cage door. “It’s for keeping you safe, Danny,” she whispered. “You just told me I almost stepped on you.”
She set me down in the cage. The metal floor felt cold against my bare feet. I held my pajama bottoms up with both hands.
“I told your parents I was bringing it,” Megan said. She closed the cage door. “They thought it was a good idea.”
I peered up at her through the bars. “Megan, what am I going to do? Am I just going to disappear forever?”