Mommy I Shrunk The Babysitter

It seemed like any old typical house anyway in America, however inside was something that you wouldn’t find in a typical home. In the basement of ten Lance Street stood a device that would marvel the world. To look at the device seemed like a film or TV prop but it was able to accomplish something that could only be seen in science fiction films. It looked like almost like a metal box on wheels with a laser gun at the end and keyboard with a couple of knobs on the side. There was even a small flicker switch that could be flicked either up or down. There was even a small computer screen right next to the keyboard and the knobs. It still looked like something that somebody would have bought from a junk yard or some kind of yard sale.
The device however was the brainchild of a man named Phillip Jarvis. He was an extremely intelligent man who wasn’t known in the scientist community. The device was Phillip’s life’s work, he had been constructing it and testing it in his spare time. He had to juggle with his job, wife and son. He had a plain old office job in box company a couple of miles away from where he lived. He worked there full time and after spending time with his family would come down to the basement and work on his wonderful device. He would on average work around an hour or two per day on it. He had been working on it for the past ten years of his life.
It was a cool November Friday evening and Phillip was in the basement sitting on a chair typing a couple of things on the keyboard. In front of the device was a large cardboard box that he had borrowed from work. The box was very large around four feet tall a foot in length and two feet in width. The box itself appeared on the screen and the words ‘Subject located’ appeared right next to it. Phillip then made sure that the flick switch was pointing down to a large S letter and he turned one of the knobs. He then made sure that everything was in working order and he pressed the enter key on his keyboard.
Suddenly a beam of light came out of the laser gun and it hit the cardboard box. There was a bright light that lasted a couple of seconds before subsiding. Phillip waited for a second after the light faded and he saw the box begin to shrink. It seemed slow at first but then it began to speed up. He watched as it rapidly shrank but the shrinking didn’t last very long and it stopped after a few seconds. But by this time the box had been reduced to two inches in height, half an inch in length and an inch in width. As soon as the box was shrunk the words ‘Subject successfully shrunk cool down session initiated. Sixty minutes remaining on cool down’ appeared on the screen.
Phillip then stood up from his chair and walked towards the box. He bent down and picked it up and looked at it. He was inspected to see if there were any imperfections in the shrinking process. But to his delight he couldn’t see anything wrong with it. He had examined it before the shrinking and now it was just the same except for it being smaller. A smile then appeared on his face.
“Another successful run,” he said to himself.
“Bathroom’s free!” shouted a female voice.
“Thanks honey!”
Phillip then put the box in his pocket and left the basement. He hadn’t realised that he had left the device on auto. Also the basement wasn’t just Phillip’s makeshift workshop. It was also used to store other things like bottles of soda and an old washing machine that needed to be taken to be recycled.
Half an hour later Phillip was in the bathroom putting his best suit on. He had just had a bath and was making sure that he looked smart for the convention that he was going to. The convention itself was his big chance to show some respectable scientists the blueprints to his device. He could see it changing the world for the better. He wouldn’t take the actual device just yet; he would save that for an actual demonstration.
As he put his tie on Elaine his wife came into the bathroom. She knew that he had come out of the bath and she just wanted to make sure that he was putting everything on right. She trusted him to do a lot of things but looking good on a night that could change his life was not. She made sure that his hair was in place and that his suit was buttoned up to perfection. She was thorough with her work.
“I can do it myself honey,” said Phillip.
“I can’t trust you to tie up your shoelaces properly never mind an entire suit,” replied Elaine. “Now just brush your teeth the babysitter will be here any second.” Just then the doorbell rang. “That must be her now.”
Elaine then walked downstairs and opened the front door. There stood a 19 year old woman with long red hair and blue eyes. She was very tall at 5’11 and she had the body that would rival any supermodel. Her legs went on forever. She wore a pair of jeans, a pink t-shirt, blue jacket and a pair of white sneakers.
“Hi I’m Karen Pond the babysitter,” said the tall woman. “I am at the right house aren’t I?”
“Yes you are,” replied Elaine. She then turned around and looked up the stairs. “Guybrush the babysitter’s here.”
Just then an eight year old boy came down the stairs, he had short fair hair and looked very similar to his father. He wore a football shirt with some brown trousers and he wore a pair of black slippers.
“Mom you’re embarrassing me,” he said.
“Don’t worry Guy,” replied Elaine. She then looked up the stairs again. “Come on Phillip we’ll be late.”
Phillip came rushing downstairs. He made sure that he had all his blueprints and he met Karen for the first time.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice err,” said Phillip.
“Karen,” replied Karen.
“Karen We should be back around ten o’clock. We’ll call you if we’re any later.”
“Remember anything over four hours and I charge double the hourly rate.”
“That’s fair.”
Elaine then gave Guybrush a kiss goodbye and both she and Phillip left the house. They went to their car and drove off. Both Karen and Guybrush waved goodbye to his parents she looked down at him.
Karen was a college student t whose family couldn’t really afford to put her through college entirely by themselves. She had been scrapping money doing odd jobs like babysitting. She was also doing a bit of modelling to get some money. Her height also helped this career, through elementary and high school she had always been the tallest girl in her class. She even remembered asking a couple of guys out for dates but they turn her down because she was too tall.
She squatted down to Guybrush’s level. She knew that he was probably nervous around someone that he didn’t know and she tried to make him feel as comfortable as she could. She then smiled at him.
“So Guybrush what do you want to do?” asked Karen.
“Please don’t call me Guybrush,” replied Guybrush. “I hate that name. My friends just call me Guy.”
“Ok Guy what do you want to do?”
“Wanna go on Mario Kart?”
A few minutes later Karen and Guy were playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii. Guy was playing as Wario and Karen was playing as Dry Bones. He was coming in first while she was coming in fourth. She had been on the game a couple of times before with friends but she didn’t actually own the game.
“You suck at this game,” said Guy.
“Just you wait,” replied Karen.
She then went through a red box that gave her three red homing turtle shells. She used the first one to get past Bowser, the second to get past Princess Peach. She used her final shell to hit Guy and overtake him. Unfortunately for him he couldn’t recover in time for Karen to pass the finishing line.
“Oh yeah don’t mess with the best,” said Karen.
“Beginner’s luck,” replied Guy.
“If you don’t mind me asking.”
“What?”
“Why Guybrush?”
“Everyone asks me this. My Dad’s a big fan of some stupid game series and Guybrush is the main character.” He then paused for a moment and smiled. “Why Karen?”
“It was a popular name at the time. Now where do you keep your sodas?”
“Downstairs in the basement.”
“Ok I’ll be back in a minute.”
Karen then stood up and went downstairs into the basement. She saw the device and thought that it was very strange. She looked at it for a couple of seconds and then she noticed the large bottles of soda by a wall. She went to walk over to them but as soon as she walked in front of the device she could hear it powering it up. She turned around and looked at it with some concern.
On the screen on the device outside of Karen’s view the words appeared ‘Cool down complete subject found beginning process.’ Then a ray of light came out of the laser gun on the device and it hit Karen. She felt it hit her but instead of feeling pain her body went partially numb. When the light faded she saw that the world around her was growing. A split second later she realised that it wasn’t the world around her growing it was the fact that she was shrinking. She began to panic.
“Oh my God!” she shouted.
She was scared as she watched herself shrink smaller by the second. She was terrified that she would shrink so small that she couldn’t be seen anymore. But much to her delight she did stop shrinking but by now she had lost just over sixty seven inches in height. She could also hear Guy coming down into the basement.
Thankfully for Karen Guy had heard her screaming and came down to investigate. He was surprised to see her no taller than one of his action figures. He walked over to her and picked her up.
“What happened to you Karen?” he asked.
“I don’t know I was just getting some soda and then that thing zapped me,” replied Karen. “And now I’m small enough to fit in a dollhouse.” She then looked up and she began to hope against hope. “Guy can you make me normal?”
“Sure my dad showed me how to use it.”
“Oh thank God. Quick make me big again I hate being this small.”
“I’ll try.”
Guy then put Karen on the ground and he went to the device. Karen stood there expecting him to make her normal size at any time. But after a couple of seconds there was nothing and Guy looked at her again. On the screen it read ‘Subject successfully shrunk cool down session initiated. Fifty eight minutes remaining.’
“Oh oh,” said Guy.
“What?” replied Karen.
“I can’t make you big yet.”
“What? I can’t spend my life being this small. I’ll be some kind of freak in a weird carnival show.”
“Its cooling down I can’t make you big until it’s cooled down.”
“How long will that be?”
“Another fifty eight minutes.”
“I guess that’s not so bad. But what do will we do until then?”
“I have an idea.”
A couple of minutes later Karen was upstairs in Guy’s room. She was tied down to a tiny chair with string. The string wasn’t very tight she could easily escape if she wanted to. Right next to her was an action figure of the Joker. He had a gun in his hand and there was a small flag poking out of the barrel saying ‘Bang!’ She saw Guy on the other side of the room holding a Spider-Man figure.
“Help me Joker’s taken me hostage,” said Karen. “Oh won’t someone please come and save me?”
“Don’t worry ma’am,” replied Guy in a macho voice. He then came towards her and sat down a couple of feet away from her. He placed the Spider-Man figure next to the Joker. “Spider-Man is here to rescue you.”
He then used the Spider-Man figure to punch the Joker and he fell to the ground. Karen then untied herself and stood up from the chair. She then went over to the Spider-Man figure and gave him a kiss.
“My hero,” she said.
“It was nothing ma’am,” replied Guy in his macho voice. No job is too small for the Amazing Spider-Man.” He then pretended that the Spider-Man was using his webbing to leave the scene. He then went back Karen who was still standing there. “How was that?” he asked in his normal voice.
“That was fun. But isn’t the Joker a Batman villain?”
“The toy store sold out of Batmans and Green Goblins.”
“Oh and how long do we have?”
“Let’s see.” He then looked at his watch. “About forty five minutes. Wanna do something else?”
Karen then began to think and she came up with an idea. It was something she had dreamed about doing but it was always going to be too expensive to do it.
“You know there is one thing,” she said.
Minutes later the pair was downstairs in the kitchen. They were at the fridge and Guy opened it up. There were several candy bars in one of the bottom drawers and Guy took one of them out for Karen. He then put her on a nearby table in the kitchen and unwrapped the candy bar. He then placed it right next to her and she began to eat it. She had always wanted to try and eat a candy bar that was almost her size but there weren’t any that existed. But at her current height it was almost as long as she was tall.
While Karen was eating the candy bar Guy went into a nearby drawer and got out his father’s ruler. He then went back to Karen who was still eating. She was too busy enjoying herself to notice that he had gone and come back. She was just enjoying eating to her heart’s content.
But after a few minutes she began to get full and she stopped eating. She had eaten a fairly small portion of the candy bar but she didn’t want to eat anymore. She also had her figure to think about.
“Better not eat anymore,” said Karen. “I girl’s gotta look out for her figure.” She then looked up at Guy. She saw him with the ruler. “What are you doing?”
“I just want to see how tall you are,” replied Guy. “Now stand up straight.”
Karen did what she was told and Guy placed the ruler right next to her. He could clearly see how tall she was. Even he couldn’t believe how small she was.
“So how tall am I?” asked Karen.
“You’re a little over 4 inches,” replied Guy.
“Four inches?” She hadn’t expected to be that small. She expected somewhere between five and six. She did accept that under the circumstances things could have been worse. “Funny before I came here I could look your dad square in the eye without wearing heels. Now I’m the size of my old dolls.”
“I can make you normal when my dad’s invention has cooled down,” replied Guy. “If you really wanted me to I could even make you a couple of inches shorter then you were before. How does that sound?”
“It sounds nice but I prefer to be my normal size. If you made me shorter then I’d have to buy a new wardrobe. I’m just about scrapping by as it is.”
“Ok.”
The pair still had a quarter an hour before the device was ready to be used again. They decided to use this time to play the world’s greatest game of hide and seek. Obviously Karen was the one who was going to hide and Guy was going to seek. He put her on the ground and made sure that the doors were open so that she could hide in other rooms. She hadn’t played hide and seek since she was a little girl. Since now she truly was a little girl it seemed the perfect time.
When Guy began to count Karen ran into the front room and hid near where the Wii was. She could see perfectly from where she was hiding. She saw Guy finish counting and begin to look for her. She thought that it was fun only being 4 inches tall but she couldn’t do it all the time. It was nice for a while but she didn’t want to be this tall forever. Life would be too difficult for her.
“Here I come ready or not!” shouted Guy.
As Guy began to look for Karen he knew that this was going to be difficult. Finding someone of Karen’s size in such a large room wasn’t going to be easy. He began to think about where she would hide. Most likely she would hide somewhere that was low since she would have a difficult time climbing up places. He looked under things like chairs and tables but he couldn’t see her anywhere.
Guy then glanced towards the Wii and saw her watching him. She didn’t realised that he had seen her and he acted like there was nothing. He began to walk towards her but out of her cone of vision. She thought that he was still looking for her in places that were still suspicious. She began to giggle to herself and she thought that she was in the perfect hiding spot. That was until a huge hand came down and grabbed her. She screamed in fright as Guy brought her up into the air and up to his eye level. It only taken a couple of seconds but it was still somewhat terrifying.
“I found you,” he said.
“You didn’t have to do it like that,” replied Karen. “You almost scared me to death.”
“Only almost.”
“Anymore and I would have had a heart attack.”
“Wanna play again?”
“No the hour is practically up. It’s been fun being small but I really want to be big again if you don’t mind.”
“Please just one more game.”
She then sighed. “Fine one more game but then we’re going to make me big again. Do we have a deal?”
“Yes.”
Guy then put her back on the ground and began to count. Karen ran away and crawled under a nearby chair. She wanted to make sure that she was really trying. If it didn’t look like she was trying then Guy might demand to play again until she was trying.
After Guy finished counting he began to look for her again. He knew that she wasn’t stupid enough to go back to her old hiding place so he began to look around in different places. He looked by the tables and TV but there was still nothing. He then began to look under the chairs and he eventually saw a tiny figure hiding underneath his dad’s favourite chair. He then reached and grabbed her. But this time she saw it coming so there was no need to be scared.
“Found you again,” he said.
“So you did,” replied Karen. “I kept my part of the bargain. Now it’s time you kept your part.”
“Ok Karen.”
Guy then took Karen back down into the basement. He looked at the device and he saw that the cool down period had ended and it was ready to be used again. He placed Karen on the ground inside the device’s activation area. This time he made sure that the auto button was switched off before he went in front of the device himself. He began to look at the screen and it read ‘Subject found.’ He could see Karen on the screen and she just stood there waiting to be made big again.
“Are you ready Karen?” asked Guy.
“Fire away,” replied Karen.
He then pressed the enter button on the keyboard but he didn’t realise that he had noted flicked the flicker switch up. It was still pointing down at the large letter S. Before he could realise what he had done wrong the ray of light came out of the ray gun and hit Karen. She stood there and took expecting her body to grow at any moment. But instead of growing she felt her body begin to shrink again.
“What’s happening?” she shouted. “I’m supposed to be getting bigger not smaller.” But her voice was getting quieter.
Guy soon realised that he had accidentally kept the settings of the device on shrink rather than grow. He was helpless to watch as she continued to dwindle. He thought that she was small before but now she was shrinking smaller and smaller. In seconds she was down to 2 inches, then it was 1 inch, then half an inch and when her shrinking finally stopped Karen stood no taller than a quarter than a quarter of an inch. She was absolutely terrified the world now looked even more scarier.
“I’m even smaller than I was before!” she shouted. But by now she was so small that Guy couldn’t hear her anymore.
All Guy could do was to go over to her and crouch down onto the ground. He could barely see her anymore and he wanted to pick her up. But she stepped away from him. She was too small to be picked up properly. He also knew that if he lost her then he most likely would never find her again. She was too small to properly protect herself so he needed to put her somewhere where she would be safe for the next hour before he could try and make her big again.
“Wait there Karen I’ll be back in a minute,” said Guy.
He then stood up and went up the stairs leaving Karen where she was standing. All she could do was stand there and wait. But then she began to hear something coming up behind her. She slowly turned around and saw a common house spider. But to her new size it dwarfed her. She was staring up at it and it towered above her. She could hear it snarling at her and all she could do was scream and run. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her but the spider gave chase. Eventually she came up to a table which was as tall as a skyscraper. She didn’t have time to marvel about it. All she could do was run.
By this time Guy had returned to the basement with a small dish, a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass. But when he got to the place where he had left her he saw that she was gone.
“Karen?” he asked. “Karen!” But he soon realised that even if Karen could hear him she was too small to be able to respond. “This is bad. This is really bad.”
Oblivious to Guy the spider was still chasing after Karen. She ran as fast as she could but she was beginning to get tired. She had run for what for her was a long distance. She had reached the wall and to her amazement she saw a small crack in the wall big enough for her to slip into. She didn’t hesitate in running towards it and getting inside before the spider got to her. The spider itself was too big to fit in so when Karen went through the crack she realised that she was safe.
Karen took the time to catch her breath she just sat down and she cried a little. She was very depressed over the fact she was so small. She thought that she wouldn’t survive this experience. She thought about the people she was leaving behind and the future that she would never see. If she did survive she would most likely live the rest of her days in the basement. Where would she get her food? Where would she drink?
As Karen was thinking about all this she could see little splodge creatures around her feet. To her they were no bigger than ants but she knew that they definitely weren’t ants. She was roughly the size of an ant herself and she couldn’t think of any insects that were this small. But then it hit her like a ton of bricks.
“Oh my god they’re germs,” said Karen to herself. “I’m so small I can see germs.”
They seemed to be crawling up her leg and she brushed them off with her hand. But it seemed to be futile. They weren’t causing her any harm but it all seemed too weird for her. She couldn’t believe that she was the first person to actually see a germ without having to use a microscope.
She looked out from her crack and she could see Guy trying to find her. But he was looking at the opposite wall and she tried to shout out at him. But she was still too small to be heard so she gave up. However she was heard by the spider that then came towards her from the floor. Seeing the spider she quickly went back to her hiding place. She seemed to be stuck. If she stayed in the crack then Guy would never find her. But if she left her safe haven then she would be eaten by the spider. She was in a lose, lose situation. Either way she thought that she would be stuck like this.
Guy was trying to find her as best as he possible could. But this was turning into a very difficult task. Finding someone of Karen’s size in such a large basement wasn’t going to be easy. He knew that she was too small to get out of the basement by herself so he knew that she was somewhere close by. He was looking in the more immediate area of where he left her. She was too small to have really gotten all that far.
He felt like a detective at a crime scene using a magnifying glass to look for clues. He was looking for any trace of her. He began to move closer to where Karen was hiding from the spider. She was still very scared but she could still see where Guy was. She wanted to send him some kind of signal. But her size and the spider was making this close to impossible. She even thought about what Superman would do in her position. But he had all his powers to help him where she was just a normal girl shrunk.
Just then she saw a fly land not too far away from where she was hiding. She poked her head out of the crack and saw that the spider was some distance away from her. She figured that if she was quick enough and the fly stayed where it was she could reach it before she was killed.
With almost nothing to lose she ran towards the fly. A couple of seconds later the spider ran towards her. She ran faster than she had ever done in her life. The fly seemed to stay where he was as she reached it. It looked filthy and she dread to think where it had been. But her will to live was strong than her repulse so she climbed onto the fly. It was like riding a large horse to her.
When the spider reached the fly it flew off before it could reach him. Karen looked down as the fly flew up. It was scary to look how far down the ground was. But she saw the fly going towards the outside double doors of the basement. She pulled on a couple of the fly hairs and it seemed to steer right. She then tried it with the hairs on the opposite side of the fly and it steered left. She realised that she had learned how to steer this fly. She looked towards where Guy was and she pulled the hairs of the fly to go towards where he was.
Guy however was still searching for her on the ground. A couple of seconds later he could hear a fly flying around his head. At first it was an annoyance. But when it kept flying around his head he went to swat it away but then he noticed something strange about it. There seemed to be something on its back. He brought the magnifying glass close to it and he could see Karen. She waved at him and he smiled back.
“Found you,” he said.
Karen was able to land the fly on a nearby table and she got off it. The fly then flew away glad to be rid of its cargo. Guy then went over to the table and carefully picked up Karen with the tweezers. He carefully placed her on the dish and he continued to look at her through the magnifying glass.
“Are you alright?” asked Guy.
“Yes,” replied Karen. But she was still too small to be heard. So she just nodded her head to say yes.
“I told you not to go anywhere.” Karen then crossed her arms to indicate that she was annoyed. “At least you’re alright. At least my dad won’t kill me now for losing the babysitter in the basement.”
For now all Karen could do was sit on the dish and wait for the device to cool down. She was still scared though. There were still germs around her. They were still too small to be any kind of trouble for her the sight of them just reminded Karen how small she truly was. A few years ago she had watched the film the Incredible Shrinking Man. She remembered when he was really small and lost in the basement. He had fought a giant spider but he had done much better then she had. All she did was run.
When the cool down period was complete Guy looked at her once again and gave her a big smile.
“Hey Karen time to make you big again,” said Guy.
Karen nodded her head in anticipation. She couldn’t wait to be big again. She was even content with being 4 inches tall. At least she’d be safer. The world was very scary when you’re small enough to be killed by an ant. But if she shrank again this time she would be so small that she would have to defend herself against germs.
Guy placed Karen inside the area of his father’s device. The device was able to pick up Karen and she appeared on the screen. The screen read ‘Subject found.’ He then began to make sure that everything was right this time. He pushed the flicker up to the letter G and he turned the power up to near maximum. He figured that this would make her grow back to normal size.
When Guy thought that everything was right he pressed the enter key on the keyboard. Then a ray of light came out of the gun on the device and hit Karen. This lasted for only a second before subsiding. It took a second later for Karen to begin to change once more. This time however to her delight she was growing. Within seconds she was tall enough to step out of the dish and she continued to grow. She was a couple of feet tall seconds after that and when she reached her normal height she seemingly stopped.
“I-I’m back to normal,” she said. She then hugged Guy. “Thank you. Oh thank you.”
Guy was enjoying the hug but then he noticed something odd. At first he thought that it was nothing but then it became unavoidable. Karen was seemingly getting bigger while she hugged him. He then broke out of the hug and stepped away. By now she was close to 7 feet tall and still growing.
“I did it again,” said Guy.
“I’m still growing,” replied Karen. “Make it stop.”
“I can’t it’s cooling down.”
Just then Karen’s head hit the ceiling and she was still going up. She had to sit down just so she didn’t make a huge hole in the ceiling. She still grew and Guy was helpless as her growth continued. She was filling up the room and Guy began to panic. They both thought that she was going to grow out of the basement. But as suddenly as it started her growth stopped. But by now the damage had been done. Karen felt like Alice when she was stuck in the White Rabbit’s House.
“I’m huge,” said Karen. She then looked down at Guy. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” replied Guy.
“Wish I could say the same. I really don’t like small spaces.” She then looked at the double doors that led out to the yard. But they were padlocked shut. She tried to pull the chains off the handles but even with her new size she wasn’t strong enough. She then looked back at Guy. “Guy where are the keys for them?”
“Upstairs but I’m not supposed to open it.”
“If you don’t open it you’ll be in even bigger trouble.”
Guy weighed his options and decided that it was best to do what Karen had told him to do. He ran upstairs into the kitchen and on a hook was a set of keys. He quickly grabbed them and ran back down into the basement. He had to climb over Karen to get to the doors and he struggled to find the right key. It took him a few seconds but he was able to unlock the padlock and open the doors. He was only just able to get out of the way when Karen crawled out. She was able to fit through the doors and she crawled into the yard. When she was through the doors she was able to stand up to her full height. Guy wondered out of the basement and looked up to her. She was around 15 feet tall and her legs were over 7 and a half feet long.
To Karen the world looked very different. A couple of minutes ago she was so small that she could be barely seen or heard. Now she was so tall that she towered above a single storey building.
It was a cold night however and she began to shiver a little. She rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm herself up. Her jacket did help her but she couldn’t stay out in the weather for too long she would most likely catch a cold. She looked down at Guy as he stared almost directly up at her.
“Sorry Karen I put the settings up too much,” said Guy.
“That’s alright,” replied Karen. She then sighed. “At least it’s better than being microscopic.” She then smiled a little. “At least now I don’t have to worry about spiders and germs.”
“Since you’re really big can you do me a favour?”
“What?”
“I lost my best baseball in that tree.” He then pointed towards that was at the end of the garden. “My Grandpa bought it for me before he died.”
“Ok sure.”
She then walked towards the tree. She couldn’t believe how different things looked. Previously she was having a neck strain looking up at everything. But now she was looking down at almost everything. But within seconds she reached the tree and began to look for the ball. It was hard to see since it was so dark and that the ball was so small compared to her.
Eventually Karen did see something round and white lodged into one of the branches. With very little effort she reached and pulled it out. She could see that it was the baseball she had been looking for. She was just amazed to see how small it was now that she was 15 feet tall. It seemed like the size of a plum.
After finding the ball she walked the short distance back to Guy. She held the ball between her fingers and looked down at him.
“Is this the ball you’re looking for?” she asked.
“Yes thanks,” replied Guy. She then squatted down and gave him the ball. He inspected it for a moment and seemed happy with it. “Yep this is definitely the right ball. Something else I’m just wondering.”
“What’s that?”
“What’s it like up there.”
“You mean the weather?”
“No I mean the view. Can you see for miles?”
“I don’t know. Wanna see for yourself.”
“Err I’m not a big fan of heights.”
“Don’t worry I’ll hold you. You’ll be perfectly safe.”
“Well…”
Before Guy could complete what he was saying Karen grabbed him around the sides with both hands and lifted him off the ground. For a moment or two Guy was afraid but when Karen had lifted him up he could see the world in a new way. Everything looked really low and he could clearly see the moon in the sky. He didn’t feel scared at all, with Karen holding him he felt very safe. He knew that she wouldn’t drop him and through everything that had happened she still wasn’t angry at him. She had seemed to enjoy this experience besides being extremely tiny.
“What do you think?” asked Karen.
“So this is what it looks like being a giant,” replied Guy. “I wonder what it’s like to walk around at your height.”
“Shall we find out?”
“What?”
Karen then began to walk out of the yard. She was so tall that she was easily able to step over the fence and into the street. There wasn’t anyone around so no one could see them. It was still cold but Karen’s hands seemed to be keeping Guy warm. She always made sure that she had a firm grip on Guy. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally drop him and seriously hurt him. She even placed him on her shoulders as if he was a small toddler. Although to her he wasn’t much bigger than a 1 year old baby.
Guy himself was amazed to see how empty the streets were. Normally there were a couple of people walking the streets but tonight there was no one. This seemed to be incredible lucky for the both of them.
Eventually a man did stagger down the street. He had a bottle of beer in his hands. He was obviously drunk. He seemed to be minding his own business when Karen walked past him. He looked up at her and stared at her.
“Hi,” she said as she walked past.
When Karen was out of sight the drunken man looked at his bottle of beer and then tipped the contents away. He knew that he had a problem with drinking but he was terrified of these hallucinations.
A few minutes later the pair reached a wooded area and Karen put Guy on the ground. She then sat down herself but even sitting down she was still well over 7 feet tall. She was still getting over the fact that she was so big.
“Is it safe here?” asked Guy.
“Well with me around you are,” replied Karen. “Do you want another game of hide and seek but this time you hide while I seek?”
“Err Ok.”
Karen then began to count while Guy ran away to hide. He found a bush not too far away and he hid behind it. He had never been out this late before and he was enjoying every second of it. Karen was by far the coolest babysitter he ever had. At least she didn’t force him to do things he really didn’t want to do and she had reacted to being different sizes quite well considering.
“Here I come ready or not,” said Karen.
She then began to walk around looking for Guy. Since it was dark she couldn’t see very well but this only made the game more challenging. She thought about when she played this game when she was small. It was fun to hide when she was small but now that she was big it made things even more fun.
“Karen help!” shouted a familiar voice.
Karen quickly ran to where she heard Guy. She had to duck down under tree branches. One hit her square on the forehead and left a bruise. She could still hear Guy screaming and she ignored her own pain and carried on. Her head was throbbing and the fact that she had to keep ducking under the branches didn’t help her.
When she did get to Guy she saw him confronted with a bear. She was quite scared at this point but the fear she was feeling was nothing compared to what he was feeling. But Karen quickly stepped in between the two and looked down at the bear. She tried to look as angry as she could.
“HEY LEAVE HIM ALONE!” shouted Karen.
The sudden appearance of Karen scared the bear out of its wits. Unsure of what to do the bear turned around and ran away. She stood there for a couple more seconds before squatting down to Guy.
“I-is it gone?” asked Guy.
“Yeah he’s gone,” replied Karen. She then gave him a hug. Guy didn’t feel like he was being suffocated. He felt warm and truly safe. “Don’t worry little guy you’re safe with me now.” She then broke the hug and stood up to her full height. “Let’s get out of here. Bringing you here wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
Karen would have carried him on her shoulders. But the fact that the branches were low would it would hurt him more than it would hurt her. Instead they both walked out of the woods together. She made sure that she didn’t walk too fast for him. She was also keeping an eye out for the bear. However the bear was smart enough not to try and attack Guy while he was around.
When they left the wooded area Karen noticed something that she hadn’t noticed before. Her watch that was on her left wrist had changed size with her and seemed to still be working. But when she did look at the time she was horrified to see what time it was. Time had certainly flown while they were having fun.
“Oh my God,” said Karen. “Your mom and dad are going to be home it’s nine fifty.” She then looked down at Guy. ”We have ten minutes to get back to your house and shrink me back to normal.”
“But it took ten minutes just to get here,” replied Guy.
“Then I’ll have to run.”
Now that they were clear of the trees Karen picked up Guy and put him on her shoulders. She then began to run back to the house. She had some difficulties remembering the way since she was in a rush. But she just kept running in the right direction and eventually she did see the house. She stepped into the yard and put Guy on the ground. She didn’t have time to go through the doors so Guy just went to the device. He had to move it towards the doors and the device itself picked up Karen. He made a couple of adjustments to the settings and put the flicker switch down to S. The last thing he wanted was to make Karen any bigger. If he did she would be able to play the lead role in a re-remake of Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman and they wouldn’t even need to use special effects.
When Guy finished with the settings he pressed the enter key on the keyboard and a ray of light hit Karen. A second later she began to shrink. They were both hoping beyond hope that she would shrink back down to normal size. Thankfully for both of them she did stop shrinking when she looked to be her normal size.
When she stopped shrinking she walked into the basement and helped to move the device back to its original position. Since they had a minute until Guy’s parents came home Guy got a tape measure from one of the drawers and with the help of a nearby chair measured Karen. What he saw somewhat surprised him.
“So am I normal size?” asked Karen.
“Well almost,” replied Guy.
“What do you mean almost?”
“You’re 6’1 and a half.”
“I’m two and a half taller then I was before.”
Just then they heard a car pull up. The pair quickly went upstairs and went on the Wii. They wanted to make it look like they had been playing on the Wii all the time the parents had been out.
Guy’s parents came through the door and they seemed to be happy with themselves. The blueprints had gone down well with the other scientists and they seemed to be looking forward to seeing Phillip’s device in action. Elaine was happy to see that Guy was having a good time with Karen.
“We’re home,” said Phillip.
“Hi Mr and Mrs Jarvis how was the convention?” replied Karen.
“It went super thanks for asking.”
“And di you have fun with Karen?” asked Elaine.
“Karen’s the best babysitter ever,” answered Guy. “Can she babysit for me again?”
“Sure she can.” She then looked over at Karen. “Twenty one dollars is that right?”
“I’ll call it at twenty,” replied Karen.
Elaine then gave Karen a twenty dollar note. She then stood up and hugged Guy. They said their goodbyes and she walked out of the house. As she walked past Phillip he noticed something odd about her. He made sure that she was gone before he said anything.
“Is it me honey or did Karen look taller?” asked Phillip.
“I didn’t really notice. She was tall anyway,” replied Elaine. She then turned her attentions back to Guy. “And its bedtime for you Guybrush.”
“Five more minutes Mom?”
“Alright five more minutes. But then it’s straight to bed with you.”
“Ok.”
Meanwhile as Karen drove back to her dorm in her car she had to adjust the seat now that she was taller. She was thinking of an excuse for why she was taller. She was going to blame it on a late growth spurt. It wasn’t terribly uncommon for a nineteen year old to have a growth spurt. She was also thinking about what clothes she could and couldn’t wear now. She would definitely have to buy herself some new clothes over the weekend. She’d have to check her measurements first though.
When she did reach her dorm her roommate was out partying so Karen was alone. She was very tired after her experience and immediately got changed for bed. When she put her night clothes on she noticed that they were a little too small for her. She didn’t care in particular and she just went into a deep sleep.
The next morning Karen woke up early. She stretched herself and noticed something odd. Her night clothes seemed to be baggy on her. She quickly got out of bed and stood up. She had to stop her pyjama bottoms from falling off. She had shrunk during the night and was now only just around 5 feet tall. She made her way into the bathroom as quickly as she could. She almost fell over since her legs were too short for her pyjama bottoms. They were intended for someone who was almost foot taller than her. She did make her way to scales and she weighed herself. Not only had she lost a lot of height but her weight had also gone down quite significantly.
“I’m too small,” said Karen. She then felt a shiver run down her spine and she felt herself lose another inch in height. She looked down at the scales and saw that it was reading a few pounds less than it had a couple of seconds before. “And I’m still shrinking.”

THE END?