Take me out to the Ballgame (pts. 21-25)

Take Me out to the Ballgame
(parts 21-25)
co-written by "small1" & "speck"

Part Twenty One

Tiny Zack let out frantic scream when he turned his head and saw the hideous giant spider creeping it's way in his direction. Then he froze. Zack knew he had to keep as still and silent as possible, or he would end up as lunch for the horrible arachnid. His heart was pounding, but he remained still. The spider, no longer sensing movement, crawled to a back corner of the web. Zack looked on at the teen yard worker and could see Justin and Tommy on the basketball court. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs for help, but he dared not make a sound or move a muscle. He wondered what had become of Joe, and tried not to imagine the worst.

* * *

"Damn piece of junk," Cameron spouted aloud as the weed eater jammed and abruptly shut off. He pounded the base of weed eater on the ground, and tried unsuccessfully to start it up again. The teenager then bent over to figure out the cause of the jamming. The nylon thread was a tangled mess. Cameron cussed again and then happened to glance down at one of his sneakers. He paused with curiosity, and then began to reach for something on the tongue of his sneaker. "Gee, what a strange little bug."

Joe screamed in terror as the gigantic fingers of the teenage yard-worker began to reach for him. Cameron effortlessly picked up little Joe and held him precariously between his thumb and forefinger. Joe was a little repulsed from the teen's dirty, sweaty hand, but he was even more uneasy being captive in the hand of a teenager he didn't even know. Cameron dropped the strange little "bug" in the palm of his hand and held it up to his face to examine closer. Joe was awe-struck as he looked up into the breathtakingly huge face of his captor.

"What in the world are you?" Cameron thought aloud as he examined the tiny creature in the palm of his hand. He reached out with one of his fingers for a closer examination. "Oh my
God, you look like a....but that's just impossible!"

"Hey, stop that!" Joe yelled as one of Cameron's massive fingers began to touch him and move him around. "I said freaking stop it!"

* * *

Dillon had awakened and grogily ventured out to the basketball court to ask Justin and Tommy if they wanted to head out to the beach for the day. He noticed Cameron and walked up to say "Hi." Dillon remembered him from High School.

"What's up Cam?" Dillon asked, as he walked up and extended his arm for a handshake, and noticed Cameron intently examining something in his hand. "Whatcha got there?"

"You ain't gonna believe this, but I freakin' found this tiny dude on my sneaker," Cameron began to explain. "At first, I thought it was a bug or something, but it's a real little guy wearing clothes and everything."

"You're putting me on," Dillon responded with expected disbelief, but then decided to humor him. "So, what are ya going to do with him?"

"I guess I could keep it as a pet or something," Cameron responded, seemingly in deep thought. "Maybe I could train him to do tricks."

Joe began to seethe. The thought of this kid making him his pet infuriated the shrunken college guy. Joe started waving his arms and yelling. "Hey Dillon, It's me, Joe. You gotta help me!"

"Let me take a look at the thing," Dillon requested with slightly more curiosity. Cameron held out his hand and Dillon moved his face in close to Cameron's palm to get a really good look. "No Way!"

Joe furiously waved his arms and yelled up to his friend. Dillon stood frozen in mild shock and amazement as his brain tried to register the seemingly impossible. He whispered, "Joe, is that you?"

"Yes!, Yes!" Joe yelled, almost in tears after realizing his friend Dillon had recognized him. "Yes, its me."

"Cam, that's my friend Joe," Dillon told an amazed Cameron. "Hand him over to me."

"Hey, I found the little Dude. He belongs to me," Cameron responded in frustration. "I'm keeping him."

"He's a real person, Cam. He doesn't belong to nobody," Dillon tried to reason. "This is my friend I've known for ten years. I've got to find out how this happened to him."

"Oh, all right," Cameron gave in. Cameron tilted his hand slightly, and let the shrunken man fall right into Dillon's massive palm. "I hope everything works out for you little dude."

Dillon cupped his hand a little to ensure more safety for his tiny friend, and then yelled over to Justin and Tommy. "Hey guys, get over here right now!" Joe, now a little overwhelmed, sat down in the safety of his friend's gargantuan hand and rested.

"What's up Dillon?" Tommy asked, still out of breath from playing basketball. "What's the emergency?"

"You guys ain't gonna believe this, but I've got Joe in my hand," Dillon began to explain, realizing how absurd he sounded. "I don't know how, but somehow he shrunk. He's less than an inch tall."

"You're freakin high!" Justin responded with an uncontrollable laugh. "Okay, what's the joke?"

"Just take a look," Dillon said as he slowly held out tiny Joe for their inspection. "And don't scare him. He looks really rattled."

Tommy and Justin moved in really close to see what Dillon really had in his hand. They stood silent for almost a minute in complete awe as their tiny friend waved at them from Dillon's hand.
"I don't believe it. I can't believe it. How did this happen?" Justin began to ramble in a mild state of panic. "What should we do? Call 911 or something."

"Just chill out," a calmer Tommy interrupted. "Let's take him in the apartment, and then we can figure something out."

Dangling from his webbed prison precariously high off the ground, Zack had witnessed the unfolding events. He was right next to Tommy, at face level. When he heard the guys were about to leave, he began to panic. He had to get the guys attention immediately, or he would surely be doomed. It was now or never. Zack made a hasty decision. It would either save his life or prove to be a terrible mistake.

"Tommy, help me! Look over here, it's me, Zack!" Zack screamed with all his might as he thrashed about in the spiderweb with an urgent frenzy. "Tommy, please help me!"

The ever vigilant spider sensed the movement in its web and slowly crept towards the source to investigate what it was going to have for lunch. Zack screamed in terror as he watched the monstrous creature approach. He continued yelling out for Tommy to hear him.

"What the ...?" Tommy blurted out as he turned his head and noticed something dangling in a spiderweb about a foot from his face. He focused his eyes on the tiny creature with complete disbelief. Tommy saw a nasty looking spider headed right for the tiny trapped prey. In a split second, Tommy reached out his massive hand, and grabbed the trapped little creature securely in his fist. The spider was flung to the ground in the process, and Tommy quickly stomped it to oblivion. Tommy slowly opened his hand as the guys intently watched, and found a relieved Zack looking up at him, trying to untangle the remnants of the spiderweb.

"Tommy, you saved my life." Zack said as he looked up at his mountainous friend. "Thanks."

Tommy couldn't hear Zack but was intuitive to what he was trying to communicate. "No problem, buddy."

"Oh, God! Zack was almost eaten by that freaking spider!" Justin exclaimed. "Is he Okay?"

"I think so. Let's head to the apartment and figure out what to do," Dillon suggested as he looked over and saw Cameron's long face. "Yeah Cameron, you can come too."

Part Twenty Two

Cameron welcomed the invitation to tag along to the apartment. Having discovered one of the tiny guys, he felt entitled to participate in the aftermath of his astonishing find.

Justin, Tommy and Dillon, along with Cameron, filed into the apartment. The hulking guys spread out around the kitchen table. Dillon unfolded his fist and lowered his hand to the tabletop. He looked down, his shock only slowly fading, as his tiny friend crawled off the edge of his hand and dropped to the tabletop.

Tommy, the tiny Zack held securely within his own fist, repeated the process. In short order, the two shrunken men, huddled together on the vast surface of the colossal table, stared up at their mega-huge friends.

For their part, the friends could not take their eyes off the bug-sized men on the table. In fact, they all found it difficult to accept the little guys as even human.

"They're so freaking tiny," Cameron said in a voice that barely concealed his excitement. The younger guy still smarted from the disappointment at having to surrender his amazing discovery. He had to restrain himself from reaching out and grabbing the two tiny guys in his hand for a closer look.

"Yeah, they are tiny," Dillon added, somewhat uselessly.

"What are we gonna do with them?" Tommy asked. His hands were folded against his massive chest. He stared down with an expression of intense interest.

Justin frowned. "Do with them? We're gonna help them, of course. How would you like to be that small? Hell, they look like bugs!"

"Yeah, I know that," Tommy defended himself. "But, I'm just not sure of what we can do. Should we take them to some expert? Maybe a doctor?"

"What's a doctor going to do for them?" Dillon asked impatiently. "We need to find out how this happened."

The four huge guys all turned their faces down toward the two tiny men on the table.

* * *

Zack, after scrambling off Tommy's huge palm, hurried to Joe's side. Together, the two tiny men stared the great distance toward the faces of their titanic friends. The expressions on the enormous guys remained almost unrecognizable to the tiny men.

They had thought that making contact with their friends would make them feel better about their unsettling situation. Instead, finding themselves the subject of such intense interest from such powerful, mammoth giants, the two shrunken men felt incredibly insignificant. They found their minds could barely comprehend the looming titans as fellow humans.

Zack felt somewhat indignant that he and Joe were the topic of a conversation as if they were not even present.

"Look at them!" Joe's voice trembled. "They're so huge!"

Zack, swallowing hard, raised his eyes again. He found Joe's nervous statement a perfect example of understatement. "Yes," he agreed.

* * *
Tommy took charge of the situation. He drew back a chair and sat down, craning his face down to get a better look at his tiny friends on the table.

The noise as the giant chair scraped against the floor caused Zack and Joe some alarm. They tried to stand still, however, as Tommy spoke to them.

"What the hell happened?" Tommy asked. "What caused this?"

Dillon and Justin lined up behind Tommy's shoulders. Cameron stood off to the side, his attention still fixed on the amazing little men.

* * *

"Not so loud!" Joe pleaded as Tommy's question assaulted them.

Zack moved his hands to cover his ears. "Lower the volume," he yelled up toward his giant friend.

"What's the matter with them?" Cameron asked.

"I think you're talking too loudly," Justin said.

Joe and Zack began to leap up and down, excited that they had at least been able to communicate this simple fact.

"Ask them how they got so small," Dillon instructed.

"Yeah," Justin said.

Tommy looked down. "Guys, can you tell us what happened?"

* * *

Joe and Zack tried in vain to shout out the facts of their story. They tried to communicate to their huge friends about the barrel of toxic waste they had been exposed to at the vacant lot. But, after nearly making themselves hoarse, they were faced with an unexpected difficulty.

They were too small — Tommy, Justin, Dillon and Cameron could not hear their tiny voices.

"What are we going to do?" Joe asked, his tone increasingly desperate.

* * *

"I think they're trying to talk to us," Tommy said in frustration. "But I can't hear them."

"I hear something," Justin said. "But it just sounds like some pitiful squeaks."

"I think we should consult with someone else," Tommy decided. "I know a physics professor at the college. Maybe he could help."

"Maybe we should tell the coach," Justin said. "He might have some ideas."

"Justin and I could go get the coach," Dillon volunteered. "Tommy, you go see that professor."

"What about them?" Tommy asked.

Cameron's heart raced. "Oh, I could watch them for you while you are gone."

"All right," Tommy decided. "We'll be back soon, guys. Don't worry. We're going to get help."

Their three friends quickly left the apartment. Zack and Joe looked up as Cameron took a seat at the table and stared silently at them.

"I don't like this," Joe whispered to Zack.

* * *

Cameron leaned over the two tiny men to get a closer look. A slight smile spread across his face.

"Amazing," he breathed. "You guys are so — tiny!" He squirmed in his chair, unable to take his eyes off the insect-sized men. He stretched out a finger toward them, and his smile broadened as they backed away from it. His fingertip looked so thick next to their miniature forms. They both were small enough to fit on his fingernail.

He moved his finger closer to rub it against Zack. Zack tried again to back away, but the enormous fingertip bumped against him, sending him sprawling over sideways on the surface of the table. Cameron chuckled, drowning out the angry squeaks from the two figures.

"You guys want a tour of the apartment?" Cameron asked with a sudden gleam in his eye. The tiny duo's reaction was an unmistakable "No!", but Cameron had already pushed his chair back and stood up.

* * *

Once more, the two shrunken men saw huge fingers descending toward them, and one at a time they were each pinched between Cameron's thumb and forefinger and dropped into his warm, moist palm.

"What is he doing?" Joe asked anxiously, steadying himself against the dizzying motion of being carried across the kitchen toward the living room.

"I don't know. I think he's getting kinda turned on by this," Zack answered grimly.

Suddenly, Cameron's voice thundered overhead, interrupting ominously as he had an idea. "Oh, yeah! Definitely! That'd be cool!" His pace quickened.

Zack and Joe heard a growing hum as they were carried into the living room toward an enormous tropical fish tank. The smell of salt water and fish food surrounded them and Cameron held his hand in front of the vast glass wall.

An enormous clown fish swam to the glass to investigate the scene. It was larger than any fish either of the two had ever seen. The effect was similar to being in a major metropolitan aquarium, observing fish behind a glass wall, except that this glass wall seemed to be almost 300 feet tall and much, much wider than that. The fish were also able to move much faster than anything so large should be able, covering dozens of feet in only a second or two.

The clown fish hovered in the water, eyeing the tiny men. Its gills flapped open and closed rhythmically, and its fins undulated in the current. The huge, round mouth dilated and contracted patiently as it studied the strange sight. A second fish, a larger, sleeker wrasser, wriggled up and attached itself to the wall nearby. It seemed to anticipate a feeding.

* * *

"They look kinda hungry, don't they?" Cameron said wryly. "You guys can watch me feed 'em."

He lifted a small tropical fish net off the lid of the tank and set it aside, then propped the lid open. The humming, gurgling sounds grew louder and the smell of salt water grew more powerful.

Cameron carried the two diminutive men up to the top of the glass wall, and carefully tilted his hand, dumping them onto the top edge. Billowing nodules of salt deposits crusted the inner edge of the glass, forming a strange, unearthly landscape like tiny sparkling clouds that had been frozen to the inner top edge of the tank wall. Joe used one of the crystalline clusters to prop himself against as he stood up. Zack, too, carefully picked himself up, and the tiny men looked around.

Cameron turned away for a moment. He reached down beside the base of the tank and produced a canister of fish flakes. He unscrewed the lid, and tilted the canister over the water, flicking it with his finger.

* * *

Enormous flakes fluttered down past Zack and Joe, some nearly as large as they were, and floated like large lily pads on the softly churning surface of the water where they landed. Immediately, the huge fish began nibbling at them.

To their reduced perspective, the two tiny men would see a huge, shimmering mass move under one of the flakes, then an enormous mouth would break the surface and immediately suck in the soggy flake. The action was so rapid and fascinating, it was hard to take their eyes off it.

Joe crouched down behind a cluster of salt, watching in amazement. Zack, however, alternated his attention between the fish and Cameron.

* * *

Cameron watched the fish and the tiny men for a moment. He leaned in to get a closer look at the tiny pair, then chuckled again and turned away to replace the fish food canister.

* * *

The small burst of air from the giant's chuckle hit Joe like a sudden gust of warm wind. It knocked him forward against the salt cluster, which broke loose from the edge of the glass wall. Joe flailed for a split second before toppling over the side and dropping into the water below.

"Joe!" Zack cried helplessly as he watched his friend fall down into the water. He rushed to the edge in time to see Joe resurface, breaking through the thick, plastic-like surface tension. Even to Zack, Joe's flailing resembled an insect's struggles.
"Oh my God — NO!" Zack shouted as he saw an ominous, dark mass moving under his friend.

Part Twenty Three

Coach Johnson sat at his cluttered desk in a speechless stupor as he listened to the far-fetched ramblings of his star pitcher.

“But it’s true,” Justin pleaded with Coach Johnson about the unbelievable fate of his friends. “They really have shrunk and we have got to get some help for them.”

The heat in the small room in the far corner of the gym was nearly unbearable. The concrete walls were painted putrid green and were adorned with many certificates and awards. A small fan buzzed as Justin continued his fantastic story. Dillon just stood silently next to Justin wondering to himself if coming to tell Coach Johnson had been the best option. He looked at the sweat drenched coach and wondered what kind of loser worked on Saturday. Maybe they should have just taken their friends to a hospital. Dillon watched Coach Johnson roll his eyes in disbelief as Justin wrapped up the details of the fate of his friends.

“Are you guys on drugs or something?” Coach Johnson asked in a gruff, angry tone. “Justin, you know we have some important games coming up next week, and I can’t have you strung out on some hallucinogenic crap.”

“I’m not on anything, Coach,” Justin replied in a pissed off tone. “I really thought I could count on you Coach. Well, if we can’t get our friends fixed, then you can just forget about me and Tommy showing up for practice on Monday; or for any of your “big” games next week either.”

“Okay, okay, so Tommy’s involved in this too,” Coach said apologetically, trying to diffuse the situation. “I don’t know what you guys are up to, but as for practice on Monday…you can just bring your little friends with you. Now get outa here and leave me alone.”

As the frustrated college guys left Coach Johnson’s office, the coach glanced down and noticed a small bug crawling across his desk. “Too many damn sci-fi movies these days; that’s what it is,” Coach thought aloud as he lowered a finger on top of the helpless bug and crushed it into oblivion.

“Well, that was sure a waste of time,” Dillon remarked to Justin. “And I’m sure Zack and Joe would just love to go to practice with you and Tommy, and hang with a bunch of rowdy, thousand foot tall baseball players. That would be real smart.”

“Hey, you know I wouldn’t let anything happen to those guys,” Justin replied sort of offended by Dillon’s sarcasm. “We’ll get em fixed up by then anyway. I wonder if Tommy’s having any luck with Professor Taylor?”

* * *

“It is scientifically impossible to shrink matter,” Professor Taylor responded to Tommy’s rambling in a calm and methodical manner. “How small did you say they were?”

“Oh I guess about half an inch or so,” Tommy responded to the skeptical Professor. “They are really, really tiny.”

“And how did you say this happened, Tommy?” Professor Taylor quizzed Tommy, feigning slight interest in the obvious fraternity prank. The Professor had endured years of these ritualistic fraternity rites of passage. But at least this prank had an element of originality to it, so the Professor played along with it. He focused in on Tommy with his patented quizzical scientist look.

“I don’t know how it happened,” Tommy replied. “We just found them that way, and they are way too small to hear what they are saying. What should we do, Professor?”

“Hold on…I think I’ve got something here that can help,” Professor Taylor told Tommy as he walked over to cabinet and fumbled around, pulling out a small black rectangular object with a wire sticking out of it. “Here is an amplifying device that should help. Now you should be able to communicate with your shrunken friends.”

“Awesome…This is incredible!” Tommy exclaimed with a burst of excitement as he examined the small amplifier. “Man, you’re the best…gotta go…see ya later Professor.”

“If you need anything else, just let me know,” Professor Taylor informed Tommy as he abruptly left his small college lab. “I’ll be here all weekend working on a research project.”

* * *

Joe gagged as he gulped in a mouthful of the stale, fishy salt water. Giant air bubbles slammed into tiny Joe just before popping, creating what seemed like intense explosions to the shrunken college guy. Zack tried frantically to reach his friend, but the surface of the fish tank was just too far away. Joe flailed his arms in a panic to stay afloat, oblivious to the massive shadowy mass that threatened to gobble up his miniature body in one bite. Zack held his arms up and screamed with all his might as he witnessed what was sure to be the end of his friend.

“What are you doing in there?” Cameron said as he reached in and rescued Joe from a certain and horrible death.

“That’s just not a good place for a swim,” Cameron said with a smile to the tiny figure trying to recuperate in his gigantic palm. He reached down for Zack and set him next to Joe. “You almost ended up as fish food little fella.”

Cameron took the guys and gently put them back on the kitchen table. Cameron couldn’t take his eyes off the tiny, helpless human figures that stood on the table in front of him.

“You know, if you guys can’t get big again, I could keep you at my house,” Cameron informed his shrunken captives, Joe still hacking up salt water. “I would take really good care of you guys.”

That comment sent a shiver up Zack’s spine. Why had his friends left them with this crazy kid? Zack hoped that Justin and the other guys would return soon.

Zack and Joe were soon startled by the thunderous sound of a cell phone. Cameron reached down and took the cell phone from his belt and silenced the offensive tone.

“Yeah,” Cameron answered and listened intently for a few seconds. “Oh sure, no problem.”

“Well guys, I’ve got one more priority yard to do today,” Cameron informed tiny Zack and Joe. “Now where can I put you guys so you can’t get aw…I mean so you won’t get hurt.

Cameron looked around the kitchen and noticed a fairly clean black ashtray sitting on one of the kitchen counters. “This should do the trick.”

Cameron gently lifted the two tiny college guys up and dropped them into the deep, black prison, and set it directly in the center of the kitchen table. “Well, gotta go guys, but I’m sure your friends will be back soon.”

“No, you can’t leave us here!” Zack yelled at Cameron as he looked up and watched the Herculean youth hurriedly leave the apartment. “Please come back!”

Joe fell to the ground still exhausted from his near drowning experience. Zack looked around in dread at the massively tall smooth walls of the ashtray. Any attempts at escape would be futile. They were trapped…and all alone.

Part Twenty Four


Their view of the world happened to be quite restricted at the moment, considering they had been imprisoned in the depths of a black plastic ashtray. But they heard the thunderous rumbling as an unseen giant yawned and came to life. The walls of the ashtray sloped up at a steep angle for at least 24 feet. Joe and Zack scrambled around on the smooth plastic surface of the bottom of the ashtray as they tried desperately to get a glimpse of the source of the rather frightening noise.

* * *

Hidden from view behind the old ratty couch, J.T. awoke from his deep sleep after Cameron slammed the door on his way out. The young, lean guy sat up, stretched his muscular arms, yawned deeply and scratched his tousled blond hair. “Hey, where is everybody?” J.T. called out in the oddly empty apartment.

J.T. got up and sat on the couch for a moment and tried to wake up. He wore only a pair of white briefs. As he did every time he woke, he reached toward the coffee table for his pack of cigarettes.

He tapped one out of the pack and lit it. He took a deep draw on the cigarette. "Where the hell is everybody?"

* * *

"It's J.T.!" Joe shouted from within the ashtray. "J.T. Help! Get us out of here!"

"Wait— Joe, wait a second." Zack looked worried. " J.T. doesn't know what has happened to us! He must have been crashing when the guys found us."

"So what?" Joe asked.

Right on cue, J.T.'s mountainous body came into view. The groggy youth lumbered across the room, letting his cigarette dangle from his lips as he scanned for the television remote.

He failed to locate it, so he pulled up a chair at the kitchen table. He took another draw on his cigarette, then noticed the ashtray conveniently positioned within arm's length.

* * *

J.T. stood next to the kitchen table. He rubbed his eyes and then moved his right hand down to adjust the crotch of his tight briefs. He exhaled a cloud of smoke.

In the ashtray, unknown to J.T., his shrunken friends gazed up in awe and trepidation. Joe looked completely terrified, but Zack felt a strange mixture of both healthy fear and respectful admiration for his titanic friend. He could not prevent feelings of awe as he followed the colossal curves of J.T.'s lean, muscular body. His friend looked more like some flesh-and-blood landscape instead of an ordinary human being.

J.T.'s raised voice fell on them with deafening volume. Both tiny men screamed and tried to cover their ears.

"Guys!" J.T. bellowed. "Where in hell has everybody got to?"

Joe and Zack barely had time to recover from the painfully loud assault from J.T.'s thunderous voice when they gazed upward and saw his huge fingers take the long cigarette from his mouth.

He lowered the huge cylinder.

The shrunken friends saw the sizzling lump of ash on the end of the cigarette move into view toward them. The section of ash looked almost 15 feet in length.

"Oh no!" Joe screamed.

In a quick tapping motion, J.T. flicked the ashes of his cigarette into the ashtray. He didn't even look down.

Joe and Zack scrambled to avoid the falling chunks of burning ash. They evaded the most dangerous masses of the burning debris, but sizable lumps began to produce a great deal of hot smoke and fumes that swirled around inside the bottom of the ashtray. Joe and Zack choked on the fumes.

"We'll suffocate!" Joe wailed.

Zack screamed out J.T.'s name in an effort to get their titanic friend to take notice of them.

* * *

J.T. sat groggily for a minute or more, trying to clear his head and decide what to do in the empty apartment. His stomach growled.

"Munchies," he mumbled to no one in particular.

Focusing his energy, he stood up suddenly. His chair skidded backward loudly a few inches across the floor, sending a vibration through the table. The effect was like an earthquake to the two tiny men in the ashtray.

J.T. snatched the ashtray in his free hand and whisked it off the tabletop as he turned toward the refrigerator.

Joe and Zack were slammed against the curved wall before they knew what was happening. Loose ash drifted up over them, rising to their chests.

Completing his arm motion, J.T. deposited the ashtray onto the countertop, where it slid perilously close to the edge near the stovetop.

He slipped the cigarette between his lips and bit down on it as he tugged open the refrigerator door. He poked his head inside and took a long draw. His gaze settled on a half-open pizza box, a couple of uneaten slices lying within.

"Breakfast of champions, any time of day," he shrugged.

He slid the box onto the stovetop where it balanced on two of the unused heating elements.

He took one last drag from his nearly spent cigarette. With one hand, he reached for a slice of pizza, while the other hand took the cigarette butt and blindly fumbled toward the ashtray.

* * *

"J.T." Joe screamed as he saw his massive friend's gigantic hand stretch over the ashtray. "In here. Look in the ashtray!"

"What's he doing?" Zack shrieked.

"No! Oh my g—!" Joe started to scream, but his shouts ended abruptly when the giant flailing hand tipped the ashtray, sending it hurtling over the counter's edge.

* * *

It happened so quickly, everything blurred into one hellish eternity for the tiny men. The stadium-sized ashtray turned topsy-turvy as it suddenly upended. The two tiny occupants were hurled into open space, then skidded across the smooth countertop toward the edges.

Joe saw Zack disappear over the front edge a moment before he himself slipped over the side edge between the counter and the stove.

The ashtray clattered noisily to the floor.

Zack fell with sickening speed and smacked hard against the linoleum. Cigarette ash fell around him like a charcoal-grey snowstorm, coating a wide area of the floor around him.

Joe, who had that split second to realize their titanic friend was about to rock their world, felt himself falling into the shadowy crevasse between the oven and the counter, but his descent ended with a soft, squishy plop.

* * *

"Damn!" J.T. groused at the accidentally flipped ashtray. The container had clattered on the linoleum and rested upside-down. He bent down and retrieved the ashtray, then set it back onto the countertop. He crushed out his cigarette, and looked down at the mess of spilled ashes. He lifted a slice of cold pizza to his mouth, took a bite, then set out to find the vacuum cleaner.

* * *

Zack gasped for air, slowly regaining his breath after the violent impact with the floor. He felt badly winded and was probably badly bruised, but couldn't detect any broken bones. He looked across the vast plain of linoleum toward the colossal stove. "Joe! Joe, where are you?"

Joe heard Zack's call and tried to sit up, but something held him back. He strained again. His fingers, arms and legs squelched in a thick, sticky goo. The strange substance pulled at his hair, but he managed to turn his head slightly. A tall, spindly, dark form came into view. Joe gasped as he recognized the form as another enormous spider, but it was strangely still.

"Zack!" Joe screamed. "Zack, help! Help me! Get me out of here!"

Zack raced toward his friend's voice, charging into the canyon between the cupboard and the oven. His heart skipped a beat as he stopped short of the broad piece of cardboard, littered with flecks of ash and scores of large insect corpses half-sunk in a thick layer of glue. Near the center of the glue trap, lying on his back in the sticky goo, was Joe.

"Joe!" Zack cried, feeling utterly helpless.

"Zack! Help me! God, get me out of here! I can't move!"

Zack turned and ran helplessly back out across the kitchen floor. His footsteps left tracks in the ash as though he were running through new-fallen snow. He stopped and looked up, searching for J.T., and then he had an idea.

He ran out across the ash, dragging his feet as he went. He travelled in a straight line for a time, then doubled back. Half-way back, he ran out in a direction perpendicular to the first line. He stopped, then made another line parallel to the first.

"H," Zack whispered to himself. He jumped out of this track to begin another. Before long, he had traced a large E. Another jump. Racing, he made an L. He heard J.T.'s footsteps approaching, dragging the squeaking wheels of the vacuum cleaner. Making one more leap, he began the final letter of his desperate message.

* * *

J.T. plugged the cord into the wall outlet and flipped the switch. The vacuum roared to life. The sound was almost deafening to the tiny men, and it wasn't doing much good for J.T.'s hangover either. He picked up the wand tube and pointed it toward the mess of ashes. The sooner he got this cleaned up, the sooner he could shut off the noise and finish his pizza.

* * *

Zack felt the wind before he could jump out of his ash-track letter and run for the cover of the stove crevasse. He waved his arms wildly and screamed at the giant, but his voice was obliterated by the jet-like rumble of the enormous vacuum.

* * *

J.T. watched the first flecks of ash disappear into the tube of the vacuum. He glanced down, trying to resolve what he was seeing. His hand stopped, and the suction end of the vacuum rested on the floor in place. It was impossible, but in the ashes, someone had traced the word "HELP".

Part Twenty Five

J.T. quickly reached back and shut off the vacuum. His eyes remained transfixed at the seemingly impossible tiny message that had mysteriously appeared in the scattered ashes. The abrupt silence startled tiny Zack almost as much as the thunderous sound of the vacuum when it had been turned on. All he could do was look up and stare in awe at the seemingly god-like mountain posing as just one of his college buddies. Suffering from all out exhaustion, Joe lay silent and motionless, securely trapped in the heinous bug trap.

“How the hell did that get here?” J.T. quizzically asked himself as he lowered his head closer to the bizarre message. “This is just freakin weird.”

Zack felt a mild sense of relief as he saw his giant friend examine the “HELP” message he had so diligently etched in the scattered ashes. His relief soon turned to anxiety as the colossal J.T. peered in his direction and those lake-sized eyes locked in on his tiny figure.

“Hey J.T., it’s me Zack,” Zack yelled up to J.T. as he lifted one arm and waved.

Zack then slowly backed up as he saw his friend’s enormous hand with its menacing monster-sized fingers began to move towards him. A burst of adrenaline shot through his tiny body as he realized he was about to be picked up and examined by his giant friend as thought he were nothing but an curious looking insect.

“What the hell is that thing,” J.T. murmured as he slowly reached out for the strange looking tiny creature standing next to the message written in cigarette ash.

Noticing some backwards movement, J.T. quickly positioned one of his massive hands behind the weird looking little bug, preventing any escape. From his other hand, jumbo sized fingers the size of redwoods slowly reached out for tiny Zack. The half-inch tall college guy was carefully secured between J.T.’s massive thumb and forefinger.

J.T. brought his tiny captive right up to his face and began to examine the helpless creature. Even though J.T. was being extra careful, Zack winced at the intense pressure exerted from his giant friend’s enormous fingers. And the sudden stomach-lurching acceleration upward did not help matters.

Zack just looked on mesmerized at the site of his giant friend’s titanic face. J.T. was huge. And then it hit him. J.T.’s revolting morning breath; a mix of nicotine, beer and Doritos. Zack gagged a little and then began to yell, “Hey J.T., it’s me, Zack!”

“Whoa dude…man…what the…Zack, is that…no way,” J.T. found it nearly impossible to speak. “What the hell happened to you?”

Zack was relieved J.T. had realized it was him, but it was becoming increasingly frustrating that his voice was just too pitifully meager for these mega-giants to hear.

“I can’t hear what you’re saying,” an also frustrated J.T. whispered to his bug-sized friend as he carefully placed Zack near the edge of the kitchen table and then sat down. He brought his face close to Zack again. “How did you get this way?”

Zack gave up trying to communicate with J.T. He stood there on the table looking up at his colossal friend not really sure what to do and then he remembered Joe. Zack frantically began jump up and down and point down at the floor in the direction of Joe.

“What is it Zack?” J.T. asked his tiny friend in response to his seemingly urgent gesturing. “Is there something down there?”

J.T. carefully got down on his knees and began to scan the dirty linoleum kitchen floor. He moved around, gently brushing aside dirt and the spilled cigarette ash, not really having a clue what he was looking for. Just as he was about to give up, he happened to glance at the sticky bug trap, positioned just between the stove and the countertop. J.T. couldn’t believe his eyes. Trapped directly in the center, surrounded by an array of dead insects was a very tiny man. At closer inspection, Zack almost freaked out when he realized it was Joe.

“Oh my God!” J.T. blurted out in near panic as he grabbed the bug trap and headed back for the kitchen table. “Are you okay Joe? Please be Okay.”

Joe was relieved when he heard his giant friend call his name, but nearly passed out as the bug-trap was hurtled through the air at incredible speed as J.T. quickly carried it back to the kitchen table.

J.T. carefully set the bug-trap containing his shrunken friend on the kitchen table next to Zack. Zack remained in awe of the giant that he had so often chilled with drinking brews and playing cards. J.T. glanced at Zack with a sense of urgency and then focused back on his tiny trapped friend.

“I gotta get you out of that piece of crap contraption,” J.T. whispered directly at Joe as he lowered his enormous fingers. “Hang on Joe. I’m going to pull you out of there.”

As gently as he could, J.T. grabbed hold of Joe and began to pull. J.T. was able to pull Joe from the sticky trap quite easily. He let his exhausted friend linger in his massive palm a couple seconds and then placed him down on the table next to Zack. “There you go buddy.”

“Are you okay, Joe?” Zack asked concerned with Joe’s well being. Zack looked skyward and waved. “Thanks J.T.”

J.T. leaned in close and placed his chin on the kitchen table so he could get a really close look at his shrunken friends. “Man, this is freakin weird. How the hell did this happen to you guys?”

Joe was a little shaken up and uneasy with J.T.’s colossal face being so close but Zack was completely mesmerized. He walked closer to the life size Mt. Rushmore as J.T.’s ominous eyes followed his every move. J.T. was just as fascinated with tiny Zack as he moved closer. He felt the urge to just reach down and grab his tiny friend. But he resisted, not wanting to rattle Zack any more than necessary.

Zack examined J.T.’s face with intense curiosity. Every freckle, blemish, or stray whisker was pronounced a thousand fold. Zack could resist no longer. He walked up next to his giant friend and reached out his tiny hand. Zack spent the next several minutes just feeling of J.T.’s massive chin. It was completely surreal. Joe just rolled his eyes as he watched from a distance.

* * *

Suddenly, the door to the apartment opened, and Tommy entered nearly out of breath. He had sprinted from his car to the apartment. Startled, J.T. looked up. Tommy noticed J.T. sitting at the kitchen table.

“Oh God! I forgot we left you here,” Tommy said with some anxiety. “Where is Cameron….and where is Zack and Joe?”

“Well Tommy, you’re not going to believe this, but Zack and Joe are here on the kitchen table,” J.T. responded as he pointed down at his shrunken friends. “Who is Cameron?”

“I know about the guys,” Tommy said as he rushed over to the kitchen table to make sure Zack and Joe were okay. “We left to try and get some help. You must have slept through the whole commotion.”

“Must have had too many beers last night,” J.T. responded with a sheepish grin. “How did the guys get so small?”

“I don’t know because they are too small to hear their voices,” Tommy explained as he pulled a black rectangular object out of his pocket. “But I’ve got something to fix that.”

“Hey guys,” Tommy spoke softly to Zack and Joe as he lowered the small battery powered amplifier next to them, and toggled a switch to the “on” position. “I got this amplifier from Professor Taylor at the college. Just talk into the mic at the end of this wire and we should be able to hear you.”

Zack and Joe excitedly rushed up to the end of the dangling wire. Zack nervously cleared his throat and spoke. “Can you hear me?”

Zack’s voice beamed throughout the kitchen distinct and very clear. The device worked perfectly.

“Awesome!” Tommy erupted with complete excitement. He gave J.T. a big high five. “Okay Zack, spill it. What happened to you guys.”

As Zack spoke, J.T. and Tommy sat at the table silent and motionless, transfixed on tiny Zack’s every word.

“It all started at that damn vacant lot next to the baseball field. Me and Joe went out there to have some brews while you and Justin finished the game,” Zack began trying to recall all the details. Joe would occasionally interject any pertinent facts he felt Zack had left out.

“No way Joe,” Tommy responded with amazement. “You mean you were actually in my shirt pocket and I didn’t even know it.”

“Trapped in Justin’s shoe?” J.T. leaned back as he and Tommy erupted in laughter as they listened to Zack. “Now that’s a fate worse than death.”

When Zack got to the part about being trapped in the spider web he sort of choked up. “Tommy, I really want to thank you for saving me from that spider. You saved my life out there.”

“No problem buddy,” Tommy responded somberly. “You would have done the same for me.”

Zack and Joe continued the story up to the point J.T. had pulled Joe from the sticky bug trap.

“Freaking amazing!” were the only words J.T. could muster up.

“Hey Tommy, we’ve got to get cleaned up,” Joe spoke into the mic. “I feel so sticky and mucky.”

“Yeah, you guys probably still have some of that giant loogie from Justin on ya,” J.T. chimed in with a laugh. “I don’t know—the shower might be a little big for you guys.”

Tommy went to the fridge and pulled a couple caps off two pepsi bottles. He lowered his enormous hand to the table next to Zack and Joe. “Hop on guys. I’ll fill these caps up with warm water and you guys can get cleaned up.” Zack and Joe climbed aboard Tommy’s enormous hand, and they were transported to the bathroom.

Tommy carefully sat the guys down on the counter next to the sink. He filled each bottle cap with a couple drops of warm water and placed them next to Joe and Zack. “There ya go—two instant hot-tubs.” Tommy took a fingernail and shaved off two tiny pieces of soap for his shrunken friends. “You guys get cleaned up. I’ll be back in about 30 minutes and we’ll figure out how to get ya back to normal.”

Tommy walked back to the kitchen and sat down with J.T. They just sat there silent for about a minute staring at each other. J.T. was first to break the silence.

“What the hell are we going to do now?”