Shrunken Mr. Smith dared to let his hopes soar when the gigantic exterminator answered Tommy's question.
"THIS STUFF WON'T HARM ANYTHING BUT BUGS," the huge man told Mr. Smith's teenaged neighbor. "SHOULD BE FINE FOR YOU TO COME BACK IN A COUPLE OF HOURS."
Reassured, Tommy headed toward the back door, forcing his bug-sized neighbor to scurry out of the path of the teenager's enormous shoes. After barely dodging one of the sneakers, the little man squeaked in terror.
"Tommy!" He cried. "Don't step on me! Look for me!"
Of course, Tommy had other things on his mind, first and foremost being to get to the post office with Mr. Smith's important package.
The little man watched helplessly as the teenaged titan left, the package clutched in one of his huge hands.
"Oh no!" Mr. Smith groaned. "Please don't leave me with…"
A sudden boom blasted him as the exterminator's boots stomped across the floor. The little man hoped the scary giant meant to leave the room, but as he turned he saw the giant seemed determined to head in his direction.
A second later, he realized he had been seen.
Carlos kept his eyes fastened on the tiny, pale creature near the back door. He figured some pest had scurried into the house during the teenager's departure.
"BIG MISTAKE, LITTLE BUG," he said.
Routinely, mechanically, he decided to get rid of the bug the old-fashioned way. He raised his boot and moved it into position over the pest.
"No! Wait!" The shrunken scientist screamed. He simply needed to evade the giant and wait for Tommy's return.
Unfortunately, it wasn't in the cards.
The boot slammed down, the impact of it slamming into the tiles drowning out the pitiful crunch of the destroyed "bug."
A couple of hours later, right on schedule, Tommy returned, bringing one of his friends with him.
They entered through the back door, and Tommy's sneaker slapped down on the splattered remains of his shrunken employer. After watering a few plants, Tommy and Joe made themselves comfortable in Mr. Smith's living room.
When Tommy propped his feet on the coffee table, he saw something drop out of the treads of his sneakers. On closer inspection, it looked like the mangled remains of some strange bug. He tossed Joe the remote and instructed him to find a game.
In the meantime, he went to the kitchen, fetched a paper towel and returned to deal with the icky mess on the coffee table. After he swiped the mess into the towel, he crumpled it and carried it to the trash bin in the kitchen.
"Remind me," he told Joe as he returned to the living room. "I need to take out the trash and put it at the curb before we leave."
Mr. Smith hadn't told him to worry about the trash, but Tommy knew that the trash collectors came every three days. He was happy to put forth some extra effort on Mr. Smith's behalf.
He did wonder where his neighbor had gone on his trip, but he was sure he would hear all about it when he eventually returned home.
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