Incredible Shrinking Kid! (3 page)

Holly rolled her eyes. “Dummy! Is your brain shrinking, too?”

Sean gasped.
“Maybe it is!
Maybe my brain
is
shrinking! I'll start to get dumber. Like a little kid. Then a baby. Then a nothing, a zero, a—!”

“Stop it, Sean!” Holly said. “You're shrinking. Okay, it happens. Now let's think about this. Did you eat any strange food?”

Sean wiped his forehead with his huge T-shirt. He was still getting smaller. About a foot and a half, now, he thought. “Well, I had some eyeball candy and washed it down with that blue stuff Dad keeps in the milk carton. And some of that green goo on the counter—”

Holly nodded. “The stuff that looks like pudding but isn't? No, that wouldn't do this.”

Sean couldn't see across the top of his bed anymore.

“Did you go anywhere different in the last few days?” Holly asked him. “Something you did that no one else did?”

“The only place was Kruger's Toy World—”

“No, we all went there.” Holly shook her head and looked away.

Sean knew he must be gross to look at. He knew he was still getting smaller. But there was something else that kept popping back into his mind. “Kruger was very weird.”

“I'll be right back,” Holly whispered. She left the room.

Sean wondered how long he would last. He was probably only about a foot tall now, maybe less.

But his mind kept whirling like a hurricane. The toy shop. The tiny Grover's Mill for his dad's movie. Pizza with anchovies. Mr. Kruger. His cat, Fluffy. What did any of this have to do with him shrinking?

A minute later Holly was back with her pocketbook. She took out a bunch of stuff and put it on the floor next to Sean. “I brought these for you. You can change out of your diaper now.”

Sean began picking through a pile of tiny blue shorts and weird glittery vests that Holly's “Ron” doll wore. “Oh, man, this is pathetic.”

“Don't worry, Ron won't mind.” She smiled.

Then Sean stopped. In the pile was something familiar. Jeans and a T-shirt. A W. Reid Elementary School T-shirt! “My clothes! My sneakers, too! This is amazing. How could these clothes—”

Suddenly something struck Sean. Not something heavy, something—

“Light!”

Holly looked up at the ceiling light. “What about the light?”

“No. Last night. When we went biking up to find Mike Mazur's house. And there was the blast of
light.”

“You're sure it wasn't the moon?” Holly asked.

“No! And I was wearing these clothes!” Sean said.

“You can wear them again, it's okay.”

“You don't get it,” said Sean. “These clothes are the same size as me. They must have been shrinking the same as me! But I only wore this shirt with these pants once—yesterday!”

Then it hit him. Of course! He was the only one who saw the blast. He was the only one who was
in
the blast. “It was the light, the purple light, that made me small!”

6

Kid Shrinko

“Y
es! I remember now,” Sean said, jumping into his T-shirt and pants. “The blast of light made me shrink!”

Holly shook her head from side to side slowly. “It's impossible. Things like this don't happen.”

“Yeah, don't I wish,” Sean said. “Have you forgotten that we live in Weirdsville, USA? Besides, just look at me. I'm the size of a … a …”

“Toy?” Holly added.

“The toymaker!” Sean squeaked. “He must know something about this. He must! I've got to get there!” Sean started running for the door.

“But what does Mr. Kruger have to do with the purple light you saw?” Holly asked.

Sean stopped. “I don't know—yet. But look, he makes small stuff. I'm small. Not only that, I think he's hiding something in that closet of his. Hey, all I know is I've got to get back to that toy shop. The answer's there!”

Holly stood up. “I'd better tell Mom and Dad about this.”

“No!” Sean shouted. “They'll just take me to some hospital and I'd get smaller and smaller and no one would believe me and I'd probably just disappear forever.”

Holly bit her lip. “You're right. We need to do something now.” She looked him straight in the eye and swallowed hard. “I don't want a little brother. I want a big brother like before.”

She unzipped her pocketbook and held it open on the floor. “Get in!”

Sean stepped back. “What?” he sniffed. “I can't fit in there!”

But he could, and it shocked him. He was now no more than four inches tall. The size of a little action figure. The size of a toy.

Taking a deep breath, Sean climbed in Holly's pocketbook, into the middle of a bunch of girl stuff—a comb, a lipstick, a purple puppy pad, a glitter pen, and a mirror.

The mirror was only about four inches long, but Sean could see his whole body. “Thanks. Now I can see just how small I am.”

“Hang on,” she said. “We're going downstairs to call Jeff. I'll tell him to meet us at the store.”

ZIIPPPP!
Holly zipped him in. He could feel her lifting the pocketbook and pulling the strap over her shoulder.

Then he felt her bouncing down the stairs. The next thing he knew, she was gently setting the pocketbook down on something. He crawled to the top and peered out.

The kitchen table! His father was there, a bowl of Wheat-O cereal and a cup of coffee in front of him. He was reading the
Grover's Mill Gazette.

Holly went over to the telephone and dialed a number. Then she stretched the cord from the kitchen to the living room. “Hello, Jeff?”

Mr. Vickers rattled the newspaper and turned the page. Sean read the headlines on the front. “Water Tower Diapers” was on top. Below that was an article called “Doctor Varnishes.” Along the side was one called “Sports on Pluto.”

Sure, thought Sean. How long would it be before there was a story about him. “Local Boy Shrinks.” But no, the
Gazette
always spelled everything wrong, so it would probably be something like “Loco Boy Stinks!”

“Hey, that toymaker!” Mr. Vickers suddenly burst out. “He sure loves my movies! Well, who doesn't love a Humongous Horror Movie?”

“No one, Dad,” Holly shouted from the living room.

“Quite right, daughter!” Mr. Vickers said. He set the paper down and placed a Wheat-0 on the handle of his cereal spoon. Closing his eyes, he slammed down the other end of the spoon so that the tiny Wheat-O flipped in the air right into his mouth.

Slam! Flip! Slurp! Mmm!
Mr. Vickers quickly loaded another Wheat-O.

Sean looked up at the giants around him and a sudden, chilling fear settled over him. His father, even his little sister, could kill him with a single move. Squash him right onto the table. An inch one way or the other and he'd be mushed cookie dough. Then a single wipe of the sponge and he'd be gone!

When no one was looking, Sean slipped out of the pocketbook and onto the table. He ducked behind the coffee cup.

He felt totally alone in a world of giants. Everything he knew was changed. Everything was different now. He wasn't like his family anymore. He was even weirder. He was a freak.

Maybe they'd put him on display.

Sure, thought Sean. Kid Shrinko! Mini Boy! Freak Child! They'd write articles about him. He'd be in books. Even in The Weird Zone he'd be weird! He had to get out of there!

Slam! Flip! Slurp!

Sean panicked. He ran.

Slam! Flip! Slurp!

But he slipped on a drip of coffee and fell over the end of his father's spoon, knocking the next Wheat-O off.

With one quick stroke—
slam!
—Sean was propelled into the air. He was flipping over and over on his way to his father's open mouth!

7

Stomp That Boy!

T
he wet tongue! The saliva! The sharp teeth!

“Yuuuuuck!” screeched tiny Sean as the giant jaws swung open for their treat.

Suddenly Holly was in the air, diving in from the living room, sliding across the kitchen table, her hands stretching for the tiny figure that was not a tasty Wheat-O but Sean Vickers, mini human boy! Her brother!

Wump!
She grabbed Sean and tumbled, hitting the floor with a thud.

“Would you like your own bowl of tasty Wheat-O's, dear?” Mr. Vickers asked her.

“I … uh.” Holly got up and quickly slid Sean into her pocketbook once more. “Dad, can we go to Kruger's Toy World?”

“But my set won't be ready until tomorrow,” her father said.

Holly shifted her weight. “I need to get something for Sean's birthday right away.”

Mr. Vickers raised an eyebrow and stepped over to the calendar tacked on the wall. “Your brother's birthday is seven months away.”

“He's my only brother, Dad,” Holly said.

Sean knew how much his sister probably wanted to gag.

“I need to—you know—get him something.”

There was a tone in Holly's voice that Sean hadn't heard before. Was it
fear?

“What children I have!” Mr. Vickers exclaimed. “Grab your pocketbook, missy!”

“I have it,” she said, swinging the pocketbook up for him to see.

Sean slid down the puppy pad, getting his feet stuck in the coil. “Hey, be careful!” he yelled.

After a short ride to Kruger's Toy World, Holly jumped out of the car. She was holding her pocketbook close to her. “Hurry, Dad. Every second counts!”

Sean stuck his head out of the pocketbook.

Suddenly—

Bong!
The giant donut-shaped clock on top of the Double Dunk Donut Den struck noon!

Sssss!
The enormous pancake pan atop Usher's House of Pancakes also hissed out the hour.

Noon! Lunch! Food time!

An instant later, the sidewalks were a mad rush of flip-flops, sneakers, sandals, and bare feet tearing off toward noontime eats!

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

Holly leaped from the sidewalk to avoid a horde of hungry people!

Her pocketbook whipped around behind her.

“Holleeeeeeee!” came the scream.

But she didn't hear.

She walked quickly to the store—as Sean fell, fell, fell, to the stomped-on sidewalk below!

8

Getting Incredible!

“O
oof!” Sean slammed face first onto a little patch of grass right next to the sidewalk.

Suddenly, the ground began to thunder. With each thump Sean was knocked back on his face. He finally managed to turn over.

It was a kid, a huge kid, thumping along the grass with giant sneakers!

“No!” Sean squeaked. “He'll crush me!”

But before he could move, the sky went dark above him. A huge high-top closed in on him! It thundered down on the grass a half inch from his head.

That's when Sean saw that the sneaker was a red high-top! With blue laces!

“Jeff!” Sean cried out. “Don't squish me!”

But his giant friend didn't hear him. In a moment that sneaker would plant him like a seed!

Sean saw his only chance. Jeff was heading for the toy store. He had to make a move. He rolled over, reached up, and leaped for the blue laces.

Yes! He got one!

He held tight, as the giant shoe lifted, swung quickly up through the air, and took him with it.

Thump! Thump! Thump!
Jeff ran over to the toy store's front door. With one powerful swing, he leaped up the step and into the store.

“Now I'm getting somewhere!” Sean said.

But at that moment the big blue laces whipped around.

“Nooo!” Sean lost his grip. He flew up into the air and landed on the soft toe of Jeff's other sneaker.

KA-BOOM!
Sean got blasted across the floor of the shop and into a pile of stuffed bears. He crumpled to the floor like a bean-bag. “Oh, this hurts!”

Mr. Kruger looked up from the miniature set. He stood and stepped in front of Holly, Jeff, and Mr. Vickers. “I have not yet completed my work!” he growled.

Holly sidestepped him and went straight for the closet in the back. She tried the door.

“That room is locked,” Mr. Kruger said, his crooked face beginning to get more crooked. Fluffy the cat jumped up into his arms.

“There's something in that closet Sean and I need to see.” Then Holly carefully emptied her purse onto the model town. Lipstick, the purple puppy pad, glitter pen, comb, mirror, all tumbled out into the parking lot of the miniature Plan Nine Drive-in. “Oh, no!” Holly screamed. “Sean's not here!”

“I'm over here!” yelled Sean from across the room. But no one heard.

Mr. Vickers frowned. “I don't think Sean would fit in your pocketbook.”

“He would, Dad, he would!” Holly blurted out. “Sean's in trouble—he's tiny! And somehow it's because of this man!”

“Ah, children,” the tall man snarled. “Such imagination! Now, if you'll excuse me, I must—”

“But it's true, Mr. V.,” added Jeff. “I saw Sean. He is getting little! By now he's probably super small. It's totally—amazing!”

Mr. Vickers' forehead wrinkled. “Excuse me, Jeff. If my son is tiny, he is
incredible,
not
amazing.
We in the movie business always use the word
incredible
to describe extreme smallness. And
amazing
is for big, oversize, colossal—something of that nature. Take, for instance, my new film,
The Amazing
—”

“Dad!” Holly interrupted. “Sean is in trouble!”

“Oh,” Mr. Vickers said. “Right!”

But the toymaker pushed them all toward the front door. “The store is
closed.
I must get back to my work.”

Sean had to get their attention. If no one could hear him, at least maybe they would see him. He ran out to the middle of the floor. He began to jump up and down.