Julia felt confused and disoriented when she first opened her eyes; then, after taking a moment for her mind to clear, she realized she had fallen asleep.

     “What time is it?!” she gasped as she came to her senses, suddenly remembering where she’d left Tim. “Uh oh…!”

     Julia quickly pulled her right foot into her lap and removed her slipper…

     There was her tiny nephew, still trapped and slumped over one of her toes; he was barely conscious, having collapsed from heat exhaustion. Finally free from Julia’s slipper, Tim gasped in several breaths of cool, fresh air, although the atmosphere still held a strong, overpowering funk of sweaty feet.

     “Oops,” Julia chortled with a half-hearted sigh of relief as she watched her tiny nephew writhe between her toes. “Sorry, Timmy. I guess fell asleep.”

     “Did you have a nice time in my slipper?” Julia chuckled.

     “Aunt Julia, please,” Tim begged desperately, tired and breathless, “please, let me go!”

     “I take it you’ve learned your lesson then?”

     “Yes!” Tim nodded frantically, trying to pry his tiny body from the vice-grip clutches of his aunt’s toes, “Yes…most definitely, just please…uhn, let me go. I don’t wanna go back in your slipper again!”

     Julia smiled and lifted her foot up in front of her face, glaring at the tiny boy between her toes.

     “So….you’re going to behave from now on, and do EVERYTHING I say?”

     Tim nodded reluctantly in defeat.

     “…AND you’re not going to tell your mother about our little deal,” his aunt added, “and keep your mouth shut about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that happens while I’m here?”

     Tim sighed heavily, hesitating as he carefully thought over his answer.

     “As long as you promise not to hurt me…” Tim replied through gritted teeth, “…and, at least, show a little restraint….then….*sigh*, I promise, I won’t tell mom.”

     “Hmph,” Julia huffed, “you know, you’re not exactly in a position to be demanding concessions, Tiny Tim…”

     …Bu-ut,” Julia continued, pretending to think it over as she lifted her gaze towards the ceiling, “as long as you promise to behave yourself…I guess I can agree to that…”

     Tim nodded reluctantly, heaving a heavy sigh, and hoping that things, at least, wouldn’t be so bad from then on.

     “…But I still get to have fun with you.” Julia added quickly, playfully scrunching her toes.

     Tim yelped and howled as he was haphazardly squeezed and smooshed again, quickly realizing he’d let his guard down a little too soon.

     “Alright, fine!” Tim shouted up once he could, hoping it would get Aunt Julia to stop her roughhousing. “Just…no more calling me ‘Tiny Tim’, OK?”

     “Nope!” Julia replied quickly, shaking her head. “Our deal’s already done, kiddo. You should’ve spoken up sooner.”

     Julia quickly brought her foot and Tim up closer to her face, giggling playfully as she  began squeezing her toes again. She beamed with delight listening to her tiny nephew’s yelps and squeaks for her to stop, and chuckled with sadistic glee as she watched him squirm in vain to free himself, adding in a playful snort at the end.

     “Phew!” Julia exclaimed with a smile, gently waving her hand in front of her face after getting a whiff of her sweaty foot, “I guess my feet are a little rank, aren’t they? Sorry, Tim.”

     Tim grumbled to himself about his aunt’s obviously halfhearted apology, but smartly kept his snide remarks to himself.

     “I guess I didn’t realize how sweaty they got during my workout earlier,” Julia chortled with an apathetic shrug. “Oh, well.”

     Julia smiled genially and carefully plucked her tiny nephew from her toes by his disheveled clothes. Tim was practically out of energy, neither resisting nor complaining about how roughly he was being handled.

     “Come on,” Julia chortled, standing up from the couch. “I think we both need to get cleaned up a bit.”

     “Whoa!” Tim exclaimed as he was suddenly thrust into the air. “ACK!”

     Julia was still holding her tiny nephew by the nape of his toga as she walked towards the main bathroom near the rear of the house. Unfortunately, her gait was so rough that with each step she took, Tim jostled about wildly within her grasp.

     “AUNT JU-LI-A-A-A-A-A!”

     The tiny boy squealed continuously, reeling from each impact of Julia’s bare feet stomping heavily upon the hallway carpet on the way to the bathroom. Thankfully, it was a somewhat short trip.

     Julia turned on the bathroom light and sat down on the edge of the tub, resting her feet inside the basin and carefully setting Tim down next to her.

     “Go ahead and ditch that ratty tissue,” she instructed, motioning to his toga as she rolled up her leggings, “I’ll get you a new one once we’re done.”

     Tim was slightly embarrassed at having to undress and stand naked in front of his giant aunt, but he was more than happy to ditch his soiled garb, especially considering it absolutely reeked of Julia’s feet.

     No sooner had he removed the tissue, his giant aunt snatched up the remnants between her fingers and threw them away in a nearby trash can.

     With Tim now undressed, and her leggings rolled up, Julia pulled the shower head off its bracket, letting it hang down by its hose; then, she reached over and turned the knob for the tub.

     A rush of water suddenly burst forth from the bathtub faucet, splashing down into the basin below like a roaring waterfall. Julia quickly ensured the temperature of the water was warm enough, then flipped the switch to close the drain. 

     “Alright, little guy,” she said as she turned and lowered her palm in front of her tiny nephew. “What’s say we get you rinsed off, huh?”

     “A-Aunt Julia,” Tim squeaked apprehensively, “You’re not gonna WASH me, are you?!”

     “What?” Julia inquired, unable to make out what the tiny teenager was saying over the splashing of the water filling up the tub. “Speak up, kiddo. I can’t hear you.”

     “I SAID,” Tim shouted louder, cupping his hands around his mouth, “YOU’RE NOT GONNA WASH ME, ARE YOU?!”

     “Hang on, Tim,” she waved him off, reaching over and briefly shutting off the water so she could hear him. “Now, what did you say?”

     “I SAID—” Tim began shouting again, quickly lowering his voice when he realized he didn’t have to speak as loudly, “I said, you’re not going to WASH me, are you?”

     “Of course I am, silly,” Julia chortled, shaking her head, “What did you think we came in here for?”

     “I meant,” Tim reiterated, “surely, your not thinking of washing me YOURSELF, are you?! I’m a big—”

     Tim immediately swallowed his words, quickly realizing he’d just undermined his own argument. 

     “Mm, hm, exactly!” Julia mocked him, placing her hand down again. “Now, quit stalling and hop on.”

     Tim started to move forward, but he was still reluctant.

     “Look,” he offered, “maybe if you just took me over to the sink—“

     “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Julia cut him off with a frustrated sigh, snatching him up between her fingers.

     “ACK!” Tim yelped as he was violently thrust into the air. “AUNT JULIA, STOP! NO! WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

     The giant woman quickly lifted her leg and slapped her overturned right foot into her lap, depositing the tiny boy feet first between her 2nd and 3rd toes.

     “HEY!” Tim shouted in protest as he was callously shoved between his aunt’s wet toes. “YUCK! AUNT JULIA, GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

     Julia didn’t reply as she scooted her body closer to the tub faucet and reached for the knob again.

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim screamed. “NOOOOOOO—!”

      The water burst forth once again, immediately covering up the tiny teenager’s screams. Tim struggled frantically to free himself from the vice-like grip of his aunt’s toes while Julia once again adjusted the water temperature, moving her her right foot beneath the thundering spout.

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim screamed in horror, raising his hands defensively, “NOblbbl…grgl…blub…!”

    A massive deluge washed over Julia’s foot, water surging in to every exposed orifice, drowning the tiny boy alive. Thankfully, the giant woman only kept her foot under the roaring faucet for a few seconds to rinse it off, quickly removing it before Tim was washed away completely. The tiny teenager coughed and sputtered with each gasping breath he took, gagging to expel the water from his lungs.

     Meanwhile, Julia reached over and retreated a soap dish resting on the far-front corner of the tub’s edge, setting it down next to her; then, she snatched up the body bar that was resting in the dish and began vigorously rubbing it back and forth in her hands to build up a lather.

     “Aunt Julia,” Tim coughed weakly, still gasping for air. “Please—!”

     The giant woman payed him no attention, setting the body bar back down in the  soap dish and reaching her hands towards her foot.

     Tim shrieked frantically as he saw aunt’s huge, soapy hands reaching out for him:

     “AUNT JULIrmpf!”

     The moment Julia grabbed her foot, Tim disappeared within the crevices of her scrunched toes. The giant woman carefully massaged her sole and scrubbed her calloused heel, grinning proudly and humming to herself, imagining her tiny nephew squirming helplessly between her toes and mercy as she thoroughly ran her soapy hands over her foot.

     Although Julia couldn’t actually hear Tim amidst her scrunched flesh and the torrent of water streaming from the faucet, each time she ran her soapy hands over her toes, the pressure upon the tiny boy increased immensely, and Tim’s muffled screams intensified. He was desperate for air, struggling to resist the cascade of soap bubbles that were now infiltrating his aunt’s toe crevices. Tim squirmed vigorously, hoping the soap might lubricate Julia toes enough to allow him to escape, but the giant woman kept playfully wiggling them back-and-forth, hampering his efforts.

     “Aunt Julirm!” the tiny boy strained to speak as he struggled to keep his head out from between Julia’s soapy toes. “Oomph! AUNT JULIA, STOP!”

     “Aw, what’s a matter, Tiny Tim,” Julia cooed mockingly as she relaxed her foot, “are my toes-ies bothering you?”

     Julia playfully wiggled her toes again, giggling maniacally as her tiny nephew screamed in protest.

     “Here, let me help you,” the giant woman smiled, reaching her hand behind the top of her foot.

     Tim suddenly felt something grab and pinch one of his legs…

     *THWHIP*

     The next thing Tim knew, he was yanked downwards, popping out the opposite side of his aunt’s toes; a split second later, he was dangling upside down in front of aunt Julia’s face.

     “AUNT JULIA, LET ME GO!” Tim squeaked demandingly.

     “‘Let you go’?!” she replied cordially, shaking her head and cooing at the tiny boy in her grasp, “but you did such a good job cleaning in between my toes. Now, be a dear and clean between the rest of them for me, okay?”

     “NOrmpf!”

     Before Tim could protest again, Julia gripped both his legs between her left thumb and index fingers, then shoved him face-first in between her big and second toes.

     “Ah, that’s a good boy,” Julia smiled as she maneuvered her tiny nephew in and out of her of toe crevices. “Now, make sure you scrub in there nice and good. They got pretty dirty during my workout.” 

     Tim squirmed frantically in his aunt’s grasp as he was mercilessly thrust between each of the giant woman’s smelly toes, shouting and begging for her to stop as he choked on toe jam and soap. The torturous process continued until all the spaces between the toes of Julia’s right foot were thoroughly scrubbed.

     “Ah, that’s better,” Julia sighed pridefully as she gently deposited her tiny nephew into her right hand, leaving him to recover a bit while she took a moment to rinse off her foot in the water that was filling up the tub basin.

     “Now for the other foot.” Julia spoke up, plopping her left foot into her lap.

     “Hm,” she uttered, inspecting her sole, “I think I’m gonna need a LEETLE more soap.”

     Julia reached her left hand down into the soap dish beside her, rubbing it thoroughly against the body bar.

     “There, that should be enough,” she commented. “Now, let’s get you lathered up again, little guy.”

     Tim was still coughing and trying catching his breath when he saw Aunt Julia’s left hand bearing down on him. The tiny teenager screamed in terror, bracing himself as the giant woman’s hands clasped together.

     Julia started rubbing her hands together, rolling her tiny nephew around in between her palms. Tim tried desperately to steady himself and hold his breath, but he was no match for Julia’s powerful hands as they built up a suffocating lather between them.

     After a few seconds, Julia’s hands parted. She looked down upon the tiny boy, smiling as she watched him writhing in a pool of bubbles within her soap-covered palms.

     Tim glanced upward; his blood suddenly ran cold at the sight of the huge, shit-eating grin spread widely across Aunt Julia’s giant face.

     With one quick movement, Julia flipped her hand over and smacked it onto her left foot, smashing Tim against her sole. The tiny teenager kept screaming muffled cries for mercy, while his giant aunt ran her hands across the bottom of her soul, singing giddily to herself:

     “Oh, I wish I were a little bar of soap,

      Oh, I wish I were a little bar of soap,

      I’d go slippy, slappy, slidey,

      Over everybody’s hidey,

      Oh, I wish I were a little bar of soap.”

     After several torturous minutes of being plastered across his aunt’s giant foot and shoved between her toes, Tim’s ordeal was finally over. The giant woman thoroughly rinsed off her foot under the faucet before turning off the water, then gently dipped the tiny boy into the massive tub basin to rinse him off. Tim was pleasantly surprised that his rinsing off didn’t involve him being drowned beneath the tub’s spout or shoved between Aunt Julia‘s toes again, but he still wasn’t letting his guard down after his recent torture.

     Julia grabbed a nearby, dry washcloth and placed her tiny nephew in the center, then pulled the stopper to drain the tub. She carefully scooped up the cloth with both hands and lifted it up to her face, her lips puckered.

     Tim was fearful that his aunt was going to kiss him, but what she actually did wasn’t much better:

     Julia inhaled a deep breath through her nose, then slowly let it escape through her pursed lips, blowing gently across the wash cloth.

     “ACK!” Tim squeaked as he was blown backwards a good inch and a half. “AUNT JULIA, STOP!”

     Julia’s intention may have been to blow a warm, gentle breeze of air upon her tiny nephew to dry him off, but to a 1-inch tall teenager, the giant woman’s breath was closer to that of a hurricane-force wind. Tim tried to stand up when the wind died down, but before he could fully recover, the giant woman inhaled again and blew him down once more. The cycle repeated two more times, each time Tim yelling for his aunt to stop as he was blown over by her sour breath. 

     “Alright, kiddo,” Julia finally said as she grabbed the corner of the washcloth, “go ahead and finish drying yourself off while I dry off my feet.”

     Before Tim could protest, Julia flipped up the corner of the washcloth on top of him, leaving her tiny nephew squirming in near darkness while she carefully set the bundle in her hands down on the vanity and grabbed a towel from the nearby towel rack to dry off her feet.

     Tim muttered muffled curses as he struggled to uncover himself and get out from under the washcloth, emerging a few moments later to see his giant aunt sitting on the toilet lid drying off her feet with a bath towel.

     “This day isn’t even halfway over!” Tim lamented with a frustrated sigh, reflecting on that morning’s events, “Could things honestly get any WORSE?!”

     Tim nearly choked on his words.

     “You know what?” he quickly rethought himself. “I shouldn’t have said that out loud, because they always can!”

     With her feet now thoroughly dried off, Julia stood up from the toilet and draped her towel over the towel rack again.

     “All dried off, kiddo?” Julia chuckled with a playful smile as she stepped over to the sink.

     “Y-Yes,” Tim stammered, shivering. “Now, could you p-please get me some clothes before I f-freeze to death?!”

     “But we’re not done yet, Timmy,” Julia rebutted. “First, we’ve gotta moisturize.

     “Now, where does your mom keep the lotion?” she pondered aloud, rummaging through the vanity drawers.

     “WHAT?!” Tim squeaked, shuddering as he pictured his aunt rubbing lotion over his naked body.

     “Ooh, a pumice stone!” Julia ejaculated, pulling a clear, plastic bag out from under the sink. “Ooh, and it’s got some foot cream with it.

     “Oh, this is perfect!” She exclaimed as she stood up, meticulously grabbing all four corners of Tim’s washcloth. “Come on, kiddo. We’re taking this into the living room.”

     “But Aunt Juli-AAA!”

     The giant woman promptly lifted the washcloth into the air, throwing Tim off his feet and onto his back, and hastily stomped back down the hallway into the living room. Meanwhile, Tim was a helpless prisoner in the makeshift bindle, unable to stand up as the washcloth jostled up and down with each of his aunt’s giant steps.

      Once she was in the living room, Julia unfurled the washcloth on the coffee table, then plopped her ass down on the couch.

     “Ah,” she sighed contently as her butt hit the cushion, “that’s better. Now, for a little pampering.”

     “Aunt Julia,” Tim squeaked, shivering as he tried to cover his shame, “can I PLEASE have some clothes?!”

     Julia, however, paid the tiny boy no attention, opening the plastic bag and pouring out the items onto the coffee table before tossing the empty bag aside. She quickly scooped up the pumice stone and placed her right foot in her lap; then, she began rubbing the stone across the ball of her foot.

     The pumice stone made audible, scraping sounds as it ground and shaved away the loose layers of callused skin from Julia’s foot. The whole nauseating scene made Tim gag; he grit his teeth and covered his ears, turning his back to the giant woman to shield himself and his stomach. For the next several minutes, Tim stood shivering in the middle of his washcloth, doing his best to ignore his giant aunt scraping the dead skin off her feet.

     “There, that’s better,” Julia sighed again once she’d finished running the stone over both her feet, setting it down on the couch next to her and turning her gaze to her tiny nephew. She chuckled and rolled her eyes at the sight of the tiny boy covering his ears with his hands and standing naked, shivering in the middle of the washcloth. Julia bit her lower lip and quietly set her feet on the carpet, then leaned forward over the table:

     “Hey, Tim!” she said forcefully.

     “YAAAA!” Tim screamed, nearly jumping out of his skin.

     Julia couldn’t hold back her laughter.

     “THAT WASN’T FUNNY, AUNT JULIA!” the tiny boy shouted.

     “Well, I had to get your attention,” his aunt giggled. “Besides, I’m just about ready for you.”

     “R-Ready for me to do what?!” Tim inquired snidely.

     “Oh, you’ll see,” Julia giggled playfully, visibly biting her tongue at him.

     Tim gulped nervously as Julia reached for the tube of foot cream and unscrewed the cap. After squirting a sizable dollop into her hand, she nimbly screwed the cap back on and set the bottle back down next to her. Then, she plopped her right foot back into her lap and began the cream all over her sole.

     “Ugh!” Tim exclaimed with disgust, the sickening slurps from his aunt slathering the lotion all over her foot making him visibly nauseous.

     Once Julia’s right foot was well-covered in cream, she placed it on the coffee table with her sole facing the tiny boy.

     “Ew!” Tim exclaimed softly as the giant woman wiggled the toes of her right foot, showing off their healthy glaze of cream. “Aren’t you gonna rub that in?!”

     Julia didn’t answer him, and merely moved on to her left foot, leaving the tiny boy to scowl and wonder why she was applying so much cream to her feet, and why wasn’t rubbing it all in.

     Unfortunately, Tim soon got his answer.

     With both feet now well coated in cream, Julia scooted forward on her cushion and, without giving her tiny nephew any warning, carefully pulled the coffee table towards her until it was butting up against the couch.

     Tim stumbled, struggling to steady himself as the ground beneath him suddenly lurched forward; surprisingly, he able to keep his balance and stay on his feet.

     “HEY!” he shouted in protest. “AUNT JULIA, How about a little WARNING next time?!”

     Once again, Julia ignored the tiny boy, placing her legs and feet on the coffee table, her souls parted in a V-shape.

     “OK, little guy,” the giant woman said in a sickeningly sweet voice, “I’m ready for you.”

     “Wh-What do ya mean: ‘r-ready for me’?” Tim stammered. “A-Aunt Julia, I-I don’t know what you’re planning, but just leave me out of it!”

     “Now, now, Tiny Tim,” Julia scolded him gently, shaking her finger at him, “remember our agreement: you wouldn’t want me to have to punish you again, would you?”

     “STOP CALLING ME, TINY TIM!” the tiny boy squeaked adamantly, stamping his tiny foot. “AND IF YOU THINK I’M GOING ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR FEET AGAIN, YOU CAN JUST FORGET IT!”

     Julia promptly reached forward and grabbed the tiny body by one of his leg, snatching him off the table and bringing him towards her.

     “HEY! PUT ME DOWN!” Tim screamed as he suddenly found himself dangling upside down in front of his aunt’s giant face. “AUNT JULIA, STOP!”

     “Look, little boy,” Julia said forcefully, poking him in the stomach, “I already told you once before: as long as I’m here, I’m in charge, and unless you fix that little attitude of yours, things are going to get VERY uncomfortable for you. Now, I’m giving you the chance to cooperate and prove that you can behave yourself, but if you want to make things difficult, that’s on you! So, what’s it going to be: we can do things the easy way, or the hard way?”

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim shouted as he dangled upside down. “LET ME GO!”

     “OK, Timmy,” Julie shrugged, chortling as she moved her hand forward until the tiny boy was dangling directly over her open feet. “Whatever you say.”

     “NO, WAIT!” Tim screamed. “NOT THERE! AAAAAA…!”

     Julia casually opened her fingers and dropped Tim in between her soles, gently closing her feet and trapping the tiny boy inside.

     “Amnt Jlmnrm, lrt mrm urt umf hrm!” Tim shouted in muffled screams, but the giant woman paid them no heed as she began rubbing her soles together.

     Tim’s screams intensified as he was once again rolled about haphazardly between his aunt’s giant soles, only this time, he was getting completely covered with foot cream as he was forcibly dragged back and forth across the folds of her wrinkled flesh. The torturous process continued for at least a minute, and Tim was finding it difficult to even inhale the tiniest gasp of air without his mouth filling up with oily cream.

     All the while, Julia grinned and hummed to herself, taking joy in feeling the tiny boy squirm and struggle as she rolled him in between her soles, just barely able to hear his tiny, muffled screams intensify each time she rubbed her feet back-and-forth.

     At one point, she pressed her soles together somewhat tightly, taking a moment to rub in the excess cream on the outside of her closed feet. She knew the act would only make Tim squirm even more frantically, but she just couldn’t help enjoying herself. It was only when she felt Tim’s squirms weakening that she finally opened her feet and allowed him a reprieve.

     “Well now, Tiny Tim,” she inquired, gazing down apathetically at the tiny boy cradled between her soles as he writhed in pain and struggled to catch his breath, “are you ready to behave?”

     “Aunt Julia, please…” Tim strained to speak.

     “That’s not a ‘Yes’, ” Julia chided him offhandedly as she slowly pressed her soles back together.

     “WAImmpf!” Tim tried to squeak as the giant feet closed around him again.

     Julia rubbed her soles together for another 30 seconds before allowing Tim another chance at redemption.

     “Now,” Julia repeated, opening her feet once more, “let’s try this again. Are you going to behave yourself and do everything your auntie tells you?”

     “Yes!” Tim nodded frantically as he scrambled to his feet. “Yes, I swear, just please, get me OUT OF HERE!”

     “Uh-uhn, not so fast,” his aunt continued, wagging her index finger, “first, I think we need to go over our little agreement one more time: now, do you promise to be cooperative and open to do whatever I ask of you?”

     “Yes, yes, I promise,” Tim replied as he began climbing the wrinkles of his aunt’s soles.

     “…And do you promise not to tell your mother that I’ve been ‘torturing you’ anymore,” Julia emphasized in air quotes, “and that we’ve both been agreeable and nice to each other?”

     Tim paused his ascent, cringing as he realized he honestly had no good choices.

     “Yes, I promise,” Tim sighed dejectedly.

     “Hmmmm,” Julia uttered, pretending to be lost in thought, “you know, I think you hesitated a little bit too much on that last one.

     “I think I might just need a leeeetle more foot cream,” she said, snatching up the tube of cream resting beside her.

     “Oh no!” Tim exclaimed, scrambling to climb faster. “Aunt Julia, pleeease!”

     It was no use. Julia had already and unscrewed the cap, holding the open nozzle directly over the tiny boy as she began squeezing…

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim screamed, holding up his hand defensively. “NOOOO—glblb!”

      A huge dollop of cream squirted out of the tube, smacking the tiny boy in the face and knocking him back down into the fleshy canyon. In an instant, Julia had once again slammed her feet closed and started rolling him back and forth between her soles again. This time, however, she would intermittently grasp his tiny frame with the toes of one foot, and plaster him across the sole of her opposite foot, switching back and forth several times. All poor Tim could do was keep his eyes and mouth closed, and pray the nightmare would soon be over. 

     “Ah, there now,” Julia sighed contentedly, giggling playfully, “my feet are all clean and moisturized…and so are you, Timmy.”

     She smiled pridefully as she moved her scrunched, left foot—which currently contained her tiny nephew—into her lap, staring down at him with reserved haughtiness.

     “Well now, I think we’ve finally come to an amicable agreement, don’t you, Tiny Tim?”

     Tim, unfortunately, couldn’t answer: he was still squirming frantically, his head and upper torso stuck between the creamy crevices of his aunt’s toes. Thankfully, the giant woman was done having her fun and took pity on him, moving her foot over the coffee table and un-scrunching her toes. After a slight bit of jostling and wiggling, Julia gently deposited her tiny nephew in the middle of the washcloth.

     Tim lay prone on his hands and knees, gasping for air as he recovered from the ordeal.

     “Go ahead and rub in the rest of that cream,” Julia said politely, reaching for the Kleenex box and setting it in her lap. “I’ll get you something to wear.”

     Julia tore off a piece of tissue and placed it on the coffee table just beside the washcloth, while Tim, not wanting to feel the wrath of his aunt’s giant feet again, heart-fully obeyed her instructions, rubbing in the rest of the foot cream. He hated to admit it, but the cream DID make his skin feel nice and smooth, and actually made him contemplate putting lotion on after all of future showers….once he grew back to normal, that is.

     Tim hastily wrapped the torn piece of tissue around his shivering body, making himself another makeshift toga, then looked up meekly at his giant aunt, anxiously awaiting what other torturous activity she might have in mind.

     “So,” Julia spoke up once Tim was done dressing, “How about a little TV while I make us some lunch?”

—————————————————————————————————————

     Much to Tim’s relief, the rest of that afternoon was pretty uneventful: Julia made herself a sandwich for lunch, welcoming Tim to eat whatever scraps he wanted off her plate. Both of them were surprised that, for a tiny guy, Tim actually had a healthy appetite. After that, the two spent the remaining time watching TV: Tim sitting on the folded cushion of tissue his aunt had made him earlier, while Julia lounged on the couch, her feet kicked up and resting on one of the cushions, a position that Tim greatly appreciated, considering she could’ve placed them on the coffee table instead.

     When he wasn’t being tortured to death, Tim was surprised how fast the time flew by, and was slightly annoyed, wondering why it couldn’t have moved faster while Aunt Julia was prodding him with her feet; in fact, it felt like no time had passed at all when Julia received a call from Natalie saying that she was on her way home:

     “Hey sis, what’s up?” Julia said as she picked up her phone, “…Oh, you’re on your way home, finally? Good!…No, it’s been a pretty uneventful day around here, isn’t that right, Tim?”

     Julia winked playfully and crinkled her nose at him. Tim, however, shot back a disgruntled look, forgetting himself for a split second before quickly wiping the look off his face and lowering his head. Thankfully, his aunt didn’t see it.

     “…Oh, yeah, it’s been a good day,” Julia continued, “we’ve both eaten and gotten cleaned up, and now, we’re just relaxing in the living room, watching some TV…OK, we’ll see you in a little bit…alright, bye.

     “Alright, your mom’s on her way home, little guy,” Julia said as she hung up the phone and shifted her body to get up from the couch. “Time to get things cleaned up.”

     Tim became a little apprehensive as his giant aunt picked up the plate and carried the remnants of their lunch back into the kitchen. He kept wondering each time Julia walked by and tidied something up if she might grab him and put him through some kind of rigorous torture again; thankfully, Julia pretty much left him alone, leaving Tim free to watch the rest of the movie.

     “Hi guys, I’m home,” Natalie called out as she opened and walked through the front door.

     “Hey sis,” Julia replied, stepping back into the living room. “How was your day?”

     “Exhausting,” Natalie sighed as she entered the living room and set her purse on the floor at the edge of the foyer. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of work I had to do today, on top of analyzing that shrinking formula Tim drank…

     “Speaking of which, where is Tim?” she asked, looking around the room anxiously. 

     “He’s right there, on the coffee table,” Julia pointing. “I let them watch some TV while I cleaned up in the kitchen.

     “Thank goodness,” Natalie sighed again, this time with relief as she stepped over and knelt down in front of the coffee table to check on her son. “Hey, sweetheart, how’re you feeling?”

     “Hey, mom,” Tim squeaked anxiously, looking up into his mother’s worried face, trying to come up with a response that wouldn’t incur the wrath of his hovering aunt. “I’m…OK…you know, considering…”

     “I know, hon,” Natalie said sympathetically. “I can’t imagine how hard this is for you, but I promise I’m working as hard as I can to find a cure for you.

     “I, uh, take it there weren’t anymore incidents today,” Natalie continued, raising her head and directing a suspicious gaze towards her sister.

     “No,” Julia replied, shaking her head rather cooly, “everything was fine. In fact, Tim and I had a little talk after you left this morning and we worked a few things out, so everything’s good. Isn’t that right, Tim?”

     Tim shivered; he could feel his aunt’s glare cutting through him, chilling him to his core.

     “Y-Yeah,” Tim replied apprehensively, “e-everything’s fine.”

     “Good,” Natalie said, standing back up, “I’m glad. It’s good to not have to worry about you two…

     “… Now I just have to worry about…getting these shoes off,” she added, struggling to balance herself while she removed her flats. “God, my feet are KILLING me!”

     Natalie stepped over and dropped her shoes next to her purse, then made her way back to the couch, plopping her ass down on the nearest cushion.

     “Ah, that’s better,” Natalie sighed contently as she made herself comfortable, kicking her bare feet up onto the coffee table.

     “ACK!” Tim yelped as he was knocked off his feet from the impact of his mother’s heels with the table. “TAKE IT EASY, MOM!”

     “Rough day?” Julia asked, heading over to sit down beside her sister.

     “You can say that again,” Natalie sighed. “Not only did I have all my normal work to do, I had EXTRA work from all the samples I brought back, PLUS all the work I missed while I was gone, PLUS the work I had to put in getting that formula analyzed…! And if that wasn’t bad enough, I’m supposed to give the board a presentation tomorrow about my trip and all the samples I brought back, not to mention a research outline on how I plan to move forward over the next couple of months…!”

     Natalie sighed heavily, tilting her head back and putting one hand over her brow.

     “At the very least,” she continued, “I’ve got most of the preliminary analysis done on that formula, and anything I have left to do I can sneak into the work my lab techs are doing without anyone asking too many questions; unfortunately, I’m still gonna have a ton of paperwork to analyze tomorrow, and I’m probably gonna have to bring it home with me…!

     “God, Jules,” Natalie said in a softer, more somber tone, “I really hope I can deconstruct this formula and figure out what’s in it, not to mention finding a cure…”

     “Sis, don’t worry,” Julia said comfortingly, placing one hand on her sister’s shoulder. “You’re intelligent. I’m sure you’ll figure this out. Look, it’s only been a couple of days, and we still don’t even know if this stuff’ll just wear off or not. So….things have been a little hectic at work; no one said you were on a deadline. I mean, sure, you wanna get Tim back to normal as soon as possible, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you don’t get things all figured out by the end of the week…it’s not like Tim’s GOING anywhere. He’ll just have to be small a little longer.”

     “Longer?!” Tim squeaked apprehensively to himself, gulping nervously.

     “Bottom line,” Julia continued, “you just take the all time you need to analyze that formula and find a cure. In the meantime, I’ll take of Tim until his father gets back in town, so don’t worry. Everything’ll work out.”

     “Let’s hope so,” Natalie replied, eyeing her son standing just past her feet on the coffee table, his hands clasped in front of him. “For Tim’s sake…

     “…Anyway, thanks, Jules,” Natalie said gratefully, giving her sister an appreciative rub on the thigh. “I’m so glad I have you.”

     “Hey,” Julia chortled, “what’re little sisters for?”

     After a couple moments of silence, Julia picked up her phone and checked the time.

     “Whelp,” Julia sighed, moving to get up from the sofa, “I’d better get home. I’ve still got some things to do before the day is out.”

     “OK, Jules. See you tomorrow.”

     “Yeah,” Julia began, “Oh, Nat, would it be okay if I brought over some of my laundry tomorrow? I’ve got a lot of other stuff to do tonight, and it would really help if I could just do it here.”

     “Sure, I don’t mind,” Natalie replied, “but as long as you’re at it, would you mind doing some of my and Tim’s laundry, too? I, um, really didn’t have a chance to do it this past weekend…you know, with everything that’s happened.”

     “Not at all, sis.” Julia replied cooly, “I don’t mind. In fact, why don’t I just make a day out of it? You gather up everything that you want washed tonight, I’ll bring over all my laundry in the morning, and I’ll just get everything done while I’m watching Tim tomorrow.”

     “Oh, Jules, would you?!” Natalie asked, pleasantly surprised. “That would be so great!”

     “Of course,” Julia confirmed happily. “Well, I’d better get home. I wanna get all my laundry bundled up and set out tonight so I don’t forget anything in the morning.”

     “OK,” Natalie acknowledged, getting up from the couch. “Thank you so much, sis…for everything you’ve done for me this week!”

     “It’s my pleasure,” Julia said, gathering up her things in her tote bag. “What time do you want me over in the morning. Same time?”

     “Yeah, 7 o’clock should be fine,” Natalie confirmed. “I’ll probably still be rushing around getting dressed up for my presentation, but I’ll make sure to leave the front door unlocked for ya. Just come on in when you get here.”

     “OK, sounds good,” Julia said, tossing her bag over her shoulder and slipping on her flip-flops. “See you tomorrow, Nat.”

     “OK,” Natalie said, escorting her sister to the front door.

     “Bye, Tim,” Julia said gleefully with a huge smile on her face, waving her fingers and blowing her nephew a tiny kiss. “See you in the morning.”

     Tim gulped again as he watched the two giant women head out the front door. He desperately wanted to tell his mother about all the torment his aunt had put him through that day, but he also didn’t want to have to relive it, either. If he said anything, Aunt Julia would put him through the ringer. All he could do was cross his fingers and pray the next day wouldn’t be any worse.

     Most of all, Tim just hoped his mother could synthesize an antidote as soon as possible…before he ended up as a dark, red stain on the bottom of Aunt Julia’s foot.