The ground shook, thunder echoed through the air, or at least it did to Gabriel Pequeno, the Latino-American boy sighed as he was awoken by the “ruckus” of his teenage sister going through her early morning exercises. This usually included waking up her older brother at six in the morning, she called this payback, for when they were younger and he used to drench her with water to get her to wake up. He missed those days, when they were both on even footing sort-of-speak.

                It was the year 2,300 and as always happens life evolved, well the once strong and powerful male sex of the species known as homosapien, evolved to a much weaker state.  Through many genetic mutations the male humans of the world instead of growing up, shrink down.  The mutation doesn’t start until puberty hits, so they grow up essentially normal until they hit the age of thirteen.

Then the mutation starts to slowly take effect, they lose a couple centimeters, then at age 14 it picks up and they start to lose an inch. By the age of sixteen they’re usually half the height they were at age thirteen. Then by age eighteen they’ve usually finished shrinking down the average male height is now three to four inches, there are rumors of some that have even gotten as small as one quarter of an inch in height.

After many years of debate about the status of the males in the end it was decided that new laws would have to be made to protect the now weaker sex.  Girls are now taught in junior high school how to treat and handle the shrinking process and to start watching out for the little men on the ground.  Fathers and older sons are usually kept out of reach of their younger daughters and siblings until they finished their first year of junior high school. They still talk, and try to live as normally as possible, and the daughters do get to see their older siblings and fathers, but they’re not allowed to handle them.

The laws of the new world state that no underage girls are to come into physical contact with any man.  They are to be treated the same as if they were still of equal size of the women, though this law isn’t enforced as harshly as the rest.  Men are to stay off the ground as long as there are young children within the vicinity. Special sleeping, and living quarters must be made when the male starts shrinking so that when they reach their final height they can be kept safe.  The men are not to be treated as objects, for sale, trade, or give away.  Specially made microphones and ear pieces are to be given out freely upon the birth of a male to any family, so that the smaller members can still be heard by the larger members of the family.  Intentionally killing a man is to be treated the same as if a woman killed another woman, or a still normal sized male.

Reproduction of the human race has also been changed dramatically, as one can imagine. Sperm cells are now harvested from the males at the age of sixteen. Artificial insemination is now a common practice, making S.T.D’s no longer something to be feared from either sex; as such, H.I.V., and other such diseases have long since died out.  Pregnant women are asked to be more careful when they’re walking out doors as they run a higher risk of possibly squashing a man.

 In recent years genetic research has been directed towards re-growing the male population sort-of- speak.  This has brought a large controversy among the women, some are all for it while others are against the idea stating that it was because of the male population in the past that wars were created. While others do not believe that genetic testing is very ethical and should not be allowed as they’re tampering with the natural evolution of life.

Because of all this controversy the best solution to settle the debate would be to take it to court. Now the world awaits the fate of what’s going to happen to the men of the world, as to whether or not they’ll be returned to normal size, or if they’ll stay the size that they are for the rest of eternity.

                This story will now follow the life of the family of a single mother and her two children; the mother is one of the geneticists working on the re-growth project. Her children are ages eighteen and twenty-one. The daughter lives at home and helps take care of her diminutive brother while their mother is at work.  The Mother’s name is Rosa Pequeno, the daughter’s name is Emily Pequeno, the son’s name is of course Gabriel Pequeno.