Rosa Pequino sighed as she walked down the long hallways of the laboratory, she longed to be home with her kids right now, to hug her son again.  Instead she has to be in this lab getting all of the years of research that she and her teammates have accumulated over the years of study.  She sighed as she walked into a small office, he ran her fingers through her dark hair, as she sat down in the large, black, leather, office chair. Her brown eyes looked down at the large wooden desk in front of her.

                Sitting on the desk was a large calendar mat, a cup full of assorted pens and pencils. Beside that, sat two pictures, one of her, and her kids while her son was still normal sized. The other, was of her and her husband when they were kids. She sighed as she felt a tear slide down her cheek,  she had wished she could tell their children what really happened to their father, but she feared that if she did, they would never speak to her again.

 Her mind began to wander back to when her husband first started shrinking, unlike most men he had started shrinking at the age of 20. So she had a few years with him at normal size, however the downside was when he shrank he shrank down to near microscopic size. It was after this that she devoted herself to becoming a geneticist especially after she gave birth to her son.  

 Rosa continue to stare at the picture of her husband, she could remember the day this was taken it was not long after she found out she was pregnant with Gabriel. They were so happy then, she could still see the two of them laughing at each other and kissing just before the picture was taken.

 “Soon we’ll be together again Robert, soon,” she said.

 Her thoughts were interrupted by the knocking on the door, she looked up to see a woman dressed in a black three piece suit. Her hair was as black as the night sky, her eyes were so brown they almost looked black themselves, her skin was tanned her lips were covered in a thick read lipstick.

 “Miss Pequino, you’re wanted for more questioning before the board,” she said in a monotone voice.

 “Okay Mara,” said Rosa.

 Rosa got out of her chair, and followed the lawyer through the building until they came to a large meeting room. Rosa walked into the room, there was a large long table surrounded by a bunch of soft cushiony office chairs. In most of the chairs were several women, all dressed in three piece suits and on the table top were several men as well.

 Rosa smiled to the board of directors and pulled out a chair, after inspecting to make sure that there wasn’t someone else sitting in it, she sat down.

 “As you know Miss Pequino, this facility is devoted to the development and treatment of the disease that is causing the men of the world to reduce in stature,” said one of the women.

 “Yes, Ma’am,” replied Rosa.

 “Now, according to your research papers you believe your therapy is ready for human trials, is this correct?” asked one of the women.

 “Yes ma’am, our research has shown very promising results in the preliminary rounds and we believe that we’re finally ready for human testing,” said Rosa.

 “However, it says here that you haven’t fully tested the side effects of your therapy on a male’s body,”

 “Yes, we won’t be able to know the full effects of the gene therapy until we’ve actually been able to test it on a human male,” said Rosa.

 “Do you believe that if we take this research without you having preformed the gene therapy on a human being that they would still rule in favor of the therapy?”

 “No, I think it’s important that we show that the gene therapy actually works, if we do it should help put things in our favor to win the judge’s ruling,” said Rosa.

 “Then we have a problem, because this board has decided not to allow clinical trials until we have a better understanding as to what the gene therapy will do to the male’s body,”

 “It’ll cause them to grow, and as I said we won’t know the full side-effects until we’ve preformed clinical trials. Please you can’t do this, we’re so close to curing the male population,” said Rosa.

 “Mrs. Pequino we’re well aware of your attachment to this project, but you must not allow your personal feelings to get in the way of your scientific reasoning. We all have loved ones who have succumbed to the shrinking, but we must not allow our personal lives to interfere with our professional lives. Therefore I think it maybe in the best interest of the company that you stand down from Project Re-Growth for a couple days. We will continue to update you on the progress made, and we will call you back to work before the court hearings begin,”

 “So that’s it, I’m getting thrown off the project just because I’m more emotionally attached to the project than everyone else here?” said Rosa.

 “If that’s the way you want to look at it Rosa, you were warned before you began the project,”

 Rosa could feel the tears swelling in her eyes, all that time and effort all the long hours she put into the project, all the time she spent away from her kids. It was all being washed down the drain by these bitches in office chairs that were only interested in the project in the first place because they saw it as, a money making endeavor.

 “Very well, if that is the board’s decision then I have no choice, but to comply,” said Rosa after several minutes of silence.

 “We are sorry Mrs. Pequino, we will however allow you to continue your work from your personal computer at home if you so desire too,”

 Rosa gave the board a nod, but said nothing else as she walked out of the room, and into the locker room and threw her lab coat into the one that she used. She then collapsed onto a nearby wooden stool and began to cry her eyes out.  As she did, a locket that her husband had given her before he started shrinking fell from between her breasts and hung precariously from her neck.

 ‘Well, I may as well go home, wonder what George will think seeing me home so early,’ she thought with a bitter-sweet smile.

 She then stood up, and replaced the locket beneath her shirt as she did, she decided to stop at her lab to tell her colleges what had transpired in the board room. After which she walked out of the facility and drove home.

 She smiled as she pulled the car into the driveway, it had been so long since she’d been able to spend any real amount of time with her kids, maybe this punishment was more of a blessing in disguise. She got out of the car, and walked into the kitchen of her house.  Nineteen years of instinct immediately kicked in as she started scanning the floors for her diminutive son.

 “Gabriel, I’m home!” she said in a slightly raised voice knowing that her son’s hearing was more sensitive than hers, or her daughter’s.

 She then walked over to the kitchen table were a small piece of paper sat, she picked it up, then began to laugh when she read what the note said.

 “Mom, took Gabe to school with me, please don’t be mad, he’s been cooped up in the house for so long, I thought it would do him good to get out for a while, I promise I won’t let him out of my sight.

 Love

 Emily.”

 Rosa smiled as she sat down in one of the kitchen table chairs, it wasn’t keeping an eye on Gabriel that she was worried about it, was his libido. She just sighed and shook her head knowing that her daughter had her big brother’s interests at heart and knew that she would never let anything bad happen to him, so she decided to give the house a long overdue cleaning session.

 ‘Emily tries, but she just doesn’t do it quiet the way I like it,’ thought Rosa smiling as she got to work.