“It’s a beautiful thought, Rochelle, but what if you accidentally swallowed me in your sleep?”

“I don’t think it’s likely, and I’ll try not to, but I’d be very grateful if you’d be willing to take the risk.”

“I’ll do it,” said Dougal, strangely aroused at the thought of living dangerously, for the sake of such long and frequent contact with her giant beautiful tongue, and at none of the cost faced by anyone captured by Mrs Long.

“I think we should start tonight then,” said Rochelle, lying comfortably beside him on the pillow, “Slide yourself in then, tiny Dougal.”

She pushed her tongue to the edge of the inside of her lip, forming a safe bridge over her teeth, and felt the little friend sliding over the moist soft pink bridge and into her mouth.

“Some little boys will have fun explaining why they’ve been out all night,” she thought, little knowing that they’d already made convincing ‘arrangements’ to convince their parents that it was OK to stay over with ‘friends.’

She slept better than he did that night. Small movements of tossing and turning for her, which didn’t even fully awaken her, had him sliding around in her mouth, sometimes grabbing hold of a tooth to steady himself, if he got too near to the back of her mouth. It gave him a sense of adventure. He had every intention of repeating the process as often as she wanted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From his place of concealment, Willy had watched Mrs Long’s mouth going to work on Tinker.

“Did you enjoy the preview Willy?” she asked suddenly, “I saw you when you first fell out of Jenny’s dress, “What a pity it’s going to be for you, that SHE didn’t see you.”

She saw the completely startled boy climb into view.

“I guess so,” he said.

“It won’t be tonight. You little boys are a rare catch. I like to pace my pleasures. I’ll keep you safe here until school lunch time tomorrow. Then I think I’ll be able to find a private place to treat myself to a nutritious lunch. Do you think you are nutritious, Willy? Have you been eating healthy foods?”

“I try to,” he said.

“I’m pleased to hear it. I think all tiny boys should eat a balanced diet, to make sure they keep their little bodies in the best of health. They never know when they might be eaten themselves, do they?”

“I’ve had to consider the possibility, each time I’ve come back to this school,” he said.

She picked him up in finger and thumb and licked all of the pineapple juice from his body and then put him on the desk’s smooth surface.

“Tell me honestly, Willy. I’m curious. Do you find me as beautiful as young Jenny?”

“Maybe. I mean, you are very beautiful, but I’m in love with Jenny.

“Thank you. It’s just something I’d like to have in my mind at lunchtime tomorrow. Now where am I going to keep you? I won’t ask how you got out of that tree before.”

She looked around the classroom, and decided to put him in her water cooler. It was only used by teachers, as the students were expected to buy their own. She put a jug under the tap, turned on the tap and emptied most of the water out. There was just enough there for him to stand in. Then she took a small inflatable toy whale from the cupboard, placed it in the water, and said, “It’s just a little longer and wider than you. Use it for a mattress when you want to sleep, and drink water if you need it. I’ll get you out after morning class, and work up to absorbing all your carbohydrates into my own body.”

Mrs Long was about to lift him off the desk and place him in the cooler and put the lid back on. It was not transparent like the ones on his earth, which meant that he would be in darkness even in the daytime. She lowered him gently into the water cooler, onto the toy whale mattress, and put the lid back on. He slept the night in expectation of surrendering his nutritious components to her lunch. In the morning, he swam in the water, while she was teaching, and then morning tea break started.

Suddenly there was a gushing swirling effect, and he found himself drawn into the tap, and down into a cup. He was looking up at a teenage girl.

“What are you doing in there? How did you get so small?” asked the girl.

“I’m from a parallel universe, where we’re all small. Mrs Long put me in there until lunchtime. Then she’s going to eat me.”

“I was just getting some of her water. We’re not supposed to. You won’t tell her, will you?”

“Are you kidding? I’m glad you did. Can you get me away from here?”

She took him from the cup, drank the water quickly, and started walking out of the classroom with him. Then she heard footsteps in the corridor. Someone was coming back to the classroom. Quickly the girl ran back into the classroom, scrunched up the cup and hid it under her desk. She put him out the window gently, until he could jump to the grass, and he started across the lawn, as soon as the girls were all back inside. He was a long way from the tube. It would take a while to reach it.

Classes resumed, and Mrs Long set the girls some exercises to do, and began walking around the room supervising their work.

Then her eye fell upon the cup under the girl’s seat.

“Did you steal water from the cooler?” asked Mrs Long.

“Yes,” said the girl.

“Tell me how long ago, quickly, or you’ll be reported to the headmistress.”

“Just before morning tea ended,” said the girl.

“Well if it happens again, I’ll punish the girl concerned myself. Now you can all go on with the exercise. As for you, I want to see you outside now.”

The water thief went outside, while Mrs Long lifted the lid and looked in the water cooler. She went out to the corridor.

“What did you do with the boy?”

The girl had no choice but to tell, lest she be punished for her theft.

“Go back inside, and don’t tell the other girls about this,” said Mrs Long.

Willy was most of the way across a stretch of lawn, when he heard Mrs Long walking briskly along the path. He turned and saw her, and ran for the garden. She started running as well. He jumped into the garden, forward rolled and looked back as she came racing towards him.

Mrs Long tried to grab him, but he eluded her. She stood up again and walked around quickly, looking for a way in to get at him. He ran, ducking and weaving and soon heard her crawling through another part of the garden bed, headed in his direction. He was at least two more stretches of lawn and flowerbeds away from the trans-dimensional tube. He’d never make it while she was around.

“You’ve really had a charmed series of visits to this world so far, haven’t you?” she called.

This was the hunt, which had defined these two since they had first met. Here he was running for his life from a beautiful teacher who had already eaten at least two boys. She could have had a pleasant life anyway, but she would relentlessly pursue him. She’d even walked out of her own classes to do it, he correctly surmised.

Mrs Long looked ahead, and saw heavy growth blocking her way. She realised that the tube had been much easier to find and much easier to get to, when she had been the same size as Willy. She searched throughout the garden, even into the lunch break. Girls came out and would see her emerge from the garden eventually. She would tell them some excuse like having dropped something. She was the one in authority anyway. She drew near the wall of one of the buildings, and saw that a small crack had formed in one of the walls. Willy was squeezed into it. Her fingers would never fit. She stopped right in front of him, peeking in at him, but unable to get at him.