Andy felt Kimberly's scorn all day Tuesday. She didn't look at him, didn't say a word to him, hardly even acknowledged him except when he asked for food or water. Even her movements, so accommodating and considerate of his size just yesterday, were now quick and abrupt. Normal speed to her, but borderline frightening to him, as he had to dodge her feet several times. He learned to give the giant girl her space. He kept to himself most of the afternoon.

When nature called, he went to the bathroom. The bathroom light was on and he found Kimberly in there, applying makeup to her face.

"I have to pee," he announced.

"I don't mind," she said coldly, not looking away from the bathroom mirror. Andy climbed onto the toilet lid. With his back to her, he drew his little pants and boxer briefs down and let loose a thin stream of urine into the toilet bowl.

Maybe it was a good thing that she hated him now, Andy thought. Killing the possibility of a romantic tryst now would prevent a lot of heartache later. She could move on from her schoolgirl crush and focus on fostering relationships with boys her age, and he could put her back in the realm of fantasy where she belonged.

He flushed the toilet and then climbed on top of the water tank. He ran and jumped the 2-foot gap to the edge of the sink. Kimberly hardly paused to register his new position.

"What's with the eyeliner and the lipstick? I thought you had the night off," he said.

"That's right."

"So what are you getting dolled up for?"

"If you must know, Mr. Speed, I have a date."

He hated how she said "Mr. Speed." She used to say it respectfully. Only recently had he heard her whisper it affectionately. Now it dripped with scorn.

"A date," he echoed. Could she move on from relationship drama that quickly? he wondered. It seemed unlikely, given her inexperience. Probably she was taking revenge against him.

"With who?" he asked.

She looked down at him. "Why? Are you jealous?"

"I'm not jealous, Kim. I'm trying to protect you."

She chuckled and turned back to the bathroom mirror. "You protect ME? That's hilarious."

"Who is he, Kim?"

"A friend of yours, if you must know."

The color drained from Andy's face. "Not Paul."

She organized her makeup kit and held it loosely in her left hand. "Why not?"

"Because he's a creep, Kim. He's almost as old as me."

"So? You're not too old to be attracted to me."

She had him there. Andy tried a different tack. "He doesn't care about you, Kim. He—"

"Oh, and you do? That's what makes you different?"

"Forget about me! Paul's a womanizer. He has a new girl every other month. He doesn't want to get to know you. All he wants is to get in your pants."

"Well at least he knows what he wants!"

She left the bathroom in a huff. Andy gave chase. He jumped on the toilet paper roll and hung onto the bath tissue as it unrolled to the floor.

He ran to the hallway and pounded on the door to her room. "Kim, we're not done talking!"

"Yes we are," her voice came from the other side.

Andy sighed and slumped against the wall. Brooke wasn't this headstrong. Then again, he'd always been bigger than her.

Andy waited outside Kimberly's room for what felt like hours. He was dozing when Alecia got home and plodded up the stairs with her briefcase. She stopped when she saw him. "Hey, what's going on?"

Andy stirred awake. "Uh, nothing. Just resting."

"In the hallway? Not the safest place to catch some Zs, Andy," she said disapprovingly.

"I was waiting for Kimberly to come out of her room," he said lamely, standing up.

Alecia knocked on the door. "Kimberly."

"Just a minute," the teen called from within.

A moment later she opened the door, stunning Andy and Alecia with a shimmery, blue-gray dress. The dress complemented all her winning features. The thin straps highlighted her graceful neck, broad shoulders, and long, willowy arms. The matching belt showed off her large, perky breasts and slim waist. The short hemline ended above the knee, featuring her fantastic legs and just a hint of her muscled thighs. Even the color worked well with her natural, sun-kissed tan. She wore matching shoes with a decorative floral pattern and modest 2-inch heels, bringing her total height to 5 feet, 10 inches.

In short, she was a vision.

"Don't you look pretty!" Alecia said. "Do you have a date?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"A boy from school?"

Kimberly glanced at Andy, standing far below them. "Yes."

"Oh, that's wonderful." Alecia glanced at Andy. "He was waiting in the hallway to ask you something. What was it, Andy?"

He scratched his head. "I, uh, don't remember."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I think his brain is getting smaller, too."

Kimberly snickered. "Actually, Mrs. Speed, his brain IS getting smaller."

"I can hear everything you're saying!" Andy called up from below.

Kimberly ignored him. "I should get going. I don't want to be late."

"Are you driving yourself?" Alicia asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Oh, good. Well, good luck. Don't break his heart. Andy, I'm going to start dinner in a few minutes."

"Okay," Andy said. He watched his enormous wife step past him and walk into their bedroom. He heard Kimberly pound down the stairs behind him. He ran after her and caught up to her at the front door.

"Kim, Paul's going to take one look at you in that dress and he's going to think you want to sleep with him."

"You're crazy. Not every man thinks like that."

"I've known Paul for years, Kim. I've heard him talk about you. Trust me on this. He's going to think you want to sleep with him."

"He's not necessarily wrong."

"Kim, don't go!" But she didn't hear him as she shut the door in his face. Her heels clacked as she followed the walkway to her car. In the driver seat, she paused to consider Andy's warnings. She had absolutely no intention of losing her virginity tonight. What if Paul thought differently? What if he became pushy?

I won't let it get that far, she thought. She put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.

It all went back to Kimberly's parents' kicking her out of the house. Andy knew you shouldn't push your daughter away when she made a mistake. It increases the odds she'll make another mistake, which was proving true tonight.

When Kimberly moved in, Andy's intent was to provide a sturdy, fatherly presence through this trying time. He had no idea then how much his lust could undermine that goal. He saw in Kimberly's date with Paul the culmination of his failure, which was why he was desperate to make sure she wasn't hurt. It wasn't that Paul was a bad guy. Just that young, inexperienced women weren't themselves when showered with affection by experienced men.

Andy swallowed drily. He knew that firsthand.

He ran back up the stairs and went into Kimberly's room. He climbed the bedsheets and looked around the room, looking for anything that might point him to Kimberly's whereabouts. She kept a clean room, a lot cleaner than Brooke's, so there wasn't much to go on. If it had been Brooke, he could have called the cell phone company and have them give him her location to within a hundred feet. But he couldn't do that with Kimberly, who was on her parents' cell plan.

As Andy settled down, all the reasons why he couldn't protect Kimberly entered his mind. It was a job for her father, not him. His motives might be impure. Kimberly didn't trust him. She was a legal adult. He was smaller than a midget. His wife was overprotective of him. Et cetera.

Foremost, though: He couldn't protect her from his lust, so why did he think he could protect her from herself?

He sighed dispiritedly. Kimberly's scent wafted through his nostrils. These sheets probably hadn't been washed since she moved in. For a minute, he allowed himself to envy Paul. He must have been working on Kimberly for weeks, going to Twin Peaks at least every other day to butter the young woman up. It was kind of pathetic. But it had worked.

Andy wondered if Paul had the balls to ask her out while she was at work, or if he talked her into giving him her number so he could call her later. That's how he would have played it, in his younger days.

So if Kimberly gave Paul her number, he wouldn't have called last night, Andy reasoned. She didn't get off work until midnight, sometimes 1 am. He would have called her today, when she was here at the house. Late in the morning, maybe lunchtime, to give her enough time to sleep but also enough time to get ready for their date—if she said yes.

Andy knew Kimberly had spent most of the afternoon here in her room. He looked around the room again, imagining her by herself. A paperback was lying open on the bedside table. A Terry Pratchett novel. She had good taste. He pictured her lying on her back, reading the book, when her phone vibrated. She put the book down, sat up, answered the phone. It was Paul. He was asking her out. A man twice her age, asking her on a date! Her breath quickened. She twisted her hair nervously, light perspiration on her face and neck giving her flawless skin an enticing glow—

Focus, Andy.

Dinner where? she must have asked. What time? She would have written it down. An inexperienced girl wouldn't leave the details of a big date to fickle memory. She would need to look up directions if it was a place she'd never been to. Her phone, which she'd taken with her.

Andy jumped onto the bedside table. There was a pencil next to the book, but not a scrap of paper in sight. He sighed and kicked the book. It fell to the floor, and that's when he noticed the bookmark on the table. It was a library receipt, folded width-wise. The bottom of the receipt had been torn off.

Andy knew on that torn part of the library receipt Kimberly had written the directions to her date with Paul. He made out faint indentations on the thin paper. Like a carbon copy of a check.

He grabbed the pencil and the library receipt and jumped to the floor. He spread the receipt over the book cover and held the pencil, as long as he was from head to waist, presenting the broadest part of the pencil lead to the receipt. Holding the receipt still with his foot, he wiped the pencil back and forth on the paper.

After a minute, Andy paused to see what he could make out. He had etched over about 3 square inches of the receipt and revealed two faint markings, an "M" and a "7." Her date was at 7. The restaurant started with an M.

Andy continued to work with the pencil. The indentations of an "a" and two "g"s revealed themselves.

"Maggiano's," he said to himself. An Italian restaurant, upscale. It was on a hill overlooking the city. He had taken Alecia there for an anniversary dinner a few years ago. After dinner, they drove to one of the overlooks on the hill and fooled around in the car.

Andy slapped his forehead. Would Paul attempt the same feat with Kimberly? There was no reason to doubt it.

He felt sick. He couldn't help but dote on the series of missteps he had made that led to this. He had to make it right.

He checked the alarm clock. It was 6:56.

He could call in a bomb threat to the restaurant. No, that wouldn't work. Paul would just suggest another place to eat. And if the restaurant had caller ID, they would call the police and Andy would have some explaining to do.

There was no choice. He had to get to the restaurant.

He ran to the office. His cell phone and wallet were on the desk next to the computer. He looked up a taxi service online. He rang them and gave them the address for the house on the corner. "I need the car as soon as possible. When can you get here?"

7:30, the man said. Andy hung up and jumped to the floor. He ran downstairs to the kitchen, where his wife was in the midst of dinner preparations. Andy slowed down to catch his breath before walking up to her.

"Hey, honey."

Alicia's head darted up, eyes scanning the floor until she spotted him. "Hey, Andy." She wiped her hands on a dish towel and lifted him to the counter next to the range.

"Isn't it great that Kim's going on a date?" she said, continuing with her preparations.

"Uh, yeah," Andy tried to say enthusiastically.

"I'm so glad she's going out with a boy her age, and not some money-throwing lecher she met at work."

Andy shook his head in mock-indignation. "Cradle-robbing perverts."

"Amen." She smiled at him. "I hope you brought your appetite. I'm making spicy chicken and potatoes and gravy."

Andy grimaced. His favorite. He would have to make it up to her later. "Actually, I was thinking I'd go to bed. I'm really tired."

She looked disappointed. "Oh. Okay. Everything all right?"

"Yeah, I just feel tired is all." He yawned, not too theatrically.

"Well, the doctor told you to expect that."

"Yeah." Now the hard part. "Do you think you could move the crib into the office?"

She looked at him. "Why the office?"

"I think I'd sleep better in there. The window in there doesn't face the neighbor's dogs. They keep me up sometimes."

"Hm, I didn't hear them last night…"

Andy held his breath.

"Okay, hon, if it'll help you sleep, sure." She picked him up and carried him upstairs on her hip. She rolled the crib from their bedroom to the office and lay him down to sleep. She stood at the open door, the hallway light silhouetting her body.

"How's that?" she asked.

Andy pretended to settle in for a long night's sleep. "Good."

"Good night," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Good night," he returned. She shut the door, plunging him into darkness. He waited a minute, then climbed down from the crib. He listened at the door. She was gone.

By getting Alecia to move his crib into the office, she was much less likely to notice his absence. Now he just had to get out of here.

There was a wastepaper can between the desk and the door. Andy pushed it underneath the doorknob and climbed on top, balancing on the thin edge. He reached out to the doorknob, but his foot slipped out from under him and he fell into the can.

He stood up gingerly, knee deep in garbage. He threw himself against the side of the wastepaper can, knocking it on its side. He crawled out and on top of it. He was better able to keep his balance on the broad surface. The sacrifice in height meant he would have to jump to reach the doorknob.

He jumped and snared the doorknob in both arms. He tried turning it. Not enough torque. He tried pulling himself up one side, to turn it with his weight. He didn't weigh enough. After a minute of effort, his arms gave out and he fell to the carpet.

He looked up at the doorknob. Why had Alecia shut the door? If he couldn't get out of the office, he wasn't going anywhere. Not out of the house, and certainly not to the restaurant.

The window. Andy climbed the desk chair onto the desk. On his way to the computer monitor he passed his wallet. Of course! He needed money. Had he managed to open the door, he would have left the house without any cash. The cabbie would have laughed at him and sped away. He took out all his cash, $116, and folded it into his pocket. The desk clock caught his eye. 7:19. He needed to hurry.

He climbed onto the computer monitor. A bookcase stood between the desk and the window facing the front yard. The top of the book case was neck high on Andy. He ran and jumped and his chest slammed into the side. Stabilizing himself with his arms, he waited to catch his breath before pulling himself over the ledge. From there it was an easy traverse to the window sill.

He flipped the window latch and pulled up on the window. It creaked but did not budge. He rubbed his hands together and tried again. He managed to open it a crack, just wide enough to stick his small hands through.

Sweat stood out on Andy's head. He was already exhausted. He knew if he couldn't open this window on the first or second try, he wasn't going to make it.

He budged it open an inch on his first try. Momentum helped him raise it another 3 inches. It was enough. He squeezed his body through the window and walked out onto the hot, pitched roof.

The fall from the roof to the ground at his normal height would have scared him. Now it looked three times as far and it terrified him. The doctor had told him when he was diagnosed that falling when he was shrunk wasn't any different than falling at normal height. His body wouldn't fall any faster just because the distance looked greater. The difference was only in his mind.

Andy eyed Alecia's bushes planted against the side of the house. They were dense bushes, as he well knew from trimming them every spring. They were dense enough to slow his fall.

Andy didn't think about it long. The hot composite roof was scalding his bare feet. He threw his body off the edge of the roof and pulled his arms tight against his chest. He shut his eyes and quicker than he expected he slammed back-first into the bushes. The air blew out of his lungs and his body tumbled through stems and leaves, scratching and twisting his small body, until he stopped.

Nothing hurt—not a lot, anyway. He opened his eyes. He had stopped just a few inches off the ground. He untangled himself and walked out of the bushes. He looked up at the house. There was no turning back now.

Energized from making it out of the house, he crossed the front yard and ran down the sidewalk to the corner. The neighborhood was quiet, as people were either sitting to dinner or waiting for twilight for it to cool down.

After reaching the corner, he paced back and forth. He'd made it this far. He was going to make it to the restaurant. Now what was taking the taxi so long?

He heard a rustling behind him. He spun around. A white, black-spotted cat was frozen mid-stride on the neighbor's lawn about 10 feet away.

Andy raised his hands over his head. "Shoo!" he hissed. The cat looked at him, unimpressed. It took a step in his direction.

He ran toward the animal screaming. The feline's curiosity abated then, as it bolted across the yard. Andy kept his eye on it, and was relieved to see the cab come around the corner.

When the cab stopped at the curb, Andy looked down the street to make sure he wasn't seen. He walked onto the street around to the driver side and pounded on the door. The cabbie opened the door and peered down at him.

"You call the cab?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm Andy."

"I've never given a tiny a ride."

"You have a car seat, don't you?"

"Yeah." The cabbie popped open the trunk to get the car seat. He fastened Andy in and got behind the wheel. "Where we going tonight?"

"Maggiano's on Weathertop Hill. What's your name?"

"Mike," the cabbie said.

"Mike, there's an extra $20 for you if you can get me there by 8."