Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

As a part of the "Sizes and Countries" series, this story will use the size differences common in said series. Here is a chart showing the average height of people from each country (you don't need to remember the sizes, though. They'll be indicated in the story each time a new person appears. This is just a general guideline):

Country (average height in centimeters / average height in feet and inches)

Netherlands (6600 / 216’6.42’’)

Iceland (6025.414 / 197’8.21’’)

Norway (5500.850 / 180’5.68’’)

Sweden (5021.955 / 164’9.14’’)

Denmark (4584.751 / 150’5.02’’)

Finland (4185.609 / 137’3.87’’)

Czech Republic (3821.217 / 125’4.41’’)

Slovenia (3488.547 / 114’5.44’’)

Luxembourg (3184.840 / 104’5.87’’)

Croatia (2907.572 / 95’4.71’’)

Germany (2654.443 / 87’1.05’’)

Estonia (2423.352 / 79’6.07’’)

Austria (2212.378 / 72’7.01’’)

Belgium (2019.772 / 66’3.18’’)

Serbia (1843.934 / 60’5.95’’)

Switzerland (1683.404 / 55’2.75’’)

United States (1536.849 / 50’5.05’’)

Australia (1403.053 / 46’.38’’)

Poland (1280.906 / 42’0.29’’)

Greece (1169.392 / 38’4.39’’)

New Zealand (1067.586 / 35’.30’’)

United Kingdom (974.644 / 31’11.71’’)

Hungary (889.793 / 29’2.31’’)

Ukraine (812.329 / 26’7.81’’)

Ireland (741.609 / 24’3.97’’)

Russia (677.045 / 22’2.55’’)

Israel (618.103 / 20’3.34’’)

Lithuania (564.292 / 18’6.16’’)

Canada (515.165 / 16’10.82’’)

Lebanon (470.316 / 15’5.16’’)

Turkey (429.371 / 14’1.04’’)

France (391.990 / 12’10.32’’)

Uzbekistan (357.864 / 11’8.89’’)

Italy (326.709 / 10’8.62’’)

Senegal (298.266 / 9’9.42’’)

Jamaica (272.300 / 8’11.20’’)

Mali (248.593 / 8’1.87’’)

Spain (226.951 / 7’5.35’’)

Romania (207.193 / 6’9.57’’)

Azerbaijan (189.155 / 6’2.47’’)

Uruguay (172.688 / 5’7.98’’)

Argentina (157.654 / 5’2.06’’)

South Korea (143.929 / 4’8.66’’)

Syria (131.398 / 4’3.73’’)

Morocco (119.959 / 3’11.22’’)

Iran (109.515 / 3’7.11’’)

Portugal (99.981 / 3’3.36’’)

Côte d’Ivoire (91.277 / 2’11.93’’)

Egypt (83.330 / 2’8.80’’)

Tunisia (76.076 / 2’5.95’’)

Algeria (69.453 / 2’3.34’’)

South Africa (63.406 / 2’.96’’)

Cameroon (57.886 / 1’10.78’’)

Gambia (52.847 / 1’8.80’’)

Ghana (48.246 / 1’6.99’’)

Brazil (44.046 / 1’5.34’’)

Colombia (40.211 / 1’3.83’’)

Taiwan (36.710 / 1’2.45’’)

Chile (33.514 / 1’1.19’’)

Venezuela (30.596 / 1’.04’’)

Paraguay (27.933 / 10.99’’)

Japan (25.501 / 10.03’’)

Hong Kong (23.281 / 9.16’’)

China (21.254 / 8.36’’)

Mexico (19.404 / 7.63’’)

Pakistan (17.714 / 6.97’’)

Singapore (16.172 / 6.36’’)

Thailand (14.764 / 5.81’’)

Mongolia (13.479 / 5.30’’)

Malaysia (12.305 / 4.84’’)

Sri Lanka (11.234 / 4.42’’)

Malawi (10.256 / 4.03’’)

Bahrain (9.363 / 3.68’’)

Iraq (8.548 / 3.36’’)

Nigeria (7.804 / 3.07’’)

Peru (7.124 / 2.80’’)

North Korea (6.504 / 2.56)

India (5.938 / 2.33’’)

Vietnam (5.421 / 2.13’’)

Philippines (4.949 / 1.94’’)

Indonesia (4.518 / 1.77’’)

Cambodia (4.125 / 1.62’’)

I'd also like to say that each characters personality is singular, and I don't mean to generalize any aspect of them to all the people in their countries.

Prologue

Awww…poor little thing. Can you imagine how that must have been for him? I mean, walking so innocently across the campus, when all of a sudden, a pair of enormous glasses land right in front of you. I’m sure that’d be startling enough, but now imagine that said bifocals are followed by two gigantic, bare knees, which hit the ground with a loud thump. Scary enough, huh? I’m sure it is, but nothing compared to actually meeting the hand looking for the glasses.

Now that’s more like a terrifying situation. Noticing a big shadow covering your body, only to stare up and see a huge palm blocking your view, instants before being easily pinned down by it, completely engulfed under its flesh. Seconds later, you feel its long, thick fingers wrap around you, squeezing just tight enough to prevent you from falling as they lift you dozens of feet into the sky. Only your head sticks out from the massive fist, and you find yourself in front of a 20 feet tall face, and a couple of brown eyes squinting down at you.

You might wonder why I describe this situation. Well, believe it or not, that’s how I met Daniel. It was really embarrassing for me and just as terrifying for him. But hey, I guess it’s not that uncommon to have such a first-meeting story, now is it? Anyway, if you’d like to hear how this story went, stay tuned.

How it all started

The eternal vicious circle of glass-wearing people. If you lose your glasses, you can’t see a thing. And because you can’t see, you can’t find your glasses. And without them, you’re still unable to see. Ugh! So annoying. Any of you who wears glasses will know what I mean.

Anyhow, I was sitting on a bench in the campus when I clumsily dropped them. Sighing, I got down on my knees to try and find them by touch. Without being able to actually see them, I grabbed the first thing my hand felt.  It immediately became evident that it wasn’t what I was looking for, so I held the tiny object on my open palm, right before my squinting eyes.

With my limited vision, I managed to make out what seemed to be a human shape. Realizing that what I was holding was actually another person, I yelped, startled, almost dropping the poor, tiny creature, obviously shaken by this whole incident.

“I’m so, so sorry!”, I said, truly embarrassed, my face blushing as red as an apple. “Are you OK? I’m really sorry. I was just looking for my glasses.”

“D…don’t worry about it”, answered the tiny person on my palm. By the sound of his voice, I immediately recognized him as male. “Do you need help finding them?”

I was taken off guard by that question. Not only had I snatched him from the ground without warning, but I had almost dropped him from a (to him) considerable height. And yet, he offered me to help. As surprised as I was, I still needed help, so I nodded.

“I actually do.”, I answered, placing my hand on the ground to let him climb down. “Again, I’m so sorry about all this trouble, and I really appreciate your help.”

After a couple of seconds, I heard his voice again.

“OK, here they are! Just follow my voice!”

I slowly reached down towards the direction of his voice, this time much more careful. My fingers then felt both his tiny body and my glasses. I picked both up, one in each hand. After putting my glasses back on, the world around me became “high definition” once again. I looked down at the boy in my hand once again, this time not visually impaired.

He seemed to be about 7.5 centimeters tall (a little bit less than 3 inches). He wore a red T-shirt, jeans and a pair of sneakers. He was carrying a school bag, so he was a student, like me. And boy was he cute! That made me feel much more embarrassed than I already was! I did my best to hide it, but I’ve never been good at that.

“My name is Daniel”, he said, reaching his hand towards me, as if offering a handshake. “Nice to meet you.”

I looked down at his diminutive hand and very carefully answered the gesture. My hand easily engulfed his whole arm, and even though I shook as slowly and carefully as possible, his whole body was still jerked along as I did.

“My name is Lena. Nice to meet you too.”, I said, smiling.

“So, are you American?”, he asked.

“American? No, no. I’m Canadian. Americans are huge, silly!”, I said, chuckling.

“Sorry, sorry. You speak almost the same way. Plus, it’s hard for someone my size to tell  'giant' and  'giant…er' apart.”

“Fair enough.”, I said, sitting back on the bench.

“So, what brings you to Mexico City?”, he asked, curiously.

“Well, I came here to study, actually.”

“Really? Why here?”

“Well, I actually already finished classes. I’m just working on my dissertation. I studied sociology, and my thesis is about the influence that people’s sizes have in the behavior of society, so I thought coming to live in a country so tiny might help me get a deeper insight.”

“I see.”, he said, sounding interested. “So, why a smaller country and not a larger one? It would have worked too”

“Oh! Yes, that’s true, but a bigger one sounded scary. Plus, I come from Canada. I needed a warm place for a change.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I noticed.”

“What? How so?”, I raised an eyebrow, confused.

“Well, it’s freezing today, and you’re just wearing a tank top, a pair of shorts and sandals. No one would ever wear that today unless they were used to a much colder weather.”

“Freezing?”, I asked, faking a gasp. “How can you call this freezing? It’s really warm.”

“Well, it’s winter, so I don’t think I’m exaggerating.”

“Well, even if it’s winter, this is warmer than summer in Canada”, I joked, smiling. “And if you find this cold, then you better never go there, or you might end up like a little ice cube.” I even pictured his tiny body trapped inside an ice cube while floating in someone’s glass of water.

We both giggled a little, but then an awkward silence started. We both looked around, as if trying to make it less uncomfortable. I even started playing with my black, shoulder length hair, while he took a couple of random steps on my open palm. Fortunately, he quickly broke the silence.

“So…I kind of have to get going.”, he said, looking down at the ground. “But before I go, I was wondering if you’d like to…umm…like…maybe go get a drink or something. Like, after school.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Was he already asking me out? This never happened to me. At least, not so fast. He looked so cute while doing so, too. His cheeks blushing as he tried to avoid direct eye contact with me.

“Sure!”, I said, failing to avoid sounding eager to answer. “I…I mean…yes, why not?”, I completed, trying to sound much more cool.

“Oh! Great”, he said, clearly relieved after hearing my answer. “Well, how about I see you here at around…8:00 pm?”

“Perfect”, I answered, lowering my palm to the ground so he could climb down.

“OK, then”, he said, climbing off my palm. “See you later, Lena. Nice to meet you”

“Likewise”, I said, waving down at him. “Take care!”

“You too! Adiós, señorita.”, he said, turning around and walking away.

Oh, boy. I almost melted when he spoke in Spanish. I was super excited about our date, but also pretty worried. I knew I had to give a good impression if I wanted this to work. I wasn’t exactly very popular with guys, and I didn’t want to blow it with this one. He seemed like quite a catch.

***

So there I was at 7:45 pm, sitting on the exact same bench. I had straightened my hair and wore make up, which I usually never do. I also wore the classic little black dress and a pair of high heels, which actually made me walk a little funny, since I never, ever use them. I felt like I was wearing a costume. I always used casual clothes, so I obviously felt strange. I really lacked practice in dressing up for situations like this. I even had to google a few tips to avoid screwing it up and looking like a prostitute.

At around 7:55 pm, he finally appeared. He didn’t seem to be wearing an outfit as formal as mine, which made me feel a little embarrassed. A blue dress shirt, a pair of matching trousers, and black shoes. He immediately spotted me and walked closer, waving up.

“Hi again, Lena. You look astonishing.”, he said, standing right by my feet.

“Hehe, thanks…”, I said, sighing in relief, as my outfit had actually worked. “You look great too.”

“Well, thank you”, he said, smiling. “So, shall we get going?”

“Yes, yes, of course. Ummm…should I…like…”, I simply couldn’t say it. Fortunately, he did.

“You can carry me”, he said, easily guessing what I meant.

I smiled at him. I liked him more and more every second.

“Very well.”, I said, more confident, and crouched, placing my open hand next to him.

As soon as he climbed up, I stood back to full height and got going. He indicated me the path to follow, and in about 5 minutes we were there. It was, of course, a mixed-size bar. I usually don’t go to bars, since I don’t drink, but what’s the harm on going every now and then? We took a seat at the bar. Well, I did. He actually sat ON the bar, so he was closer to my level.

“Un tequila, por favor”, he asked the bartender. “What are you drinking?”

“Oh, just water for me, thanks. I don’t drink.”

“You don’t? How so? Are you an alcoholic?”, he joked.

“Oh, no, no! I just don’t like the flavor.”

“Just the flavor? OK, then, I have a surprise for you.”, he called the bartender. “Un vodka con arándano para la señorita.”

“What did you say?”

“You’ll see”, he said with a grin.

After a couple of minutes, the bartender placed a big glass with a red liquid inside.

“Thanks”, I told him, and then looked down at my date. “What’s this?”

“It’s vodka with cranberry juice.”

“Oh, I don’t know…”

“Trust me. The thing with vodka is that it almost doesn’t taste.”

“Well…”, I took a deep breath. “OK, fine…”, I picked up the glass and took a sip. He was right. It tasted almost as pure cranberry juice. I then took a bigger gulp.

“Whoa, calm down, girl! It might not taste as alcohol, but it sure has it.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t overdo it.”, I said, confident, and took another sip. I should have listened to him, though. After I ordered a few more of those, time flew, and he started to look a little worried.

“I think you should maybe order that glass of water you wanted before”, he told me, obviously feeling uneasy.

“Oh, don’t worry. I feel really fine. The same as when we walked in.”, I said, smiling down at him and patting his tiny head with my finger.

“No, really. You might not feel it yet, but it’s a lot of alcohol, especially if you don’t usually drink. Plus, you’re a girl. Girls tend to get drunk faster.”

“Hey, that’s sexist.”, I said. “Let me show you that I’m fine.”

I stood up from my seat, determined to show him I was perfectly fine. However, I was not. The moment I got up to full height, everything around me started to spin. I couldn’t stay standing for more than a couple of seconds and sat back down with a thud.

“Oh, boy...”, I said, dizzy.

“Told you…”

“N…no, no. I’m fine…it’s just…it’s just one of those times when you stand up too fast and feel a little lightheaded.”

“Uh huh…”, he said, skeptical. “Well, still, it’s getting pretty late. Maybe we should go home now.”

“OK, OK. But I just want you to know I’m fine, OK?”

“Hehehe, whatever you say, girl. I’ll walk you home. Or, I mean, you can carry me until you get home, and then I’ll get going.”

He was really a gentleman offering to walk me home. Not that I needed it, though. I mean, what could happen to me in the way? They say Mexico City can be dangerous late at night, especially for a lone woman, but it's not like a robber or rapist shorter than my ankle could pose any threat to me. I even grinned thinking of a criminal that size trying to assault me.

He paid for our drinks and I picked him up, walking out of the bar. Once outside, I started to feel even dizzier. I had barely taken a couple of steps when my shoes caused me to trip. I barely managed not to fall, but I had to use my hand to hold onto a building’s roof. I left a huge handprint on it.

“Oh, boy…”, I said, really embarrassed. “I’ll…I’ll pay for that. Ugh, stupid heels.” I took them off, not wanting to trip again. So there I was: a tipsy girl, holding a guy with her right hand and her shoes with her left one, trying to walk through a portion of the city to get home. It was a recipe for disaster.

I did my best to watch my step and walk on a straight line, but being tipsy, I was bound to have a few accidents on the way. Every now and then, I’d stumble a little and cause some minor damage to the city. Bump my hip against the side of a building, cracking its side a bit, or accidentally kicking a parked car and flipping it to its side. A few pedestrians had to move (or even dive) aside to avoid my clumsy feet.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’d never, ever do anything to harm anyone. But bear with me here, it was the first time I ever drank more than one sip of alcohol, and it wasn’t easy at all to cross a tiny city like this one. Plus, fortunately, no one got hurt. The closest I got from that to happen was when I completely failed to notice a tiny car, boldly trying to outrun me. Just as he was about to drive past me, my foot landed on his car.

Oh, it’s not what you think! It wasn’t my whole foot on top of his car. I only stepped on the car’s hood with my bare heel. The airbag kept him from getting hurt, but his engine was obviously ruined. Feeling this, I immediately turned around and crouched to get a closer look at him.

“I’m so, so sorry! Are you OK?”, I asked, really worried.

He simply got out of his car and started yelling up at me in Spanish.

“Ummm…what’s he saying, Daniel?”, I asked my date, confused.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know…”, he answered, shaking his head.

“Oh! I get it.”, I said, sadly. I apologized again and turned around, continuing my way.

Soon enough I finally got home. It was a simple flat, built specifically for foreigners around my size. I lifted him to face level.

“Hey, I’m extremely sorry for ruining our date.”, I said, probably engulfing him with my alcohol breath. “I swear I never, never drink.”

“Yeah, that's pretty obvious, hehe.”, he joked, trying to cheer me up. “But don’t say that. I had an amazing time.”

“You did?”, I asked, dubious.

“Of course!”

“You’re just saying that.”

“No, really. It’s not every day that you can see a giant woman rampage through Mexico City like that!”

“Hey!”, I said, really embarrassed now. “I wasn’t rampaging! I was just…walking.”

“I know, I’m kidding, Lena. Anyway, you should probably get some sleep. You might not feel very well in the morning.”

“You’re right. Well, then you should get going, too. Thanks for walking me home.”, I said, staring down at his tiny body, wondering if I should kiss him right then, right there. But I was too embarrassed by the recent events, so I simply put him down on the ground.

“Good night, Daniel.”

“Good night, Lena”, he said, waving up at me and walking away.

I walked inside and closed the door behind me, thinking I’d probably never see him again after that night’s performance. Fortunately, though, I was wrong.

***

PS: Oh, and don’t think I got away with all the damage I did. I had to pay for every single thing I broke that night, but that’s another story.

An unexpected visit

Thesis Project, Chapter 1: Strolling

Taking a simple stroll around a city can become a whole new experience if it’s done in a different scaled city. It’d be an overwhelming situation if you were much smaller than the rest. You’d have to do your best to avoid being stepped on or kicked by pedestrians, who might not even notice you down there.

However, the situation would be considerably riskier if you were the giant one compared to the city’s inhabitants. A simple walk through the city could turn you into a potential Godzilla monster if you’re not careful enough. Even a simple misstep could end up in a catastrophe. This means that someone so large compared to her surroundings should be extra careful with each movement. At that scale, she’s a one-person mass destruction device...

***

The doorbell rang next morning. My head was aching and my eyes hurt. He was totally right. I was feeling like crap.

“So this is why everyone always complains about hangovers, huh?”, I thought, making an effort to stand up as the doorbell rang again.

I walked to the door and lazily opened it, rubbing my eyes. At first I didn’t see anyone, but then I noticed the tiny man standing by my feet, ringing the “Mexican” doorbell.

“Daniel?!”, I said, surprised.

“Good morning, Lena! How did you sleep?”

“I…I…I…”, I was paralyzed. Not only was I wearing totally girly pink PJ’s, with little flowers, ponies and rainbows, and a pair of fuzzy, bunny slippers; but I was also having my first hangover, and I most likely looked like a fairytale’s evil witch. Plus, considering the size difference, he probably could see much more detail of all that as if he was my scale.

“Wh…what are you doing here? How did you even know where I live? Are you stalking me?”, I asked, begging for the earth to swallow me right there.

“Stalk you? I…walked you home last night, remember?”

I felt like the biggest idiot on the planet.

“Yes…yes, hehe, of course. I was just kidding.”, I said, trying to find a way to excuse myself and freshen up a little. I found none, though, so I just said the truth.

“Why don’t you come in, then? I’ll go get changed in a second.”

“Oh, it’s OK. You look really cute with those PJ’s.”

“Oh…really?”, I asked, incredulous.

“Yes, of course. Nothing’s cuter than a girl in that kind of PJ’s. My little niece has one exactly like yours. She’s 6, and she looks adorable in them!”, he said, bursting into laughter.

I frowned, faking anger.

“Just get inside, OK?”, I said, pushing him inside with my foot and closing the door.

“I’ll be right back, Mr. Funny Guy. You can watch TV if you want.”, I said, and immediately ran into my room.

I didn’t witness what happened meanwhile, but he told me later.

He stared up at the TV. He was obviously too tiny to even turn it on, so he decided to explore the place a little bit. It was the first time he was in a home so big compared to him, so it was obviously overwhelming from his point of view. After taking a look around the living room, he walked into what seemed to be a giant kitchen. The fridge alone seemed like a skyscraper as he stood before it. Before he could explore much in there, though, he started feeling the floor shake a little, rhythmically, obviously caused by giant footsteps.

Expecting me, he turned around, only to barely get a glimpse of a descending giant bare foot before it landed right next to him, knocking him off his feet. Startled, he stared up, seeing a giant woman, about my height, dressed only in bra and panties, reaching into the fridge and picking up a carton of milk and drinking directly from it.

Daniel then stood up, cupping his hands around his mouth and calling the new girl.

“Ummm…hello?”, he said, thinking it’d be best if he just let the giantess know he was down there before she accidentally treaded him.

Suddenly hearing a squeaky voice next to her foot spooked the underwear-clad girl, causing her to yelp and drop the carton of milk, which immediately released a stream of the white, lacteal liquid inside it and washed him off his feet. Both surprised and angry, the woman reached down and picked the tiny man up, holding him tightly in her fist in front of her face.

“What the Hell do you think you’re doing in here?!”, she asked, squeezing his tiny body a little harder. “Are you a burglar?”

Daniel was terrified. Not only was he being held really tight, feeling like his ribs were about to explode, but he also couldn’t even explain her, since her fingers were squeezing the air out of his lungs. Desperately, he tried to break free, but her hand was much stronger than him.

“Well?!”, she asked, impatiently. At first, she thought he was just too scared to answer, but then she saw his face start to turn blue. Not wanting to kill him, or even hurt him, she opened her hand, causing him to drop onto her palm. He coughed during a few seconds before being able to speak again.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”, he said, still on his knees. “I didn’t break in. I just came here to see Lena. She let me in and went to change.”

“Lena? Really?!”, she asked, raising an eyebrow. “But she never has boys over. I do sometimes, but none of them are as tiny as you.”

“I am, honestly. We went out yesterday. Didn’t she tell you?”

“Well…now that you mention it, yeah, yesterday she was really nervous while dressing up, but I just thought she was going to a job interview or something.”

“She went out with me. You can ask her if you want.”

“No, no, it’s OK”, she finally said, seeming much calmer and nicer than a minute ago. “I’m really sorry about the way I handled you before. I really thought you came to steal. It wouldn’t be the first time it happens.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it”, he said, standing back up to his feet.

“Thanks. Could you please not tell Lena I did this? She really doesn’t go out much, and she’ll hate me if she thinks I scared you away from her.”

“No problem”, he lied.

“Oh, and also, please don’t tell her about me drinking milk from the carton. She hates that.”, she said, giggling. “Oh, the milk!”

She quickly reached down and picked it up before it continued spilling milk. She placed it in the fridge and closed the door. She then put Daniel on the kitchen counter, leaning closer and resting her chin on her hands to get a better look of him.

“My name is Sarah, by the way.”, she said, smiling down at him. “What’s yours?”

“Daniel”, he said, still trying to catch his breath after all the tumult.

“Nice to meet you, then, Daniel.”

“Likewise.”, he said, still finding her giant face pretty intimidating. Staring at her from so close made him realize that her facial features were nothing like Lena’s. She didn’t seem Canadian, even though she was about the same size as Lena. Her face wasn’t Caucasian at all. He wasn’t sure, but he thought she was probably of Arabic origin.

“So…”, he said, shyly, “wh…where are you from, Sarah?”

“I’m from Beirut, Lebanon.”, she said, proudly. “The land of the cedar. And you were born here, I bet.”

“Yes, yes, born and raised in Mexico City.”, he said, trying to sound proud too. “Also…I…I know we just met, and I don’t want to sound rude or ignorant for that matter, but…”

“Yes…?”, she asked, grinning curiously.

“Well…aren’t Lebanese people…like…Muslim?”, he said, feeling he was being too bold to say that. “What I mean is…are you supposed to be wearing that? I thought you women had to cover your hair, or even wear those black blankets and the like. I really don’t mean to be disrespectful! I’m just curious, that’s all.”

Sarah’s expression changed from curious to angry. She stood back up to full height, looking down at him with hands on her hips.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Is it too reckless of me to show so much skin?”, she asked, sarcastically. “Maybe I should go cover up. And it’s called a Burqa, by the way. Not a black blanket.” She sighed, seeming annoyed. “You know what? I’ll do Lena a favor and get rid of you.”

She then lifted her hand, closing it in a fist. Daniel barely had time to take one step back when the fist had already slammed the counter, missing him by merely centimeters (his scale), which knocked him off his feet. Just as before, however, her expression changed. This time, from angry to playful, and burst into laughter. Daniel was still really confused and scared to ask what was going on.

“Oh, my God!”, she managed to say while laughing. “I’m so, so sorry, little guy! I just couldn’t resist! The look on your face was priceless! Of course you’re not being disrespectful of rude. That’s a valid question, since you’re not familiar with Muslim culture. The thing is that I’m Christian, so I don’t think I’m the indicated person to explain you how the Burqa thing works with women.”

“Wait, you’re Christian?”, he said, his heart still beating like a drum, but now starting to calm down. “I really thought Lebanon was a Muslim country, I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, no, no, you’re right, actually.”, she said, now starting to talk like a teacher. “You see, most Lebanese people are Muslim. However, what most people don’t know is that around 40% of Lebanon’s population is actually Christian.”

“Oh…I see…”, he said, feeling ignorant again. “I didn’t know that. And again, sorry about my comment. I didn’t mean to complain about your…outfit.” He couldn’t help but check her body out for a second as he said that.

“Up here, little man”, she said while snapping her fingers. “If Lena catches you doing that…well…let’s just say that, unlike mine, her fist won’t miss.”

“Oh, no, no! I wasn’t…ugh, sorry. I’m a man. It’s hard to resist taking a glimpse when a woman so huge and in her undies is standing right in front of us.”

“Wow…well, at least you’re honest, I’ll give you that. But don’t worry, I won’t tell Lena. And I was just kidding, by the way. She’s a sweetie. She’d never hurt you. Plus, it’s kind of flattering that you say that, hehe.”

Daniel was extremely embarrassed now. This woman was the opposite of me. She was bold, self-confident, and didn’t mind to say things as they were. As appealing as it was, he certainly found that very intimidating from someone so big. No wonder he picked a girl like me, huh?

“Anyway, I should go get my day started.”, she said, waving down at me. “Take care and see you soon. Lena should be here any second.”

“Thank you, Sarah. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. Bye, bye!”, she said, and walked away.

Daniel sat there, on the counter, waiting for me. Poor little thing. Sarah was usually too much for any guy to handle. I can only imagine how it was to him. Soon enough, though, I walked back, causing him to sigh in relief. As this wasn’t exactly a date, and he had already seen me in PJ’s, anyway, I felt freer to dress up casually. I just tied my hair back in a ponytail, put on a purple, one-sleeve top, a pair of jeans and Converse sneakers. Plus, he was wearing a shirt, jeans and sneakers too, so it felt right. I was a bit confused when I saw the puddle of milk on the floor, though.

“Daniel? Where are you?”, I asked out loud, looking at the floor around.

“Up here, Lena!”, he called from the counter. I immediately saw him standing there.

“What are you doing there? And how did you even get up there?”

“Long story. Your friend Sarah came to get some milk and…well, we just chatted for a bit.”

“Sarah was here? I see. That explains why there’s milk on the floor, and yet no glass anywhere around. Ugh…I’ll just deal with her later.”, I said, annoyed. “So, what did you think of my roomie?”

“Oh, she seems nice. And seems to care a lot about you, too. But you two are so different from each other. I wonder why you get along so well.”

“We actually complement each other pretty well, since we usually compensate for one another’s flaws and the like, so…yeah, we get along just fine.”

“I understand. Anyway, I’m sorry about coming here uninvited, but I didn’t get your phone last night, and I wanted to show you I actually wanted to see you again, like I said.”

I could almost feel my heart melting as he said that.

“Awww…really? I wanted to see you too!”, I said, happily.

“Yeah, yeah, you two love birds really missed each other”, said Sarah, heading towards the door, now fully clothed. “You should clean the kitchen before you leave, since you’re spilling so much honey! Hehe. See you!”, and walked out the door.

“Don’t mind her”, I said, faking a sigh. “She’s always like that. Hates romantic comedies, love letters, corny phrases, etc.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised, hehe. Anyway, should we get going? I know a Colombian Café nearby. It’s really good.”

“Sure, sounds good. Let’s go, then.”, I said, picking him up and walking out the door, locking it before leaving.

Cat vs Mouse (Part 1)

Thesis Project, Chapter 2: Crime

Every single city and country in the world has criminals. No matter how safe they are, they at least have a few crimes every year. However, if we consider people living in different sized countries, we might find a few variations in the way crimes are committed, in their most probable targets, and even in the criminals themselves.

For example, if a woman lives alone and a burglar breaks in, even if she’s home at the time, there’s little to nothing she can do to stop him. However, if said woman was 20 times the burglar’s size, she could easily stop him if she noticed he was there. He’d be at her complete mercy and there’d be nothing he could do to fight back.

But, on the other hand, giant criminals pose a huge threat to society. Granted, they’d be much easier to catch, as it’d be really hard for a giant robber to hide in a (compared to him) tiny city. But this also opens the door to many new criminals who would never be able to commit a crime if they weren’t much larger than their surroundings. Even a little child, who would only be able to steal candy from a younger kid, would be unstoppable if he decided to take furniture from a doll-sized house. Not even 10 men could prevent him from doing so.

I know that we have a new international police now, and that no matter the size of delinquents, there’s always police big enough (or small enough) to deal with them. My point here is that we have to start looking for potentially new criminals, as well as potentially not-so-helpless victims.

***

We arrived soon at the café he said before. The place wasn’t very fancy, but it sure was cozy. Plus, it had seats, tables and service for people my size, so I couldn’t complain. I sat by a table my size, and a waitress about my height placed a chair and a table Daniel’s size on it. He ordered a cup of coffee, while I only ordered hot chocolate.

“Chocolate? You don’t like coffee?”, he asked, confused.

“Not really, no. Too bitter”, I said, seeing our waitress come closer.

“Well, then why did you agree to come to a café?”

“They serve other stuff besides coffee, silly.”

The waitress interrupted our conversation as she placed a tray on our table. Since she was too big to properly serve people Daniel’s size, the tray held not only my cup of chocolate, but also a much smaller waitress, carrying her own, smaller tray.

The larger waitress placed the cup of chocolate in front of me and left, leaving the tiny one on the table. She approached Daniel’s tiny table and placed his coffee on it.

“Gracias”, he said, staring up at her. They then stared at each other for a few seconds.

“Daniel?”, she asked, surprised.

“Paula?”, he asked back, standing up.

It was at this point that I noticed that she was about twice Daniel’s height. I guess I wasn’t as good at calculating people’s sizes as I thought. However, height miscalculation was the least of my problems, as without any kind of warning, she squatted, wrapped her arms around his body, and lifted him, giving him what we all know as a bear hug.

As innocent as this could have been, what really bothered me was that, because of the hug motion, she was smothering him with her breasts, each of them bigger than his head. At a moment, his face actually disappeared inside her cleavage. I was, of course, both surprised and angry. What was all that about? I had to resist the urge to reach down and separate them with my fingers.

After what seemed like an eternity to me, she finally put him back down. I just stared down at both of them, obviously expecting an explanation.

“Lena”, Daniel said, looking up at my. “This is Paula, a childhood friend. Paula, this is Lena.”

“Nice to meet you, Lena”, she said, waving up at me.

“Likewise”, I said, waving back.

Before Daniel or I could say anything, this Paula girl started to talk to him. In Spanish, of course. I cursed myself for not taking Spanish classes, but I never really needed them until then. All the classes I took were in English, and people understood a good deal of Spanglish, as well as hand gestures, so I was fine.

I was obviously really worried, sitting there without understanding a word of what they were saying. They seemed to get along pretty well, and that might not have been so bad, except that she was also very good looking. Not only had she a beautiful face, but even in her modest waitress outfit I could see that she was much curvier than I was.

As they chatted, smiling and laughing, I kept feeling more and more uneasy. I didn’t say a word during our stay in the café; not until it was finally time to leave. I had taken like 3 cups of hot chocolate while watching them talk. I actually felt a little offended that they just cut me out like that. They could have at least tried to speak in English, so I could follow the conversation.

I’m sorry if I sound like a whining kid, but you have to understand. I really liked him, and she seemed to have all it took to inspire attraction from him. The fact that he was completely ignoring me to talk to her didn’t help, either. There just seemed to be “spark” between them. They probably had a lot in common, they already liked each other and they were both attractive. How was I supposed to compete with that?

I know that I sound really insecure by saying this, but hey, I’m an insecure person, and I was even more back then. I just prayed that she wasn’t interested in him that way, because I found no way that he’d ever pick me over her.

But I digress. I just wanted to tell you how I felt, so you wouldn’t judge my actions so much. As Daniel and I walked out of there, the Colombian girl quickly caught up.

“Daniel!”, she shouted, walking towards him.

“Not again…”, I thought, as the two started to talk again. Fortunately, Daniel started speaking in English, and Paula followed.

“Hey, Lena”, he said, “Paula is inviting us to a club tonight. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?”

Before I could answer, Paula interrupted.

“Ummm…actually…I was thinking it might be better if it was just you and me. Not that I don’t like her, but…you know. We’re going to be catching up with our lives, and she doesn’t even speak Spanish. I just don’t want her to feel left out.”

She obviously didn’t want me to go. That was a bad sign. I honestly didn’t care much for the club, but I definitely wasn’t going to leave the two of them alone for a whole night. Especially not one at a club, with drinks and stuff.

“Oh, no, don’t worry about me, Paula.”, I said, trying to sound as friendly as possible. “This is actually a good opportunity to get to know each other better. Plus, I need to practice my Spanish a little, so it works for me.”

“Well, that’s great, then.”, Daniel said, oblivious to my real intentions. “I’ll see you two girls there, then. Around 10 works for you?”

“Fine with me…”, she said, obviously not thrilled about me going.

“Me too.”, I said, smiling down at her.

“OK, then. See you two girls there.”, he looked up at me again. “I’m sorry I have to leave like this, but I have a few errands. Take care!”

And that was the end of the awkward coffee. However, the day was just beginning…

***

“What am I gonna do?!”, I said, already starting to panic.

“First of all, calm down.”, answered Sarah. “He asked you out, remember? It means he likes you already.”

“You don’t understand. You weren’t there. This girl is like the stereotype of Colombians. She’s very pretty and really curvy. Just the perfect level of tan, long, black hair…”

“OK, OK, stop right there.”, Sarah interrupted me. “Are you describing her or trying to sell her?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just…she’s really attractive. I just can’t compete with her.”

“But you don’t even know if you have to compete or not. For all you know, she’s just an old time friend of his. You’re the one dating him, not her.”

“Yes, I know, but it seems they haven’t seen each other in a long time. I just don’t want him to realize that I’m not as hot as he thinks. You know, by seeing both of us next to each other.”

“Now that’s ridiculous. He already saw you two together.”

“Yeah, but she was in a waitress outfit. She’s probably going to wear something much sexier tonight. That’s why I need your help. Make me look sexy.”

She burst into laughter as soon as I said that.

“But you already are sexy, silly.”

“You know what I mean!”, I said, a bit anxious. “I need to look so sexy that he won’t be able to take his eyes off of me. And if I have to take his eyes off her to do that, I’m really gonna need your help.”

“OK, OK, fine…”, she said, rolling her eyes. “If you really need this to help improve your self-esteem, I guess I can help you here.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you…!”, I said, giving her a tight hug.

“Eeek! Just don’t crush me!”

“Sorry…”, I said, lowering my voice and letting her go.

“It’s OK. Now, there’s a few things you have to do if you want to stand out tonight instead of her.”, she said, talking with her teacher tone again. “Let’s start with math.”

“Math?”, I asked her, raising an eyebrow. “What does math have to do with this?”

“You’ll see.”, she said. “This is what I like to call the 'absolute sexiness and relative sexiness'.”

“What the Hell is that?”

“Let’s pick the number 12, for example. If we take the absolute value of each of the two digits, 2 is worth twice the value of 1, right?”

“Right”

“However, if we put them together in the number 12, we have their relative value, in which case the number 1 is actually 10, and 5 times worth the 2.”

“Ummm…OK… So?”

“So, it’s the same with you and this Colombian chick. If you take each other’s absolute sexiness, and if she’s really as sexy as you said, then she’s probably hotter and more attractive than you are. However, that’s only if he was seeing a picture of each one of you. But if you two are next to each other, things are quite different.”

“Oh…I think I know where you’re going with this. But go on.”

“For example, even if she’s a big breasted girl, considering your size difference, you could probably pin her down under your boob.”

I chuckled a little, picturing the scene.

“Don’t do that, though”, she said, giggling. “Anyway, it means that, to his eyes, you’re the one with larger breasts, rear, legs, etc. Men are that simple. They don’t consider how things are proportionally. They just see a pair of breasts the size of melons, and then a pair twice their own size. Which one do you think they’ll pick?”

“Hehehe, good point.”, I said, smiling from ear to ear, my confidence raising very fast. “That’s actually a good theory. I like it.”

“Of course you do.”, she said proudly, acting as if my reaction was normal. “But in order for it to work, you really need to let him see your… attributes.”

“What do you mean?”, I asked, already fearing the answer.

“Well, there’s no way he can actually realize your relative sexiness if you hide under a sweater and a pair of sweatpants.”

“Oh, I wasn’t going to wear that.”

“Yes, I know, but I know you, and you were probably going to wear something… well… not sexy enough.”

“Hey! How can you be so sure?”

“Because I know you, Lena.”, she said, as if lecturing me. “Your taste in clothes isn’t exactly the sexiest one. But don’t worry, that’s what friends are for. When I’m done with you, there won’t be a guy in the place who doesn’t check you out.”

“If you say so…”, I said, sighing, already regretting the next thing I was about to say. “What should I wear, then?”

***

I looked at myself in the mirror, and I couldn’t believe what I saw.

“Sarah!”, I shouted, and my Lebanese friend rushed to me.

“Yes…? What do you think?”, she said, confident. “You love it, don’t you? There’s no need to thank me, really. I did this gladly.”

“Are you crazy? I can’t wear this in public!”

“And why exactly not?”, she asked, hands on hips, offended.

“Because we’re not going to a beach.”, I answered, sarcastically.

“So…?”

“So…this is almost a bikini! I can’t imagine someone wearing this in the street.”

“Then you need to go out more. This isn’t a bikini, you nerd. This is called a Bandeau. There’s not many other tops that will let you show off your upper half like this.”

“Of course not. They leave everything exposed. My shoulders, my back, even my belly…It sure feels like a bikini top. Are you sure people actually wear this?”

“Honey, you’re probably not going to be the only one.”

“OK, OK, fine. If you say so.”, I said, sighing. “But what about this shorts? My whole thigh is exposed in them.”

“Lena, when it comes to denim shorts, the shorter the better.”

“But I’m going to be freezing! Can I at least wear boots or something? These sandals don’t protect my feet from the cold at all.”

“Oh, sorry about that, but T-strap sandals actually go very well with the rest of your outfit. Plus, the more skin you show, the more he’ll be watching you.”

“Now you’re just starting to sound like a slut.”

“You say that because you’re a girl. It’s very rare for a guy to complain about a girl not wearing enough clothing.”

“That’s a good point, actually.”

“Exactly. This Paula girl will probably think the same, but Daniel is going to love it. Trust me.”

“OK, OK, fine. I’ll trust you. But this better work, or I’m gonna kill you! Understood?”

“Sure, sure. You’ll thank me when you come back. There’s just one more thing: You have to lose the glasses.”

“What? No, no, no. No way. I’m almost blind without them.”

“I know, but they make you look…nerdy.”

“Well, I AM kind of a nerd.”

“Yeah, but at least let him find out by himself. Plus, they won’t let anyone see the beautiful make up I did to you.”

“I’m not leaving without my glasses, period.”, I said, adjusting them to my ears. “Plus, it’s a huge cliché to say that glasses make girls look nerdy.”

“Oh, no. I didn’t say glasses. I said YOUR glasses.”

“Hey! That’s mean. And I don’t care. I like my glasses.”

“Of course you do. It’s OK, though. With the outfit you’re wearing, no one’s going to be looking at your glasses, anyway, so go ahead.”

“Thank you. Now, I gotta get going. Wish me luck!”

“Good luck, Lena. Go get them, tigress!”

I walked out of the house, taking a deep breath. I was still nervous, but something about my look that night made me feel much more confident than I had ever felt in my life. I actually felt very sexy and attractive. As if I could get any guy I wanted. But I only had one in mind, and I was sure going to fight for him.

“So you want to play, Paula? OK, then, let’s play”, I said to myself, cracking my knuckles.

I know you’re probably thinking that it was too much for a guy that I only knew for a few days, but as I said, at the time I didn’t have a high self-esteem, and I was more in love with love itself that with Daniel. Things were going to change, though.

Cat vs Mouse (Part 2)

I arrived there around 20 minutes earlier. I didn’t want them to be alone without me even a second. Unfortunately, a little later, I realized that they already had, as the two of them showed up together, walking right towards me.

“Hey, Lena!”, Daniel said. “Have you been here for long?”

“Oh, no, no, don’t worry. Just a few minutes.”, I answered.

“Good.”, he said, relieved. “It wasn’t my fault. Paula went to pick me up super late.”

Paula simply elbowed him and said something in Spanish, causing them both to chuckle a little. I was already clenching my fists. Why did she have to pick him up? They had already started the night without me. But no, I tried to shake those thoughts off my head. The night was just beginning, and I had to stay calm.

“I’m sorry, Lena.”, he said, staring up at me. “It’s just that…”

He suddenly stopped, and his facial expression seemed to be blank, as if he was in trance. It took me only a few seconds to notice that he was actually checking me out. It seemed like he had just then noticed what I was wearing. In any normal circumstances, I would have backed away and covered myself. However, this was exactly what I was expecting, so I simply stood there, letting him do so. I still felt a bit embarrassed and even nervous, but I tried to act cool.

As he did that, I took those moments to check out the two tinies by my feet, too. He was wearing a cute salmon shirt, a pair of gray trousers and black shoes. Apparently, he was the only inconspicuous of the three, as Paula was showing around the same amount of skin as I was. Her cropped top made her already pronounced curves look even more noticeable. Her mini-skirt showed just as much thigh as my shorts. The only difference is that her shoes were high-heeled. It was hard for me to estimate at her size, but they seemed to be almost as tall as stilts! I wondered how she could ever walk on them.

“Maybe she’s trying to look a little closer to my stature…”, I thought, trying not to grin.

As Daniel and I looked at each other’s outfits, Paula decided to interrupt by sweeping him off his feet with her arms and lifting him like a groom does to a bride, obviously holding him right at her chest level. He complained in Spanish, and as she replied, she took him inside. I didn’t lose a second, and looking around like crazy for an entrance my size, I quickly got inside too.

The place wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be, but there were still plenty of people. Most were either drinking or dancing, but a few were sitting at tables and enjoying meals. Fortunately, most people inside were around Daniel’s size, so my height gave me a panoramic view of the club. That’s when I spotted the two of them, already sitting by a table that seemed to be big and yet small enough to fit both of them.

I immediately made a beeline for them. Of course, I had to watch each one of my steps, as there wasn’t a lot of space on the floor to place my feet. I noticed a few of the tinies check me out too as they moved to avoid my steps. I blushed a little, but I didn’t have time to linger. In a few more steps, I was already standing right next to them, squatting close to get a better look.

“Oops! Sorry about that.”, I said, seeing Daniel almost being toppled off his chair by the impact of my feet so close to him. “Hey, why don’t I take you two to a table closer to my size? My back is going to start hurting any second if I remain squatting like this.”

Daniel nodded, and before Paula could even react, I reached down with both hands and cupped them around the two tinies, carefully lifting them, along with their chairs and table, and carrying them to a table my size and slowly placing them on it. I then proceeded to sit on a chair right by it. I made sure to let both my breasts rest right on the table, trying to somehow make them look bigger and more striking.

It seemed to work, as both Daniel and Paula couldn’t avoid directing their gaze to them. I was about to say the classic “up here!”, but they quickly looked away, as if embarrassed. I was sure that they had at least gotten a good glimpse of them, but I wasn’t done showing off my size.

“Could any of you pass me a napkin, please?”, I asked, looking at them, grinning. “Just kidding! I’ll get it myself.”

And with that, I reached for the napkin, leaning over the table. Daniel and Paula sat right between me and the napkin holder, so I took this opportunity to show off a little more. Trying to make it look as accidental as possible, I bumped Paula with my left boob, doing my best to avoid hitting Daniel as well. The impact, barely even noticeable for me, was strong enough to knock her and the chair down, as a bowling ball would do with a pin. I immediately backed away, faking a gasp and helping her up.

“Oops! I’m so sorry! Are you OK?”, I asked, barely managing to stop myself from smiling.

“What the Hell was that?!”, she asked me, angry.

She somehow seemed to be aware of my true intentions, but I didn’t really care. This whole circus was aimed at Daniel, so I looked from the corner of my eye and noticed that he was dumbfounded, staring blatantly at my cleavage with his mouth wide open. I guess my little display of bigness and power was too much for him. It was actually working! Sarah was a genius!

What I didn’t notice at first, though, was that Paula and Daniel had already got drinks, and my sudden “breast-thrust” had spilled it on her top. She immediately stood up, using a few of the tiny napkins to try and dry it off. Of course, a few napkins weren’t enough, and she just stamped her foot, annoyed.

“Ugh…now I have to go to the bathroom”, she said, glaring up at me. “Would you mind giving me a hand to the floor?”, she asked, more demanding than requesting.

“Oh, sure, sure!”, I said, sweeping her off her feet with my hand, as if it was a spoon, and setting her down on the floor. She just snorted and turned around, storming towards the bathroom. I was about to sit back and proceed to talk to Daniel, but I suddenly realized that it was the perfect opportunity to confront Paula without him being present.

“Hey, I think I’ll just go to the bathroom too. Sorry to leave you alone.”

“No worries.”, he said, chuckling. “I just will never understand why you girls always go to the bathroom in pairs.”

“Hehe, girls’ secret!”, I said, playing dumb, and turning around, heading towards the bathroom area.

My giant legs carried me swiftly across the place, easily outrunning Paula. There were several doors there, all marked with the women’s bathroom symbol. However, I ignored the one scaled to my size and instead waited right by the door I guessed was Paula’s size. Just moments later, I noticed the tiny Colombian girl walking towards the door I was keeping an eye on. She was still trying to dry off her top, so I decided to give her a surprise.

Instead of simply getting her attention by calling her name, I slowly placed my foot in her path. Too busy with her top, she failed to notice it and bumped against my bare ankle, falling down and landing on her rear. She released a cute, high pitched yelp as she did; I couldn’t help but chuckle a little because of this.

“Hey!”, she shouted, furiously. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“We need to talk”, I said, trying to sound tough, as I bent over and pinched her tiny ankle between my index and thumb fingers, lifting her from the floor and dangling her, upside down, right in front of my face.

“Put me down right now!”

“In a second.”, I said, walking into the bathroom my size and closing the door behind. Once inside, I unceremoniously placed her next to the sink. She jumped back onto her feet, staring up at me, defiant.

“Are you out of your mind?”, she asked, crossing her arms. “Why did you brought me here?”

“First of all, it’s 'why did you BRING me here?'”, I said, mocking her. “And second, I’m the one asking the questions here. First, why do you keep getting between Daniel and me?”

“What are you talking about?”, she said, obviously playing dumb with me. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Yes, you are. And I’m starting to get sick of it.”, I said, poking her chest with my finger, knocking her off her feet again.

“Would you cut that out already?!”, she asked, standing up yet again, dusting her clothes with her hands.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands.”, I said, leaning closer to her and poking her chest again, this time with my nose, but to the same effect.

As she got back on her feet once again, I started to realize just how roles had changed. Timid and nerdy Lena had now the upper hand against an outgoing, popular and hot Latina. And not just because of physical strength. I also seemed to be winning the quarrel for Daniel’s attention. I knew that abusing my size and strength wasn’t good at all, but I had always been bullied by girls like her. Maybe finally confronting one of them, even if a teeny tiny one, would be just what I needed to give my self-esteem a good boost.

“OK, OK, fine! I’ll tell you.”, she said, sighing. “Just stop knocking me down, OK?”

“I’m hearing you.”, I said, placing my elbows in front of her, and then resting my chin on my hands.

“Look, the thing is…you’re just too big for him.”, she started. “I’m obviously not attracted to him like that, but I really care about him. He’s my best friend, after all. So I don’t want to see him getting hurt.”

“But why would he get hurt?”, I asked, surprised. “I’d never, ever do that.”

“It’s not like that.”, she continued. “And you actually look like a nice girl. The thing is that no relationship can work with people of so different sizes. Trust me, I know.”

“OK, I understand that he’s your friend and you want to protect him, but he’s old enough, you know? He makes his own decisions now. And I’m sorry if you don’t approve, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Is that so?”, she said, defiant again. “Well, we’ll see. You might be super big, but I can get the attention of any guy I want. And I’ll make sure that he understands what a bad idea it is to have a girlfriend so big.”

“Really? And how are you gonna do that?”

“Simple. Showing him how much better the girls are at his size.”

“Is that so? Well, then, let the best girl win.”, I said, reaching for her.

“No, don’t touch me!”, she said, slapping my palm as it easily engulfed her body.

“But first…”, I said, holding her in my fist, right under the water tap and turning it on. In just a couple of seconds, her whole body was already drenched. I felt her tiny body tremble a little in my hand, so I just turned the water off and held her at face level.

“You bitch!”, she shouted, furiously.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just thought a cold shower might help you chill out a little bit”, I said, laughing.

“Just shut up and put me down, OK?”, she asked, pounding against my fist.

“That’s right. You wanted to go to the bathroom, didn’t you?”, I asked her, scratching my chin a little. “Very well, I’ll give you a lift there.”

With the tiny Colombian still in my fist, I walked out of the bathroom, taking a couple of steps towards the door her size and crouched right in front of it. I then opened my fist, holding Paula on my open palm. Smiling down at her, I reached with my other hand, pinching the back of her top with my index and thumb, and lifting her off my palm. I immediately heard a ripping sound as I did.

“Eeeek!”, she shouted. “You’re stretching it! Put me down right now!”

“Hey, I’m not stretching it.”, I said, grinning. “I’m just holding it. It’s your body that is stretching it, pulling down. Maybe if you lost a little weight…”

She seemed to snap, and started cursing at me (I guess) in Spanish. I couldn’t tell, of course, but because of her tone and the general context, I’m pretty sure she was trying to insult me.

“Don’t waste your breath, I can’t understand a word of Spanish”, I said, mocking her.

I then lowered her closer to the floor, holding her just centimeters of it. Instead of simply setting her down, I opened the tiny door with my free hand. She was already kicking her legs, as if trying to somehow reach the ground right under her.

“What are you waiting for?”, she asked, both curious and annoyed.

“Nothing at all. In you go! Adiós.”, I said, gently flicking her tiny rear with my index finger. The impact wasn’t actually very strong, just enough to fling her into the bathroom. I peeked inside right after doing it to check if everything was fine. I saw her pick herself up, rubbing her bottom.

After making sure that she wasn’t injured, I stood back up and returned to our table. Daniel was still sitting there, probably really bored.

“Sorry about that”, I said.

“No worries”, he said, obviously ignoring everything that happened between Paula and me. “Where is Paula, though?”

“Oh, isn’t she back yet?”, I asked, trying to sound curious. “I mean, we use different bathrooms, so I have no idea.”

He just shrugged and we started to talk. As much as I enjoyed finally being alone with him without her pestering us, I couldn’t help but start to feel very guilty about what I had just done. I mean, she had been just as bitchy and mean as me, but using my size to bully her like that just felt really wrong. I had always complained about bullies in school, and now I was no different than any of them. I guess that being so big compared to her and having so much control for the first time while facing someone like her was too much for me. It actually felt pretty good while it lasted, but now I just felt horrible with myself.

“Are you OK?”, Daniel asked me. “You seem a little…off”

“What? Oh! Sure, sure.”, I said, coming back to reality. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Is everything OK?”, he asked again, noticing that something was going on.

Before I could answer, though, I felt a little tickle on the side of my foot. Looking down, I noticed Paula slamming her fists against my skin.

“Paula?”, I asked her. “Need a lift?”

She didn’t answer me, just kept attacking me. Ignoring her weak attempts to hurt me, I reached down and gently picked her up, placing her on the table. She was still wet, but at least she wasn’t dripping anymore.

“Oh, my God!”, said Daniel. “What happened to you?”

I gulped, hoping she wouldn’t tell on me.

“Oh, it’s nothing”, she said, obviously not wanting to sound like a whining kid. “The bathroom tap suddenly exploded.”

“I see.”, he said. “You must be freezing! Here.”, he stood up, picked up his coat and covered her shoulders with it as good as he could. She was twice his height, so it seemed like a grown woman trying to cover herself with a child’s coat.

I appreciated that they were speaking in English for a change, but things weren’t looking very good for me. Daniel was now paying too much attention to her, practically ignoring me. This sudden turn of events had made her the victim, which caused him to focus only on her and her wellbeing.

“Thank you”, she told him, staring up at me and smiling.

I frowned, looking down at her. She was really taking advantage of her situation. And I suddenly realized to what extent. Daniel didn’t notice our glaring showdown because his eyes were somehow drawn to her cleavage. Don’t get me wrong, I know that a boy would obviously be attracted to a cleavage that big, but this was different.

Wondering what was with his sudden interest for her chest, I discretely took a glimpse of it too. I almost gasped at what I saw: her wet top got stuck to her breasts, letting any bystander see right through the fabric. No girl would feel comfortable with that, but in that specific situation, it certainly gave her the upper hand.

“Hey, you want to go dancing?”, she asked him, which snapped him out of his mesmerism.

“Eh…uhh…s…sure…”, he said, obviously embarrassed.

“Hey, Lena”, she said, looking at me. “Would you be a doll and give us a lift to the dancing floor?”

I couldn’t believe it. A doll-sized girl was calling me a doll! Somehow she was back in control, even after my childish tantrum in the bathroom. And she was even holding his hand! I certainly didn’t want to take them to the dancing floor, but if I refused I’d just seem rude. Sighing, I gently picked them up and placed them right in the middle of the dancing floor. Some other tinies were dancing on it too, so I felt pretty awkward being the only one just standing there; even more considering that my size compared to them made me easy to spot.

Daniel and Paula started dancing. Being twice as tall as he was, Paula’s crotch and rear were about the same level as his face, and she made sure to shake both of them effusively enough to keep his attention on them. Her thighs, about as big as his whole body, bumped against him every now and then, as if giving him a taste of what she could do.

I couldn’t stand it any longer. Without hesitating, I lifted my right foot and stamped it right next to them, knocking them off their feet. Startled, they stared up at me, wondering why I did that. Fortunately, I was able to think fast enough and came up with the perfect excuse.

“Oops! Sorry down there!”, I said, giggling. “I’m such a clumsy dancer!”

“Don’t worry, Lena.”, Daniel said, kindly.

They got back onto their feet and continued dancing. To make my charade believable, however, I needed to keep dancing. Unfortunately, I wasn’t lying before. I was a terribly clumsy dancer. So there I was, feeling like a T-Rex dancing among mice. Each of my steps caused about four or five dancers to fall. I kept apologizing every time it happened, but eventually they just started backing away from me, trying to avoid my enormous feet.  Some even left the dancing floor. I was so embarrassed that it took me a while to notice the kind of dance that Daniel and Paula were sharing.

Paula was dancing much dirtier than before. Her oversized rear rubbed Daniel’s face every two or three seconds. He was obviously too overwhelmed to react, and just kept dancing. She might not have been as big as me, but she certainly knew how to use her size to full potential.

I just couldn’t take it anymore. He was still MY date, and I wasn’t going to let some slutty girl lure him away from me. I walked towards them, crouched, and swiftly reached down for him. They were dancing so close to each other, and my hand was so big compared to them, that I accidentally bumped her with the back of my hand as I scooped him, once again toppling her.

Before he could even realize what was going on, I wrapped my fingers around his tiny body, snatched him from the dancing floor and gave him the biggest kiss he had ever had. I was so agitated and so nervous that I didn’t consider his size compared to me, and ended up engulfing his whole face with my lips. Realizing this, I immediately pulled him away from my face.

“I’m so sorry!”, I said, blushing. “I don’t know why I did that.”

“That’s OK, Lena.”, he said, smiling up at me. “Why did you stop, though?”

Hearing this, as if on cue, I thrust him against my lips once again, kissing him as passionately as I could. He seemed to be enjoying it just as much as I did. Our first kiss ended up being much different as I expected, but just as enjoyable and rewarding. Maybe even more.

As we kissed, I could feel Paula’s diminutive hands hitting my foot again. Without really minding her, I simply shook my foot a little, bumping my ankle against her body and knocking her over. I wasn’t going to let her ruin my first kiss with Daniel, now was I?

I finally pulled him away from my lips again. His face was all covered with my lip gloss. I giggled and used a napkin to remove it from him.

“So…”, I started, nervously. “Do you like girls who make the first move?”

“Love them!”, he answered, blowing me a kiss. I did the same and we both laughed. We probably looked like a really stupid couple as we did, but we didn’t care. I guess my reckless idea seemed to work after all, don’t you think?

***

The night finally ended. Daniel, Paula and I were already out of the club. I was holding both of them, one in each hand.

“Well, I guess it’s time to go home.”, he said.

“Of course”, I said. “But I need to do something first. Can I have a little girl to girl chat with Paula, please? It will just take a second.”

“Sure, sure. Take all the time you need.”, he said, as I put him down by my feet. “I’m glad you two girls get along already.”

Paula and I faked a smile as I walked away from him. When I was certain that he couldn’t hear us anymore, I sat on the ground, holding her on my open palm at face level.

“Listen”, I started, taking a deep breath. “I’m really sorry about what happened in there. Especially in the bathroom. I was extremely mean to you and I feel awful about it. I wasn’t being me. I don’t know why I did it. Things just got out of control. Could you please forgive me?”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.”, she said, surprisingly calm. “I admit that I was being a bitch to you, too. And I actually realized that you were right. He’s a grown boy already. I don’t have any right to control his love life. I just worry a lot about him, and I don’t want to see him hurt.”

“Oh, you really don’t have to worry about it. I promise I’ll do my best to never hurt him. I know it’s not very common to see a couple of such different sizes, but I’m sure we can make it work out.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I mean, you turned into a lioness just to fight for him.”, she said, giggling. “He seems to be in pretty good hands with you…literally!”

We both laughed now. After a very rough night, things seemed to be wrapping up pretty well. Not only had my relationship with Daniel taken a huge step forward, but Paula and I even seemed to start getting along.

“Well, still, I feel like I overdid it.”, I said, truly regretful. “If there’s anything I can ever do to make it up to you, just let me know.”

“Hmmm…very well. You might come handy in the future.”, she said, smiling. “I’ll give you a call if I ever need someone your size, then.”

“Fair enough”, I said. “Daniel has my phone number.”

“Perfect. Now, let’s go. He’s waiting for us.”

I used my free hand to push my body back on my feet, accidentally flattening a tiny bench under my palm while doing so.

“Whoops!”, I said, looking at the flattened object stuck to my palm. “Oh, well…I’ll take it as a souvenir”, I thought, chuckling. “It’s not like people can sit on it anymore.”

I walked back to Daniel and picked him up, taking both of them to their homes. I made sure I gave him my number this time. I didn’t want him to show up at my house like he did last time. I was really tired from that night, so I simply gave him a goodnight kiss and went home. I was exhausted, but just as happy. I was eager to tell Sarah how things had gone, even if that meant telling her that, once again, her plan had worked. As always, she was right. God, I hated her sometimes!

City Tour (Part 1)

Thesis Project, Chapter 3: “Absolute and relative values”

We all know tall people, short people, strong people, weak people, fast people, slow people, etc. However, those adjectives only work when we talk about people the same size (or at least close enough). Biologically, men tend to be bigger and stronger than women; however, we can’t say that if we talk about Swedish women and Canadian men, for example.

Nevertheless, we can’t help but find it a little strange to say that a 10 year old girl is stronger than a 25 year old man who works out daily, even if she could easily pin him down under her thumb. We just know something doesn’t make any sense, but we’re not exactly sure what it is.

In my opinion, we already know how to deal with this dilemma, but we don’t exactly realize it. We forget that we have different sized people even in the same country. For instance, if we see a volleyball player standing next to a petite girl, and then we weigh them both, we won’t call the tall one “chubby” and the short one “skinny” only because one is much heavier than the other. We all understand that (considering both have an average build) their weight is proportional to their height, so we find it completely normal.

It’s the same with people from different countries. Using our previous example, even if the 10 year old girl could easily pin a grown man, we understand that the man is actually stronger, but only proportionally. But in order to avoid this explanation every time we talk, I suggest a couple of concepts: “absolute size” and “relative size”.

With these concepts, we can easily say that someone is “relatively tiny”, but “absolutely tall”. They might sound strange at first, but it’s better than saying “well, he’s tall compared to other men his size, but compared to people much larger than him, then he’s obviously very short.” Plus, this also helps the professional basketball team to feel better with themselves after being easily defeated in a match by an average teenager.

But we also must not forget that, even if each person can be tall, heavy or strong by themselves, or “absolutely tall, heavy or strong”, we still have to realize that this is only a way of speaking, or maybe a way to see ourselves without comparing our bodies to others; this is not how real life works.

Even if their absolute sizes say otherwise, there’s nothing stopping a feeble geek from single handedly defeating a jock in a wrestling match, if their sizes allow it. Nor could a male robber tell a woman twice his size: “I’m bigger and stronger absolutely speaking, so give me your purse!” Well, he could, but it wouldn’t be very smart.

My point here is that we have to understand that even if there are people 10 times our size, it  doesn’t make us short or weak, nor does the existence of people 1/10th of our size make us big or strong. We are how we are, no matter how big or small we are compared to others. But we also must remember that size does play a role in our lives, and we have to consider that before dealing with others, especially if they’re gigantic or diminutive compared to us…

I would like to thank Sarah Hayek for letting me use her original idea and concepts in this chapter.

The next few months went great with Daniel. I’m well aware that the first year is the easiest one in a relationship, but hey, I can still enjoy it, can’t I? But don’t worry; I’m not going to bore you with uneventful days. Let’s just say we’ve been staying out of trouble. Unfortunately, as you all know, boyfriend problems aren’t the only kind of trouble a girl can get into.

It was about 8:00 pm when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to see one of the persons I least expected to be there: my dad. But even more surprising was the girl with him. She had short blonde hair and blue eyes, and a cute facial expression. Almost child-like. But the most shocking characteristic of this girl was her height. To me, she was a just under 2.5 meters tall (about 8 feet).

“D…dad?”, I asked, surprised.

“Lena!”, he said, walking inside and hugging me. “Nice to see you! It’s been a long while.”

“Ummm…yeah…”, I said. I had a lot of things to ask, but I wanted to do that in private, so I played cool. “So, who’s your…friend?”

“Oh, hehe, she’s not my friend.”, he said, kind of proudly. “Her name is Svetlana. She’s my girlfriend.”

“Your…girlfriend?”, I said, trying not to sound too surprised. “But come in. Let’s talk inside.”

I walked back into the house, followed by my father. However, as Svetlana tried to do the same, she smacked her forehead against the doorframe, causing her to stumble a couple of steps back while rubbing her head with her hand.

“Ouch…”, she said. “I’m such a klutz.”

“Oh, my God!”, I said, walking outside. “Are you OK?”

“Yeah, I’m fine”, she answered. “Don’t worry”.

“Hehe, isn’t she adorable?”, my dad asked.

Svetlana hunched a little and walked through the doorframe. Fortunately, the ceiling inside was high enough so she could stand to full height. I then noticed that her blouse and her skirt were both stained with a red liquid, but I didn’t want to ask yet. I just met the girl, after all.

“Svetlana, this is my daughter, Lena.”, my dad said.

“Lena! It’s so nice to finally meet you!”, she said, giving me a tight hug.

Considering our height difference, my head was squeezed right between her breasts. As embarrassing as that was, I didn’t want to seem rude, so I didn’t say anything. Fortunately, though, the hug didn’t last long.

“I’m Svetlana, by the way”, she said, shaking my hand. “Oh! He already told you my name, hehe. Sorry, I forgot.”

“It’s OK. Nice to meet you, Svetlana.”

“Oh, and don’t feel intimidated by my height.”, she said, trying to sound reassuring. “Even in Russia I tower over most people. You see, I’m 1.88 m tall (6’1’’)”

“No kidding”, I said. “So you’re Russian.”

“Yes, I am. From Moscow, to be specific. And by the way, you’re free to call me 'mom' or 'mommy'. Plus, a mother is supposed to be taller than her daughter, so it even makes sense.”, she said, smiling.

“S…sure.”, I said, now a little uncomfortable. “So…what happened to your clothes?”, I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Oh, this…”, she said, blushing. “A little accident with the wine.”

“I see. Well, do you want to change? You can use my bedroom.”

“Well, unfortunately, they lost Svetlana’s luggage in the airport.”, my dad said.

“I see”, I said. “If you want, I can wash those for you. You know, while you take a shower or something.”

“That’d be great!”, she said, immediately taking off her clothes. She even took her undies off! “Where’s your shower?”

“Ummm…it’s…across the hall, the left door.”, I answered, trying not to look at her body.

“Thank you”, she said, giving me her clothes and walking to the hall.

As soon as she disappeared from sight, I grabbed my dad’s hand and pulled him to the couch, sitting him down. I then sat next to him.

“OK, what the Hell is going on?”, I asked him, crossing my arms.

“What?”, he said, obviously playing dumb. “Don’t you like Svetlana?”

“You know what I mean. How old is she?”

“Hey, hey, calm down, Lena. I’m not doing anything illegal here. She just turned 18.”

“18! Oh, my God. She’s 6 years younger than me, and I’m your daughter. What does that say to you?”

“I know she’s younger, but so what?”

“But this is a lot younger. You’re exactly 3 times her age.”

“Oh, so are you one of those? I didn’t think you’d care about age.”

“It’s not that, dad. It’s just…she seems really inexperienced, naïve and gullible. Is this serious? How long have you two been together?”

“A few days.”, he said, sounding a little embarrassed.

“Oh, boy… Listen, dad. This girl has the mental maturity of a 10 year old. I just want to make sure that you know what you’re doing. Don’t you dare hurt this girl like you hurt mom.”

“That was cheap, Lena.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I just want you to think about it. If she agreed to travel with you and come meet your daughter after just a few days of knowing you, it means she’s really into you. And probably very vulnerable. Just be careful, OK dad?”

“It’s OK, Lena.”, he said, standing up. “I’ll think about it. Thanks again for letting us stay here with you.”

“You’re welcome, dad.”

Just then, Sarah appeared from the hall.

“Ummm…why is there a wet, naked amazon in my room?”

“Long story”, I said, as dad and I chuckled.

***

We decided that dad would sleep on the couch, me and Sarah would sleep in her room, and Svetlana would stay in mine.

“Are you sure you want to sleep naked?”, I asked her. “I can at least give you some extra blankets, so you don’t freeze during the night.”

“Thanks, but you don’t have to worry. I’m from Russia. This is actually warm to me.”

“Hehe, I see. Well, if you need anything, I’ll be just across the hall, OK?”

“OK, thanks.”, she said, getting into bed. Her feet, ankles, and even part of her calves were sticking out from under the blanket. “Good night, little Lena”

“Good night…mommy…”, I said, biting my tongue. I felt super awkward saying that, but I wanted to make her feel welcome and happy. Ironically, I started seeing her as my daughter. As if had to make sure she was OK and stayed out of trouble.

I turned out the lights and walked out of my room, closing the door behind me.

“Could you leave the door open?”, she said from the bed.

“Awww…afraid of the dark?”

“A little…”, she said. “We watched a horror film in the plane.”

“OK, sure. I’ll leave the hall light on, OK?”

“Thanks.”, she said, smiling.

So I left the door open and the hall light on.

***

Next morning, I was woken up by a knock on the door. I opened it, still rubbing my eyes. It was my dad.

“What is it, dad?”

“Sorry to wake you up, Lena. I need to ask you a favor.”

“Ummm…sure, what is it?”

“Well, Svetlana wants to take a tour around the city, and I don’t even know where to go. So, I was wondering…could you show her around?”

“I…I guess. Are you coming with?”

“Oh, I better not. I’m not as interested in a tiny city. Plus, it’s 8:00 am. I’m not as young as you two. I need to sleep more.”

“It’s 8:00 am! But it’s Saturday…”

“Please…don’t do it for me, do it for her.”

“OK, OK, fine. I’ll go.”

“Thanks. Oh, one more thing. Can I sleep in your room once you leave?”

“Sure, dad. Suit yourself.”

“Thanks again, Lena.”

“Anytime, dad.”

So I walked into my room, as all my clothes where in there.

“Svetlana? Are you up yet…?”

But when I walked in, I noticed she was not only up, but dressed to. And since she had no clothes of hers, guess whose clothes she was wearing. My red blouse looked almost like a sleeveless, crop top on her. My pants, which usually are a bit loose, looked like close fit knee-high jeans. But the worst part was the footwear. Since her feet were obviously too big to fit into most of my shoes, she was wearing my bunny slippers! Makes sense, I guess, being the shoes with more room for feet inside them. But even so, her feet were too big to completely slip them in. Her whole heel and the back half of her foot stuck out of the slipper. And even the front part of her foot was pressing inside out, deforming the facial expressions of the “bunnies”. The poor things seemed to be suffering, as if trying to avoid bursting because of the oversized-feet pressure.

“Hi, Lena!”, she said, cheerfully. “I hope you don’t mind me borrowing some of your stuff. Your father told me it was OK.”

“Of course he did…”, I said, sighing. “Yes, it’s OK, no worries. You can take them. So, ready to go?”

“Super ready!”, she said, walking out of the bedroom. “Mexico City, here I come!”

I put on a colorful, loose summer top, a pair of shorts and flip-flops. I didn’t mind seeming too casual, and I knew I’d be walking a lot, so I tried to feel comfortable. I tied my hair back in a ponytail and followed Svetlana.

Our first stop was the archeological area of Teotihuacán. It was near the outskirts of the city, but it didn’t take long to get there by bus. That is, when the bus is our scale. Once there, we noticed that the place was a bit crowded with tourists, although most of them were either Mexicans or around the same size. We made our way to the tallest pyramid, although it was about as tall as Svetlana.

“Is this it?”, Svetlana asked, sounding a little disappointed. “Is this the Sun Pyramid?”

“Well, yeah.”, I answered, standing on my tips, trying to get a closer look to the pyramid’s top. “But don’t judge it by its size. It took a massive effort to the Aztecs to build it.”

Svetlana looked at the tiny people in front of her blue eyes, smiling. She probably was somewhat bored, and not interested in what I was saying, but I didn’t notice right away, so I just kept talking. She waved down at the tourists, and they cheerfully waved back. Most Mexicans tend to be very friendly towards what they call “güeritas”, which translates more or less as “blondies”, so it makes sense that the enormous Russian was the center of attention.

However, none of them knew what was about to happen, or they wouldn’t have stayed there for long. Without even warning, Svetlana placed both hands on the pyramid’s flat top. Fortunately, no one got caught under her palms, but it didn’t end there. Using her arms’ strength, she pushed herself up, trying to join the rest of the tourists. Most backed away, scared, but some just stared up in awe at her bulging biceps as they pushed her huge body higher and higher.

Using the sloped sides of the pyramid as steps, she added her legs’ might to the motion. In a few more seconds, she was already there. Her bunny slipper-clad feet took most of the space, causing the rest of the tourists to back away from them, and even start climbing down the pyramid. Needless to say that, when I noticed, I started to freak out.

“Svetlana!”, I shouted. “What are you doing up there?! Get down right now!”

“Don’t worry, Lena. I’m not going to fall down.”, she said, as if trying to reassure me.

“I mean it. That pyramid is thousands of years old. You can’t step on it!”

“It’s OK. I saw other tourists step on it, too. It’s not forbidden.”

“It’s not forbidden for tourists their size. You’re too big! Please, just get back here.”

“But Lena…”

Before we could continue arguing, the local security showed up, gathering by my feet. As soon as I saw them I knew we’d be in trouble. I crouched to be able to hear them better.

“Miss, we’re gonna have to ask you to tell your friend to get down and leave the area.”, one of them said in a commanding voice.

“Of course, officer.”, I said, not wanting any problems. “Svetlana! Get down here! The police are here!”

They weren’t really the police, but I knew that’d make her obey. Without losing another second, she jumped down onto the ground, her feet causing a tremor as they landed, strong enough to knock all the officers and every tourist nearby off their feet. She also left a pair of 30’x10’ footprints on the spot.

“OK, let’s go, girl!”, I said, grabbing her hand and dragging her away from there. When we were far enough, we stopped.

“What’s wrong, Lena?”, she asked, confused.

“They got kind of angry”, I said. “You can’t behave as you did in Russia. People here are much smaller. You have to be very careful, or you could break something, or even hurt someone.”

“Oh…right”, she said, obviously sad. “I’m sorry, Lena. I’m not used to being in tiny cities.”

“Hey, don’t worry. I’ll make sure to keep you out of trouble. Just ask me before doing something. Deal?”

“Deal”, she said, smiling, as we made our way back to the city.

City Tour (Part 2)

I obviously wasn’t a tourist guide, and even if I had lived there for a little while, I didn’t know what would interest Svetlana. That’s why I decided to take her to the called “Centro”, where most of the touristic landmarks were. However, I was about to find out that a girl her size was much harder to impress than I thought.

The first thing I thought of was the city’s symbol: the Angel of Independence (or “Ángel de la Independencia”, as the locals call it). A golden angel standing on top of a tower, as if watching for the city around it. Personally, I thought it was a very powerful landmark, but Svetlana didn’t seem to agree with me. I guess a waist-high tower holding a 25 cm tall (about 9 inches) angel wasn’t exactly very impressive to her.

“Is this it?”, she asked, bending down a little to get a closer look. “Is this really the symbol of the whole city? This statuette is even smaller than a Barbie doll.”

“Don’t be mean.”, I said. “Remember that you’re much bigger than them. This is actually quite big and imposing to Mexicans.”

“Oh, no, don’t get me wrong. I think this little figurine is quite cute.”, she said, reaching for it.

“No, don’t touch it!”, I said, pulling her arm before she could do so. “If you do anything to it you’re gonna get the army here!”

“OK, OK, fine!”, she said, crossing her arms, as if to keep them away from the landmark. “I wasn’t going to drop it, or steal it.”

“I know, I’m sorry, but they’re really apprehensive with these things, so…sorry.”

“It’s OK”, she said, sighing. “Hey, what’s that sound?”

Looking down, we both noticed a huge traffic jam, apparently caused by Svetlana’s huge feet standing in the middle of the street. Most car drivers were already blowing their horns at her. A few had even got out of their cars and were standing right by her feet, yelling up and telling her to move. Much more interested in them than in the angel, she crouched, looking amused at the tiny crowd on the street.

“Hey, Lena, check this out! What do you think they’re doing here? Maybe a parade?”

“No, Svetlana. You’re blocking the cars flow.”, I said, actually giggling a little, finding the situation somewhat hilarious.

“Oh! Am I?”, she said, obviously embarrassed, and stood back to full height, taking a step aside, letting the cars drive on. “This city is super tiny, Lena. I’m bigger than everything around me. Even buildings.”

“Oh, so you want something big, huh? OK, let’s go. I have something in mind.”

Our walk across this part of the city was surprisingly easy. While Svetlana was obviously struggling with each step, the citizens in general seemed to be used to having people our size passing by, even if we were the only ones at the moment. They knew just where to stand, when, and how to know when someone so big was approaching and from what direction.

Before we could reach our destination, though, Svetlana seemed to be tired of walking. Even panting a little bit. So we stopped for a moment, to let her catch her breath.

“Are you OK?”, I asked. “You’re sweating a lot.”

“I’m fine”, she said. “I’m just a little tired.”

“Tired? But your legs are longer than mine. You haven’t walked much.”

“I know, but the heat is killing me! I’m from Russia. I feel like I’m inside an oven.”

“Oh…I see. Well, why don’t you rest here a little while I go get you something to drink?”

“Thanks a lot, Lena. You’re a very nice girl.”

And so I went to get her a bottle of ice water. Being a touristic area, there were some places to get stuff our size, but not that many. That’s why I had to walk a little while to find one. When I walked back to Svetlana, however, I saw something I didn’t expect. There she was, lying down on her back, right in the middle of the “zócalo”, which is some kind of enormous plinth where people can walk or simply stand to look around. There was a big flagpole in the middle, displaying Mexico’s flag proudly. Well, big to Mexicans. The pole was a little shorter than Svetlana’s shoulder.

Seeing her lying down like that, I obviously freaked out. There were hundreds of tinies around her, which made me freak out even more. Without thinking it twice, I hurried towards her. The slapping of my flip-flops against the ground probably scared a few of them, since they immediately backed away from her. I kneeled down next to her face.

“Svetlana!”, I said, really worried. “Are you OK? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, hi Lena”, she said, cheerfully, which helped me calm down a little.

“What are you doing here?”

“I just decided to lay down for a little while.”, she said, sitting up. “But yeah, I’m feeling just fine.”

“Oh, thank God”, I said, sighing in relief. “I thought you had a sunstroke or something!”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine”, she said, smiling. “Hey! You got me some water! Thanks!”

I helped her back onto her feet as she took a few gulps of water. Everyone around us started clapping and cheering as we did. As I blushed, not feeling comfortable being the center of attention like that, Svetlana noticed the flagpole and walked towards it.

“Hey, Lena, check this out!”, she said, and started blowing at the flag, trying to make it wave.

“What are you doing now, silly?”

“Just making it wave. It looks better like that. I suppose I can’t take it either, right?”

“Sorry, no. But don’t worry, I bet you’ll like our next stop.”

“OK, then.”, she said, caressing the flag a little with her hand before we left the area.

Our following path was harder than the rest, since the buildings were pretty close to each other, making it hard for us to walk through, since there was just a narrow space for us to pass. Not to mention that this made it even more difficult to find enough room to put our feet as we carefully stepped right next to pedestrians and cars alike.

Fortunately, it didn’t take us too long to find our goal. In front of us stood a gigantic tower, more than twice Svetlana’s height. Not too tall if we consider that it’s the tallest building in Mexico, but it was the first time Svetlana had to actually look up to see something since she arrived to the country, so I hoped it’d do the trick.

“Svetlana, this is the famous Latin-American Tower. Or 'Torre Latinoamericana', in Spanish”, I said, smiling.

“Wow!”, she said, staring up at it. “It’s very tall! What’s inside?”

“Well, why don’t you go and see for yourself?”

Clapping excitedly, she walked towards it, looking through the tiny windows. Most of the floors that were eye level to her had offices inside. The people inside their cubicles were startled for a second by the enormous blonde girl suddenly appearing, but as most people there, they were used to tourist of different sizes, so they continued working after a few seconds.

However, as soon as Svetlana cupped her hands around her eyes and held them against the glass of the windows to avoid the sun reflection, many workers screamed and got away from their desks, gathering at the opposite end of the building, worried that the pressure of her hands was going to shatter the glass windows.

“Lena, look! There are a lot of tinies in here!”, she said, amused.

“Just don’t lean against the building”, I said, snapping my fingers to make her hurry. “The windows are fragile!”

“Oh, sorry”, she said, immediately backing away from it.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t paying attention as she backed away from the building, and she accidentally bumped a tiny couple with her bare heel, knocking them both off their feet. Gasping, she turned around, bending over to see if any of them was hurt. As she did, though, her butt hit the tower she had just peeked through, breaking dozens of windows with the impact. Already pretty agitated, she turned around, backing away again. Fortunately, the couple had already got away, so instead, she stepped right on a parked police car.

The two policemen, who were standing next to a tacos stand, could only watch as their car was easily flattened under the gigantic foot of a blonde girl, as if it was an empty can. The vehicle soon disappeared under slipper fabric and flesh alike. They then stared up, crossing their arms.

“Oops!”, she said, innocently. “S…sorry?”

“You’re gonna have to come with us, miss”, said one of the police officers.

“Wait, hold on a second.”, I said, crouching next to them. “Please don’t do anything to her. It was an accident. It’s her first time here and she’s not used to watch her step.”

“I’m sorry, but she has to come with us.”

“Please…there must be another way.”

“Well…”, one of them started. “The insurance can take care of this.”

“Oh, really?”, I asked, really surprised. “Does it cover giants destroying stuff?”

“If it’s an accident, yes”, he said, now sounding serious. “But why would we say it was an accident?”

“Please, please, please. You gotta help us.”

“Then you have to help us help you, miss”, he said, grinning.

“S…sure. How can I help you?”

“Well, those earrings are very pretty.”

“M…my earrings?”, I asked, quickly taking them off. “Sure, sure, they’re yours.”, I said, taking them off and placing them next to the two police officers.

“And the necklace too.”, the other one said.

“The necklace.”, I said, sighing. “F…fine…it’s yours too.”, I placed it next to the earrings.

“And the ring too.”

“What?”, I asked, now upset. “That’s too much.”

“Well, then, we’ll have to take your friend with us.”

“OK, OK, fine!”, I placed my ring on the ground. “Can we go now?”

“Yeah, I guess you can go. Just watch your step from now on, girls.”

“Thanks”, I said, obviously not meaning it, and grabbed Svetlana’s hand. “Let’s go. We’re going home now.”

I know it was wrong to bribe those officers, but things in Mexico kind of work like that. You can get in a lot of trouble if you refuse to do it when they ask. They don’t get anything from arresting someone, so they decide to take a little advantage of it. It’s still not a good excuse to do it, but I didn’t want Svetlana to get in trouble. The poor girl was already really shaken because of all the wrecking she caused and I just wanted it all to end.

We finally got back home. Tired and a little stressed, we only wanted to rest. But when we got inside, we couldn’t find my dad anywhere.

“Dad?”, I asked, walking into my bedroom. He was nowhere to be found. Just before I left the room, I noticed a sheet of paper on my bed. Without telling Svetlana, I picked it up and read it. It said:

“Hello, Lena.

I thought a lot about what you said earlier, and I think you’re right. This relationship is just wrong. I’m taking advantage of this poor girl. She deserves much better than me, just like your mom did. I don’t want to ruin her life, and I won’t. Please be easy when explaining this to her. I don’t want her to be too sad. You know I never was good with words, but I know she’s in good hands with you. Let her know that she’ll be happier without me. I’m sorry again to leave like this, but it’s for the best.

Loves you, dad”

***

“But why would he leave like this?”, Svetlana asked me, as she hugged me tightly. “Without even saying goodbye?”

“He was ashamed.”, I said, patting her back.

“And why did he leave, anyway? Was I not good enough?”

“No, no, don’t say that, girl! You’re more than enough for any guy.”

“Maybe it’s my height.”, she said, sobbing. “I know many men are intimidated by taller women.”

“Trust me”, I said, thinking her reasoning was a bit cute. “Your looks weren’t a problem here. At all.”

“Then why?”

“He thinks you’ll be happier with a someone your age.”

“Why would he think that? I love him. And love doesn’t know of age.”

“It’s not that”, I said, feeling more like a mom than a friend. “It’s just that…well, you love him, right? And you want to be with him as long as possible. But with this age difference, he’ll probably die when you’re still young. You’ll be very sad at such an early age. Do you want that?”

“Well, no, but…”

“And even worse if you have kids. You want them to grow up without a dad?”

“N…no, I don’t”.

“So you understand now?”

“I…I think so”, she said, starting to calm down. “But I’m still going to miss him.”

“Of course you are”, I said, feeling really sorry for her. Even though they were together for a very brief time, she somehow got to like him a lot.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

“It must be him!”, she said, rushing to the door and opening it. A man stood there, but it wasn’t my dad.

“Excuse me, I’m bringing lost luggage. Is this the right address?”, he asked, staring up in awe at the tall Russian.

“Y…yes, it’s here.”, she said, recognizing her luggage. “Thanks.”

“Have a nice evening”, he said, and left.

Svetlana took her stuff and closed the door.

“Lena?”, she said, looking at the floor. “Would it be OK if I stayed with you a few days? I really don’t want to be alone right now.”

“Sure, sure. Stay as long as you want, dear”, I said, hugging her again. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay with your family?”

“No, that’s not a good idea.”, she said, shaking her head. “I think it’s time to start my own life, away from home. I want to be independent.”

“I see. Well, tomorrow we’ll go get you a job, then. If you’re gonna live here, you need to start working.”

“Yay!”, she said, excited. “I hope my inexperience won’t be an issue. I’ve never had a job before.”

“Well…”, I said, looking at her face, her body and her size in general. “Something tells me you won’t have much trouble finding a job…”

I was really angry at my dad, as you can probably imagine. However, he did bring Svetlana to my life, and I really thank him for that. She soon became one of my closest friends, and we’ve had tons of fun together. But I’ll go into that later…

Three Stories

Thesis Project, Chapter 4: Size and Tourism

Each one of us, at least once in our lives, has thought about travelling. Meeting new places, new people, new cultures, and even new weathers; all of those awaken our adventure spirit. So what do we do? We look for places that look interesting, fun, and in general worth the trip. Most of us don’t have the time and money to afford to travel a lot, so we have to be very picky.

This is where the first problem appears. One of the most common methods that we use when we pick our destination is seeing pictures of the places. “This one looks very pretty”, “Wow, look at that palace!”, or “What a cute town” are just a few common expressions that we might use while checking the photographs of the cities we intend to visit.

And that’s OK. It’s important to at least see a few images of the place before actually going there. However, as we see the pictures, we might forget that, depending on our scale compared to the destination city, we could find ourselves in a landscape completely different from what we expected.

And don’t get me wrong, I know that people aren’t stupid. They’d obviously try to estimate the size difference before travelling, knowing very well that scale might play a big role in their trip. But some might not consider that landmarks and other touristic places might not have quite the same impact as they seemed to do in the pictures, especially since some of them rely on their size to overwhelm the tourists.

For example, the Tokyo Tower is an awe inspiring sight, but an Icelandic tourist might not be too impressed by a shoulder-height, feeble looking tower, even if she can perceive most of its details. The Great Wall of China, as long as it is, would probably not seem so majestic to an Australian tourist, considering that the wall with be about as tall as her ankle. And how about the statue of Christ the Redeemer? It’s one of the most important landmarks in Latin America, and the Brazilians are very proud of it. That said, to a British tourist, it’d look like a normal guy standing on a pedestal. Not to mention an Austrian tourist; to her, it’d look like a 2 year old child standing on a chair, trying in vain to reach his mother’s height.

I assure you, I’m not trying to disrespect or denigrate any landmark in the world. I’m just saying that those which rely on size to “wow” onlookers might lose a little punch when the tourists surpass certain scale. But they’d be just as beautiful and mesmerizing as they were before. That doesn’t change a bit.

Another example: the Taj Mahal. It’s one of the most admired and visited landmarks in India and in the world, and even a Czech tourist should be fascinated by its splendid construction and perfect proportions, even if she’s big enough to hold the whole construction (not counting the base holding the minarets) on the palm of her hand, as if it were one of those tiny souvenirs that smaller people can buy at the landmark’s site.

On the other hand, smaller tourists would probably be overwhelmed by the colossal proportions of landmarks, so it’d most likely just enhance their visit. That’s why I’m mainly focusing on bigger tourists in these paragraphs, because they’re more likely to underestimate landmarks, just because of their size compared to them. So I’m inviting every person who visits a smaller city to be a little more open minded and to lay aside the size differences. That way, they’ll be able to appreciate much more the treasures that human culture around the world can offer.

“Svetlana!”, I shouted, already annoyed. “Hurry up, or you’re gonna be late!”

As I promised, I was helping Svetlana get a job, but she was taking forever to get ready to go. I was sitting on the couch in the living room, waiting for my Russian roomie to walk out of my bedroom. After a few minutes, I heard steps coming from the hall. Standing up, I noticed it wasn’t Svetlana, but Sarah.

“Hi there, Lenny”, she said.

“Hi, Sarah. Where are you going?”, I asked, knowing that she didn’t work on Fridays.

“Oh, I’m babysitting”

“Really? You? How come?”

“Well, it seems like an easy way to get some extra cash. Watch TV while some kid sleeps.”

“Hehe, if you say so.”

“Yeah. I’m spending the weekend there, though. Just so you know.”

“Really? Will you even fit in the house? I mean, this is Mexico, after all.”

“Hope so!”, she said, giggling. “It’s some kind of summer house in the outskirts of the city, so…they obviously have money. I guess the place should be big enough to accommodate me.”

“Well, good luck, then!”, I said, waving at her as she opened the front door.

“Oh, hey! Look who’s here!”, she said, looking down. “She’s on the couch, tiger.”

I looked at the front door, noticing my tiny boyfriend walking in, just as Sarah left. He walked towards me, smiling as I waited, sitting on the couch.

“Hi, honey!”, he said, standing by my feet.

“Hi there. What are you doing here?”, I asked confused. “Not that I’m not happy to see you.”

“Well, I have a big surprise for you!”

“Oh! What is it?”, I asked, excited.

“It’s better if I show it to you. Come on, let’s go.”

“Actually…I kind of have to do something first”

“You do? What is it?”

“Well, I promised my new roomie to help her get a job, so…”

“New roomie?”, he asked. “What new roomie?”

“Oh, right, sorry, I forgot to tell you. Her name is…”

The sound of footsteps interrupted me, and Daniel and I both looked at the hall. To my dismay, Svetlana was walking towards us…completely naked! Her body looked wet, as if she had just finished showering. As a reflex, I stamped my foot right in front of Daniel, blocking his view.

“Svetlana!”, I said, blushing. “What are you doing here, and naked?!”

“Well, I wasn’t sure what to wear to the job interview, so I came to ask you before getting dressed.”

“You could at least have put on some underwear.”

“I know, but it’s fine. I mean, we’re just girls in the house, anyway.”

“No, we’re not! My boyfriend is here!”

As if on cue, Daniel walked around my foot, staring up at Svetlana. Both of them looked at each other, mouth open. With a swift movement, I snatched him from the floor, trapping his tiny body inside my hand. Only his kicking legs stuck out from my closed fist. Svetlana’s eyes were fixed on my hand.

“Awww…is that your boyfriend?”, she asked, stating the obvious.

“Yeah, he is. Now go get dressed!”

“Right, right, sorry”, she said, turning around and leaving. “Oh! So, what do I wear?”

“Whatever you want is fine!”, I said, already a little annoyed.

“OK, sure.”, she said, and walked into my bedroom.

As soon as I was sure that Svetlana was gone, I opened my hand again, holding him on the palm of my hand.

“Hey! What was that about?”, he asked, crossing his arms.

“You know what! She was naked!”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you had to do that! It’s not like I was staring.”

“Yeah, right, you weren’t staring…”, I said, sighing.

“So, where is she from? She’s huge!”

“She’s Russian, and I know how big she is.”

“Awww…are you…jealous?”

“Jealous? No, no! Of course not!”, I said, blushing even more.

“Awww…that’s so cute”, he said, hugging my thumb. “Well, you really shouldn’t. You’re so much prettier than her.”

“Pfff! Yeah, right.”

“I mean it. But, anyway, can I come along, then?”

“Sure, why not? It won’t take long, and then you can show me the surprise.”

“Very well, let’s go.”

“As soon as Miss Slowmo decides to get ready, that is.”

****

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached the Colombian Café where Paula worked. Before we walked in, however, I carefully placed Daniel inside my pants pocket.

“Hey, what are you doing, Lena?”, he asked me.

“I just rather keep you out of her sight while we’re here…”

“But Lena…”

Before he could keep talking, I slipped my right hand inside my pocket, not only muffling his voice, but also keeping him inside, without hopes of escaping. I could feel him squirming, struggling against my hand, but I easily held him in place. When I was sure that he wasn’t getting out, Svetlana and I walked into the café.

I thought it was going to be a little hard to spot a tiny girl like her in a place so large, but as soon as we were inside, we could hear a tiny, squeaky voice, calling my name from the floor. Looking down, we saw a tiny girl, hands cupped around her mouth, staring up.

“Lena?”, she asked, obviously surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi there.”, I said, crouching at her. When I noticed she was just holding an empty tray, I gently picked her up with my free hand.

“Whoa! Hey! I’m working!”, she said, almost dropping the tray.

“Sorry, sorry, this will only take a second.”

“OK, OK, fine.”, she said, staring up at Svetlana. “Who’s your friend?”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”, I said. “She’s Svetlana. She comes from Russia, and we were wondering if…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Svetlana had already snatched Paula from my hand, rubbing her tiny body against her cheek.

“Awwww! Look at her!”, she said, happily. “She’s so cute!”

“Hehehe…thanks, I guess.”, Paula said, unable to fight back.

“Ummm…yeah…anyway”, I proceeded. “We just wanted to know if you could help her find a job as a waitress here.”

“Oh, well, sure, I guess. But that’s not up to me.”, she said.

“Then who?”, asked Svetlana.

“See that door over there?”, Paula said, pointing at the end of a hall. “That’s the office of the guy in charge of hiring.”

“Oh, great, then I’ll go talk to him.”, Svetlana said, walking straight towards the door.

“Wow…that girl is really straightforward, huh?”, asked Paula, chuckling.

“You have no idea.”, I answered. “But you’ll find out once she’s hired.”

“Is that so? How are you so sure she’ll get the job?”

“Well, it’s like that song from Sonata Arctica. A Job as a waitress she sure was to find, beautiful face, mind of a child.”, I said, giggling.

“Hehehe, good point”, said Paula. “Anyway, how are things with your little boyfriend?”

“Actually, we were just about to go somewhere where he says he’ll show me a surprise.”

“No kidding! Well, then, don’t linger here anymore. Just go. And of course, you’ll let me know what it is later, right?”

“Of course, silly”, I said, placing her back down on the floor.

“Thanks. And don’t worry about your friend. I’ll take care of her.”

“Good to know. She’s probably gonna need it.”

And with that, I walked out of the café, taking Daniel out of my pocket.

“That was uncalled for”, he said, upset.

“Sorry…I won’t do that again. Promise.”

“OK, OK, fine.”, he said, obviously faking a sigh.

“So…where’s my surprise! I want to see it now!”

“Calm down. We’ll get there. Just follow this street. I’ll let you know where to turn.”

And so I did. With my little boyfriend on the palm of my hand, I followed the path he pointed, more and more excited to see what he had in store for me.

High School Bully (Part 1)

As I was walking through the city, I noticed that the shoelaces of my right sneaker were untied. Sighing in relief, thinking of what could have happened if I accidentally had stepped on them, I kneeled, placing Daniel carefully on the ground.

“It’ll just take a second.”, I said. “I just need to tie my shoelace.”

As I leaned my head down, though, my glasses accidentally fell from my face, landing on a young woman passing by, knocking her down. Gasping, I quickly picked up my glasses, putting them on, and then looked back down at the girl. She was already getting back on her feet, dusting her clothes with her hands. She was wearing a very fashion summer dress, along with a pair of platform sandals. She also seemed to be quite taller than the people around, although she still looked very Latina.

“I’m really, really sorry!”, I said, horribly embarrassed.

“Ugh…”, she said, looking at me now. “Watch it! Those stupid glasses almost killed me!”

There was something very familiar about her face and her voice, and it only took me a couple of seconds to realize what it was.

“F…Fernanda?”, I asked her. “Are you Fernanda Cardozo?”

“Yes…?”, she stared up at me, dumbfounded. “How do you know my name?”

“Oh, my God! It really is you!”, I said, excited. “I’m Lena! Lena Wolf, remember?”

“Not really, no.”

“Come on! We went to high school together.”, I continued. “You studied in Canada, right?”

“Yes, I did, but…I don’t remember you.”

“Oh…”, I said, a little hurt. “Well, it makes sense. The school was full of Canadians. You were one of the few foreign students. You come from Chile, right?”

“I do, yes. But who are you? I can’t remember. Although those nerdy glasses do sound familiar”

As soon as she mentioned my glasses, I started to blush. I was talking to one of the most popular girls back in school, and I was wearing the most informal and lazy clothes in my entire wardrobe! A gray sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and white sneakers weren’t exactly the most fashion thing to wear. Not to mention that I was wearing absolutely no makeup and my hair was tied down in a scruffy bun. I was giving an awful first impression, for sure.

Daniel, meanwhile, was watching the both of us chatting, and was obviously curious about this new girl. However, he didn’t say anything.

“Oh! Remember those two girls who were always with you?”

“Yeah…why? You were one of them?”

“Oh, no, no. They…umm…”, I looked at the ground, embarrassed. “They…err…kind of…used to shove my head into the toilet, make me trip into the mud, etc. You know, that kind of stuff.”

“My, my! They did?”, she said, acting surprised. “Well, but it wasn’t me, then.”

“No, of course not. But you kind of told them to. And you actually stole and hid my glasses every time you could. That wasn’t them.”

“I see. Well, that happened a long while ago.”, she said, defensively. “It was high school! You don’t still hold a grudge against me, do you?”

“No, no, not at all!”, I said, now feeling like a whiny kid. “I just thought it’d help you remember me.”

“I see. Well, I’m sorry, but the name Lena doesn’t ring any bells.”

“You even gave me a nickname. It was Lena…”

“Lena the hyena!”, she said, proudly, as if happy that she remembered. “I remember now!”

Hearing the nickname, Daniel took a step towards Fernanda, staring up at her. He came just a little above her hips.

“That sounds like an awful nickname.”, he said with a serious voice.

“Excuse me?”, she said, hands on hips. “Who are you?”

“I’m Lena’s boyfriend, Daniel.”, he said, crossing his arms.

“I see. So Lena the hyena got a boyfriend. Who would have thought…?”

“Stop calling her that!”, he said, angrily.

“Hey, calm down, little guy. It was just a stupid nickname. Plus, do you know how hard it was to find a word that rhymed with Lena?”, she said, as if showing off her accomplishment. “And English isn’t even my first language.”

“I don’t care. Stop calling her that.”

“Oh, or what?”, she said, taunting him.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I swiftly lowered my open hand, creating a wall between them. I was carefully enough not to hit any of them, but the impact of my hand against the ground knocked them both off their feet.

“Enough!”, I said, nervously. “Please stop arguing. I’m not mad at her, Daniel. It was a long while ago.”

They both stood up. Daniel didn’t seem very happy, although Fernanda was already grinning.

“Thanks, Lena.”, she said, smiling up at me. “So, why are you dressed like that? Were you jogging or something?”

“What? No, no, I was just…you know…taking a walk.”

“Dressed like that?”, she said, snorting. “I remember you never had a great sense of fashion, so I guess it makes sense. Especially those glasses!”

“I…I…”, I didn’t know what to say. “S…so what are you doing in Mexico?”

“Touristing”, she said, picking up her summer hat and sunglasses from the floor and putting them on. “I was actually heading towards the Museo de Antropología”

“I see.”, I said, a little offended that she didn’t ask why I was in Mexico. “I could take you there, if you want.”

“Thanks, but I rented a car, and I can’t just leave it behind”

“Then I’ll carry it too.”

“I don’t think so.”, she said, shaking her head. “I can see you’re still a big klutz, and I don’t want you denting the car. Especially since it’s not even mine.”

“I’ll be careful, really!”, I said, now sounding like a little girl begging for approval.

“I said no.”, she said, and I immediately stopped talking. “Just take me to the car.”

Feeling like a scolded child, I placed my open palm next to her, waiting for her to climb on, and then carefully lifted her off the ground. I did the same with Daniel. Unfortunately, with all the chit chat and arguments, I had completely forgotten to actually tie my shoelace. So, of course, after just a few steps, I tripped.

Not wanting to drop them, I avoided using my hands to soften my fall, and landed with a thud on my belly. Miraculously, I didn’t land on anyone or anything. However, my lying body was now blocking a few roads, both for pedestrians and cars.

That said, blocking a few roads was the least of my problems. The impact of my fall had caused me to drop both Daniel and Fernanda, causing them to roll a few meters on the ground before stopping. And as if that wasn’t enough, my glasses flew off my face again, hitting a young couple walking by and knocking them down.

I felt like the clumsiest and stupidest girl in the whole world. Even though I couldn’t see my face, I bet it was as red as a tomato. I was as embarrassed as can be. I didn’t even know where to start in order to fix it.

“I’m so, so sorry!”, I said, quickly putting my glasses back on and then helping Daniel, Fernanda and the young couple to get back on their feet. The couple said something in Spanish and left. However, Fernanda didn’t seem very happy.

“We’re OK, Lena”, Daniel said, reassuringly.

“You imbecile!”, Fernanda shouted, furiously. “I scratched my knee!”

“I’m extremely sorry!”, I said, my hands shaking. “It was an accident. You see, I stepped on my shoelace and then…”

“Just shut up!”, she kept shouting. “I’m so not getting back into that paw of yours!”

“Sorry…”, I said, a couple of tears on the verge of escaping from my eyes, but I managed to hold them in.

“Hey, it was an accident.”, Daniel said. “Plus, that’s just a tiny scratch. Don’t be such a baby about it.”

“Whatever. My car is here, anyway.”, she said, walking into a parking lot nearby.

Before I could even stand up, I started hearing car horns being blown at me, while some pedestrians yelled up at me, angrily, mostly in Spanish. I immediately looked at my sides, finding two clear areas where I could place my hands. Pushing against the ground with my palms, I pushed my body up, getting back on my feet. I then tied my shoelaces tightly and gently picked Daniel up, just as Fernanda’s car stopped by my feet.

“Hey, klutz!”, she shouted up. “I have a task for you. You know, to make up for all this mess.”

“Anything!”, I said. Daniel didn’t seem very happy with my answer, but I didn’t really care.

“I honestly don’t feel like driving for a long while, so I want you to move those other cars aside.”

“What?”, I said, not expecting that kind of request. “But…that’d be wrong.”

“Hey, I’m not asking you to toss them aside. I just want you to lift them up while I pass. You’ll delay each car 1 minute, tops.”

“V…very well…”, I said, sighing, and placing Daniel down.

“Don’t you dare do that, Lena!”, he said.

“But she has a point. I won’t delay them much.”

“That’s not the point! You can’t just lift their cars!”

“I’ll be super careful.”

“Lena, I mean it!”

I felt awful. I really didn’t want to fight with him, but after all I had done to her, I felt like it was the right thing to do, even if I didn’t like it. So without even answering to him, I reached down, very carefully wrapping my fingers around a car as good as I could. The people inside the car screamed, startled, as my palm blocked their windows.

Daniel, meanwhile, ran towards my hand, grabbing my thumb with both hands and pulling at it with all his might. I found it rather cute that he tried to fight me in a test of strength, but I also felt sorry. If he was doing that, he clearly was really pissed. Plus, he also seemed very frustrated about the fact that he was no match for my thumb. I hated to see him like that. But with Fernanda there, I wasn’t being myself.

“Sorry…”, I said, sadly, and lifted the car off the road.

As I held the car above the street, I noticed Daniel hanging for dear life from my thumb. However, I was already holding a second car with my other hand, so I couldn’t help him. I did hurry, though, and I put the car back down on the street as soon as Fernanda’s car had passed. I didn’t want him to do that again, so before I continued lifting cars, I snatched Daniel into my hand.

“Sorry, but it’s too risky having you trying to stop me. It’s dangerous!”

“Lena, don’t you dare…”

But before he could finish, I shoved him inside my sock. At first, I had considered keeping him in my pocket, but he could try to climb out, and it’d be just as dangerous. Inside my sock, even if he managed to get out, he’d be close to ground level, anyway.

That done, I kept lifting cars out of the way, doing my best to avoid denting them. The tiny people kept insulting me and even tossing stuff at me. They had the right to do so, but I just couldn’t stop. Fernanda had a way to manipulate me that I couldn’t fight. Fortunately, the traffic jam wasn’t so bad, and in just a few minutes, we were already at the museum.

Just as Fernanda parked her car, I felt a tiny tickling. Daniel! I looked down, seeing him struggling against my sock. Poor thing. Held tightly between my ankle and sock. I couldn’t help but find the tiny bulge in my sock kind of hilarious, but I still lost no time and took him out of there.

“Sorry. Are you OK?”, I asked, already knowing the answer.

“What the Hell was that?!”, he said, still catching his breath.

“I’m super sorry. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“You’re in big trouble!”, he said, angrily.

Before we could continue arguing, though, Fernanda called me from the ground. I crouched and looked down at her.

“Lena, I need another favor.”

“Not again…”, Daniel said, exasperated.

“What is it?”, I asked her.

“See that line to buy tickets? It’s huge!”, she said.

“No, no, no…”, Daniel said, arms crossed.

“Shut up, shorty.”, Fernanda said, looking down at him. “Anyway, Lena, I don’t have time for this. I’m a busy woman. That’s why I need you to clear that line for me.”

“Clear it?”, I asked, not wanting to know the answer.

“Just make enough room for me to get into the museum.”

“But they were here first.”, I said. “And they’ve been waiting in the line, who knows for how long.”

“Look, Lena, dear.”, she said, as if schooling me. “It’s the same thing as with the car jam, really. They’ll just be one more person behind, that’s all.”

“I guess you’re right…”, I said. “But can’t we at least ask them first?”

“Ugh…fine.”, Fernanda said, annoyed. “Ask away…”

I knew it wasn’t going to work, but I didn’t want to do it the hard way without at least trying the easy one. So I walked towards the people waiting in line and crouched, resting my hands on my knees. I then cleared my throat and tried my best to explain the situation to the tiny people by my feet. Of course, most of them didn’t even understand English, and the few ones who did obviously refused to do as I asked.

Sighing, a little disappointed, I got down on my knees, causing a few tinies to stumble. I then reached down slowly towards the ones at the end of the line. As carefully as I could, I started pushing aside one tiny at the time, using my index finger. They tried in vain to hold their ground, but even my finger was too strong for them. I had already pushed 3 tinies out of the line when I felt a tug on my pants. Looking down, I noticed that Fernanda was the one doing it.

“Lena, at this pace, you’re gonna finish tomorrow!”, she said, annoyed.

“Sorry, Fer…”, I said, seeing the 3 tinies already back in the line.

“Just hurry, OK?”, she said, hands on hips.

“Alright.”, I said, looking down at the tiny line again. “I’m so sorry…”

This time, I used my palms to brush handfuls of tinies aside with each wrist movement. Even joining forces, they were no match for my hand, as I easily got them out of the line. I could hear protests being shouted at me the whole time, but I just kept going. I truly felt awful, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Come on, Lena! Hurry!”, Fernanda yelled, tapping her foot.

Seeing that there were not many people left in the line, I used my whole arm to sweep them aside. I could feel the poor tinies do their best to push back at my arm, but they were helplessly bulldozed by it. I was finally done, and almost half of the tinies were lying down, obviously knocked by my hand and arm.

“Finally!”, she said, walking straight towards the museum and getting in.

High School Bully (Part 2)

As Fernanda disappeared into the museum, the rest of the tinies made the line again, staring up at me, obviously very upset and even enraged. I then got back on my feet, trying not to look at their faces. That’s when I saw Daniel, gesturing me to pick him up. And so I did, trying not to make eye contact with him.

“You should really be ashamed.”, he said, serious. “What’s going on here? You’re not like this”

“I know! I’m sorry!”, I said, sad. “It’s just that…after all these years, I still feel like in high school when I’m near her, somehow.”

“OK, so? Did you do this in high school?”

“Well, no, but I always wanted to be one of the popular girls. Or at least hang out with them. And now I’m doing it!”, I said, smiling a little. “I gave a horrible first impression, but doing this is helping me be accepted by her.”

“What?!”, he said, clearly upset. “That’s crazy. You don’t need anyone to accept you. You need to accept yourself. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

“Yeah, right…”

“I mean it. Causal hairstyle, big glasses, no makeup, sweatpants…this is you! And I’ve never seen anyone as pretty as you, even with this look.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“I’m not, I swear. You’re the cutest girl around. Including this Fernanda.”

“Awww…thank you. If you really think so, that’s enough for me.”

I hugged him tightly, almost squishing him between my arms and chest.

“Oof! Not so tight!”, he managed to say.

“Oh!, Sorry!”, I said, placing him again on my open palm and chucking a little.

“Now, that said, you’re so turning into a bully yourself.”, he continued.

“What? No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. You’re just like those girls who bullied you. Just following Fernanda’s orders and taking advantage of your size and strength.”

“But…but…”, I started, but couldn’t say anything else.

“Let’s just go, OK?”, he said, smiling. “I still have that surprise for you, remember?”

“Oh, true! Let’s go, then!”

Just as we were about to leave, we heard Fernanda shouting furiously. We looked down and saw her being carried out of the museum by a bunch security guards, as she was bigger than them. They were arguing in Spanish, so I didn’t get a word.

“They’re taking her out because she skipped the line”, Daniel translated to me. “And she’s…well…cursing.”

“Lena!”, Fernanda shouted. “Give these jerks a lesson!”

“I…err…n…no”, I said.

“What?”, she said, surprised.

“I said no. I’m not doing that.”

“Lena, I mean it!”

My confidence was starting to disappear. Fernanda yelling at me like that still had a powerful effect on me. Daniel, noticing this, requested me to put him down. As soon as I did it he walked towards her, and both started a fiery discussion. After just a few seconds, Fernanda punched Daniel in the stomach, causing him to fall down to his knees. She then pushed him down, pressing her foot on his chest, pinning him down.

The sight of this caused something inside me to just snap. Seeing her hurt my beloved Daniel was the push I needed to confront her. However, seeing him on the ground, her foot on his chest, was too much for me, and I released the lioness inside me.

With a swift wrist movement, I smacked Fernanda with the back of my hand, sending her flying into a nearby fountain.

“Stay away from my boyfriend!”, I boomed, stamping towards her.

She was still inside the fountain when I snatched her into my fist. I squeezed her tiny body in my hand, trying not to injure her, but definitely causing a lot of pressure. She pounded her fists against my hand, but I barely even felt it. I was too enraged to even mind that.

“So, you think it’s fun to have your head shoved into a toilet? Why don’t you try it?!”, I asked her.

I then shoved her head inside the water in the fountain, holding her there for a few seconds, before taking her out. I repeated this a few more times, just like they did to me in high school. I then held her in front of my face.

“Had enough yet?”, I asked, her. “Good! Now stay away from us and don’t you dare bully anyone else, ever!”

I then crouched and unceremoniously dropped her on a pile of dirt. Being all wet, her body and outfit all got covered with sticky mud. I panted, starting to cool down after my outbreak. Looking around, I was relieved to see no police cars in the area. I would have been in big trouble if there were.

Just as she stood up, I bumped her with the palm of my hand, sending her back to the ground, on her back. I then carefully placed my foot on her, gently enough not to harm her, but pinning her down. I could only see her tiny face sticking from under my sneaker.

“You see how it feels to be bullied by someone bigger than you?”, I asked her, trying to sound serious. “I hope you do, and that you never, ever, do that to anyone else. Understood?!”

She simply nodded, too scared to even speak. I couldn’t help but imagine how scary I looked from her point of view. I never saw myself as a scary sight before, but I guess being so tiny compared to me and pinned under my foot would do the trick. Still, I didn’t enjoy physical conflicts, so I lifted my foot off her, picked up my boyfriend, and walked away from there.

“Are you OK?”, I asked him once we were far from the place.

“Yes, I am. Thanks to you! That was incredible!”

“Incredible? Really? Aren’t you mad at me?”, I asked, really surprised.

“Mad? Why would I be mad at you?”, he asked me, probably just as confused as I was. “For saving me from that amazon?”

“No, for using my size to bully tiny people.”

“Oh, that.”, he said with a stern expression. “Well, yeah, that was really bad. But I’m not mad at you. I know that this girl played a big role in this behavior of yours, and I truly believe that you won’t ever do something like that again.”

“Thank you. Really.”, I said, smiling. “I’m glad you’re not scared of me after what I did to her.”

“Scared? No, no, not at all. Plus, she deserved it, anyway. That punch really hurt!”

“Awww…I bet it did.”, I said, kissing his face, engulfing it with my lips. “To be honest, I feel kind of relieved, too.”

“You do?”, he asked, still savoring the kiss. “How so?”

“Well, it seems like years and years of being bullied by those girls just…disappeared. Like I got some kind of closure, so to speak.”

“Oh, well, that’s great news. We should thank Fernanda for that, then.”

“True. I just hope she didn’t do more than that.”

“What do you mean?”, he asked, intrigued.

“Well, all these things I did today, including saving you from her…”, I said, unsure of how to continue. “I don’t know…it kind of felt…interesting.”

“Interesting?”, he said, now even more intrigued. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure how to explain it.”, I continued. “It was just this sensation I’ve never felt before. Like, being in charge, having the upper hand. It’s something that never happened to me in my whole life. Not even with Paula. This time it was different. Fernanda was a bully. Me, a nerd, defeated a bully! And it was rather easy, too!”

“Hey, hey, calm down, Lena. You better not start enjoying bullying people. What you did to those cars and to the people in the line was really bad.”

“Oh, no, no, not at all!”, I said, shaking my head. “I’m definitely not turning into a bully. Don’t worry about that. I know it was wrong, and I’ll never do something like that again. I’m just saying that I might be a little less of a pushover than I was before.”

“I see.”, he said, smiling. “Be careful, though. I don’t want this escalating into you climbing up a building, holding me in your hand while fighting off planes, hehehe.”

“You’re so silly!”, I said, giving him another kiss. “So, let’s go see this surprise. We’ve stalled it long enough.”

“Very well, I’ll point the way.”

***

So finally, after walking a little longer, we got to the place. It seemed like a normal white house, scaled to my size. I looked at it for a few moments, standing right in front of it.

“So, what’s the big surprise, Danny?”

“This is!”

“What is?”

“The house!”

“What about it?”

“Well, it’s…it’s ours now.”, he said, grinning.

“What do you mean ours?”, I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“I mean…I bought it for us to move in.”

“What?!”, I asked, almost dropping him. “You bought it? But how?”

“Hey, I told you, my family doesn’t really have economic problems. And I really, really want to live with you. Just the two of us.”

“M…me too, but…this s just too much. I didn’t even pay part of it.”

“Lena, relax. All you have to do is say yes.”

“I…I…well…”, I honestly wasn’t sure of what to say, but it sounded like a good idea. It’s not like he was asking me to marry him. I was simply moving with him. “Yes!”

“Really?! Yay!”, he said, excited.

I hugged him and kissed him a few times. I was honestly really excited, even if a little nervous, too. I had never lived with a boy before, but I really liked him, and I was ready to take our relationship to the next level. And the fact that he suggested it before I said anything only reassured me that he was the one. So we walked inside, and he gave me the tour.

She-cat vs she-mouse

Thesis Project, Chapter 5: Bullying

When we hear the word “bully”, we immediately picture someone being mean and cruel to a smaller and weaker person; and while that is usually the case, we must not forget that bullying comes in many forms. It is possible to bully someone physically, but also verbally, emotionally and psychologically, and we have to keep that in mind in a multi-sized society.

It’s fairly obvious that a large person will have a much easier time bullying a smaller one. If being just a head taller is usually enough for physical bullying, being dozens of times bigger would facilitate it even more. This opens new bullying situations, as even big and strong jocks can be bullied if the aggressor comes from a larger country.

While there’s no doubt that larger sizes will often have an easier time bullying the small ones, we can’t rule out the opposite case. Considering bullying types other than physical, is perfectly possible for a tiny person to bully a giant one. While this might sound strange at first, it certainly is real. People with low self-esteem are especially prone to this kind of bullying, as they simply don’t have the emotional strength to confront a bully who insults them, even if said bully is much smaller than them.

However, I believe that there are cases where the bullied only needs a little push to find that way to stand for themselves and face their bullies, stopping them once and for all. The idea here is to use a different strategy than the one being used by the bully. If the bully is much larger, using a psychological and verbal approach might be the answer. Outsmarting a giant can be, in some cases, the solution to a bullying problem. Making him/her realize the damage they cause could easily stop them from doing so.

A tiny bully must be dealt with the exact opposite strategy. If the bullied one somehow comes to realize that the person bullying them is smaller than his/her foot, they could then find a way to fight back. Of course, this should by no means become a role-reversal, the bullied becoming the bully, but using size and strength just to scare a bully away could be a fair method to deal with them for good.

Svetlana’s first day at the café was…eventful, to say the least. Causing the smaller waitresses on her tray to tumble and drop their own trays, accidentally dropping a glass of water that washed some tables away, and knocking costumers off their chairs by stepping too close to them wasn’t exactly the best way to start a new job.

Because of her size, Svetlana wasn’t supposed to be in charge of any tiny tables. However, her looks and scale caused many smaller guests to call her to their table, and the place’s rules established that she had to attend any guest call, even if it wasn’t from the tables she was waiting.

Three teenage boys called her from a table. She walked towards it, stepping as carefully as she could, trying to avoid knocking them with her steps. She managed to, but as she stood right next to their table, she didn’t even realize that the three of them were easily peeking under her skirt. Being her first day, she wasn’t used to that kind of actions, so she just crouched to get closer to them.

“How can I help you?”, she asked them.

“Umm…what?”, one of them said, still lost staring up at her legs.

“How can I help you?”, she repeated.

“Oh!”, another boy said, finally snapping out of it. “Yeah, we…we wanted to ask you something.”

As he thought of an excuse to explain why they called her (as they couldn’t just tell her it was to peek under her skirt), Paula noticed all this. Angrily, she started to walk towards them.

“Sure.”, said Svetlana, ready to take note.

“Are you on the menu?”, the boy asked.

“What?”, she asked, confused.

“Yeah, are you on the menu?”, the boy repeated, grinning.

“Me? On the menu?”, she asked, naively. “I don’t understand.”

Just then, Paula showed up, hands on hips.

“Yes, she is on the menu”, Paula answered to the boys. “But you can’t afford her, so sorry.”

The three boys, startled as the Colombian waitress appeared out of nowhere to help her friend, quickly started to check her out instead.

“So, are you going to order now?”, Paula asked, trying to sound threatening.

“Err…well…”, the boys said, not really ready to order. “Maybe we’ll take another minute to decide.”

“Very well”, said Paula. “Please don’t call us if you’re not ready. We’re really busy.”

As Paula turned around to leave, one of the boys grabbed her rear and squeezed it. The Colombian girl, as a reflex, turned around and slapped him. Considering that she was more than twice his height, her blow easily knocked him off his chair. She immediately gasped, apologizing, but the boy was already pissed.

“You bitch!”, he said, standing up. “You’re gonna pay for this!”

“I’m sorry, sir”, she said, blushing. “I…I…I don’t know why I did that.”

“Too bad. I want to speak to the manager”, he shouted, as the other two boys stood up from their chairs, standing next to him.

“Please don’t”, she said. “I could lose my job”

“Well, you should have thought of that before slapping me!”, the boy said.

The three boys started walking towards the manager’s office, determined to tell on Paula. The Colombian waitress simply sighed, expecting the worst. Suddenly, though, Svetlana’s huge hand darted down from above, snatching the three teenagers from the floor and lifting them to face level. Only the upper half of their bodies stuck out from her fist, as she stared down at them, frowning.

“Listen to me, you little pervs!”, she said in a booming voice. “You were the ones who grabbed her butt to begin with, so if you don’t want more troubles, just leave, understood? We have witnesses here, so if you dare to cause more problems, you’ll be banned from this place. Not to mention that I personally will teach you a lesson. Now go away!”

Svetlana placed them back down on the floor. Once free, the three teenagers took off running out of the café. The people inside, having seen the whole scene, started clapping at the Russian waitress. She, embarrassed, simply blushed, covering her face with her hands.

***

Svetlana stood outside the café, holding Paula on the palm of her hand. Their shift was over, and they were just saying goodbye to each other before going home. However, Svetlana suddenly had an idea.

“Hey, Paula.”, she said, obviously excited. “Why don’t you come to our place instead? You know, like a sleepover.”

“What?”, asked Paula. “Are you serious? I mean, I don’t want to bother anyone.”

“Oh, not at all! Sarah won’t be staying home this weekend, so we have a whole room for ourselves. Lena doesn’t even have to know.”

“Well…sure, then, if you say so.”

Paula wasn’t too excited to stay at a giant house, but Svetlana had been so nice to her that day, especially with the bratty teenagers, that she just couldn’t say no.

***

Svetlana closed the door behind her as she walked into the bedroom. She then sat down on the bed, placing Paula on her knee. Paula sat there, cross-legged.

“Hey, I just wanted to thank you again for helping me with those boys.”, Paula said.

“Oh, don’t mention it. We girls have to stick together against boys, hehe.”

“No kidding. Men can be so annoying sometimes.”

“I know, right? Too bad we kind of need them, too.”

“True. Lesbians have it so much easier in that aspect, if you think about it.”

“Yeah, they don’t have to deal with men that way.”

“Indeed. Ugh, I wish I was a lesbian.”, Paula said, sighing.

Svetlana raised an eyebrow as she heard Paula say that. Without even warning, she wrapped her hands around the Colombian girl’s body and lifted her off her knee. She then held her in front of her face, grinning, and without even warning, licked her face with her enormous tongue.

“Eeeewwww!”, said Paula, wiping some of the saliva off her face with her hands. “What was that for?”

“Just wanted to see how you tasted”, Svetlana replied, grinning. “I could totally eat you.”

“Yeah…whatever you say, girl. Now put me down.”

“Oh, OK. Want to play hard to get?”, Svetlana said, dropping Paula onto the mattress. “Sure, I love challenges. I’ll be the cat and you’ll be the mouse.”

“What? No way”, Paula said, now starting to get very annoyed.

“Well, then, if I catch you, I’m putting you in my mouth, just like any cat would do to a mouse.”

“Don’t you dare…”

“Then run!”

Paula, not wanting to end up inside a giant mouth, started to run as fast as she could across the bed mattress. Svetlana, smiling, reached down for the tiny Colombian, using here finger to trip her. Paula immediately stood up and kept running, while Svetlana just chuckled.

“Meow!”, she said, getting down on her hands and knees, on the bed. “I’m gonna get you, little mouse!”

Svetlana watched as her tiny friend tried in vain to escape from her. Like a cat playing with its prey, she started batting Paula’s body with her hands from one side of the bed to the other. The tiny girl tried in vain to fight back, as her body was smacked back and forth by huge palms, over and over again.

After a couple of minutes, Svetlana stopped, letting Paula stand back onto her feet. This wasn’t so easy for her, as she was still dizzy because of all the batting. As soon as she could move again, though, she took off running again, trying once more to get away from the massive Russian. Watching this, Svetlana just grinned and raised her hand, as if it was a paw, and slammed it down on Paula, pinning her down under her palm.

“Gotcha, little mouse!”

Paula tried with all her might to break free, but Svetlana was simply too big and strong for her. The Russian girl lowered her face closer to her prey. Then, with a quick movement, she lifted her hand off Paula, biting the back of her top with her front teeth, lifting her from the bed.

“I caught you!”, Svetlana said, her voice sounding a little funny, as her teeth were holding Paula’s top. “Now I’m going to eat you.”

Paula kicked the air desperately, trying somehow to stop that from happening. Her violent movement, along with her own weight, caused her top to rip off, landing back on the bed, topless. Noticing this, Svetlana looked down.

“Oops!”, she said, giggling. “Well, you kind of look even more sexy that way! Let’s finish the job, then.”

Without warning, Svetlana snatched Paula from the bed, using her fingers to tear her tiny friend’s skirt off. The Colombian girl yelped, covering herself with her hands and arms, as Svetlana dropped her back onto the mattress.

“Look how cute you look now!”, she said, staring at the tiny girl on the bed, now only in bra and panties.

“What the Hell was that?!”, Paula shouted, furiously. “Are you out of your mind?!”

“Oh…right, I’m sorry”, Svetlana said, smiling. “It’s not fair for you to be the only one like that.”

Svetlana stripped down to her undies, tossing her clothes aside. She then sat back down on the bed, next to Paula. Her weight made a slope in the mattress, causing the tiny girl to slide down, her body smacking against Svetlana’s bare thigh. Really annoyed now, Paula started banging her fists against the Russian’s skin. This surprised Svetlana a little, even though the tiny attacks barely tickled her.

“Oh, feisty!”, she said, chuckling. “You don’t seem like a little, jumpy mouse. You’re too brave! Like a cat, hehe. Hey, maybe you’re a teeny, tiny cat, and you’re trying to catch a giant mouse!”, she clapped, excited.

“Are you crazy?”, asked Paula. “What kind of stupid game are you playing here? Just cut it out!”

“Well, someone so tiny is attacking someone my size. The only explanation is that you’re the cat and I’m the mouse, not the other way around.”

“You know what? I’m leaving.”, said Paula, turning around and trying to climb the mattress slope.

“Oh, what’s wrong?”, asked Svetlana, grinning. “Is this mouse too much for the big, bad cat to handle?”

Paula just ignored Svetlana and kept going, trying to get away from her. Seeing her struggle with the slope, Svetlana stood back to her feet, watching her tiny friend run across the bed. She then climbed onto the bed herself, standing right on it as her feet caused some smaller slopes. Paula, seeing this, started to run even faster.

“How adorable”, Svetlana said. “A cat running from a mouse. How ironic!”

Svetlana then started chasing Paula, stepping slowly to allow the tiny girl to avoid being caught.

“Fee…fi…fo…fum!”, she chanted, stamping her foot against the mattress, emphasizing each syllable. “Get back here, you little cat! You want your cat friends to know that you’re running away from a mouse?”

Chucking, she kept chasing Paula, finding it simply adorable that she was trying her best to escape her. However, after a couple of minutes, she got bored of all the chasing and decided to end it. Raising her right foot, she aimed at the diminutive, running girl, and gently placed it down on her, pinning her between her sole and the mattress.

“Gotcha!”, she said, happily.

She kept Paula immobilized for a little longer, feeling the tiny girl struggle in vain against her foot’s strength. She then decided to let her go, lifting her foot. However, Paula was stuck to the surface of her sole. Svetlana burst into laughter, seeing the tiny Colombian stuck to her foot. She then peeled her off with her hand, placing her back down on the mattress.

“OK, then. Now that I caught you, it’s my turn to eat you.”, Svetlana said, getting down on her knees. “A mouse eating a cat. I love role reversal!”

Svetlana then lowered her face really close to Paula. So close that she even poked her chest with her enormous nose. Furious, the tiny girl punched the giant nose a couple of times, and then bit it with all her might. This took the giant Russian by surprise, who immediately lifted her face away from Paula.

“Ouch!”, she said, rubbing her nose with her left hand. “That hurt!”

Before Paula could react, Svetlana raised her right hand, clenched it into a fist, and slammed it down on her. Even though the impact was softened by the mattress under her, and that she wasn’t using all her strength, the pounding of a giant fist against her tiny body was pretty hard. Svetlana immediately lifted her hand away, gasping.

“Oh, my God! I’m so sorry!”, she said, picking Paula up, holding her on her palm at face level. “Are you OK?”

“Ow, ow, ow…”, said Paula, lying down on her back. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little sore.”

“Sorry about that. But why did you bite me?”

“Sorry, Miss Tantrum, but you were bullying me before!”

“Bullying you? I was just playing!”

“Playing? You even took off my clothes!”

“Well, you seemed to want me to.”

“What? How did you figure?”

“You said you wanted to be a lesbian.”

“So? That doesn’t mean I AM one!”

“Nor am I, but it seemed you wanted to try.”

“I asked you to stop!”

“Yeah, but we were roleplaying. I thought you were acting. You should have used that special word, to let me know you weren’t acting.”

“We never came up with a word, silly! What was I supposed to say?”

“Oh…good point.”, said Svetlana, really embarrassed and feeling very dumb. “Sorry…”

“Hey, it’s OK”, said Paula, sitting up, patting Svetlana’s thumb with her hand. “I guess it was kind of fun, to be honest, hehe.”

“It was, wasn’t it?”

“Indeed. But it left me exhausted now. Maybe we should go to sleep.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”, Svetlana said, lying down on the bed, placing the tiny Colombian on her belly. “Don’t worry, I don’t move during my sleep.”

“You better don’t!”, Paula said, giggling.

Svetlana then turned off the light. They chatted for a little longer about their day, and then about their lives, getting to know each other more. After a while, both women closed their eyes and slowly dozed off. None of them knew it then, but they had just started the most important relationship in both their lives. But we’re going to get there later.

Babysitting

When Sarah reached the place, she couldn't believe what she saw. Being in Mexico, she expected a tiny house. However, not only was this house far from tiny, but it was in fact colossal! The front door was taller than every building in Mexico, and even some in Lebannon. She could only imagine the size of the kids she'd be babysitting if she dared to get inside. This thought alone almost made her chicken out, but she finally decided to give it a try. They were just kids, right? How dangerous could they be?

After taking a deep breath and gathering enough courage, she walked to the door. To her surprise, there were dozens of doorbell buttons right by the entrance; the larger they were, the higher they were installed. She wondered if this family recieved that many visits of different sized people. Shrugging, she simply pushed the button closer to her height and waited.

After just a few moments, the massive door opened. Staring up in awe, Sarah could see a middle-aged blonde woman, about 20 meters tall (just over 60'). She was formally dressed, and seemed to be in a hurry. The giantess crouched and reached down towards Sarah, as if offering her hand to shake. Sarah answered the handshake as she could, before the woman stood back to full height.

“Sarah, right?”, she asked.

“Yes, madame.”

“Oh, thank God you came!”, the woman said. “Well, come in!”

Sarah walked inside as the woman closed the door behind her. As she inspected the enormous place, she realized it wasn't a normal house. Because of the way it was furnitured and the kind of stuff it had around in general, she realized this was most likely the family's summer house, probably for spring break and other vacations. From what she could see, the house had an enormous garden with tables, chairs and umbrellas, hammocks and even a couple of pools. This family certainly had money.

“My name is Minna Svensson.”, the woman said. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too”

“Thanks a lot for coming at so short notice. I have to go to a conference today and I couldn't find anyone else to come here and keep an eye on Emma.”

“No problem.”, said Sarah, sighing in relief as she found out it was just one kid to babysit. “But I'm sure I'm not the only babysitter in the city.”

“Oh, I know you're not. But you were the only one big enough to handle her. Trust me, I've tried hiring Mexican babysitters, and it didn't end up well. Not that they weren't good, but it's not easy to deal with a girl when you're not even a centimeter tall compared to her (1/4'').”

“I bet it's not.”, Sarah said, imagining how scary that'd be.

The woman then picked up her purse and walked towards the front door. Before opening it, she turned around to look down at Sarah one last time.

“There's enough food in the fridge for the whole weekend.”, she said, as if trying not to forget anything. “I'm sure you two will be fine, but if anything happened, you have my cellphone number from the ad, right?”

“I do, Mrs. Svensson.”

“And one more rule. No one comes in and no one comes out, OK? Especially men. I don't want Emma to get into trouble outside, and I'd rather not have guys in here when there's only two girls inside. Just safety measures, but please respect them.”

“Don't worry, Mrs. Svensson. No one's coming here and Emma isn't going anywhere.”

“Very well. And don't worry, Emma is a good kid. That one's her bedroom, by the way.”, she said, pointing at a nearby open door. “You two have fun together and see you on Sunday!”

And with that, the woman walked out of the house. Now alone in the gigantic place, Sarah started walking towards Emma's bedroom. She was very nervous, to say the least. This was the first time she babysitted someone so big, and she didn't want to screw it. She kept walking until she reached the door, peeking in first, before entering.

The bedroom looked a little too simple and plain, considering it belonged to a girl. But then again, if this was just their summer house, then there wasn't need to decorate it much. A blonde teenager, around 16, was lying on the bed, reading a magazine while blowing air at her face with a fan. The sweat on her face and body made it evident that she was doing a poor job dealing with the hot weather. But then again, Sweden is much colder than Mexico, and she was obviously not used to it. The teenager was wearing a white tank top and a pair of denim shorts, which obviously reflected her reaction to the weather.

Sarah walked closer to the bed, not wanting to start out by shouting at the girl. However, as Sarah stopped right next to the bed, the teenage girl closed her magazine, dropping it on her bed, and sitting up, turning to her left side. Sarha stared up in awe as a pair of bare feet appeared from above, darting down towards her. She barely managed to dive aside, just as one of them slammed right next to her. She squealed, both shaken and startled. Her squealing got the girl's attention, though, who looked down at the tiny woman next to her foot.

“Oh, hi there!”, the teenage girl said. “I didn't see you come in. You must be the new babysitter.”

“My name is Sarah”, she answered. “Nice to meet you.”

“I'm Emma.”, the blonde girl said. “Thank God you're big enough. I mean, you're still doll-sized, but at least you're not a speck. It took me ages to even notice the other babysitters down there.”

“Hehehe, I bet it did.”, Sarah said, trying to get along with her. “So, where are you from?”

“Stockholm.”, Emma answered, not seeming interested in where Sarah came from.

“I see. Never been there.”, Sarah replied, trying to chit chat.

Without warning, Emma reached down and snatched Sarah from the floor, lifting her to face level while holding her by the waist. The tiny woman yelped, startled, but decided to endure it for now and act cool. Emma's grip was a bit tight, as she held her like she was a doll, but Sarah didn't want to start this weekend with the wrong foot, so she did her best to dissimulate the pain.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you something.”, Emma said. “You're a cool babysitter, right? I mean, you seem like one.”

“Cool?”, Sarah asked, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I'm almost 17, and I don't really need a babysitter. But it makes my mom happy to have one here, somehow. Anyway, what I mean is that you're not one of those who wants to play by mom's rules, are you?”

Sarah didn't know how to answer. On one hand, Emma's mom was the one paying, and she certainly didn't want any troubles with the owner of the house; but on the other, if she was going to spend the weekend with her, she wanted to be in the best terms with her as possible. But she quickly made a decision. She had to be professional. She was in charge there, and wasn't going to let a teenager break the rules she had specifically recieved.

“Well, I'm a cool girl, but that doesn't mean I don't respect your mother's rules.”, she finally said. “But we can still have fun, even following them.”

“Oh...”, said Emma, sounding a little disappointed. “Sorry to hear that. You see, I'm already expecting my boyfriend, so...I really wish you were OK with it, because he's coming anyway.”

“What?!”, said Sarah, now upset. “No way! Your mom asked me specificaly to keep men out of here. How can he even be here? Isn't he from Sweden, too?”

“Yes, he is, but we knew mom would be away for the weekend, so he's here in Mexico, too.”

“Well, I don't care what your plans are, he's definitely not coming here.”, Sarah said, crossing her arms.

“Is that so?”, Emma asked, grinning. “And what are you gonna do to stop us?”

Sarah didn't say anything for a few seconds. She had no intention to do what this bratty teenager said, but she had no clue of how to stop her. Not only was she much larger and stronger than her, but her boyfriend was going to get there soon, so she'd also be outnumbered. Angry, and seeing no solution for this situation, she snapped. Clenching her hands into fists, she started pounding against Emma's hand. The giant teenage girl, noticing this, just chuckled.

“Very impressive!”, said Emma. “You're not the first to try this against me, but you're the first one to actually manage to make me even feel the blows. You must be very strong!”

“Shut up!”, said Sarah, not stopping her attack. “Put me down right now, and then call your boyfriend and tell him to stay away from here!”

Just then, as if on cue, the doorbell rang.

“Oops!”, said Emma, smiling. “Sorry, too late.”

The blonde girl then tossed Sarah onto her bed. The tiny Lebanese bounced a couple of times on the mattress. Standing back onto her feet, she saw Emma waving down at her, smiling, as she walked out of there, slowly closing the bedroom door.

“Stay there and be a good girl. We want privacy”, Emma said just before closing the door.

Sarah stood there a second, trying to figure out what to do. She had just arrived, and the situation was already out of control. Even if she wasn't sure of how to deal with it, she knew she couldn't just sit there and do nothing. That's why, taking a deep breath, she carefully climbed down the bedsheets. The last jump was a bit higher than she thought, but she managed to land on the floor unhurt. Hurrying towards the closed bedroom door, she could hear Emma and a male teenager talking. They were speaking in Swedish, so she didn't understand a thing, except what seemed to be the boy's name: Oliver. He was slightly taller than Emma, but just as blonde and green-eyed.

Getting down on her belly, she started to crawl under the door. She had to squeeze herself through, but eventually she managed to reach the other side. Right there, in the living room, stood the enormous couple, already making out passionately. Decided to regain control of the situation, she started walking towards them. However, as she walked, she noticed that the teenaged couple started taking of their clothes. Alarmed, she picked up her pace.

Emma slid her shorts down her legs, all the way to her ankles. Once they were there, she slipped one foot out of them, and with the other, she absentmindedly flinged them away, right towards Sarah. Without time to react, she barely even had the chance to see the enormous garnment fly towards her before it knocked her down, covering her completely. Furious, she started struggling against the shorts, trying to get out from under them as fast as possible.

When she finally made it out, she noticed the giant teenagers were already in their underware. Enraged, she charged towards Emma's foot and started pounding her fists against its side. The Swedish girl, looking down at her, immediately planted a big kiss to her boyfriend, to distract him, while she easily brushed the tiny babysitter aside with her foot.

Realizing Emma was no help, she stood up quickly, this time making a run for the boy's feet. Noticing this, Emma, as a reflex, lifted her foot and quickly placed it on Sarah. Not hard enough to harm her, but strong enough to knock her down and cover her body under her foot.

“Vad var det?”, asked Oliver, breaking the kiss and raising an eyebrow.

“Vad?”, replied Emma, playing dumb.

Looking down, Oliver spotted a diminutive arm sticking out from under his girlfriend's foot. Alarmed, he crouched closer.

“Dat!”, he said, grabbing Emma's ankle and lifting it with his hands, almost causing her to fall down as she backed away, sighing.

Oliver then noticed a tiny woman laying down, seeming a little baffled as she sat up. Giving Emma a stern look, he slowly reached down for Sarah. The Lebanese girl, seeing this, jumped back to her feet and slapped his hand.

“Back off!”, she said, taking a couple of steps away from his hand.

“Oh!”, he said, startled, withrawing his hand. “What the...? Who are you?”

“Who am I?!”, shouted Sarah, furious. “I'm Emma's babysitter. And her mom prohibited anyone from coming into this house. Especially men. So please put your clothes back on and get out.”

“Vad?!”, asked Oliver, confused, now staring back at Emma as he stood back up to full height. “Barnvakt?”

Sarah watched the giant couple argue for a couple of minutes, before he started getting dressed again. When he was done, he crouched closer to Sarah, again.

“Hey, listen.”, he told her. “Emma's mom will murder me if she knows I was here. She doesn't like me much already, and this would make it even worse. If I leave right now, could you please keep my presence here a secret?”

“S...sure...I can do that”, Sarah said, sighing in relief.

“Tack!”, he said, standing back up. “Hej då!” And with that, he walked out of the house, closing the door behind him.

Emma didn't even have the time to try and stop him when he was already gone. Furious, she looked down at the tiny babysitter, her face turning red. Sarah didn't need more than an instant to react, and turned around, running away as fast as she could from the enormous teenager. The giant blonde girl immediately started chasing her, stamping her feet as she did.

Not only was Sarah much smaller and slower than Emma, but each stomp caused the floor to shake, getting stronger and stronger the closer they got. At some point, the tremors were so hard that Sarah tripped and fell. Before she could even stand back up, a massive shadow covered her, and just as she turned around, a huge hand snatched her from the floor, lifting her to face level. The gigantic fingers squeezed her so hard that she had trouble breathing.

“How dare you kick my boyfriend out of my house?”, she shouted. “This was finally our chance for a weekend alone, and you ruined it!”

Sarah tried to reply, but she couldn't get enough air into her lungs to do so. Instead, she used all her strength to try and push Emma's thumb away from her. Of course, it was in vain, and she started to feel like she was about to faint. Fortunately, Emma noticed her tiny face start to turn blue, so she opened her hand, holding the tiny Lebanese woman on her open palm, who immediately started coughing and gasping for air.

“You know what? I'm just too angry right now to even decide a way to punish you.”, Emma said, panting. “So I'm gonna put you in a time out, because if not, I could just...squish you!”

Emma then walked back into her bedroom, opened the top drawer of her bedstand and dropped Sarah inside, roughly. Staring up, the tiny woman could see the enormous blonde's face looming above, blocking almost all her sight of the room outside the drawer.

“You stay there and think of what you did.”, Emma said, still frowning, angrily. “See you tomorrow!”

Emma then shoved the drawer closed, causing Sarah to be sent flying towards the back of the drawer and hit her head against the wooden “wall”. This caused her to black out right there.

***

A few hours later, Sarah woke up, rubbing her head. Her surroundings quickly reminded her where she was. She took a moment to think about the whole situation. Suddenly, she remembered that she still had her cellphone with her. Relieved, she started dialing, calling Emma's mother. But of course, she didn't answer it. She was about to give up when she tried one last desperate measure. She started dialing again and waited for an answer. In just a few moments, a voice answer from the other side of the line.

“Hello?”, the voice asked.

“Hey, I need a favor.”, Sarah said. “I'm in BIG trouble here!”

Babysitting (Part 2)

“Who is this?”, the voice asked.

“It's me! Sarah!”

“Sarah?”, the voice asked, obviously very sleepy. “What's going on? It's 4:00 am!”

“Svetlana?”, asked Sarah, recognizing the accent. “Is that you? Were is Lena?”

“Lena? I don't know. She didn't come home. Why, what's going on?”

“She didn't come home?”, Sarah asks, frowning. “Fine, I'll call her next. But right now, I really need your help. I'm desperate.”

Sarah then told Svetlana the whole story, including the address and a good route to use in order to get there.

“Oh, my God! That's horrible!”, said Svetlana. “Don't worry! I'm on my way!”

“Thanks. And be careful, please. She's a really bratty teenager.”

“Don't worry, I have a plan.”, said Svetlana, obviously trying to sound interesting and smart.

“What plan?”, asked Sarah, not trusting Svetlana's wits.

“Relax, you'll see soon.”, the Russian girl said, dramatically hanging up.

“Oh, boy...”, said Sarah to herself, sighing. “I hope she doesn't come up with a stupid plan. This is bad already, I don't need any more troubles.”

She then called me, both to ask for help and to scold me.

“Hello?”, I answered, rubbing my eyes and sitting up.

“Lena!”, Sarah shouted. “What the Hell is going on? Where are you?”

“Long story”, I said, yawning. “Why are you calling so early?”

And then she told me the same as she did to Svetlana.

“Well, I guess I could try to help you, but how?”, I asked, a bit confused by her call. “I mean, how am I supposed to stop this Emma girl?”

“I honestly have no idea. I'm just desperate and you were the first person I thought of calling.”

“Awww...really? That's so sweet!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Lena. I really need your help.”

“Very well. I'll try to think of something.”

“Thanks, Lenny. You have no idea how bad it is here.”

“Don't worry, Sarah. We're going to get you out of there.”

“I surely hope so. Hurry!”

After what seemed like ages to Sarah, Svetlana finally made it to the house, taking Paula with her. Having no means to break into the house, she decided to just ring the doorbell and hide. Being so tiny compared to everything around her made it easy for her to remain unseen. After a couple of minutes, she could hear footsteps on the other side of the door. Nervously, she stood still, not wanting to be found by the house owner.

The huge door opened and a massive blonde teenager, wearing only her underwear, stepped outside. She was clearly very sleepy, as she rubbed her eyes a couple of times, yawning. Svetlana took this opportunity to break in. Emma was way too sleepy to notice the tiny Russian sneaking past her foot and into the house. Once inside, Svetlana quickly ran and hid behind a plantpot she found on the floor, waiting for Emma to get back to her bedroom.

“Hallå?”, she asked, looking around.

Not expecting someone tiny, it took her a few seconds to remember where she was, looking down at the floor. By then, though, Svetlana was already inside the house, so Emma didn't see anyone. Sighing, annoyed, she shrugged and got back inside, closing the door behind her and walking back to her bedroom. Svetlana waited for the giant Swedish teenager to get back inside her bedroom, and then sneaked towards it.

Svetlana waited for a sign that Emma was already asleep before walking in. The sound of her snoring was more than enough for her, and she slowly sneaked into the bedroom. Once inside, she immediately noticed the nightstand that Sarah mentioned over the phone. She then placed Paula on the floor.

“Well, I'm going to go up there and save Sarah, OK?”, the Russian said. “Just stay here and wait for me.”

“What? Why can't I come with you?”, asked the Paula, hands on hips.

“Sorry, but you're too tiny. I mean, even I'm tiny compared to this place! Not to mention yourself, then.”

“But I want to help!”, the diminutive Colombian said. “Why did you even bring me here, then?”

“Moral support?”, asked Svetlana, giggling, and then turned around, walking towards the nightstand.

Paula just sighed, watching her giant friend step away. Svetlana, meanwhile, had already reached the nightstand, and was now carefully climbing it. Even though it was very high to her, she used the alarm clock cord to make it much easier. Eventually, she managed to reach the top of the nightstand. Exhausted, she took a moment to rest and catch her breath.

After panting for a couple of minutes, she decided to get back into work. Looking down, she realized that she had a problem she hadn't considered until that moment: opening the drawer. Svetlana was never a very bright person, but she couldn't feel any dumber at that moment. There was no way she could reach the drawer handle from where she was standing, and even if she climbed to it, she wouldn't be able to pull it.

After thinking for a while about a way to open it, she eventually noticed a bobby pin lying on the nightstand, right next to the alarm clock. She quickly picked it up and walked towards the edge of the nightstand. There, she tried to use the bobby pin as a lever to open the drawer. Of course, her “lever” was too feeble, and she only managed to bend over its tip. Angrily, she tossed the bobby pin aside, sighing.

All of a sudden, the alarm clock went off. This startled Svetlana, naturally, almost causing her to fall off the nightstand. After the initial shock, the Russian girl immediately realized that the sound of the alarm clock would wake the giant teenager for sure. Without losing another second, she ran towards the huge device, looking for a button to turn it off. However, everything was written in Swedish, so she didn't get a word. The deafening sound of the alarm was making it very hard for her to concentrate, so she started pushing buttons randomly. Unfortunately, none of them worked.

It didn't take more than a few seconds before a shadow covered Svetlana. She barely had time to stare up before an enormous hand slammed down against the alarm clock, turning it off. The power of the impact was also strong enough to knock her off her feet and causing her to land on her rear. The Russian's hear was beating like a drum as she stared up at Emma, who was now sitting up.

“Dumma väckarklocka...”, she said to herself, sighing, as she rubbed her eyes.

Svetlana was still in a big shock, which stopped her from doing anything but stare up in awe at the gargantuan blonde girl, who was turning around, facing the nightstand she was sitting on. Yawning, Emma looked down at the alarm clock to see what time it was. That's when she noticed something that wasn't there last night. Not something, actually, but someone. A tiny girl, about the same size as her Lebanese captive, if maybe a little taller, was sitting right next to her clock. Very curious, she stood up, stretching a little bit, before she squatted right infront of the nightstand so that her face was closer to the newcomer.

“Herregud!”, she said to herself. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”, she asked, both surprised and interested.

“I...I...I...well...”, Svetlana said, trying to find a good explanation, other than the truth, but she didn't have a very agile mind.

“Wait a second...”, interrupted Emma. She had just woken up, so her brain was still a little slow, but she suddenly figured it out. “You're here to rescue your friend, aren't you? That's why you're on this nightstand.”

Svetlana didn't know what to do or say. She was caught, and now needed a completely different plan. Realizing that escaping was pretty much impossible at this point, she decided to confront this girl instead. Taking a deep breath, she stood back onto her feet and walked towards the edge of the nightstand, face to face with Emma.

“Yes, that's exactly why I'm here!”, she said, trying to sound brave. “So please let her out so we can get going.”

Emma was truly surprised. These tinies were very brave and even a little bossy for their size. This, however, far from intimidating her, was actually amusing her to no end. Grinning, she lowered her face even closer to the doll-sized Russian.

“Oh, is that so?”, she asked. “And what are you gonna do if I don't?” Emma then poked Svetlana, knocking her down again, as if to make emphasis on what she had just said.

Paula, who had seen the whole scene, was already on her way. Still a bit offended by Svetlana's words, she was determined to show her that she could be just as useful and helpful as anyone else in the room. The tiny Colombian approached from behind, as if to ambush the massive Swedish girl. However, the closer she got, the bigger the blonde teenager seemed to be.

When she finally got close enough to fight, Emma stood impossibly huge from Paula's point of view. Staring up, craning her neck as much as she could, all that she could see was a gargantuan behind, big enough to flatten entire blocks in Colombia just by sitting down. But the gigantic rear was way out of her reach, anyway, so she focused on the one part she could reach: her feet.

Clenching her diminutive fists, she started pounding against one of the massive bare heels infront of her. Her attacks, however, simply bounced off the heel's skin, which seemed to be thicker than any wall Paula had ever seen. Even though her impacts were obviously not making any damage, they certainly weren't completely unfelt. Despite the lack of strength in her blows, they still managed to cause a feeble tickling sensation on Emma's heel.

The giant teenager was way too interested in her new doll that she didn't really care about the tickling on her foot. She absently minded shifted her foot a little, bumping her heel against Paula's tiny body and sending her flying a few centimeters back. The diminutive Colombian rubbed her head and stood back up, not meaning to give up any time soon.

Furious, Paula ran once again towards the enormous foot, this time biting its heel. This caused Emma to feel a little itch on her foot and turned around, wondering what caused it. At first, she didn't see anything, as the size difference was just too great. However, after just a few moments, she managed to notice a teeny tiny girl, about half an inch tall, standing right by her feet. Amused, she crouched, forgetting about Svetlana for a moment and focusing her attention on Paula.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”, said Emma, grinning.

The Swedish teenager heard a few high-pitched squeals, but she couldn't make out any words from it.

“Hold on, I need you to get closer”, said Emma, reaching down for her.

“No, Paula!”, shouted Svetlana from the nightstand, shaking. “Run!”

“Paula?”, asked Emma, intrigued. “Do you two know each other? Hmmm...this should be more fun than I thought, then.”

The blonde giantess stood back to full height, smiling down at the diminutive Latina by her feet. She then lifted her right foot, hovering it above Paula. The tiny Colombian, seeing this, wasted no time and took off running as fast as she could. Amused, Emma watched her run, although to her, it seemed like she was barely even moving. Then, and without warning, she stamped her massive foot down, right next to the fleeing woman. The impact was more than enough to knock her off her feet.

Chuckling, Emma waited for Paula to stand up and start running again, and then stamped her foot once again, with the same results. The tiny girl screamed and ran, doing her best to try to avoid being stepped on by the pair of 100' long feet that threatened to flatten her. However, no matter how fast she moved, she was easily outran by the giant teenager's gargantuan legs. Luckily, she was only toying with her, so she didn't get harmed, but it still pissed her off a lot. Being toyed by a bratty teenage girl wasn't something she ever expected to experience, but there wasn't much she could do about it at the moment. Fortunately, after just a couple of minutes, she stopped.

“This is boring.”, Emma said, yawning. “You're no challenge at all. Where's the fun in that?”

Emma then bent over and easily snatched Paula from the floor. The tiny Colombian barely had time to reach before two enormous fingertips, a little bigger than her whole body, trapped her in between and lifted her hundreds of feet from the floor. Paula screamed all the way up, until the movement suddenly stopped. Opening her eyes, she noticed she was being held right in front of the blondie's gigantic face.

“You know what? You two are kind of boring after a while.”, said Emma. “I'm flattered that you came here to visit me, but I got some better things to do. So you two have fun and say hi to your nanny friend when you see her. Catch!”

Emma tossed Paula towards the nightsand, where Svetlana stood. However, her aim wasn't very good, and the Russian girl had to dive and stretch her arms to be able to catch her friend on time. Both of them were panting, terrified. They looked at each other for a moment, then turning to see the blonde giantess, who had already changed into a black bikini and a pair of flip flops.

“Well, I'm going out now. I'm not going to waste the beautiful weather of Mexico by staying indoors with you girls.”, Emma said, walking towards the door. “There's food in the fridge if you want anything!”, she said, laughing, before leaving.

“Thanks”, said Paula to her bigger friend.

“Don't mention it.”, said Svetlana. “Now we have to find a way to help Sarah get out of this stupid drawer.

***

The sudden appearance of a 1,400' tall girl was shocking to the Mexican people in the nearby city, to say the very least. Her 200' long feet shook the ground violently with each step, knocking everyone around off their feet, and even cracking a few buildings, shattering their windows. The city was obviously not prepared to accommodate such a massive person, much less a careless one! They all ran for their lives, sprinting as fast as they could, trying to get away from the giantess as soon as possible.

Emma stared down at the city, smiling, amused. Its citizens were truly tiny, about 1/4th of an inch. They were all scattering randomly, obviously trying to avoid being trampled on. She felt like she was standing on an ant hill, causing so much panic and chaos just by standing there and taking a couple of steps. Being in Mexico wasn't just nice because of the sunny and warm weather, but also because it made her feel extremely huge and powerful. She wasn't exactly an amazon back in Sweden, but there, she felt unstoppable. She could do pretty much whatever she wanted, and no one could do anything about it. Well, no one except...

The Mexican citizens felt the ground shake again. However, they all quickly realized that the blone teenager couldn't be the cause, as she was just standing still. They all looked around, already pretty worried about the possibility of a second giant visiting the city. And they were right. A massive woman, about the same size as the teenager, was walking straight towards them. Unlike the younger giant, however, she was wearing a very formal outfit. The impact of her black pumps' heels both created powerful tremors and caused booming thumps that echoed across the whole town.

“Emma!”, the older woman shouted, causing the non-broken windows to rattle. “Vad gör du här?”

“Mamma!”, Emma said, both startled and intimidated. “Jag...jag...eh....”

“Kom hit!”, the woman said, grabbing her daughter's wrist with her hand and pulling her out of the city, making sure to cause the least damage as possible. “I'm so sorry about this”, she then told the citizens. “I'll pay for everything that my stupid daughter here broke. I'm really, really sorry. I promise it won't happen again.”

And with that, both giantesses walked back to their summer house. Emma could see a tiny girl sitting on her mother's open palm. She had no idea who this girl was, but she wasn't in the mood of asking. This mysterious tiny girl, of course, was me.

***

Back in the summer house, Sarah, Svetlana, Paul and me sat all on the living room table, staring up at the blonde woman and her daughter, who were sitting on the couch. The teenage girl had her arms crossed, obviously very annoyed and even angry.

“I can't express how sorry I am.”, said the woman. “Especially to you, Sarah. I really had no idea that my daughter here was so spoiled. I'll pay you twice as much as I promised, and even that won't do it. I hope you can forgive us.”

“Oh, don't worry about it.”, said Sarah. “It's alright. She's a teenager after all. I understand. She's in that age.”

“Yeah, she's a teenager.”, the woman said. “A grounded one!”

“Mamma-!”, said Emma.

“Håll käften!”, interrupted her mother, and the girl immediately shut up, while the 4 of us on the table just laughed.

“Thanks again for being so understanding”, the woman continued. “I owe you all, big time. Anything you need, don't hesitate to ask, OK?”

“Very well. Thanks a lot”, said Sarah, as we all stood up. “We better go now, though”.

“Yes, of course, “said the woman, placing her hand right next to us. “I'll give you a lift.”

***

“So how did you contact her?”, asked Sarah.

“Well, she's actually a very successful businesswoman, so she's fairly famous. Plus, being Swedish, she wasn't exactly hard to find in a country like Mexico.”, I answered.

“Good point. Still, thanks a lot, really. I thought I was going to stay inside that drawer for who knows how long! It's so good to be in a normal-sized room for a change.”

“I bet it is. Well, let's go get some sleep. You probably need it.”

“I certainly do”, said Sarah, yawning. “Have a good night, Lena. Thanks again.”

“Good night to you too!”, I said, and we both walked into our respective bedrooms.