Emily took care of me for the rest of the afternoon. Rather than let me ride on her shoulder or anything like that, she’d decided on a more unconventional way of carrying me. She put a string through the loops of the ribbon I was wearing, then tied the two ends of the string together and put it around her neck. She had turned me into little pendant she could wear, almost like a necklace. I rather enjoyed the feeling of hanging against her chest, even though I was dangling over a hundred feet above the ground with nothing but a thin string keeping me from falling. But Emily didn’t spend a lot of time on her feet anyway. She mostly played with her toys in her room or sat on the living room couch and watched television. Sometimes she took me off from her neck and held me in her hand for a bit, her huge fingers encasing me, but always carefully enough so that I wasn’t hurt.

I was handed over to my mom later in the afternoon, and she took me up to her bedroom to show me some things she’d made for me. First there was my new bed – the baby-crib now being far too big for me – which was simply a white cereal bowl that Mom had filled with cotton fluff and covered with a small piece of cloth. She dropped me into the bowl and I was delighted to find it to be the most comfortable bed I’d ever been in. She then carried it over to her dressing table and placed it down on its surface. I climbed out of my new bed and onto the table top.

She had also made me some clothing that fit my new miniscule body. They were just simple pullover shirts and pants, made from the thinnest silk fabric she could find, and they didn’t fit me perfectly, but I was still extremely grateful. Mom helped me to untie the ribbon she’d wrapped me in earlier and watched as I tried on my new clothes. Despite them being made from the thinnest fabric she had available, they still felt pretty bulky to me, but I realized I would simply have to get used to them, since there was really no other option. I looked up at my gigantic mother, who seemed pleased that her handiwork had turned out so well.

“Thank you so much, Mom, for everything,” I said to her. “You really make being shrunk a fun time for me.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re enjoying it, sweetie!” she said, taking me up in her hand and giving me a little kiss on the head. “I take it you’re looking forward to this week, then?”

“Absolutely! As long as you’ll be there the whole time to look after me, Mom.”

“You can count on it! Now, I’d better get started making dinner. Do you want to come along?”

“Actually…if it’s okay, I’d like to stay here for a bit. I’m…well, I think I’ve had enough of Emily’s attention for the day. Don’t get me wrong, she was really great to hang out with…but I want some time to myself, too.”

“Don’t worry, I understand. You can stay here until dinner is ready, then I’ll come and fetch you. Just stay away from the edges of the table, okay? I don’t want to find you lying down below on the floor when I come back.”

I was left alone in Mom’s room while she went downstairs. Of course, I wanted to peek off the edge of the dressing table and see how far below me the floor was, but after what had happened outside earlier, I decided to heed Mom’s warning and stay away from any potential danger. I instead climbed into my new bed and relaxed. It felt weird to admit it, but I was already feeling at ease, despite only having been this tiny for less than a full day. It almost felt like I was staying at an expensive hotel, one where every need of mine was taken care of. Mom was really pampering me and I was enjoying it, even though I knew she was only doing things for me which I was now too small to do on my own – which, to be honest, were most things at this point.

After dinner – during which I had to endure Emily’s giggles and funny remarks as she watched me eat crumbs of food with my hands while sitting on a huge napkin – Mom took me upstairs to her room for the night. I said goodnight to my little sister and thanked her for looking after me during the day. She gave me a tender hug, pressing my tiny body against hers with nothing but a fingertip.

“No problem, Benny!” she said happily. “I really liked taking care of you, it was so much fun! We should do some more cool things together this week, okay?”

“Yeah, definitely. Good night, big sis.”

Mom carried me up to her room, cradling me in her palm. I was taken to the little bathroom which adjoined her bedroom and she put me down on the counter next to the large wash basin.

“So, I think you can guess what time it is,” she said, smiling down at me.

“Um…bath-time?”

“That’s right. I’m going to fill this basin up with water, then I’ll leave you for a while, so you can have some privacy. Does that sound good to you?”

“Yeah, of course! Only…um…I, uh, I have to use the toilet first. Can I…I mean, how am I gonna…because I’m too small now…”

“Yes, you are much too little to use the regular toilet, aren’t you? You’ll just have to use the basin. I’ll put you down at the bottom and you can do your business over the drain. I’ll give you some toilet paper too.”

“Okay, thanks. Sorry about this, Mom, I guess it’s pretty stupid…”

“No, not at all! We both knew that being shrunk down would involve some changes in how you do things…even things as mundane as using the bathroom. You don’t need to be embarrassed about asking, Ben.”

I was left alone to do my toilet business, then Mom came back for me and took me out of the basin. She opened the tap and began filling the basin with warm water, while I walked around on the counter and admired my magnified surroundings. Several huge bottles stood on the counter, containing bath soaps and other such liquids. One of them, a short pink bottle with pictures of roses on it, looked like it contained a bubble bath mixture. I asked my mom if I could try it out. She gave me a funny look.

“So, you want to try out your mother’s fragrant bubble bath?” she laughed. “You’re really trying your luck, aren’t you? You do know it’s marketed as a ‘feminine product’, right? It’s quite expensive too.”

“Well, yeah…but, I mean, that doesn’t mean anything, right? And I’ll only need to use a little bit. Please can I try it, Mom?”

“Okay, okay, I suppose I can spoil you a little.”

She mixed in some of the pink liquid, and pretty soon the basin was filled with sweet-smelling, frothy hot water. The basin was only half-full, but it was still big enough for me to go swimming in it like a pool. Mom looked satisfied, then told me that she’ll leave me here for about forty-five minutes or so. I was more than happy with that and waited for her to leave, then undressed and jumped into my giant-sized bubble bath. It was every bit as wonderful as you could imagine and I played and splashed around in the water for ages, not caring that I was acting really immaturely. It was just marvellous, being this small and having my own swimming pool-sized bath in which to enjoy myself. I washed my body and hair in the soapy water, marvelling at how dense it felt and at the way the oversized drops clung to my skin. There were rose-scented bubbles all around me, some of them larger than I was, and I found I could swim into them without popping them, which was incredibly cool.

But eventually I decided I’d had enough, so I tried to make my way out of the basin. The drain plug was attached to a small metallic chain, which rose up out of the water and looked climbable. I would have to climb about twelve feet or so to reach the top, so I got to it, immediately missing the warm water once I was out of it. But once I reached the top of the chain, I found that my arms were too short to reach the top of the basin. I tried swinging the chain back and forth to get some altitude, but again to no avail. Eventually I had to give up, and I dropped back down into the soapy water below. But I was in for a surprise.

My pulling and tugging on the chain had loosened the plug, which meant that the water in the basin had begun to flow out. Of course, since I was so small, I was immediately pulled down towards the drain by the flowing water. I tried to swim away from the drain, but my arms and legs weren’t strong enough and I kept getting pulled down. I really began to panic now. My only hope was grabbing onto the chain I had unsuccessfully tried to climb earlier and holding on with all my strength. It worked, and as the last of the water was gurgling down into the drain I was left at the bottom of the basin, clinging on to the chain for dear life.

I was out of danger, but I was still trapped down here, so I began calling out, hoping my mom would hear me. She did eventually come, although it couldn’t have been because I was calling her: I knew my voice was now too faint for her to hear in the room next door. She had just come to check up on me and was surprised and alarmed to see me in my current predicament. She deftly picked me up with two fingers and quickly rinsed me under the tap, cleaning off the last of the soap I was covered in. Then she lay me down on a hand towel and began to dry me. I tried to tell her that I was capable of doing this myself, but she didn’t seem to hear me. When she was done, I was lying naked on the towel, looking up at her ruefully.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” I mumbled, as I could tell from her expression that she wasn’t happy with me. “I tried to get out of the sink on my own and…well, one thing led to another, and…but I’m okay, now…thanks to you.”

“Do you realize you could have easily been sucked down the drain, if you hadn’t been alert?” she asked, her voice terse. “I know that you seem to enjoy doing these stunts while you are miniaturized, but you have to be more careful, Ben! I won’t always be just around the corner to come and save you…although maybe I should be, seeing the way you carry on.”

“Come on, Mom, it was just one accident!” I cried, feeling terribly humiliated, lying curled up on a towel, while she towered above me. “Please can I have my clothes now? This is really uncomfortable for me right now! I’ll be more careful from now on, I swear!”

Her face grew more sympathetic as she realized she may have been overreacting a little bit. She handed me my miniature clothes and stood nearby as I got dressed. When I was finished, she picked up the towel, with me still sitting on it, and held it up to her lovely face.

“So, tell me, how was the bath?” she asked. “Did you enjoy it? Before the ‘accident’ at the end, I mean – which I’m sure is something that will never happen again.”

“Yeah, it was great,” I said. “Really, really great. I wouldn’t mind doing this every evening – if you don’t mind, that is. And I’ll never do anything dumb like try to get out on my own again, I promise.”

“Good, then this is how we’ll be doing it, then. Now, before I send you to bed, you’ve got one last thing to do.”

She held up an enormous tube of toothpaste right next to me.

“Really, Mom?” I said, looking up at her. “I can’t brush my teeth when I’m this small – and I don’t want you doing it for me either!”

“Maybe not, but as your mother it’s my job to look after you and to make sure you look after yourself, so it’s got to be done. You can put some of the toothpaste on your fingertip and rub your teeth with it, then rinse your mouth afterwards. Don’t worry, I’ll help you with everything…”

I did as I was told, and was surprised to find that her method actually worked pretty well. It was better than not cleaning my teeth at all, I guess. As she carried me back to her room in the palm of her hand, I asked her a question:

“Mom…don’t you hate all of this? I mean, having to take care of me like I’m a little baby? Because if you do, I don’t mind going back to normal size…if that’s still an option.”

“It is, if that’s what you want to do,” she replied. “But, to answer your question – no, I don’t hate taking care of you at all. In fact, I really like being responsible for you, for what could be the last time. Maybe if you ever have kids, you’ll understand what it feels like. As a parent, a part of you can’t wait for your kids to grow up and head off on their own, out into the world – but the other part wishes they could be kids forever, so you can take care of them and spend as much time with them as you want.”

She looked down at me and smiled, then continued:

“I hope it’s not making you feel uncomfortable, me mothering you this much. What you’re doing – what we’re doing, I should say – can be extremely dangerous if we don’t take all the possible precautions. I just want to make sure you’re never in any dangerous or potentially hazardous situations, that’s all.”

“I know, Mom…and I’m really grateful. I don’t mind being taken care of like this, not at all. I’ve told you already, I actually kinda like it. I get to be a little kid again – maybe for the last time, like you said. In fact, if you ever need another volunteer for this kind of experiment again…like, maybe next year, or whenever – well, I’d like to do it again, if that’s okay.”

“Really? Well, that’s very kind of you, dear. I’ll definitely consider it. Of course, we’re still busy deciding – my co-workers and I, that is – what the next step is going to be. We will eventually have to make all of this public, since it can’t be kept a secret forever, even if we tried. But now that we know that miniaturization is a success and that it doesn’t seem to have any negative effects on the human body, we’ll need to decide on where to take the technology from here, and how it should be applied. But we can talk more about all of that tomorrow. You’re coming with me to the labs again, Ben, where I’m sure the others will be delighted to meet you at your new size. But now it’s time to go to bed.”

I was dropped into the cereal bowl that was my makeshift bed and Mom actually tucked me in, something she hadn’t done in many, many years. I was given a little kiss, then she took my bed and put me inside one of the drawers of her bedside cupboard, so that I could have a little privacy. I was pretty tired and fell asleep soon after, but not before imagining all the things that lay ahead this week. Foremost in my thoughts was Kara, of course. I couldn’t wait for her to hold me in her hands and kiss me with those lovely lips of hers. Last week I was still a bit frightened by the prospect of being intimate with her while so much smaller than her in size. Even though I was now even smaller still than last week, I was actually less afraid of having a closer relationship with her. And I knew she wouldn’t be afraid either.