Chapter 4

For several long moments, Billy was too stunned to answer. He was too preoccupied, and too overwhelmed, by the sheer size of Eleanor and Alexandra, who were both looming over him, hands on their hips, completely engulfing him in their shadows. Eleanor had just teased him with the purposeful, rippling undulations of her stomach, and Billy had been forced to recognize that his eyes had latched helplessly onto his grandmother’s belly flesh as she teased him. Billy had wanted to look away — he had wanted to shut his eyes tightly and pretend that this was all just a bad dream. But instead, he had felt his eyes widen on their own accord, in some kind of twisted, perverted fascination with his grandmother’s exposed belly. The dark hole of her belly button was lying in wait, just at his shoulder height, and Billy could feel a kind of pull coming from it, a kind of gravity well that was psychically pulling him in. He fought not to look down, and instead made due simply by staring up helplessly at his two caretakers.

“Well?” asked Eleanor with a dash of forceful humor. “Aren’t you going to admit it?”

“Ad…admit what?” stuttered Billy, trying and failing to latch onto some confidence in his voice.

“That your mother was right…again,” said Eleanor, taking an imposing step toward him, her hands still on her hips. Billy couldn’t help but notice, as much as he fought it, that as Eleanor stepped towards him, her exposed stomach quivered and jiggled with her movement. She wasn’t fat by any means, but she definitely was sporting an obvious amount of pudge, especially in her stomach area. The fleshy weight was such that her belly button was quite deep, and even as Billy glanced slightly down at its incoming depth, he was anxious to realize that, despite being so close to it, he couldn’t see the bottom.

“We’re not trying to lord any of this over you, Billy,” added Alexandra, coming up behind her mother and flanking Billy from the other side. “It’s just very important that you realize, that you acknowledge, that the way you’ve been treating this condition has been at best irresponsible, and at worst utterly reckless.”

“I…haven’t been reckless, mom!” protested Billy, wishing that his voice hadn't gotten a bit higher with his shrinking spurts. “I’ve just been…uhh…I mean, look! Can’t you cut me a little slack!? I have this crazy condition that I’ve never even heard of and didn’t even know was possible, and…and you’re both still just…just harping on me, over and over!”

Billy had worked himself into a bit of a lather as he spoke, and he could feel his face getting a little red as he made himself madder and madder. This was all so crazy, everything that was happening to him…why did Alexandra and Eleanor have to just use it as an opportunity to boss him around even more!?

“See that?” chuckled Eleanor, pointing down at Billy as she shook her head and turned to Alexandra. “That right there. He still thinks everything’s normal. He’s acting like he’s not the size of a fourth-grader.” She suddenly put her hands on her knees and peered down at him, crouching into an obviously-condescending position. “Everything’s not normal, Billy,” she said emphatically down at him, with a twinkle in her eye and the slight curve of a smile at the corners of her mouth. “You can’t pretend, in that high little voice of yours, while you stamp those tiny little feet, that we still need to treat you like an adult.”

For emphasis, Eleanor stood up to her full height once again, this time actually stretching her arms up over her head as her belly flesh pulled and stretched in Billy’s face. He felt his mouth go dry as he took a step backward…directly into the legs and midsection of his stepmother, who didn’t budge. He was noticing it again…Eleanor’s belly button, which appeared to yawn and expand as his grandmother stretched her body out. Billy felt a twinge of something in his crotch. Was he…was he getting aroused by all of this!? There was no way…he shook his head and tried to take his mind off his grandmother’s body, which was difficult, since it completely filled his vision.

“Your grandmother’s right, Billy,” said Alexandra from high above him. Billy turned to look up at her; even though his stepmother was “only” just below 5’3, she was still 16 entire inches taller than him…and far, far heavier.

“This is not the time to go around asserting yourself, brushing things off, and trying to act like you have this condition under control,” continued Alexandra, shaking her head as she spoke. “You’re lucky enough to have two family members who care about you and who only want what’s best for you. And I have to say, it’s not a good look when you snap and bite at the hand that feeds you.”

“Haha, that’s a funny little image!” laughed Eleanor, making Billy turn around to gape at her jiggling belly flesh as she shook with mirth. “Little Billy here literally eating out of my hand…haha, I should try that! Serve your food to you in my hand, and make you actually have to eat it out of my palm…ohhhhh, how ridiculous!”

Billy had no idea how to react to anything his grandmother was saying — it horrified him, yes, but it also made him feel just…so small…so much smaller than he was already feeling in his 3’11 body. The merciless way that Eleanor was getting a kick out of his size, and the persistently jocular way that she was treating the whole situation, was already starting to wear Billy down mentally. He didn’t quite realize it, but subconsciously, he was already starting to feel a bit like a little kid.

“So anyway,” came Alexandra’s stern voice from above, “Will you finally just admit it Billy? Admit that I was right?”

There was no way Billy could see to avoid having to agree with her. As much as he wanted to wheedle out of this one, she had him trapped. He decided to let her have this one, and regroup himself to try and make sure that his mother didn’t totally trample on his liberty. Silently, he bowed his head slightly and nodded.

“And are you going to admit that you could have been killed, or hurt really badly, if you had had a shrink spurt like that when you were, oh, I don’t know, driving a car or something?”

Alexandra was really bearing down on him, and Billy could feel the resentment building in him. Still though, he managed to hold himself together and looked up at her, nodding again.

“And will you finally admit,” continued Alexandra, now folding her arms across her chest, “That you are in no condition whatsoever to take care of yourself, and that you need to just let me and your grandmother see to your wellbeing?”

She had gone too far — Billy had had enough.

“No!” he replied forcefully, actually stamping his foot (much to the delight of Eleanor, whose laughter he could hear in the background). “No I will not admit that, mom! I know that I’m…a lot smaller now and…and everything. But that does not mean that you and grandma can just…just treat me like a little child or something! I’m still a man, mom! I’m still a man, and nothing that you say is going to change that!”

Alexandra had been looking down on him steadily, and steely fire had started to flash in her eyes. Billy could tell that she was getting angry, and he stuck his chin forward defiantly, bracing himself for the inevitable tidal wave of her retort. But instead, a couple seconds later, Billy saw his stepmother’s face suddenly break into a close-mouthed smile…a smile that quickly quivered and wiggled until it turned into a full-blown chuckle. Billy creased his eyebrows together, not understanding Alexandra’s reaction. But a moment later, he could see that she wasn’t laughing directly at him; instead, she was laughing at something directly behind and above him. from the upward avert of his stepmother’s eyes, he knew that Eleanor must have been doing something behind him.

Almost afraid to look, he turned his head around slowly. He felt a sudden chill icicle down his midsection as he realized with horror that Eleanor had snuck up behind him and cupped the flesh around her belly button up in her two hands, so that the belly flesh made a kind of “mouth."

“Why hello there, Billy boy,” Eleanor said in a silly, mock-grownup voice, making her belly button open and close, pretending that it was talking. “What’s this about you being soooo grown up? Real adults aren’t usually face-to-face with me!”

Billy couldn’t believe it — this "mouth" was even with his chin! Had he shrunk again!? He hadn’t felt the telltale feelings of nausea or tingling…so what was going on??

“What? You don’t know me?” continued Eleanor in that same mock-silly voice, “Well let me introduce myself — I’m Dorothy! Pleased to meet you, Billy!”

Billy didn’t know what was more prominent in his mind: his anger and resentment from being humiliated like this, or his growing sense of strange, surreal arousal that seemed to build up inside him whenever his grandmother called attention to her belly button. But how…how was it that high up!? If Billy had just slouched a little bit, he would have been looking directly at it…it would have been eye-level to him.

Glancing down, Billy saw that Eleanor was standing on her tiptoes. He felt a wave of relief pass over him, even as it wasn’t lost on him that all Eleanor needed to do was wear heels and then bam — her belly button would be even with his chin.

“You’re awful quiet for a grown-up,” Eleanor said in her “Dorothy” voice, stepping closer to Billy as she continued manipulating the belly fat around her prominent naval. “I think you’re lying, little Billy! I think that you’re an itty bitty little boy who needs his mommy and grandmommy to take reeealllyyy good care of him.”

“N-no…no,” said Billy weakly, feeling the blood starting to drain into his crotch. He didn’t want any of this…he wanted to run away, to disappear. But he was trapped in between Eleanor and his stepmother, who was shaking with laughter.

“Oh my god, mom!” burst out Alexandra, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief, “You’re just too much! You named your belly button!?”

“And why not?” laughed Eleanor, finally letting her belly fat relax as it fell and quivered back to its normal state. “There aren’t gonna be a lot of people that our little Billy here can talk to face-to-face. So why not just make up a friend or two for him to bond with?”

“Well! You sure do have a curious way of looking at things, mom,” chuckled Alexandra. “And I have to admit, haha, seeing how close your navel was to his face…wow! How about it, Billy? Does that help to emphasize to you how futile your complaining is?”

Billy just stood there fuming, while simultaneously trying to push the arousal out of his brain.

“Billy, come on,” said Alexandra with a bit more sharpness to her voice. “You’re chin-level with your 5’5 grandmother’s navel. Just drop the “adult” act and let’s go inside and get you something to eat. Remember, Dr. Bassett told us that it’s important you keep a good diet going throughout, no matter how small you get.”

Whatever way he looked at it, Billy knew that there was no winning in this situation. He didn’t want to go back into his mom’s house; he didn’t want her to feed him; he didn’t want to have to deal with his grandmother’s constant mockery, and he certainly didn’t want to deal with those weird, unwelcome pangs of arousal that he had felt when staring down at Eleanor’s navel so close to his face. He didn’t want any of it. But in this situation, Billy knew that he was trapped, and that it would only make him look more juvenile and foolish if he continued protesting. And so, with a defeated sigh, he nodded his head and followed in his stepmother’s wake into the house, feeling the huge presence of Eleanor trailing close behind him.

Once inside, Billy went straight to the kitchen, making a beeline for the fridge. He realized that he actually was a bit hungry, and in any case, he didn’t want his stepmother fussing over him too much. He could still feed himself, at least! But as he reached up to open the fridge, the large, manicured hand of Alexandra slapped across the metallic grey of the fridge door.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” asked Alexandra.

“I’m…getting something to eat, just like you said,” Billy answered, making a point to keep his voice respectful.

“No, not just like I said,” replied Alexandra, shaking her head. “I said that I’d feed you. I don’t want you shuffling around in the kitchen, holding knives, turning on the stove, trying to make yourself food, when you’re this small.”

“I…but mom, come on,” said Billy, slumping his shoulders slightly as he found himself slipping back into the old cadence of their exchange, “I can still feed myself. And…and besides…I just want a little yogurt, anyway.”

“Let him open the fridge, Alexandra,” came Eleanor’s voice from behind them. Billy didn’t trust what she was saying — her voice was tinged with amusement. Billy looked up at his stepmother and saw that she was giving her mother a confused look.

“Go on, let him open it,” repeated Eleanor. “Billy’s right — he can still feed himself. Let him get his yogurt.”

Even as he remained suspicious, a suggestion of relief crept into Billy’s mind — was his grandmother actually going to side with him? Was she tired of teasing him, and finally going to just treat him like the adult that he was? It seemed too good to be true, but…

“Hmmm, ok mom,” said Alexandra, blinking softly down on Billy as she smiled slightly, stepping away from the fridge. His stepmother’s smile didn’t make him feel encouraged, but Billy waved away his misgivings, determined to just do something normal himself for once. He reached up to the fridge and pulled, but the door didn’t open. He pulled harder, and it still wouldn’t budge. Alexandra leaned her elbow against the side of the fridge, cocking her eyebrow wryly down at him as she watched him struggle. From behind, Billy could hear the beginnings of Eleanor’s soft, mocking laughter. An image flashed through his brain, totally against his will: his grandmother’s exposed belly flesh, softly jiggling with her laughter, as her navel loomed close to her waistband, an alluring, erotic black hole.

The unwanted image in Billy’s mind made him mad, as did the condescending look that Alexandra was giving him. Gripping the fridge door with both hands and clenching his teeth, Billy mustered his body weight and pulled with all his strength. With a little pop, the fridge door came open, and Billy fell over backwards, landing on his back, directly at his grandmother’s feet. Eleanor arched her neck, staring straight down at him from way, way up above, her face half-visible over the large rack of her breasts.

“Congratulations Billy!” she teased, her voice dripping with condescension. “You opened the refrigerator! Oh, but…better act fast! Looks like it’s about to close again!”

Billy panicked and sprang to his feet; in doing so, he stumbled backward a pace, and he felt the back of his head impinge upon the vast, pillowy flesh of Eleanor’s exposed stomach. Without wasting any time, she grabbed her stomach with both hands, puckering up her belly button again to give him a quick makeshift “kiss” on the neck.

“Mwwah!” she intoned in her “Dorothy” voice. “Quick! The door is closing! Keep it open! Save the kingdom!”

Billy tried to ignore his grandmother’s shenanigans, but it wasn’t lost on him that her teasing went hand-in-hand with the ridiculous situation. He was literally struggling to open a refrigerator…it had turned out to be a far more involved and complex task than he had anticipated. But he bounded across the floor and managed to catch the door right before it sealed shut again.

“Yaaayyyy!” exclaimed Eleanor, clapping her hands sardonically. “He did it! We’re saved!”

“Psssh, good grief, mom,” chuckled Alexandra, shaking her head. Still leaning on the fridge with her elbow, she turned back down to look at Billy. He had successfully kept the door from closing, and now he was swinging it back open. He looked up at the shelves above him, and his heart sank.

‘Shit…the yogurt’s on the top shelf,’ he thought immediately, looking way up. He could see the yogurt containers on the top shelf, almost seeming to wink at him and mock them as they sat there, far out of his reach. Billy knew that there was no way he was going to be able to get to them, at least not without a stepladder. Did Alexandra have one? Surely she did, somewhere in the pantry. But then…well, he’d have to leave the fridge and get it, and by that time the door would’ve shut again, and he’d have to go through the whole ordeal of opening it again, and yadda yadda…through all of these difficulties, he knew that he looked more and more ridiculous with each passing moment.

“Well?” came Alexandra’s voice. “What are you waiting for, Billy? The yogurt’s right there.”

“It’s out of his reach!” laughed Eleanor.

“It’s…I can reach it!” Billy heard himself retort. Why had he just said that!? He knew he couldn’t reach it. But his instinct to reflexively prove Eleanor wrong had gotten the better of him. Still though, he’d give it a try. Standing on his tiptoes, he stretched his arm up, reaching as high as he could go. For a moment, his heart jumped, and he thought that he actually would be able to reach it. But this hope only lasted for an instant, because it quickly became clear that the best he could do was to brush the bottom part of the top shelf with his fingers.

“Ohhh…so close,” Eleanor intoned behind him. Once again, Billy felt trapped. He sighed, putting his feet flat on the floor again as he lowered his hand. He didn’t even want to meet his stepmother’s eyes, but he was still determined to do this himself.

“Is…there a stepladder in the pantry?” he mumbled.

“Yes there is,” said Alexandra.

“Well, could…could you, like, hold the door while I go get it?” Billy hated that he had to ask, but what other choice did he have, other than another embarrassing showing of struggling to open the fridge.

“Oh no Billy,” responded Alexandra, shaking her head down at him, “You said that you were gonna do this all on your own. You said that you could feed yourself, remember? Well, it’s not really doing it on your own if I have to actually hold the door open, now, is it?”

“I…I…ok, fine,” Billy sighed, feeling himself retreat once again. “It…uh, it seems like maybe I need a little more help than I thought I did. I thought…I thought I could reach up there, but…apparently I can’t so, um…so could you get me some yogurt, mom?”

“See?” smiled Alexandra, coming off her elbow and standing at her full height in front of him. “Was that so hard? I’m not asking you to split the atom, Billy. I just want you to have a realistic approach to your situation, is all. And a big part of that is admitting when you need help.”

As she spoke, Alexandra reached up and fetched a yogurt cup from the top shelf, handing it down to him. Billy accepted it, feeling humiliated, but he was distracted by a shadow over him. Eleanor had stepped directly behind him and was reaching out over his body. He again felt the soft flesh of her stomach pressing in the back of his head, and once more, his cock twitched a little in his pants.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t had yogurt in forever,” Eleanor was saying as she reached effortlessly up to the top shelf and nabbed herself a cup. “Little Billy’s a trend-setter, haha.”

“Well knock yourself out,” said Alexandra, grabbing ingredients out of the fridge. “Billy, that yogurt’s just gonna be an appetizer. I’m making you an omelette to go with it.”

“An oml— uh, I…I think I’m good, mom,” said Billy.

“Nope, no arguing this one,” declared Alexandra firmly. “Remember what Dr. Bassett said about keeping up a good diet? Yogurt’s all well and good, but you need more than dairy to keep up your health. I’m gonna make sure you have all the omega 3’s and vitamins that I know have been missing from your diet for some time now. Heck, maybe that’s why you developed this condition in the first place.”

“I…mom, you can’t blame all of this on my…diet!” protested Billy.

“I don’t know,” said Alexandra genuinely, “I don’t know what we can blame it on. All I know is that when you’re staying here with me, you’ll be eating my food prepared how I see fit. Got it?”

“Fine, got it. Whatever,” answered Billy, thoroughly frustrated as he tried a couple times to hop up onto one of the stools by the counter.

“And I can do without the attitude,” Alexandra added, beginning to wash vegetables in the sink.

“Aw, he’s just mad that he can’t reach the stools,” cooed Eleanor. “Here little guy, let me help you.”

Without asking for permission, Eleanor quickly reached down, seized Billy around the waist, and hoisted him up easily onto the stool, using only one arm. Billy had been about to argue with her about it, but an instant later he found himself on the stool, so he knew that he would look stupid if he said anything more.

A couple minutes later, Eleanor had finished her yogurt and was watching Billy work through his.

“You know,” Eleanor mused out loud, pointing her spoon in his direction as she loomed over him in an adjacent stool, “I visited Kimberly at her school during lunch the other day.”

“Oh did you?” said Alexandra, reacting with interest at her mother’s mentioning Billy’s younger cousin as she chopped up more vegetables for Billy’s omelette.

“And just seeing all those 3rd and 4th graders eating…haha, you know, I can’t help but think back to them as I’m watching Billy eat his yogurt.”

“Oh geez, would you please stop with the comparisons?” whined Billy, rolling his eyes.

“Well it’s just true,” replied Eleanor, smiling down at him. “The way you hold your spoon, the way you’re sitting at the counter…haha, your feet dangling off the stool. I’m serious Billy — you look like a fourth grader. And actually, now that I’m thinking about it…I think Kimberly might even be a little bigger and taller than you are now.”

The thought that his 4th-grade cousin might actually be bigger than him shot through Billy like a rocket. He stopped eating and turned to look at his grandmother, who flashed him a toothy grin, her eyes going wide with excitement. The smell of fresh vegetables in olive oil wafted into his nostrils, and the crackling of the food in the frying pan sang in his ears. He was surrounded by it all…all this energy that he couldn’t control. And as he looked into his grandmother’s wide eyes, he couldn’t help but be aware of how much bigger and stronger she was than him…how much her mere presence was already starting to overwhelm him…and most poignantly, how the sexy allure of her stomach and belly button seemed to call to him.