When Lettie started to reawaken, she realized she was in her bed, covered by a blanket. Thank goodness, she thought groggily, it was all a dream.
But something was wrong. The texture of the blanket wasn’t right, and weight of it felt … off, somehow.
Lettie, still half-asleep, reached for the edge of the bed, but it was nowhere to be found.
She opened her eyes, looked around and had to suppress a scream. Her bed -- and, for that matter, everything else except her -- was huge, five times the size it should have been. The “blanket” she was covered with actually was a dishtowel, which explained why it felt funny as a blanket.
Lettie sat up (well, as up as she could) and rubbed her head, It registered that her bedroom door was open just as the titanic figure of her mom came in the room, carrying a large rag doll with blonde hair the doll wore a light purple dress.
“Oh, good, you’re awake,” Jan Munson said to her daughter. “I’d hoped you’d regrow more by now, but you’re still getting bigger.”
“So, it wasn’t a dream,” Lettie said, making sure to keep the towel over herself. “That nightmare was real.”
“I’m afraid so, Honey,” Jan said. “May I sit on the bed? We have a lot to talk about.”
Lettie, who was toward the foot of the bed, gestured toward the head of the bed as if to say, “Go ahead.” As her mom sat, Lettie realized she was carrying an envelope in addition to the doll.”
But Lettie wasn’t worried about the letter or the doll right now. “You knew I might shrink like this?” Lettie said. “How did you know? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jan moved the doll onto her lap. “The answers are connected to this,” she said. “You probably don’t know what kind of doll this is, do you?”
“Not a clue,” Lettie said flatly, a hint of anger in her voice as she glared up at her gigantic mother.
“The doll’s name is Shrinkin’ Violette,” Jan said. “Violette is spelled just like your name -- or, more accurately, your grandma’s.”
“You knew I might shrink because of a doll?” Lettie said, still sounding angry.
“You’re up about another two inches since I came in the room,” Mom said. “That’s good. And, no, it wasn’t because of the doll that I knew you’d grow, but it is related to it.
“See, the doll was based on a character from a kid’s cartoon show of the early 1960s, one fo the first educational TV shows. But what most people didn’t realize was that, while a lot of the stuff on the show was made up -- a talking pterodactyl, a super-voiced Indian chief -- the basic situation was real. Shrinkin’ Violette was your Grandma Vi.”
Lettie scooted closer to the edge of the bed. As she did, she realized she was growing again. She was soon up to about 21 inches tall. She guesstimated she’s picked up about 7 inches since she’d awakened.
“You’re starting to grow back faster, and that towel won’t hold you,” Mom said. She took out a slightly yellowed letter from the envelope and spread it out on the bed. “I’ll give you some privacy,” Mom said. “Read this while I’m out of the room. It’s from your Grandma Vi. She didn’t know who she’d be writing it to, but she wanted to tell whoever needed to know it firsthand what was going on. Let me know when you’re ready for me to come back.”
Lettie crawled over to the letter, which was about as long as her torso, and started to read:
My dear child,
If you are reading this, then you’ve been impacted by my condition. Since it hit me at a time of fear and embarrassment, I can only assume it may have done the same to you, and for that I’m sorry.
My story is so incredible that it’s hard to share with anyone who hasn’t experienced it. My children know, and those of the grandchildren who are old enough, too. But I’m in ill health and told I haven’t long, so I’m writing these letters to give to each branch of the family so I can share this with you after I’m gone, if need be.
My story began with my daddy. He would come home from work every day, and I would be waiting by the door, run up and hug him. I was 5 years old at the time. None of us knew the consequences that simple, family gesture would have at the time.
We had taken a trip to a big wooded area I didn’t know in another state, and I was off playing by myself -- those were different days, when people felt safer letting their children do that -- when these two men I didn’t know came up and tried to grab me. I panicked and ran, screaming for my parents.
Suddenly one of the men grabbed me by the sleeve of my dress (girls wore dresses all the time then.) Terrified, I tried to pull free, and pulled out of the dress. But it wasn’t in the usual way. In a matter of a few seconds, I shrank to the size of a bug. I fell out of the dress. Because my mass was so light, the fall didn’t hurt me at all, and I was hidden in the grass, but I was tiny, confused, terrified and alone. I grew even smaller in my fear. Knowing what I now know, I think I was probably microscopic, but I had no clue what that even meant at the time.
Eventually I started growing back. But, by the time I was 3 inches tall, I could see that, not only were the men gone, but so were my clothes. I dropped down again below the grass’ height -- not intentionally at this point; that would come later -- and started to look for shelter.
I was lost, had no idea where my parents or clothes were, the size of a grasshopper and had no idea where those guys who tried to grab me were … pretty terrifying for anyone, let alone a 5-year-old.
I found a set of old crates some boys had made into a clubhouse and set up just outside the park boundaries. I took shelter in there, and started regrowing. They had some food inside, as well as sleeping bags and some sheets and towels. I found out later that the towels were because they’d swim in a nearby creek. Anyway, I made makeshift clothing out of what was there.
Then a group of the boys came in all at once. They threatened to throw me out and hurt me until I started crying and again started shrinking. Then they stopped long enough to listen to my story, and they took me in.
Thinking like boys in the early days of the Cold War, they reasoned Soviet spies were after me for my powers and decided to keep my location secret. They kept me at the clubhouse, brought me clothes and food and talked to anyone they could trust about trying to find my parents.
Over the course of the next two weeks, I learned to control my shrinking power. I got to where I could shrink and regrow at will, and change the clothes I was wearing and small objects I carried with me when I did so. The boys cheered me on in those efforts.
Then it turned out the boys were right, sort of. The two would-be kidnappers had been systematically searching the area around the park and had finally found me. But, between the boys, the local police and now having my powers under control, we not only caught them, we actually succeeded in capturing them.
Then we found out the whole truth. My dad was a research scientist exploring biological miniaturization for federal government. The kidnappers had been trying to take me, not for my powers, which they knew nothing about until I shrank, but to use me as leverage to force my father to give up U.S. secrets.
I’d gotten the powers from being exposed to my dad’s clothes with those hugs, day in and day out. It seems that, while none of his projects worked directly, the subtle exposure to my 5-year-old body of all those processes in combination created a complex cocktail that altered my DNA and gave me my shrinking power.
While it is a mutation that can be passed on, to be able to use the powers you have to have one of several combinations of genes that allow one or more of the powers to work. We’ve identified at least four powers the genes I have can provide, but I’ve only got two myself. Read the journal I’ve left with my oldest daughter Daphne to learn about the other one.
To date, none of my children or grandchildren had possessed the right “open circuit-breaker” genes to gain any of the powers.
Lettie, is you’re the one reading this, we think, because you resemble me so much physically, and not just in name, you may have some of the powers, but we don’t know for sure. If you do, they may not have manifested at the same age or in the same manner as mine did.
To whoever’s reading this, if these powers bring you any hardship, I’m sorry. But, if you can learn to control the, like I did, the results can be glorious.
Know that, even though I may not be with you in person, my love is with you, and that you’re not in this alone. I’ve been down this road, too. It may have its rough spots, but it also can be a lot of fun.
All my love,
Grandma Vi.
Lettie sat on the bed, wide-eyed, for a moment. She was 2-foot-4 when she finished the letter. By the time she’d really processed what it had said, she was an inch taller.
Now big enough to do so, Lettie slid off the bed. As her feet hit the floor, her conficence increased, and so did her height. In seconds she was up to 4-foot-7. She went to her dresser and pulled out a newer T-shirt that hadn‘t shrunk much yet. It was big as a nightshirt on her now, but that was OK; it meant she was dressed.
“Hey, Mom!” Lettie called, opening her bedroom door and walking down the hall. “I’m ready for the rest now!”
Jan looked at Lettie while Lettie looked up at her mother, who still seemed huge to the teen. “Wow!” Jan said. “You’ve really grown back up.”
“Yeah,” said Lettie. “So, how did you know about this? I mean, you married into the family.”
“Your dad told me about it before we were married,” Mom said. “I thought he was nuts, until I actually saw Vi shrink. When I was able to stand back up again after the initial shock, I believed them both.”
“So, do you know what happened after she was a kid?” Lettie asked.
“I know that the rights to her story were sold to this TV producer, and the show made the Shrinkin’ Violette character a star,” Jan said. “Your grandma wound up with a lot of money from that. But most people didn’t know it was real. She lived a pretty normal life through her growing up from there, and then was recruited by the CIA for her … special talents. She undertook a lot of missions, and I guess was a top field agent for awhile, until she retired.”
“In the letter, she said something about a second power she developed later, but she doesn‘t say what it was,” Lettie said. “Do you know?”
Jan shook her head. “That’s probably in the journal she left with your Aunt Daphne,” the mom said. “I actually called Daphne about that while you were asleep; I figured you’d want to see what’s in it. Unfortunately, she’s about as organized with this as she is with everything else. She’s going to have to look for the journal, and that may take quite awhile.”
Letti’s shoulders sank.
“Don’t worry, honey,” said Mom. “We’ll get it eventually.”
“Mom, there was a little bit of the letter specifically addressed to me,” Lettie said.
“I know,” Jan said. “We had talked about it -- your dad, grandma and I -- and decided we didn’t want to upset you unnecessarily. Of all your cousins descended from Grandma Vi, you’re the one who most physically resembled your grandma, so we knew there might be a better chance you’d get the powers, but we didn’t know for sure, and, with no one else developing them, it seemd so unlikely.”
“So I’m the only one with the powers?”
“Since Grandma Vi, yes,” Mom said. “Honey, you’re growing some more. Put on some more clothes and we can talk more once you do. I don’t want any views you wouldn’t want me to see.”
Lettie smiled. “Right,” she said.
After redressing, Lettie, now nearly her full height again, returned to her mother in the living room. Mom patted the sofa, and Lettie sat down.
“So, now what?” Lettie said.
“Well,” Mom said hesitantly, “I think we have to consider home-schooling you, at least temporarily, or getting your classwork sent from the school. I mean, this was probably the most talked about incident in school since you’ve been enrolled.”
“Yeah,” said Lettie. “Some dweeb will probably try to do something to make me shrink. Until we get this under control, I should probably stay out.”
Mom patted Lettie’s knee. “Your friends -- the ones who really are friends -- will still be able to come over,” Jan said. “In the meantime, I know a little of what your grandma did to train, and you already know your relaxation techniques. Your dad may know a few more things. We’ll get you through this.”
Lettie smiled. She could see her grandma’s picture on the wall, smiling down at her. “I know, Mom,” she said. “Grandma Vi had it harder than I should. If she could get through this, so can I.”
Giantess World
