You did WHAT?" Smith bellowed to his wife.

Refusing to be taken aback, Janet grabbed the armrests in the chair her husband occupied, and leaned into his face. "I negotiated a settlement that will allow the University to survive, by applying our beliefs to the world in which we now find ourselves. I did nothing that betrays anything we believe in. I upheld the marriage covenant, marital fidelity, and required a price to be paid for sex outside of marriage."

"Janet, there is no way you can justify this deal or any society in which men are tiny with the Bible or any sort of Christian belief. I believe you've adopted this false 'Goddess of Love' theology and tried to give it a Christian cast! You can't endorse that kind of syncretism and remain a Christian institution! The last thing I want is to  turn this University into some kind of sex cult!"

"It is nothing of the sort. Look around you, Alden! 50 percent of the adult men on earth are tiny now! How long do you think you can hold out? Your yes-men on the Board of Trustees are only telling you you can because they want to keep the gravy train rolling a little longer. You lie to the students, and the trustees lie to you. One of these days, they'll take the money they've gotten from you, slog across the swamp because the bridge is gone, and live like kings and queens in this new world order!"

"I believe we have a duty to hold out in defense of the ideal of the father as head of the household, until such time as a cure is developed or until God reveals his plan to us more fully."

"That could take years or decades! Which means that none of these young people will ever be able to bear children, or even have sex inside of marriage! In essence, we'll be forced to die out, like the Shakers. That's not responsible or Godly from my point of view."

"The behavior you describe of these men who have been shrunk sounds almost like woman-worship. The Bible does not tell husbands to glorify their wives, but Christ alone!"

"We don't seek the worship of men", Janet said. "Only their love. If men feel compelled to express it in ways that seem like worship, that does not make it so.Do you remember the Vow Protectors group?"

"Of course I do. I always thought they were rather cult-like."

"I've been reading some of their websites and articles. They do things like washing their women's feet as a way of removing what blocks them from their wives. I think the Vow Protectors will have a much easier time adapting to the new reality than you will if you don't change. You'll lose the University... and you'll lose me."

"Lose you?" Smith stood up and took Janet's hands off the armrests.

"I understand why you've been reluctant to sleep with me. Everyone's trying to get this sorted out. But I can't live the rest of my life in a marriage without physical intimacy. I need you to be open to... the possibilities. Those things the girls describe... they're happening to me too. I'm not 20 years old, so I'm a little mature in handlingit. But my desires are just as deep, maybe even deeper than theirs. I want to feel all of you, from head to toe, ALL OF YOU, Alden, inside of me. I want you tolove me, front and back. No one else, Alden, only you, because you are the man I married."

Janet then left the room.

----

For Alden Smith, sleep came late that night. At last a dream emerged from his worried mind. He was no more than a foot tall. Above him, his wife is wearing a very short skirt and no panties. She climbs onto the bed and on her knees, her back facing Smith. The skirt hem falls over Smith's head, allowing him to see her nudity. Her womanhood is engorged, and the second womanhood around the backdoor is also showing signs of excitement. "Love me", her huge voice is saying, as she looks down her back at her husband. Smith says "I cannot. This is unclean." In his dream, Smith hears what he believes is the voice of an angel telling him, "Your wife is given to you and her flesh and all her secrets. Rise, Alden, and love thy wife."

Smith awoke in a cold sweat in the guest room, to which his wife had banished him. He recognized the dream as being inspired by one St. Peter had about dietary laws. As Janet entered the kitchen, he said to her, "Nothing your flesh could do to me could ever make me as small as I felt after your rebuke. I agree to everything you say, and I'll do whatever it takes to get the board to go along."

Janet smiled. "Your task should be easier. Check your e-mail. The wives of three of the board members wrote that their husbands were reduced in size and are 'indisposed' for further board meetings."

Smith then kissed her on the cheek.

----

Clarissa and Stan loved each other, and didn't want to lose their intimacy for a moment. They were married immediately, with Alden Smith goaded into serving as presiding minister. Robin and Andrew had a harder time of it, since they hadn't dated at all at really didn't know each other. Andrew turned out to be very caring,and that brought out something in Robin, and they agreed to give marriage a try. After all, Andrew was the only way Robin could legitimately address the needs that were threatening to engulf her.

All of the other girls on campus had to wait until completing the marriage course, taught by Janet Smith herself, before they
could consummate their relationships with a man. The rules of dating on campus changed somewhat, as Janet persuaded her husband to permit a version of"speed dating." "God bless the children of Israel for coming up with such a pragmatic method for circumstances where time is of the essence", Smith remarked.

In due course, the marriage classes got underway for men as well. Andrew and Stan appeared to share their experiences with fellow students who were about to become tiny. The minister leading these courses was a former Vow Protector, and he added a few of their teachings to his course:

"Men are experiencing this because they have become totally focused on the world outside and forgot about their obligations to their spouses. God is placing us at our women's feet, beneath the hems of their dresses, so that we may again center ourselves on our families. You and I know, guys like big challenges. The challenges of domesticity have now been made large, large enough at last to get our attention."

"Your desire to penetrate your wife is as strong as ever. Now you can take that to the ultimate level -- sex by immersion. You can project all of yourself into her. And believe me, SHE WANTS THAT! Re-entering the world after entering her is akin to a physical rebirth... which should remind us of the spiritual rebirth that is required of all of us..."

For the women, Janet Smith had a plethora of advice...

"Do not wish your men to be smaller or taller. Wishing is for notes written to pagan deities. You should say, 'If it please the Lord, make my husband (blank) size.' Your powers are a divine gift, and you should show gratitude for them.

A flood of marriages took place on campus as the semester ended. With communications disrupted, there was nowhere else to hold them. The students
would be staying on campus for the time being, and no new ones would be brought in, until the road was restored. There was talk of making marriage a prerequisite for staying on campus for the new freshmen. "It is better to shrink than to burn," Smith wryly observed. There were also "rededication" ceremonies for staffers and faculty who were already married, including Smith and his wife. Both the marriage and rededication ceremonies included vows to reflect the changed circumstances, as well as a special ceremony in which men washed the feet of their wives. (At the next scheduled service after the numerous "honeymoons" were completed, the men, now shrunk to a few inches tall, repeated the foot washing. The job was so much more massive now. Washtubs were placed at the women's feet, and the men raced to the tubs with their tiny sponges to wring them out. It took several minutes, but the men dutifully caressed every millimeter of their wives' feet, then followed up with vigorous drying by soft towel.)

The men on campus were organized into a brigade to repair the collapsed bridge, their last act before giving themselves to their women. They completed all but a six-inch gap. That gap would be filled in by the women once the men had all shrunk. The University didn't want outsiders coming to the campus until the situation was in order.

Alden Smith spent his last day as a full sized man walking the grounds with his wife. The adaptations that would allow men to get around campus with little difficulty -- such as single sex sidewalks -- were almost complete. But even with these, there would be restrictions. Friday would be "couples day", when men could not walk the campus unless they were carried behind a woman's clothes, unable to see outside. This encouraged intimacy for couples, and allowed women a sort of "casual Friday", where they could be less modest than normal. They could wear T-shirts and shorts, things that would not raise an eyebrow in the outer world but which were forbidden in mixed company at the University.

At last the Smiths retired to their bedroom and undressed. As Smith eyed his wife, her flesh was a road map of their years together. The lines around her eyes reminded him of her laughter on their first real date. The stretch marks were from their twins. The copper brown flesh of her thighs reminded him of their trips to Caribbean beaches. All would look different in a moment.

They kissed. They fondled. They made love. Yet Smith's size did not change. "I don't know, maybe I'm immune", he chuckled as he stepped off the bed.

"I don't think so" laughed Janet as she walked up to him. Alden could see that his eyes just reached her breasts.

It was a little slower than with the youngsters, perhaps a reflection of middle age. But Alden found himself falling downward, downward. His perspective changed from Janet's tummy, to her womanhood, to her thighs. Finally, Alden stood just higher than Janet's ankles.

Janet reached down and picked up the tiny man. "Turn around" was her first command to her tiny husband. Alden flinched, unconsciously fearing the power of this massive giantess who possessed him. She then brought him up to her lips, and she kissed his butt and back. Alden felt relieved. He was at last helpless in her hand, and to his surprise, this fact turned him on.

"I know what you're thinking I want", Janet cooed. "But I'm thinking it might be good to do things in reverse. If it pleases the Lord, may you become 12 inches tall."

Janet climbed back onto the bed, got onto her knees and placed Alden behind her, just as in Alden's dream. Yes, the flesh on Janet's bottom was a bit looser than it had been on their wedding night. But it cushioned Alden well as he thrust himself into her backdoor. Alden was a very tired little man when Janet finally put him to bed.

THE END