GENETITECH/BIOENG. confidential file
SUBJECT: --GOLDMAN, David
A.U. No.: --NC 654 55 D
S.C.I.D. No: --7474HHD
SUPERVISING DOCTOR: --Dr. Terrence LYNCH
ITEM: --Transcript of recorded testimony regarding subject's current condition. File for ASSESSMENT/INFO
[cont.]
When she got home from work that night, Linda set up the shrink ray in the garage.
Sorry. I mean "matter proportioning matrix."
It was Eddie's idea, actually. He and Carolyn had given Linda's husband Randy a Coleman portable toilet to take on his hunting trips, but Randy had never taken it out of the box. He'd been afraid his buddies would give him [EXPLETIVE DELETED] if he brought it along, so for the past few years it had simply sat in the closet.
And Eddie figured it would be a lot more comfortable than squatting over that [EXPLETIVE DELETED] bedpan.
Linda was reluctant at first. "I promised Carolyn I wouldn't mess with that machine."
But Eddie was smooth. "Carolyn doesn't have to know," he told Linda. "It can be our secret." With a twinkle and a grin, he added, "And Lord knows we've kept our share of secrets from her."
Linda nodded, and finally reached down to lift Eddie from the shoebox. "Okay," she said, carrying him out of the bedroom. "I guess it'll be okay, just this once."
***
The next night, Linda came home with a couple of pizzas and a twelve-pack of Bud Light. After helping herself to a few slices and a couple of bottles, she carried the rest out to the garage to shrink it.
We ate our meal on the dining table, sitting cross-legged near Linda's plate. She watched with amusement as we scarfed our pizza and drank our beer, relishing our first decent meal in days.
"Don't be expecting this every night," Linda told us, her mouth full. "I can't afford to feed four with what I'm making." She smiled as she reached down, brushing Eddie with a greasy finger. "After all, we can't all be rich scientists like Eddie here."
"Not that rich," Eddie said. "You remember that crappy truck I used to drive around in."
"Remember, hell," Linda laughed. "It's on my dresser, sweetie."
Linda couldn't see the look on Eddie's face, that quick flash of anger in his eyes. For a second, it looked like the madness was going to bubble to the surface again. Then, just as suddenly, it was gone and Eddie was all smiles again.
"It isn't much to look at," he said amiably, "but at least I kept it running. Not like that piece of [EXPLETIVE DELETED] Randy has sitting out in your garage."
"God, don't get me started on that damn car of his," Linda said, taking a swig of beer. "I swear to God, it's been sitting out there under that [EXPLETIVE DELETED] tarp for a year now. Sometimes, I'd like to just call the city and have them haul it away. Throw it in one of those auto-crushing things."
She giggled. "Then I could put it back in the garage under the tarp. It would still run as good, but it would only take up half as much room."
"I've got a better idea," Eddie said. "Why don't you just zap it?"
Linda's smile faltered. "Oh, God! No way, Eddie! Randy would kill me!"
"He wouldn't know. You could tell him it was stolen or something. Tell him one of the neighbors called the city and had it towed."
"Out of the garage? Randy's dumb, but he's not [EXPLETIVE DELETED] retarded, Eddie." She shook her head. "No."
Eddie hung his head so Linda couldn't see, but Julie and I both caught a glimpse of the rage in his face. His fists were clenched and his lips were twitching. I couldn't hear, but I'm almost positive he was whispering, "Hold it together."
"Eddie?" Linda reached down to stroke him with her finger again. "You okay, sweetie?"
Eddie smiled. "Yeah. I was just wondering if you had anything stronger than this beer to drink."
"I think I've still got half a bottle of Wild Turkey," Linda said. "You want me to shrink it for you?"
"Nah," Eddie said. "I hate to drink alone."
***
An hour later, the empty bottle was sitting on the coffee table. Linda was sprawled on the couch, still in the conservative peach dress and tan hose she'd worn to work that day. Her face was red and splotchy, and her mascara was smudged. She was cradling Eddie in her hands. The two of them had split the bottle between them, but of course Linda had done most of the drinking.
Julie and I stood at the far end of the table, forgotten for the moment. Eddie was petting Linda's thumb, just above the white welt where Sire had bitten her. It looked like an ant bite. The poor dog hadn't even managed to draw any blood.
"Poor Linda," he cooed. "Someone as pretty as you could do a lot better than that worthless son of a bitch Randy."
She sighed. "Carolyn always was the lucky one." She stroked Eddie with her fingernail. "I always wished I'd met you first, especially when we were... you know..."
Her voice was slurred, her giddy mood turning maudlin.
"It's no wonder you have to work," Eddie went on. "I bet he spends at least half of what he makes on that [EXPLETIVE DELETED] car of his. And you know he'll never get the damn thing to run."
"God, I hate that [EXPLETIVE DELETED] Z so much!" Linda said ferociously. "Maybe I will shrink it down, just so I can stomp the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] out of it!"
"It'll be easy," Eddie said. "Just put it in neutral, and you can use your car to pull it out of the garage. Then you spread the mat, and push it back in. Then zap!" He grinned. "Toy car."
Linda's face broke into a grin. "[EXPLETIVE DELETED] it!" she announced, standing up. "I'm gonna do it!"
***
Later that night, Randy's 280-ZX was lying in pieces in the kitchen trash.
Linda had passed out while getting undressed for bed, and was now snoring loudly on top of the covers on her waterbed. She still wore her bra and panties, but her dress and hose were in a wad on the floor.
Eddie was back in the shoebox with us, curled up in a fetal position on a thick pallet of folded Kleenex. He slept fitfully, and mumbled every once in a while, but never anything intelligible. I would have given anything to know what was going on in that broken mind of his.
It was the weirdest thing. When Linda was around, Eddie was coherent, focused, and way more charming than he'd ever been when I was working for him. He talked soothingly to Linda, and she totally ate it up.
But as soon as Linda walked away, the glaze would return to his eyes and he'd collapse and resume muttering to himself.
Armed with nothing more than a single freshman Psych course, Julie and I were in no way qualified to analyze Eddie. I mean, he'd gone from being crazy all the time to being crazy half the time. It was an improvement, right?
We really thought so at the time.
***
The next morning, Linda woke up sick. She vaulted into the bathroom and spent nearly a half-hour throwing up. She called in sick to work, and then she fell sleep once again.
By noon, she was awake and shuffling around the house in her t-shirt and shorts. Her hair was damp from a shower, and her face was scrubbed clean of makeup. She actually looked a lot better than she had that morning, but she didn't feel much better.
"Why the hell did I let you talk me into that?" she muttered to Eddie. She held the three of us in her cupped hand, carrying us into the living room.
"I didn't have to talk you into much," Eddie told her with a chuckle. "You always did like your whiskey."
"Not the drinking," Linda moaned. "Shrinking Randy's car! How the hell am I going to explain it to him when he gets home?"
She set us down on the coffee table, then plopped down onto the couch with a tremendous sigh.
Seeing an opportunity, I stepped forward. Linda raised her head to look at me, and I felt my nerve waver. Still, I swallowed and said, "You could always call GenetiTech..."
"I'm not calling [EXPLETIVE DELETED] GenetiTech, Davey," she said sternly. "Don't bring it up again."
"But it would give you a..."
Linda slapped the table with her palm, and the force of the blow knocked the three of us sprawling. "I said, drop it."
For several minutes, nobody said anything. Linda sat there, her head in her hands, breathing loudly.
Eddie's composure melted, and for a second it looked as if he were going to scream. "Hold it together," he whispered to himself, just once this time. Then he walked to the edge of the table and looked up into Linda's face.
"I think you should shrink Eddie," he said.
For a second, Linda just stared at him. Then she snorted once, a quick and derisive laugh.
"You're insane, Eddie," she said. "I'm not going to shrink my husband. Besides, Carolyn would never let me."
"Then shrink Carolyn too."
Julie and I exchanged horrified looks, but neither of us said a word. We just listened.
"Just think!" Eddie was enthusiastic. "If Carolyn were out of the way, you'd have us all to yourself. Plus, you'd have that machine and you could use it on anyone or anything you wanted."
"She's my sister, Eddie. I can't do this..."
"You can shrink Carolyn and Randy, and anyone else you felt like. There'd be nobody to stop you!"
"No!" Linda sat up and glared down at us. "I'm not going to do it, Eddie!" She looked away. "Now drop it!"
***
While Linda scrounged up some lunch in the kitchen, Julie and I confronted Eddie. But Eddie didn't even acknowledge us. That vacant look had returned to his eyes. He clutched his arms across his chest and rocked back and forth, muttering under his breath.
"Playing Linda against Carolyn," Julie said. "It might actually be our best chance."
"Are you nuts? Our only chance is to convince Linda to contact GenetiTech for us. And we'll never do that once she starts shrinking half of [EXPLETIVE DELETED] Midland!"
"You know that's not going to work," Julie said. "She's about as full of sympathy and goodwill as she's going to get, and she's not budging on GenetiTech. She wants to keep us, Dave."
"I know. But she was pretty adamantly opposed to Eddie's plan too."
Julie shrugged. "Maybe not. I think Eddie's found the right buttons to push with her." She glanced over at him and shook her head. "If he can keep his [EXPLETIVE DELETED] together long enough, I think he might be able to pull it off."
"Okay, so fine. Let's say he convinced Linda to go crazy and start shrinking people. What does that buy us?"
"Time," Julie said.
"Time for what?"
"To escape."
***
No doubt about it. Eddie was out of his [EXPLETIVE DELETED] head. And he had pretty much screwed up any chance we'd ever had of getting Linda to call GenetiTech.
But as much as I resented Linda's casual, playful dominance over us, she was still the lesser of two evils. And as I mentioned earlier, our chances for escape were much better with Linda than with Carolyn.
Part of it was the practical matter of location. Linda lived in a residential area, while Carolyn was living in a secluded house miles from civilization. At our current size, we'd be lucky to make it to the highway, let alone Midland.
But a larger part of it was simply demeanor. If Linda caught us trying to escape, she might punish us (rather reluctantly at this point). If Carolyn caught us, chances are we'd end up in the garbage disposal.
So in the end, Julie and I went along with Eddie's plan, albeit rather reluctantly. We felt we had no choice in the matter, and we truly resented Eddie for putting us in that position and for not coming to us first with his idea.
We played along, assuming that Linda's betrayal of Carolyn was the full extent of Eddie's scheme.
At the time, we didn't suspect what he REALLY had in mind...
***
Lunch consisted of ham sandwiches and potato chips, which Linda thoughtfully shrunk down for us. We were just sitting down to eat when the phone rang.
Linda answered it with a sickly voice, just in case it was work calling to check on her. But a few seconds later, she perked up a bit and said, "Oh, hey Carolyn."
The three of us stopped eating and stared, listening to Linda's side of the conversation. What if their parents had gone back to Sweetwater? What if Carolyn was on her way to collect us?
"Nah, just a little hung over. Figured I'd take a personal day, spend some quality time with the little ones." She looked over at us and winked.
"Oh, they're fine. We're having a great time. How's things with Mom and Dad?"
We watched Linda's face carefully, looking for any clue that there was anything wrong. I kept telling myself that Carolyn was just checking in, that everything was fine.
"Yeah, I'll be back at work tomorrow. Guess I can't milk this thing for two days. Why?"
Linda's smile faltered for just a second, and she looked over at us again. "All of them?"
Then the smile was back. Her eyes fell directly on me when she said, "Well, I'm sure that can be arranged. Shall we say El Fenix, around noonish?"
She giggled, still looking at me. "Well, I'm sure he'll love that. See you tomorrow."
She hung up the phone and came back over to us. She must have noticed the alarmed looks on our faces, because she grinned and said, "It's okay, guys. No big deal."
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Dad's taking Mom to the beauty shop tomorrow, and he's going to knock around Wal-Mart until she's done, so Carolyn was just hoping we could meet her for lunch."
"We?"
"You and me, Davey." Linda giggled. "She misses her 'special little guy.'"
***
"Her 'special little guy,'" Julie repeated with obvious distaste. "Christ, that makes my skin crawl."
We were in my car, racing around the floor. Well, "racing" might be a tad strong. The carpet was short, and threadbare in places, but it was still a bumpy ride. My poor Fiat didn't have the best suspension, so I had to keep it down to around 30 or so.
"Yours and mine both," I told her. Every time I thought back to the helpless, mewling pet I'd been with Carolyn, it made me want to vomit. And I was terrified at the thought of letting her do it to me again.
The top was down on my car, at Linda's "request" so she could keep an eye on us. Still, it felt incredible to be in control again, to be doing something that normal people did every day.
The garter from my cousin's wedding in February hung from the rear view mirror, and the ashtray was overflowing with change that jangled loudly with every bump. Tom Waits was in the tape player, singing "Tango Till They're Sore."
"So Randy's supposed to get back from his fishing trip on Sunday," Julie said. "There's no way Carolyn's going to let us stay here with him around. Even with her parents around, we're probably going to end up going back home with her."
"Unless Eddie can convince her."
We both glanced over at the couch. Linda held Eddie in her hands and was looking down at him. We couldn't hear what he was saying, but she was shaking her head. But not vehemently. Not angrily.
He was making progress.
***
I didn't sleep much that night. I lay next to Julie, tossing and turning and trying not to think about my encounter with Carolyn the next day.
Morning came all too soon. Linda did her usual frantic morning shower, then slipped into a demure skirt and blouse. "You guys be good," she said, gently touching her fingernail to Eddie's cheek. Then she snatched me up and grabbed her purse from the dresser.
"I probably should've given you a bath," she said, holding me in her palm as she carried me out to the car. "Carolyn's going to think I'm not taking good care of you guys."
I was wearing the same pair of sweats and white t-shirt that I'd slept in, and my hair was jutting in all directions. Linda licked the tip of her finger and set to smoothing my bed head. Her saliva smelled like her spearmint toothpaste, cloying and sweet.
We got into the car, and she tossed her purse on the passenger seat. Then she held me up to her face, letting me dangle between her finger and thumb.
"I want you to be a good boy at work, Davey. Don't do anything stupid, okay?"
I nodded, and Linda smiled. She touched me to her lips then dropped me gently into her open purse.
***
Linda worked as a secretary and receptionist for Lytton Express Trucking. Her main jobs were to answer the phones and sort the mail. She spent most of her day sitting behind an old, worn desk in the dingy lobby, playing FreeCell on her PC and chatting with the other employees as they passed by.
She'd placed her purse in a drawer, but left it opened a crack so she could see me. She looked down at me often, smiling sweetly when she saw me sitting quietly.
Most of the chatter was pretty banal, but I was bored out of my mind and had nothing else to do but listen. A couple of girls from Accounting stopped by her desk on their way to the breakroom to see how she was doing, and one of them gave her a Get Well Soon card. She was elaborating on her illness ("One of those 24-hour stomach bugs!") when I heard her swear under her breath. The other girls scattered as heavy footsteps approached.
"Ms. Greenwood." It was a man's voice, wheezy and high-pitched.
Linda sighed. "Yes, Mr. Nichols?"
"The printer up on three is still not working. Did you ever place a service call?"
"No, Mr. Nichols. I was out sick yesterday."
He exhaled loudly through his nose. "You've been sick a lot this year, Ms. Greenwood. I hope everything is okay," he said with utter insincerity.
Linda was suddenly typing busily on her PC. "I'm fine, Mr. Nichols. Just got a lot of work to catch up on."
"Well then, maybe you should spend more time working and less time talking with your friends."
"Okay, Mr. Nichols."
"And get that service call placed today, Ms. Greenwood. I want a technician out here this afternoon."
"Yeah, okay."
I heard his heavy footfalls as he walked away. And once he was safely out of hearing range, Linda sighed and muttered, "Fat [EXPLETIVE DELETED] little [EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED] bastard!"
***
Lunchtime came, and Linda grabbed her purse and headed for the door. I tumbled down as I was jostled, falling in amongst the cosmetics and the tissue.
From outside the purse, I heard Mr. Nichols chiding her for leaving, suggesting that she should work through lunch to get caught up on yesterday's tasks. Linda walked past him without responding, and I heard him call, "Ms. Greenwood! We'll definitely discuss this on your next review!"
She was still muttering angrily when she got into the car. She snapped the purse open and dug around until she found me. She grabbed me by the leg, lifting me out and setting me gently in the cup holder. Then she fished out her sunglasses and slipped them on.
"God, I hate that porky little [EXPLETIVE DELETED]," she said. "I bet you a million dollars he dumps a bunch of extra work on me today, just to teach me a lesson."
"Sorry," I said, because I couldn't think of anything else.
Linda started the car, then took a deep breath. "Okay," she said to me. "If Carolyn asks, you'll tell her I'm taking good care of you guys, right?"
"Sure."
"No need to tell her about Eddie's dog, okay? Eddie and me are good on that, and she doesn't need to know."
I nodded.
"And don't tell her that I set up that shrinking machine. If she finds out, she'll kill me. I mean, I've mainly been using it for you guys, anyway, so there's no point..."
"I won't tell."
She laughed. "Can you believe that Eddie? He actually suggested that I shrink Carolyn so I can keep you guys all to myself. Isn't that silly?"
I shrugged. "For what it's worth, I'd rather stay with you than her."
Linda smiled and stroked me with her finger. "You're a sweetie."
***
El Fenix was crowded by the time we got there. There was some kind of Wednesday lunch special, and the restaurant was packed with people who had turned up for discount enchiladas.
I felt the purse being jostled as Linda pushed her way through the crowd. Then I heard her voice and Carolyn's, muffled through the leather. The shaking stopped as the purse came to rest on the table. It snapped open, and I found myself staring up into Carolyn's gigantic face.
She grinned broadly, gasping in mock surprise when she saw me. "There's my special little guy," she said in a cloying baby voice. "Oh, I've missed him so much!"
She glanced around, then reached in to grasp me. She pressed me to her cheek, nuzzling me and cooing all the while. "How's my little guy, huh?" Carolyn asked, pressing me to her sticky red lips. I could smell the salsa and margarita on her breath.
"Come on, Carolyn," Linda said, looking nervously at the crowd. "Somebody's going to see him."
Carolyn stuck out her bottom lip in a pout, but set me down on the table. The glass mug holding her frozen margarita stood behind me, and a small puddle of melted ice and condensation had formed on the table beneath it. My bare feet hit the cold water and I bit my lip to keep from crying out.
"So, Mom give you any idea how long they're staying?" Linda asked.
Carolyn sighed. "I think they're going back home on Saturday, but Mom keeps promising she's going to come right back and stay another few weeks."
"So, what are you going to do about these guys?"
"I figured I'd pick them up Saturday afternoon, after Mom and Dad leave," Carolyn said.
"No hurry." Linda tried to sound nonchalant. "I mean, Randy's not due back for another week."
"I know," Carolyn said. "But I miss having them around." She looked down at me and grinned again. "Especially this little guy."
"What are you going to do when Mom comes back?"
Carolyn shrugged. "Hell, I don't know. We'll burn that bridge when we come to it." She looked down at me again. "So, did you miss me, Davey?"
"Seriously, Carolyn," Linda said. "We should get him off the table before they come to take our order."
"Oh, you're right," Carolyn said. She picked me up and lowered me just underneath the table. She was wearing a white skirt, and her tan legs were crossed. In the shadows across the way, I could see Linda's legs in their dark hose, her sensible black pump dangling on the edge of her foot.
Carolyn's leg shifted, and I heard the thud of her sandal hitting the floor. And when she brought her bare foot up, resting her ankle on her knee, I felt my heart race despite myself.
"Let's get those clothes off of you," Carolyn whispered. She grasped the leg of my sweatpants with the tips of her fingernails and slid them off of me effortlessly. I squirmed in her grip, but couldn't hide my erection.
"Mercy." She smiled down at me as she slid off my t-shirt. She dumped them onto the booth next to her, never once taking her eyes off of me.
I heard Linda sigh. "Come on, Carolyn. Let's order so I can get back to work."
"Awww, I just wanna play with my little toy boy," Carolyn said. She pressed me against the sole of her foot. The skin felt a little tacky, and it smelled of sweat, leather, and lavender soap.
"You like that?" she asked me, rubbing harder and harder. She ran me along her arch and under her instep. Then she slid me between her toes and held me. She wiggled them slowly, giggling as I writhed and moaned in her grasp.
"Oh, the poor little thing is about to pop," Carolyn said. "Have you been neglecting him, Linda?"
"No," Linda said, defensively.
I hated the helplessness, the utter feeling of vulnerability. Carolyn had such power over me, and could exert it so effortlessly. I despised her for it.
But my body betrayed me. My heart pounded, my cheeks burned, my eyes watered as I squirmed between her toes. I would have sold my soul to deny her the satisfaction, but in the end I couldn't stop myself. I climaxed in a bitter spasm. And then, drained and sore, I lay my burning face against the cool skin of her toe.
***
I spent the entire meal dangling from Carolyn's foot. She tried again to make me come, but I was spent and couldn't even manage a decent erection. When the meal was over, she scolded me playfully for finishing so quickly.
For one horrible moment, I was afraid Carolyn was going to take me home with her. She actually considered it, but Linda reminded her of their mother's penchant for going through closets and peeking through drawers, and Carolyn relented.
She dropped me, naked, into Linda's hand. Linda's fingers wrapped gently around me and she set me back in her purse.
"Saturday," Carolyn said. "Don't forget." She looked down at me in Linda's purse and winked. "I've got something special planned for us when you get home, sweetie. You're gonna love it."
"So, does this mean GenetiTech's not spying on you anymore?" Linda asked. She sounded a tad irritated.
"I still don't trust those [EXPLETIVE DELETED]. That's why I called you from the payphone at Albertson's," Carolyn said. "But they're convinced Eddie fled the country and I'm pretty sure they believe I had nothing to do with it."
"You always were a good liar," Linda said.
"Those idiots actually made me sign another non-disclosure agreement," Carolyn said, laughing. "They're paying me $2500 a month to keep quiet about the whole thing."
"Sounds like a sweet deal." There was a slight bitterness in Linda's voice, but I don't think Carolyn noticed it. "So, are you going to leave the shrinking machine with me, or take it with you on Saturday?"
"Oh, I'm going to put that machine back in the lab," Carolyn said. "Those GenetiTech bastards already went through it looking for anything Eddie left behind. So I figure that's as safe a place as any to keep it."
"Fine," Linda said. "See you Saturday."
"Bye now," Carolyn said as Linda stood up. She peeked into the purse at me once more and waved with her index finger. "See you soon, Davey boy."
***
"It's not fair," Linda muttered. "She gets the machine. She gets you guys. She gets a [EXPLETIVE DELETED] check every month from GenetiTech. And I don't get [EXPLETIVE DELETED]."
I was in the top drawer of her desk, lying naked amongst some paper clips and an eraser. Linda peered down at me, frowning bitterly as she ranted.
"Plus Randy's coming home next week, and I still don't know what I'm going to tell him about his [EXPLETIVE DELETED] car. Oh, and I forgot to take those [EXPLETIVE DELETED] movies back to Blockbuster yesterday, so now I'm going to owe late fees on them."
She sighed. "What else can go wrong?"
I heard the wheeze and heavy footsteps of Mr. Nichols' approach. Linda slammed the drawer shut, leaving me in darkness. More footsteps, then a loud thud as something heavy was set down on the desk.
"Ms. Greenwood," Mr. Nichols said. "They're a bit shorthanded up on three, what with the printer being out and everything. Did you ever place that service call?"
"I'm still waiting on a call back from them."
"Well, I need you to collate these newsletters and stuff them into envelopes. And since the printer isn't working, I'll need you to address those envelopes by hand. You'll need to have them ready by mail out tomorrow morning."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding!" I heard Linda's hand slap the desk. "There's got to be a thousand of them!"
"Three hundred and eighty five," Mr. Nichols said. "You can take them home and work on them tonight if necessary, but they must be mailed out tomorrow morning. Understand?"
"Yes sir."
As Mr. Nichols walked off, the drawer slid open and Linda looked down at me. I was expecting to see her angry, but she was smiling. It was a cold, vicious smile.
She reached into the drawer and picked me up, holding me in her fist. "You know what?" she said. "I'm gonna do it."
"What's that?" I asked.
"I'm gonna keep you guys," she said. "I'm gonna keep that machine, and I'm gonna shrink Carolyn and Randy and anybody else who gets in my way."
There was a large box on her desk, filled to the brim with stacked pages and blank envelopes. Linda drummed her fingernails on the cardboard, her eyes bright with wicked glee.
"And you know who I'm going to shrink first? Mr. Fat Bastard [EXPLETIVE DELETED] Nichols, that's who."
***
Giantess World
Summer Job by Cayce