Paul . . . Don . . . Bryan . . . Brett . . .
Each of them, at that exact moment, felt a flash of . . . something. It ran through their bodies like a shock, followed closely by a feeling like thousands of squirming ants coursing through their bloodstreams. And then it was gone, just as quickly as it had come, and each DeSoto dismissed it as just a passing wave of dizziness.
Each began his descent in that moment. It was a slow beginning, unrealized and impossible to believe until the evidence was staggering.
In his dorm room, Don DeSoto was curled on his bed studying. The flash of the wand's effect jolted him into looking around his messy room. His eyes alighting on the digital clock, he realized it was dinnertime, and he stood up to pull on his shoes and a light jacket. Neither fit him as they had earlier that day, but he didn't yet notice as he grabbed his wallet and bounded out the door.
At home, Don's father, Paul, was arriving home from work as it happened. The wave of dizziness stopped him in his tracks, but only momentarily. By the time he entered the house, he'd forgotten all about it. Calling for Bryan to start dinner, he began pulling his sweaty, construction-stained clothes off his hunky body and started running the shower so it would be warm when he got in. And when he got out, his world would be a little different.
Bryan stashed the magazine and leaped to his feet at his father's call. He hated it when it was his turn to cook, but rules were rules. Feeling slightly awkward, he stumbled down into the kitchen and busied himself with preparing some frozen dinners. Little did he know that he was already two inches shorter.
Brett, outside at the basketball hoop, kept playing through the odd sensation, but it caused him to miss a shot, and the ball rolled across the yard. "Ah shit," he muttered as he started after it, taking two steps before he realized he'd walked clean out of one of his Air Jordans. Weird, he thought. It was still tied and everything. But sometimes magic works differently on different people. Sometimes things happen faster or slower. In the time Bryan lost two inches, Brett had lost eight.
Everything evens out in the end.