Stan was halfway down the stairs when he heard the familiar voice of his mother; "Stan, don't forget you have to babysit today!"
Oh right, he thought, I almost forgot. He quickly descended down the rest of the staircase, giving his mom a quick hug on the way out.
"Good luck sweetie!" his mother called.
"Thanks mom." he opened the door and stepped outside.
After a short walk across the street to the Johnson residence, Stan quickly straightened his shirt, and put on his best face.
He rang the doorbell, and within the next minute Mrs. Johnson came to the door.
"Hi Stan!" she said, a little distracted as she pulled her work bag out the door. "Hello Mrs. Johnson." replied Stan, polite as ever.
"I'm glad you showed up when you did hon, I am in a bit of a hurry and I have to work late tonight. You know the rules, I'll be out for about 6 hours or so." she stated as she walked across the paved driveway. Mrs. Johnson stepped into her car, looking back for just a second. "Molly can't wait to see you, have fun!" she started the car.
Stan waved as she drove off, before stepping inside the house.
He had just closed the door when he detected a rapid series of foot-steps, getting louder.
He spun around just as a little girl dressed in a pink shit and gray pants jumped onto him, throwing him backwards against the door.
She laughed as she held on to Stan in a warm embrace. "Gotcha!" she cried between fits of giggles.
Stan gave an exasperated and looked down to meet her eye's, before gently hugging her back. "Now Molly, you do this every time I babysit you. It's really not that funny anymore." he inquired, though he couldn't help but smile.
"Yes it is!" she giggled some more.
Stan patiently waited for her to calm down before her set her down.
Molly, though a little overzealous at times, was an adorable and endearing little girl. At nine(and a half) years old, she stood at 4'9, with long blonde hair that resembled her mother's. Her feet were bare, as usual, and her deep grin eyes looked up at Stan in delight. Despite her rambunctious nature, Stan knew that she was actually very sweet and gentle most of the time.
"Well," Stan began "Dinner isn't for another hour, so how about we go to that tea party you kept talking about last week."
"Sure!" she bounced once, and then ran up the stairs with incredible speed. "Come on!" she called down to Stan.
Well here we go, he said as he walked across the room and up the stairs where Molly had gone, a little slower than she had.
"Ta-da!" Molly exclaimed as she opened the door to her room. There was a circular table set with teacups and a kettle in the middle. The chairs around the table were mostly occupied by various stuffed animals, with two empty chairs on either side of the table.
"Do you like it?" Molly asked "I made the tea myself! Mom didn't let me add sugar though..." she made a sad face at Stan
"Sorry Molly, I have orders from the top." he said "Where can I sit?" he quickly changed the subject, knowing how much Molly loved sugar(or anything sweet really)
"You can sit next to Sir Reginald," she pointed to a chair next to a grasshopper.
"Well I wouldn't mind if I did," replied Stan, playing along.
He awkwardly lowered himself into the small chair, and unbeknownst to him, a packet of Gx fell out of his pocket onto the floor.
Molly hummed to herself as she sat down, then reached for the kettle. Stan in the mean time realized that he needed to go to the restroom. He rose from his chair.
"Excuse me Molly, I'll be right back, why don't you get started." he left the room in a hurry.
Molly got out of her chair and started walking around the room, trying to entertain herself in Stan's absence. She suddenly stumbled across the Gx packet on the floor. Her eye's lit up as a smile grew across her face; Sugar! Molly quickly tore open the packet and dumped it's contents into her cup, before mixing it with the freshly made tea. She started to take a sip of the mixture, and then her eye's widened. It was so...Delicious! She quickly gulped down every drop of it. "Mmm..." she muttered feeling satisfied, she sat back down in her chair. A few seconds passed, then her stomach suddenly growled loudly. Molly's expression was one of confusion as she began to feel very strange...
Stan in the meantime had finished his business and was on his way back to the room. He opened to door and was surprised to find Molly leaning against the wall, her eye's closed and her arms around her stomach. She gave a slight moan as she began to quiver.
"Molly!" Stan exclaimed as dashed across the room and leaned down to put his hand on her trembling shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Molly looked at him, her green eyes filled with confusion and a little bit of fear. "I...I think I had to much sugar..." she moaned again, a little louder this time.
Sugar? Stan quickly scanned the room, his eye's landing on the partially torn packet of Gx on the table. Oh no.
He quickly picked it up and turned it over, reading the side-note on the back. "If injested by a minor(under age 10) subject will experience 7-8 proportional 6 inch growth spurts instead of the usual 6..."
Stan looked over at Molly who gave him a worried glance. He quickly stepped over to her, reaching out and gently taking her hand. "It's gonna be Ok Molly," he tried to keep his tone as reassuring as possible. "Your going to have a bit of a...growth spurt."
She looked up at him, "A growth spurt?"