He had tried making part of himself larger. Now, he wanted to try the opposite.
"Time to shrink," Jim said and smiled.
Growing up, he loved stories about shrinking and tiny people. He always wondered what it would be like to see the world from that small perspective. Now, he had his chance. Giddy with excitement, he held up the balloon, but then he stopped.
"Wait a second," he said. "I don't know if the balloon will shrink with me or not. I might not be able to blow in up it if I get too small. I'll be stuck."
He stood there, paused in hesitation. He had the opportunity to live a lifelong dream. What an adventure that would be. Still, it was so dangerous. Even thinking about it made him sweat. What if he got stuck? What if he got hurt? He could be stepped on. Something could try to eat him. There were countless reasons that this was a bad idea, and he knew that. He was sure that the smartest thing to do would be to put the balloon down, take some time to think it over, and figure out a clever way to handle the situation.
Still, the dream... He could do it so easily. He just had to blow.
"What the hell," he said. He took a deep breath and inflated the balloon. FFFFOOOOOOFFFFF. "Control my size," he said, ignoring the voice in the back of his mind telling him to stop. He let his grip on the balloon slip ever so slightly. A light hiss escaped.
He shrank.
He held the balloon shut again. It was only a few inches of height lost, but he could feel his clothes were noticeably looser on him. He could tell that the room around him was almost imperceptibly larger. He chuckled. It was working. He wanted more. He let out more air.
That shrinking feeling was intoxicating. His whole body seemed to exhale in a sigh of relief. He stopped the hiss again. This time he was small, probably smaller than his little 9-year-old sister now. He was little kid-sized. He giggled. This was amazing! He felt his shorts drop to his ankles taking his underwear with them. His shirt hung off him like a dress, covering him almost to his knees.
That voice in the back of his head practically shouted for him to stop.
He ignored it.
He loosened his grip on the balloon again, this time letting out more air than before. He could feel himself dropping down, like riding a high-speed elevator. He felt a thrill-ride drop in his stomach. His too large shirt slipped off his shoulder. He realized that he no longer wore it as much as stood inside it. The world expanded all around him. The furniture grew like living buildings in time lapse. He was grinning ear to ear.
Then, he felt the balloon start to slip out of his hand.
He reached over with his other hand to grab it, but the balloon appeared to be growing larger as he tried to hold on. His worry had been correct: the balloon was not shrinking with him. He tried with all of his strength to clench it shut again, but as more air escaped it seemed to grow larger and larger as his hands became weaker and weaker.
Then, he lost his hold on it altogether. The balloon launched from his grip like a slow rocket, spitting his humid breath and saliva back into his face.
"No!" he shouted as he lunged for the escaping balloon, but as it flew off, his reach shrank away from it. He stumbled forward into his piled-up, oversized clothes. All he could do now was watch as it looped around the room once, and came to a stop right in front of him, flattened and empty.
He stood up on his clothes, and looked at the balloon. It was huge. There was no way he could possibly blow it up now.
Then, Jim looked up at the giant world he now inhabited.
It WAS a dream come true, and he WAS stuck.
Suddenly, he hated being right.