Jim and Matt sweated profusely as they cleaned the giant bedroom. Mr. DeSoto, for all of his physical beauty, was somewhat of a slob, and a week's worth of dirty clothes were all over the floor of his bedroom. Underneath of one pile was a layer of magazines (Men's Health and Penthouse, mostly), and it took the little men all day to clean what they could and organize the rest. By three o'clock, the room was actually looking pretty good, despite the small size of the cleaning crew.
"I'm beat," announced Jim, collapsing onto the toe of a sneaker. "And we must be done, or else the spell wouldn't have allowed me to sit down."
"I'm tired, too," said Matt. He had mostly avoided talking to his father throughout the day. He was still deeply ashamed that his actions had led to their erasure from the big world and reduction to the role of slave-pets. But now that there was nothing else to do, he knew that his father would probably want to talk more. Which, in fact, was the case.
"Matt, the events of the past day have made it clear to me that you are gay, but I want you to know that doesn't bother me. Your mother and I love you very much, no matter what."
"Thanks, dad," Matt whispered. Tears came to his eyes, but they avoided hugging because of their nudity. Something his father said captured Matt's attention, however, and he siezed upon it to change the topic. "What do you think Mom is doing now? I mean, with us gone?"
Jim sighed. He looked near tears himself. "I wish I knew, son. The wish Paul made seemed to cause a dramatic change in our house. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even live there anymore. He said we wouldn't be missed . . . that's pretty vague. Maybe she's married to someone else now." He threw up his arms. "I just don't know."
"I'm sorry, Dad."
"I know, Matt, but this isn't your fault alone. There's nothing we can do but make the best of things until we can get the wand back from Paul."
Just then, a tremendous clatter arose from downstairs as the two younger DeSoto sons, now tremendous giants, arrived home from school. "It looks like our new owners are home," said Jim with a strange tone in his voice.
"What should we do?"
Jim shrugged. "The wish doesn't seem to be compelling us to do anything. Let's just stay here until something happens."