Kent was walking around the shopping mall all by himself. Peter had gone to the computer store, to check out the latest software, while Ty and Allen were over at the food court, buying a few slices of pizza. The guys would get together at a certain time so they could go to the movies together. The other three had already purchased their tickets ahead of time, and it was up to Kent to buy his own ticket.
The mall area by the movie theatre was loud and crowded. A long line had formed in front of the box office, and Kent had to wait in line for about ten minutes, before he finally made it up to the salesperson’s window.
“One ticket for the 6PM viewing of Crab Orchard, please…” Kent had asked the friendly lady, who was sitting behind the counter. A thick, glass window was the only thing that was separating Kent from the lady.
“That will be ten dollars, sir!” the lady replied casually.
“Wow! The ticket prices have gone up, haven’t they?” Kent replied in shock, as he hastily pulled his wallet from the front pocket in his shorts.
“Yes, I’m afraid so…” the lady replied, not knowing what else to say to the teen.
“Do you have any discount tickets? Don’t you have student prices?” Kent wondered out loud.
“Well… How old are you?” the lady asked him.
“I’m fifteen…”
“I only got the children’s rate, but that’s if you’re 12 years old or younger… I’m sorry, I’m afraid you’re just too old for that…” the lady responded sadly.
“All I got is a five and a one Dollar bill… I just have six Dollars on me…” Kent mumbled to himself. He was feeling very disappointed, and he was hoping that the lady would sell him the ticket at a discount. “Can’t you help me out with this?”
“I’m sorry, buddy… I’m not allowed to do that…” she said, showing a sad expression on her face. “I’d love to help you out, but…”
“It’s alright, I understand…” Kent replied, obviously feeling annoyed by the fact that he didn’t have enough cash on him to buy the movie ticket. “I’ll go ask my friends for some money…”
Kent hated asking his friends for money, and he just resigned to the fact that he might end up wandering around the mall by himself, if the others didn’t have an additional four Dollars. What was he going to do now?
When Kent was about to walk through the main entrance to the mall, his legs started to tingle like crazy, causing him to freeze in his tracks! Kent gasped as he looked down and realized that his legs suddenly started to make him walk towards the men’s room, which was located just a few yards from the entrance to the movie theatre.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Ty’s voice rang inside of Kent’s head. “I’ll make sure that you’ll still be able to see the movie with us, even if it means that I might need to make a few adjustments to you…”
Kent slowly walked into the restroom and immediately positioned himself right in front of a large, six-foot tall mirror, which was hanging from the wall.
Immediately, Kent felt like things were getting larger all around him… He was shrinking! His feet grew smaller, as well as his hands and his fingers, while his legs became thinner and shorter. His face shrunk a bit as well, and the 5’6” tall, fifteen year-old teen was slowly regressing into a ten year-old kid, who was only four feet and six inches tall.
Kent looked back at his reflection in the mirror and just dropped his mouth wide open in amazement! The hair on his chest had disappeared. In fact, the hair on his head was shorter as well. His skin was smooth and soft, and his arms were much shorter. He wasn’t as muscular as he was before, and he looked like he was at least five years younger than before!
For a few seconds, he felt embarrassed to walk out of the bathroom, because his shorts, his t-shirt, and his shoes were obviously too big for him! Just as the thought had occurred to him that his clothes were too big, he realized that his shoes started to shrink from size 10 to size 8 in a matter of seconds. His t-shirt shrunk from a Large to a small size, and his shorts shrunk down until they fit him just right.
Kent couldn’t help but smile. He looked unmistakably like a ten year-old boy! There was no doubt about it! He grabbed his wallet out of his pocket and he pulled out the six Dollars. He then turned around, walked out of the restroom, walked back to the window at the box office, and handed the lady his six Dollars.
“Hey there, little guy…” the friendly lady said, not recognizing Kent from just a few minutes earlier. “What can I do for you?”
“Can I buy one ticket for Crab Orchard, please?” the little boy requested.
“Sure! That’ll be six Dollars even!”
The little Kent and the lady exchanged money for the ticket, and Kent was finally able to walk into the movie theatre with his ticket in his hand.
As soon as he passed the snack bar, Ty appeared right before him, with a large bag of popcorn in his hand.
“Hey there, Kent!” Ty chuckled. “You were afraid you couldn’t get in the movie theater, huh?”
“Yeah… I was a few bucks short…” Kent replied with a chuckle, while looking up at Ty, who was now standing over a foot taller than him.
“Kent… Kent…” Ty laughed, as he turned to face the little boy. Ty offered him some pop corn, before he gently placed his hand on Kent’s shoulder. “You gotta learn to trust me, Kent! It’s my job to take care of you and to protect you, okay?”
“Yes, you’re right, Ty! Whatever you say, Ty!” Kent replied cheerfully.
“Come on, little bro!” Ty said, as he turned towards the entrance of the auditorium, while walking besides the little boy. “We got a movie to watch! And don’t worry… I’ll grow you back to fifteen as soon as we get out!”
Ty and Kent then joined Peter and Allen in the movie theatre for the premier of Crab Orchard.