Although Ty had softened somewhat inside, once they stepped out together into the back yard June noticed his expression had once again hardened to a bitter sheen. She felt distinctly self-aware of her reduced size and wondered if any of the neighbors would see her. She glanced around the other yards nervously.
"So." Ty cleared his throat.
June snapped back to meet his gaze and stood alert. She knew this was about to turn into part of the payback he had referred to earlier. She gulped meekly and waited.
"Here's what's going to happen, June." Ty crossed his arms. "As interesting as things are getting between us, I still owe you big for making me do this every weekend, by hand, for hours, even when it didn't need to be done. Do you think that's fair?"
"Yes." June said sadly. "I had no reason to. I just liked making you work until you were sore and tired."
"So I guessed." Ty looked down sadly. "Thank you for your honesty. Starting in a moment or so, you'll start shrinking down again. Slowly. In five minutes you'll be down a few inches. But think of how small you'll be after an hour. Or two. But here's the trick."
The woman gulped and looked around nervously again.
"You're going to do exactly what you made me do. You're going to pull all the weeds out... by hand. You're going to cut the grass, with the push mower. You're going to clean up the flower bed, trim the trees, then clean it all up the take it out to the bin. Then you'll tidy up Mark's garage."
June nodded with ashen faced terror. This was indeed exactly what she had done to him every Saturday, just to make sure that he couldn't do anything enjoyable.
"I'd get started. You're not going to stop getting smaller until I say you're done."
"T-Ty!" June gasped. "H-How can I possibly..."
"You figure it out." He shrugged coldly. "I wouldn't waste too much time if I were you."
"Oh God!" June suddenly jolted, feeling a tingle down her spine that hit her toes and made them curl. She felt it. The tugging sensation. "Okay, okay! Oh my God!"
In a panic, she quickly got to work.
Ty grinned, turned back to the house, and chuckled to himself.