Jose rolled next, as Pablo put a plastic sheet underneath Theo to catch the drops of chocolate that were dripping off of his body. The house had no air con or even a working fan. Usually they just sweated the summer out, but now they couldn't afford to wait.
"What does it say?" Pablo asked as Jose finished rolling.
"'El Nino'...what is that supposed to mean?" Jose replied.
"The weather's going to turn bad?" Pablo asked.
"Maybe it will turn colder," Theo said, eying his now sagging limbs, languid in the heat.
"Uh-oh," Pablo, said. "Doesn't 'el nino' mean 'little boy' in Spanish?"
"Yeah, why...uh oh," Jose replied. The other two looked on as the Mexican's goatee began to fade into dark peach fuzz on his chin and lip. Then the peach fuzz began to fade as well. Jose squirmed as his clothing began to loosen.
"I'm shrinking, man!" he exclaimed, getting up to look in the mirror. "Do something!"
But there was nothing they could do. Jose's muscles lost their bulkiness, and his height shrunk further, his face now smooth. The hair under his arms dissapated to a few black strands before disappearing altogether. Pablo and Theo looked on, facinated to see the Jose they knew in the past.
Jose bunched his shorts up in his small hand as they slipped down around his buttocks. He didn't want the others to see his shrinking penis or his pubic hair dissolving in front of his eyes. "No, oh, no!" he said as he watched, but the others knew what he was talking about; they remembered, years ago, when he had been so happy that it was starting to grow. Jose's voice cracked into a higher range. "Shit, man!" he said as the last of the black hairs pulled back into his brown skin, leaving his small genitals completely smooth.
Jose returned to his chair, now having to climb up. He looked about 9.