Doug closed the bathroom door behind
him, leaving me and Matthew alone
together. As it clicked shut, the tension
and grief that had been welling up inside
burst to the surface, and I began to gasp
and weep. Huge, silent tears splashed
down on to my boyfriend, whom I held
right under my face. He was crying, too,
and I curled my hand around him to
protect and keep his little nude body
warm.
I don't know how much time passed
before I was able to see him sharply,
without the blur of my tears. It was then
that I asked, "Are you OK?"
Matthew sat up in my palm. In normal
times, he is an incredibly handsome
man, but that attractiveness was reduced
along with his body to a doll-like
cuteness. I could have been holding a
well-endowed Ken (or, I thought guiltily, a
less-well-endowed Billy).
"I feel fine, I think. Like normal, but
everything is so big to me. God, the sight
of you..." It was the first time I heard his
voice, and it didn't sound like the
diminutive characters in cartoons. It
sounded like Matthew, only very slightly
higher pitched, and of course much
softer.
"What are we going to do?" I moaned. I
almost wished I would be struck down at
that very moment so I wouldn't have to
deal with this. Matthew was the one who
made most of our decisions; he was the
bigger one who always somehow took
care of me. But now the tables were
turned.
"We have to get him to reverse this," said
my brilliant little boyfriend. "This has got to
be a joke. He did it with some little
computer, like a Palm Pilot."
I sniffed. "All right," I said, steeling myself.
I rose to my feet quickly, causing the little
man in my hand to grab on for dear life.
"Sorry, sweetie. I won't drop you."
"I know, but I don't want to be seen like
this. Can you put me in your pocket or
something?"
I lowered him to my shirt pocket, but as
small as he was, he was much too big to
fit into it without detection. My pants
pockets were too tight.
Time was running out . . . I needed to get
out there and get to Doug before he left or
did something else. But what was I going