“No,” Kelly told her massive sister, “I want to see what this thing can do; I want to get even smaller!”
“Smaller?” Jen asked with a worried expression, “exactly how small, Kelly? I saw the Incredible Shrinking Man, and I don’t want to have to go over my house with a microscope to find you.”
“Don’t worry, Jen,” Kelly assured her, “that’s why I came here; you and I could explore this thing together safely; besides, what’s the worse that could happen?”
“You could get stepped on, you could get eaten, you could become so small we never find you,” Jen listed, “someone could steal you and sell you, some scientists could take you and dissect you, you could get stuck so small we have to keep you in a cage, so you’re safe, you could get stuck so big the government locks you up, you could….”
“Hey!” Kelly declared, “it was a rhetorical question, and if you don’t help me, I could always go home and try this thing out alone.”
“What about school, Kelly?” Jen argued.
“It’s a half-day anyway; half the class won’t be showing up already,” Kelly told Jen.
Jen looked at the Reducer and then to her sister, “fine,” she declared, “now I know where Katie gets her stubborn streak from,” she added under her breath.
“I heard that,” Kelly shot at her sister.
Jen pushed the Reduce button, and the device began to power up, “how small do you want to be?”
Kelly was about to answer when Katie suddenly started talking while bouncing next to her mother in excitement, “Make Auntie Kelly a dolly, Mommy, make her a dolly so I can play with her!”
“That might be fun,” Kelly remarked.
“Are you sure, Kelly?” Jen asked her sister, “Katie’s very sweet, but she is still a toddler, and she can get a little rough with her dolls.”
“I will be careful, Mommy,” Katie promised.
“See Jen?” Kelly assured her sister, “she’ll be gentle, and I can handle it.”
“Well,” Jen noted, “it would help me to have someone to keep an eye on Katie today and keep her busy; I have a few business calls to make.”
“See?” Kelly responded, “everyone wins.”
“Your funeral, sis,” Jen noted. The Reducer was ready to shoot, and Jen aimed as Katie tried to get closer to her aunt before her mother pulled her back, “stay behind me, Sweetie, you don’t want to end up doll-sized with Kelly, do you?”
“Yeah!” Katie happily proclaimed, “we could play in my dollhouse and wear doll clothes and….”
“Maybe next time, honey,” Jen told her daughter as she shot the device.
Kelly felt the Reducer’s beam hit her; last time, she had been too shocked to notice anything, but this time she felt everything. Kelly felt like every cell in her body was tingling with energy as she watched the already giant world get bigger and bigger around her. Kelly stopped shrinking and looked around; she had been below eye-level with Jen’s end table near the front door, but now it towered over her. Kelly looked over to her sister and niece; Jen was looking at her as though expecting something to have gone wrong, and Katie was staring at her with childish excitement and was practically dancing in place.
“Auntie Dolly,” Katie chanted, “Auntie Dolly!” Katie ran toward the shrunken teen, but fortunately, Jen was quicker.
“Not so fast, little lady,” Jen told her daughter, “your aunt and I have to talk.”
“But mommy!” Katie whined as she stamped her foot on the ground with such force that it made Kelly nervous for a moment.
“You’ll get your playtime Sweetie,” Jen promised, “but first auntie Kelly and I have to talk, and then I’ll set up an area for the two of you. Why don’t you go watch TV for a little while?”
“Okay,” Katie huffed as she headed for the family room.
With Katie gone, Jen looked down to her shrunken sister, “now Kelly, are you sure you want to do this?”
“Absolutely,” Kelly told Jen with confidence, “we could make this a web show: Survive The Toddler.”
“Be serious,” Jen shot back, “you could get hurt or worse; you should see the condition that some toys leave this house in.”
“Katie said that she’d be careful,” Kelly told Jen.
“She also told Megan that she had a unicorn in her closet,” Jen pointed out as she took her shrunken sister to the living room.
“Don’t worry,” Kelly told her sister, “I’m going to hide and run so that she’ll never even catch me; she’ll be napping before lunch.”
“Famous last words,” Jen told Kelly as she began to pick things up from the room.
“What are you doing?” Kelly asked her sister.
“This room is going to be your play area for the day,” Jen explained, “I’ll remove anything dangerous for either of you and leave some of Katie’s doll stuff before I put up some toddler gates so that neither of you can get out.”
“Cool,” Kelly responded.
“Let’s see if you’re saying that in a few hours,” Jen told her sister. Jen finished setting up the play area and told Kelly to hide. It wasn’t long before she heard her sister’s voice along with her niece’s giggling, “okay sweetie, are you ready to play with auntie Kelly?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Katie told her mother, “we’re going to play house, and dress up, and makeover….”
“That’s great, sweetie,” Jen responded, “but first, auntie Kelly wants to play a game with you that’s a little like tag and hide and seek. Auntie Kelly is hiding somewhere in this room, and if you can find her and catch her, you can play whatever you want with her.” Katie giggled and clapped as her mother set her on the floor, “now you two have fun I’ll come to get both of you for lunch later, and honey, please try to go easy on Kelly.”
“Don’t worry, Mommy,” Katie told Jen, “we’re going to have lots of fun,” with that, Kelly heard Katie blow Jen a kiss, and Jen walked away.
Katie giggled before covering her eyes with her hands, “I don’t know how to count to ten,” the tot recited, “so I’ll count to find and then; one, two, three, four, five I’ll say then I’ll be on my way.” Katie took her hands off her eyes, “auntie Kelly!” Katie called, “I’m gonna find you.”