Tim got up from his seat on the couch and bounced over to the window, leaving his T-shirt behind for a minute. His little feet springing against the cushons. Pushing the drape aside, he saw John in the distance closing the gate. John was one of several men who were on the schedule to work today. Tim was a little surprised by how big a double-sized John seemed, so he hastily let go of the blind and turned around.
The trip back to his shirt seemed longer than the trip to the window had been, and when Tim tried to put it back on, he realized that he was still shrinking. In fact, things seemed a lot bigger than they should have been for such a quick peek out the window. The whole process seemed to be speeding up. It had taken about 2 minutes for his house to double in size, but it was going to double again in only 60 seconds this time.
Tim heard indistinct male voices outside talking. Damn it! What was taking Saul so long! As his size slipped away, Tim realized he needed a plan B, and fast. Looking around, he saw the box right away. 'Of course!' he thought. 'If pushing the button once started my shrinking, maybe I have to push it again to make the shrinking stop.' It seemed reasonable, and Tim jumped off the couch to fetch the box.
As soon as Tim's feet hit the floor, he knew that had been a mistake. His shoulders could barely reach over the top of the table already, and his arms were just not long enough. In a moment, his shoulders dropped below the level of the table, pushing his arms up at an odd angle. His house was getting bigger, and fast!
Turning around, he climbed up the front of the couch and turned around. The gap between the couch and the table had only been about 18 inches when he got out of bed this morning, but now it was already a chasm of more than six feet. Never much of an athlete, he blanched at the jump. He watched as the chest -- his only hope -- receeded.
Tim frowned. 'I am not going to go out like this!' he thought angrilly as a burst of adrenaline pumped through his veins. He heard someone step up to his portch, but who knew how long it would take for the man to let himself in. It was now or never. Tim stepped to the back of the couch, bounced his tiny body up and down on the cushon, ran to the edge and jumped with all his might.
As he floated through mid air, panic clutched at his heart. The floor seemed so far away, and the chasm was yawning wider as his body shrank even while in mid-air. As his feet came down on the table, he heard a voice pounding on the front door, "Tim!".
The loudness of the sound startled Tim and he almost fell backwards off the table. Tim was surprised enough to have reached the table, and whether it was due to the springs in the couch, and flush of rage, or the lighter pull of gravity on this small body, he never really knew. Putting the voice out of his mind, Tim ran over to the chest. It's face loomed in front of him, the "shrink" key still inserted into the lock where he had left it.
Finally reaching the front of the chest, Tim's heart sank. The front of the chest was already 12 feet high. There was no good way to climb up, and even once he was up, he couldn't manipulate the key and the stone at the same time. To be denied so close to victory!
At that moment, he heard his front door open. Suddenly he had something else to think about. He jumped for cover beind a stack of books to peek out and see who had let themselves in. It was probably Saul, but it might be any one of the guys coming to use the bathroom, or even someone he hadn't thought of yet.