"Look, I really, really gotta go again," Ric complained to Josh. "I don't know - maybe it has something to do with the book
and all the changes, but I can't hold it anymore!"
Ric grabbed the doorknob of the bathroom door. Locked.
"Come on, Josh, help me out here," he implored, crossing his ankles and bobbing up and down. Ric bit his lower lip in
frustration.
Josh looked around and saw nothing that would help. He ran to the kitchen and began pulling open drawers, returning quickly
with some knives, a plastic placemat and one of those plastic curved tools used for scraping batter out of mixing bowls.
"Hurry up!" Ric hissed.
Josh managed to wedge the placemats in the door jamb and, by using one knife and the batter scraper, he pushed it in enough
to unlatch the door, which swung open, causing Josh to fall flat.
Ric stepped right over the prone form of his brother and rushed to the toilet and sat. "Oh, Dios mio, that was too close,"
he whispered.
Josh rose and brushed himself off and shut the door.
Marco, meantime, had heard nothing, the sound of the shower and his concentration as he held Francisco in the palm of one
hand and soaped him up with the tip of a finger having engrossed him completely.
Dr. Quark had been placed temporarily on the soapdish jutting out from the wall, where he sat, dangling his tiny legs over
the edge. The slick, cold surface beneath his rump was decidedly uncomfortable, but what could he do at his present size?
Sighing, he stared at the giant poking a foamy finger at the tiny man in his wet palm. Not unexpectedly, this picture began
to get him excited - again.
Francisco turned his head and spit out water. There was SO MUCH water! "Alright, Marco! I think I'm clean now! Geez, let a
guy take care of himslef for a while, huh? I know you're trying to be careful, but every time you poke me, it hurts!"
Francisco complained loudly.
Marco saw Francisco's lips move, but had to lean down closer to hear. "Sorry," he apologized. "I'll put you down and let
you finish, OK?" He leaned over and carefully deposited the tiny Mr. Mendes in the shallow water on the bottom of the tub,
out of the stream coming from the shower head.
As marco stood up, Francisco scooped up water yto wash off the last of the soap on him. The slippery porcelain was too
slick, though, and his feet slipped from under him. The current of the water took hold and Francisco began circling the
drain. He was too large to actually be sucked down the drainholes, fortunately, but had to swim strongly to keep his head
above water.
Ric was sighing in relief. He didn't know if it was something he'd eaten or whether it was something else, but it had been
a long time since he'd had such a satisfying trip to thew toilet. The rumbling in his gut told him he'd be a while yet. he
absently reached over and grabbed the book, which opened to a page with the word 'Equalization' at the top. Ric, hgis mind
more on his insides than his surroundings, began to mnouth the words he was reading.
Marco was reaching for Dr. quark when he felt it. it felt like a kind of pre-nausea, like when you know you're going to be
ill, but it hasn't 'kicked in' yet. Grabbing for some support, his hand clasped the shower curtain, and then he went --
down.
But he hadn't fallen. he had shrunk - very, very fast, and pulled the shower curtain off the first half dozen rings on the
way down.
Quark suddenly felt odd, too, and, without warning, slipped right off thesoapdish as a growth spurt took hold, the change
in his size being enough to slide him right off the slick surface. "Yaaaah!" he screamed, seemingly falling a mile, but
growing the whole time, so that he managed to hit the tub solidly with his feet without any significant damage.
Francisco, too, shot up, emerging from the funnel of weater around the drain and grasping the lip of the tub for support.
His mouth tasted like soap, and he spit several times.
Ric had finished the spell and put the book down. So engrossed in his own needs was he that he hadn't even realized
anything had happened. But Marco, at 6-foot-3, and the two others, at 3 inches each, had totalled up to 81 inches before
Ric had opened the book. So calling for equalization would do -- what?
Marco was dizzy. But he had shrunk only to about 1/3 his size. Francisco and Quark had rapidly shot up to 9 times their
sizes, and were both wobbling in disorientation.
All Ric heard was a "Whoa!" from Marco (Quark's scream was too faint to carry over the sound of the shower) and a ripping
sound, then looked up to see three very wet, very puzzled, 27-inch men standing in the tub!