It became clear to Jim while eating lunch that he needed to share the balloon with someone, so at least there would be one more person in the world who knew about it in case he had an accident with it. He shuddered when he considered what might have happened if he had let the balloon go earlier when he was playing with his age. He needed to have someone he could turn to for help in case something went wrong. Also, something as fun as this balloon was impossible to keep secret from everyone. He needed an accomplice, basically.
And so, after lunch he told his mom he was going to see Tom and rode off on his bike. Tom was Jim’s closest friend, his only true friend really. The two boys shared a similar build and were both picked on for their size, although Tom had an inch or two of height on Jim. In grade school, having common enemies was a good enough reason to become life-long friends.
When he arrived, Jim dropped his bike on Tom’s front lawn and knocked on the door. Tom’s mom sent Jim upstairs to Tom’s room. Jim found Tom lying on his bed reading a Rick Riordan book.
“I can’t believe you’re reading on a nice day like this,” Jim said as he walked into the room.
“This is an awesome book, dude,” Tom said, and then focused back on the book to finish his page. Jim looked around at Tom’s book collection and saw shelves of books about magic and wizards and dragons. Yes, he thought, Tom was the right person to tell.
“Okay,” said Tom as he put in a bookmark. “What’s up?”
“I went to the mall today,” Jim said smiling conspiratorially.
“Yeah, so?”
“I found something really cool.”
“Really, what?”
“Well, you see there’s this new shop in there and—” but before he could finish. Tom’s mom interrupted.
“Boys,” she shouted from down the hallway. “It’s a lovely day outside. What are you doing inside?”
“Nothing,” shouted Tom. “We’re talking.”
“Talk outside,” she said.
Jim and Tom nodded at each other. There was no need to speak about it. They were heading to Tom’s tree house, their refuge and fortress since they were second graders. Thinking it over, Jim was happy to be kicked out of the house. At least up there, they were certain to have privacy.
“So,” said Tom as they settled in on the old planks of wood that formed the floor of the tree house. “What’s this cool thing you found at the mall?”
Jim pulled out the balloon and held it up for Tom to see.
“What am I looking at here?”
“A balloon,” Jim said.
“A balloon?”
“Yep.”
“And this is cool because…?”
“It’s magic.”
“Magic,” Tom said flatly.
“Yep.”
Tom sighed. “Alright then,” he said. “I’ll bite. What’s magic about it?”
Jim explained the basic rules for the balloon and gave Tom a brief recount of his adventures in the mall and in his house.
“Uh huh,” was all Tom said in response.
“Isn’t that cool,” Jim said. “It really works. It’s real magic, dude.”
“You know, Jim,” Tom said. “You should write that story down. You could be a writer someday with an imagination like that.”
“I’m not making it up, dude. It’s real.”
“Yeah, ‘real.’ Are you making fun of me because I like to read fantasy books? I thought you were cool about that.”
“I’m not! It really is magic.”
Tom sighed. “Fine,” he said. “If it’s really magic then give me a demonstration. Let me be wowed by the magic.”
Jim smiled and started thinking. He wanted to come up with a good demonstration for Tom.
“Well?” said Tom. “Has the spell started or what? When does one of us start shrinking or something?”
Jim chuckled a little. “Right now,” he said and blew some air into the balloon. “Control Tom’s size.”
***
Later on, when Tom thought back on the experience, he realized that shrinking had to be the single most unusual transformation. Everyone knows what it feels like to grow, especially if you’ve been a kid recently. Growing is natural. Shrinking is very unnatural.
As the air slowly leaked from the balloon in a quiet, continuous whisper, Tom immediately felt his body shift on the wooden planks beneath him. He felt himself falling. It felt like everything around him, even his clothes, had suddenly started moving. Consequently, he tried to stay still, as if he were steadying himself on a wobbly row boat. Looking at his friend, he noticed Jim getting bigger as the balloon got smaller. The fabric of his clothes felt less like clothing and more like a pile of blankets as the change continued. His feet slipped out of his enlarging shoes and then out of his socks. The familiar tree house became a strange wooden airport hangar as Jim grew into a true giant. Tom started to feel naked. Then, the balloon whisper stopped and so did the changing. The giant before him looked him over and then let a little more air escape, and Tom felt the world grow a little bigger.
Jim the giant smiled with a mouth that Tom realized could easily eat him now. “Release,” he boomed from above.
Tom stood up ignoring his nudity. He climbed to the top of his pile of clothes and surveyed his new world. A four inch wide plank of wood beneath him seemed as wide as he was tall now.
“You shrank me,” was all he could think to say.
“What?” the giant that was Jim said with his giant voice above. “I didn’t hear that.” He turned an ear towards him.
Tom shouted back, “I said you freaking shrank me!” and then added “You dick!”
“Hey,” the giant said feigning insult as he leaned back against the wall, shaking Tom’s whole world. “You asked for it.”
Tom needed to explore. He was living a fantasy he realized. He needed to make the most of it. As much as he was scared, he knew he owed it to every fantasy book he’d read to be adventurous in a situation like this. He climbed down the rough fabric of his clothes and then stood barefoot on an even rougher wooden plank and shivered a bit in the cool air. He stood between his huge shoes, like a pair of parked cars on each side of him. He noticed something shiny lying before him about the size of a manhole cover. He walked over to examine it and realized that it was a quarter that must have fallen out of his pocket.
“Unbelievable,” he said.
“What?” roared the giant.
“I said, it’s unbelievable!”
The giant laughed. “I shrank you and you still don’t believe it. You’re really something.”
Tom peaked through an open knot hole in the plank to see the ground hundreds of feet below him. His legs nearly gave out. He stepped away from the hole carefully. “Make me bigger!” he shouted. “Now!”
“Already?” the giant said. “You just changed.”
“NOW!” he shouted.
The giant reached for him as he reflexively held up his arms and started to chant, “Wait, wait, wait, wait…” He felt his naked body gently encircled by the hand, which lifted him high into the air and held him close to the giant’s face, closer than he would ever want to be to that big mouth. He blushed as he felt his naked flesh pressed against the giant’s enormous hand. Tom knew that Jim wouldn’t intentionally hurt him, but he was still worried. Jim had a tendency to act without thinking things through first.
“This is so cool,” the giant said as it looked him over with its big eyes. “You’re like the perfect doll version of yourself.” Seeing the pained expression on Tom’s face the giant said, “Am I hurting you?”
“Put me down!” Tom shouted. “I’m fine! But, put me down!”
He felt himself swung through the air and then was deposited back on his hill of clothes. “Now,” he said as he found his balance. “Quit messing around with me and make me bigger! I’m done with being tiny!”
“Really?” said the giant, clearly he was enjoying torturing Tom. “You don’t want me to bring you home as a gift for my sister. She’d love a new doll, especially one that talks and moves.”
Tom just glared at him. Jim got the message. The joke was over.
The giant held up the balloon and said, “Control Tom’s size.” He blew in air and the world started to shrink back to normal again with each breath. As Tom approached his normal size he started to feel more conscious of his nudity. He grabbed his still oversized shirt and slipped it over his head. It fit him like a dress.
Jim kept blowing and in a few seconds the shirt shrank to fit him. Then, it started to feel uncomfortably tight on him. He looked around. The walls and ceiling of the tree house were closing in on him. He looked at Jim, who looked like a little kid now. He was so much smaller. Little Jim smiled wickedly at him when he stopped blowing.
“There,” he said. “You’re bigger.”
The whole tree house creaked and groaned in agony as Tom shifted his body slightly. There was too much weight in it, and it felt ready to collapse. Jim’s eyes went wide, and he quickly let some air slip out. Tom felt himself shrink, and the creaking stopped.
“That was close,” said Jim as Tom reached his original size. “Release.”
“You’re such a dick, man,” said Tom. “I mean, really. You could have killed us.”
“I’m sorry,” said Jim, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I though it’d be funny. I didn’t think about it.”
Tom started putting his clothes back on. When he zipped up his jeans, he realized that there was a problem. “Um, dude?” he said.
“What?”
Tom stood up and held out the waist line of his jeans like formerly fat people do on weight loss commercials. They were too big for him.
Jim stood up next to him. He was half a head taller than Tom now.
“Oops,” he said.
“Fix this.”
“Put on your shoes,” said Jim. “That’s the easiest way.” Tom slid his feet into his still tied, oversized shoes. “I figured this trick out earlier when I was playing with my age.”
Jim worked with Tom to get the fit right using the balloon to grow him. When they were satisfied that he was back to his normal size, Jim put away the balloon and they both sat in silence for a little while.
“That thing is dangerous,” said Tom.
“Yeah,” said Jim.
“I mean, what would have happened if you let go of it? Would I have shrunk into nothing?” Then, he added, hollowly, “What if it popped?”
“Yeah,” Jim said. “I was thinking about all of that earlier. That’s kind of why I wanted to show it to you. In case something happened, you know? So I could have someone to turn to. Someone I trust.”
Tom nodded. “We have to be really careful with it.”
“Yeah.”
Tom smiled. “We definitely have to use it to mess with my brother.”
Jim smiled. “Definitely. And, my sister.”
“Of course,” Tom said. “Jim?”
“Yeah?”
“We’re going to have a lot of fun with that thing.”
Jim smiled.