Tim thought a moment and repeated Mark’s question, “What DO we do now?”
They stared at her intently from the shelter of the bushes. “Let’s just watch her for a bit,” Mark said. “Maybe we’ll figure something out by seeing what she does.”
The tall woman, the “genie,” just sat there on the bench with her bag and her hamster watching the people in the park. She seemed very relaxed. Occasionally, she would say something out loud to the hamster, but she was too far away for them to hear her voice over the sound of the fountain.
A boy, maybe a year younger than Mark was (and Tim used to be) rode by on his bike. As soon as the boy on the bike saw the tall woman, he stared at her not even bothering to look at where he was going anymore. He nearly hit an old man who cursed at him loudly as the boy swerved to avoid him. The tall woman watched the whole near miss from her bench. The boy had her attention now. Rather than ride off to his original destination, the boy circled around the fountain again. As he circled around, Mark noticed that the tall woman kept watching him. Then, she picked up something black and rectangular from her bag. It looked like a TV remote. As the boy approached her again, she started to press buttons on it. The boy rode past her again, not even trying to hide that he was checking her out. She just smiled back at him. Her smile gave Mark chills. When the boy passed her again, she pointed the black remote thing at the boy’s back and pushed a button.
“Look at that,” said Mark, pointing at the tall woman. “That thing she’s holding.”
“Whoa,” said Tim. “Look at the kid on the bike.” She pointed at the boy.
Mark turned to the boy and saw that he was having trouble controlling his bike now. The front wheel wobbled as he tried to keep from falling. He appeared to be struggling with the pedals. Somehow, his legs seemed too short to reach them anymore. When the boy ran out of momentum, the bike finally tipped over sideways. The boy tumbled off of it, losing a shoe as he rolled. Looking a bit dazed, the boy stood himself up and looked around confused. It was then that Mark realized what had happened to make the boy fall. He had shrunk.
“Look at him,” said Tim. “He looks like a little kid now.”
It was true. The boy’s clothes fit him loosely. His T-shirt hung down almost to his knees, and his baggy jeans were only staying on because he was holding them up with one of his hands. His pant legs pooled at his feet, only one of which still had an over-sized shoe on it. If Mark had to guess, he would say that the boy looked to be about 7 or 8 years old now.
Mark immediately made the connection. “It was the thing she pointed at him,” he said.
“What thing?” ask Tim. She had been watching the boy.
“It looked like a TV remote,” said Mark. “Do you remember her having anything like that out when you were changed?”
Tim thought a moment. “Yeah,” she said. “Now that you mention it, I did see something like that in her hand before. I didn’t notice her point it at me, though.”
“That has to be it,” said Mark. He watched as she carefully put the remote down on the bag next to her. “Don’t you see? It wasn’t magic. That remote she has is what really changed you. I mean, look at that kid.” The boy stared at his body in shock. He held up a youthened hand and seemed to mutter something. He looked terrified. “She pointed that thing at him. Now, he’s a little kid.”
“Okay,” said Tim. “So what do we do? Steal that remote?”
Mark didn’t even bother to reply, he started to move through the bushes as stealthily as he could, working his way around to the back of the bench on which the tall woman was sitting. Tim didn’t follow, but Mark understood why without even asking. If that woman had turned him into a sexy chick, he would keep his distance from her as well.
When Mark reached a tree behind the bench, he looked at the back of the woman’s head. She appeared to be watching the boy with the bike start to cry. Seeing his opportunity, Mark carefully crept up behind her. Crouching behind the bench, he saw the remote sitting on her bag next to the hamster. He knew he had to act fast before his own fear made him chicken out.
He felt a bead of sweat drip down his face as he reached between the boards of the bench to grab the remote, and then…