Jim left Judy's room and hustled to the stairs. He nearly screamed when he ran straight into Tom as he rounded a corner.
"Jesus, Tom," he said. "You scared the crap out of me."
"Sorry," Tom said.
"Why are you up here? You were supposed to stay in the kitchen."
"Sorry, man. I had to come up here when I heard all of the noise she was making. Hell, I'm sure the neighbors could hear it too." He craned his head around the corner to try to see her down the hallway, but he could not. "So, how big did she get?" he casually asked, half smiling.
Jim just stared at him angrily. "Too big. You way overdid it, dude. Her bed probably broke under the weight of her head."
"Whoa," Tom said. "Cool."
"No man, not cool. I mean, my feet are soaked in her tears. She's totally freaking out. We were trying to scare her, not torture her," Jim said. "We've got to turn her back."
"But, I want to see her head first," Tom whined.
Jim sighed. "No, man. Just let the air out of the balloon."
"Already did," Tom said smiling proudly. He held up the empty balloon and said, "See."
Jim's eyes bugged out in disbelief. "What the hell did you do? You were supposed to keep it inflated until I told you to let the air out and shrink her head back. What were you thinking?"
"I mean, I-" Tom said, sounding less proud. "I just wanted to get a peek at her head before we fixed it. I thought it might look suspicious if she saw the balloon, so I just said, 'release,' like you told me to do and let it deflate before I came upstairs. I wasn't going to let her head shrink down again until you told me to."
Jim sighed and grumbled in frustration, then said, "So, just how do you plan on getting her head back to its normal size again now? Huh? If you had just followed the plan and didn't release the spell, then all we would have to do is let the air out, and her head would be back to normal."
"Oh," said Tom, apparently not fully grasping the gravity of the situation. "So...?"
"So, we don't have any way of knowing how much air you blew into the balloon now," Jim said, patiently explaining the problem to him. "If you blow it up with too much air and shrink her head, then it might shrink too small. Or, if you don't blow it up enough, then it will still be too big. Do you get it now?"
"Oh," Tom said, finally getting it. He looked down at the balloon. "Man, that's going to be hard to get right. I really don't know how much air I blew into it before."
"God," Jim said as he leaned against the wall. "Well, you better figure it out soon. If we can't get her head back to something close to normal before my parents get home, then it's going to be a big mess for all of us."
"Huge," Tom said, smirking. "Gigantic, really."
Jim let out a hollow chuckle. "I better get back to her before she starts freaking out again."
"I'll try to shrink her head down to the right size," Tom said. "I'm sure I can remember how big the balloon was if I play around with it a bit."
"Good luck," Jim said to him. "I'll try to keep her calm until then." He turned to head back to his sister as Tom walked back down the stairs. "Judy," Jim said as he walked into her room. "You okay?"
"I guess," she said. "My neck is really getting sore, though."
Jim sat on the chair at her desk and tried to smile reassuringly. "We'll figure out a plan," Jim said. "Maybe I could find the old man or something."
"Maybe," Judy said. Just then she gasped. "Oh," she said. "Oh no! I feel it happening again."