Clutching his basketball, Brett galloped into the house
just in time to see his father start shrinking in earnest.
"Huh?" he gasped, shaking his head to clear his sight.
One moment, he saw Bryan and Paul standing in the
kitchen, looking at each other intensely, the next, his
father was steadily contracting.
"Dad!" yelled Bryan, who was afraid to approach the
dwindling older man. Brett, too, stood stock still.
From Paul's perspective, the scene was even more
horrifying. One moment, he was looking at his son's
neck and the next, Bryan's belt was right in front of his
eyes . . . then overhead. The world around Paul was
growing; everything was bigger, taller, more ominous.
He forgot entirely about the towel (now a terrycloth
sheet) around his waist. It fell down while he was
looking up.
Things were starting to look impossibly large to the
shrinking man. His sons went from tall to freakishly tall
to outright giants before his size stabilized at half a foot.
For what seemed like an eternity, they all stared at each
other through big and small eyes alike. Then Brett
made a move, and that was all it took for his tiny father
to freak out. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth,
and screamed . . .