Blake was at his desk working on an invention as usual.
"What'ya working on?" I asked.
Blake said, "Garbage at the moment." He swept what he was doing aside. "But I did finish something cool today. I made a shrink ray."
I asked, "You actually made a shrink ray?" I almost didn't believe him but I remembered some of his other unbelievable inventions. "Have you tested it?"
"I've tested it on a number of things. I've even tested it on animals. It's ready for human testing.
I said, "Whoa, wait a minute, you're not going to test it on yourself are you?"
Blake said, "As much as I'm tempted, no. I have to stay big enough to operate the ray. I could eventually teach you how to operate it but how long do you think it would take to learn."
I was about to boast at how I could learn it quickly but then I realized that even the most brilliant minds had a hard time understanding Blake's inventions. Blake needed to operate the ray. Then I realized, "You don't mean to test it out on me, do you?"
Blake looked crestfallen. "No, I was hoping for a volunteer but I don't know anyone who would volunteer."
I looked at his sad face and remembered what I learned recently. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "I'll volunteer but I want to set some limits. How about don't shrink me smaller than a foot."
Blake got up excited and got the shrink ray off his shelf. I asked if there was something I should do to prepare.
"Just stand in the middle of the room so I don't accidentally target anything else."
I asked, "You will be able to restore me again, right?"
Blake said, "I've been able to restore everything I shrunk so far. Are you ready?"
Not knowing how to stand while being shrunk, I fidgeted for a while and then made a goofy face just as he fired. The shrinking was fairly quick. It felt like a hot wind blowing all around me and I saw blue lights for a moment. Then I was looking up at Blake.
He put the shrink ray down and got on his belly in front of me. I was still taller than his head but barely.
Blake said, "Cool, your the first shrunk human. How do you feel?"
I said, "I feel fine." I noticed my voice was a little squeakier like I'd inhaled helium and Blake's voice was louder but it wasn't uncomfortable.
Blake put his hand out for me to get on and I climbed on holding onto his thumb. He did not close his hand around my but he brought his other hand over to stabilize my ride as he lifted me to the desk. It was like being on a strange carnival ride.
Then Blake got out his notebook and started writing down notes. He also got some other paper out and drew some more technical sketches. In other words, he ignored me again.
I tried to read his notes so I could show interest but I didn't understand most of what I saw. I looked around the room but at one foot tall, it was very different from what I'm used to.
"When are you planning on growing me back?" I asked.
Blake asked, "Do you want to grow back now?"
I said, "No, no. This is your experiment. I want to help you."
Blake said, "Oh, I want to get these notes written while their still fresh in my head." Then he bent his head back to his notes.
Okay, feeling awkward, I moved in closer. He let me. I sat on his left shoulder and he made me comfortable. He wasn't completely ignoring me. I put my hand on his ear. It was bigger than my arm. At first he reacted like I was tickling him but then he relaxed into it. I leaned against his ear while I waited for him. He didn't say anything but he moved slower as if aware of my presence and not wanting to startle me.