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Description
It had to be ice.. that was the only logical explanation.

The right rear door on their neighbor’s brand new BMW 7 series had that well-engineered solid feel that was absent in the family station wagon. He had to demonstrate. When the other three were in he re-opened the door and announced “listen to this quality” As he the door closed a shower of ice dropped from the window some of it coming into the car. Ice in July - it didn’t make sense to his fourteen year old mind.

The BMW was solid enough that a flaw in that pane of safety glass transformed it into a thousand pieces when the door closed. Glass shards fell in and outside the car. Reality at the moment didn’t calculate so his mind reached for something he knew about - an ice ledge. It look more than a few seconds catch up with what happened.

Now snow was falling from the ceiling. It wasn’t cold and the ceiling was vanishing, but snow nonetheless. Slowly he realized it must be dust from the moving ceiling. An earthquake And a giant was causing it. It was a giant girl and she was watching him. He tried to run, but his legs wouldn’t budge. All he could do was watch.

Her lips were moving. She must be talking. His name? how did she know? … The words made no sense. He could begin to feel his arms and legs.

“Taylor? I’m Jolene MacCallum. I’m here to get you re-oriented.”

“But…. “ it just didn’t make sense “You’re huge!”

“No .. I’m five foot ten. Maybe tall for a girl, but I’m not a giant. You’re about five inches tall.”

“What!? How did it? How did I get here?”  “A gang in Brazil put you up for ransom.”

He could feel his whole body shaking with confused rage.

“We have paperwork that said you went to Brazil to get downsized a few months ago. Somehow you were kidnapped.. Either that or someone downsized you by force. They were going to kill you in five days if ransom wasn’t paid..”

“I went down for a long weekend with my friend. I went out for a walk the first morning and was kidnapped. Why?”

“Someone figured they could ransom you or maybe it was because you were American” She waited to see if he was absorbing it.”

It was making sense. All of his hair was gone after the kidnapping. He’d read they do that when they downsize someone.

“Isn’t it - downsizing - illegal?”

“In some places. But you were lucky. Someone paid your ransom.”

“Can they fix it?”

“No - it’s permanent. You’re lucky though. The Chinese and some others are going smaller.”

“Who paid? My family doesn’t have much.. How much was it?”

“You don’t know her.”

“Her?”

“There are people who save others by paying off ransoms. By law she’s your guardian”

“Wait! I’m an American citizen. There’s no way. I need to call my lawyer.”

“You’ll meet her tomorrow. You can work out things with her. Technically she’s watching out for you and due to your size you no longer have full rights in some places.”

“Fuck!”

He turned to Thomas

“Get me out of here officer”

“I can’t. I’m not your guardian”

He had to do something. He turned and started running to the door,.

She sighed. Now she had to…

He had just broken into a run when he started falling forward. He right leg had stopped moving like it had been glued to something behind him. He was rising as he rotated forward. He was falling upwards with blood racing to his head. She was holding his right foot, ankle and a bit of his shin.

‘so light’ she thought as she brought him close enough to examine. He certainly looked in great shape. Mary must have had a thing for a certain body type. Well .. a shape .. his type is five inches tall.

He was hanging upside down facing a head that was much taller than he was. Her warm breath had a chocolate odor to it. He could feel her pulse and looked up toward his right foot. She had it pinned between two fingers!

“Let me down you fucking bitch!”

She realized she’d probably say something like that too as she started counting to herself.

“You’re not going anywhere ’til you calm down”

Below him was what looked like a table with a two story building on it. A huge sliding roof had been moved to one side. The roof she had pushed. The table was in a much larger very plain room. He had to break away somehow.

She let him squirm and work out his rage and probably fear.

Still holding him, she glanced down at Thomas. “Could you open his cell door? He’s gonna be a risk to you and himself.”

Thomas went to the call block and pulled the heavy door open.

It had been a bit over a minute. She set him down on his back in front of the open door as gently as she could. Before he could get up she pinned his shoulders with her thumb and middle finger used her index finger to push him in. The flick of her finger sent him skidding into the cell. As he tried to sit up the cell door slammed shut so hard it almost came off its hinges.

‘The model makers didn’t make these doors strong enough’ she thought. She should probably have let Thomas do it..

Now it was just sliding the ceiling back in place and resetting the latches.

__________

Back in the outer office she pulled the phone from her purse and made a call

“Mary?

Yeah.. it’s me. Are you free in about an hour?

Right.. tomorrow. I need to make sure everything’s ready.

Good! See you then”

She pulled on the raincoat and opened the door. Out into the much harder now.downpour.

____________

The rain had slowed to a sprinkle by the time she was at street level near Mary’s apartment. The main elevator in her building wasn’t working so she used the maintenance elevator. Her building must be one of the last on the planet that still had elevator operators. Old money has its own ways she thought.

Mary greeted her with a big smile as she took Jolene’s raincoat.

“tea?”

“I don’t think I want to see anything wet right away,”

Mary took her seat across from Jolene.

“How does he look?”

“Very healthy. I came from his orientation. He knows he’s been downsized now. That shocked him and he’s working it out now.”

“I had the lawyer you suggested go through the guardian and fee papers for tomorrow.”

“Excellent! We can do the final signing tomorrow. You can transfer the remainder to go our account then.

“Six hundred?”

“Right - that’ll be the full balance.”

“Do I need my lawyer then?”

“No .. assuming you’ve signed the papers. I’ll walk you through the how the house works now if you like.”

“It hasn’t arrived.”

“It should be here by now.”

“I’m afraid I didn’t get around to ordering until last Monday. There wasn’t enough time for what I wanted, so I bought - I think it’s the Essex. It’s coming tomorrow morning.”

“Good I’ll walk you through then. It’ll only take a half hour. I’ll bring over a few month’s worth of meals. They’re in little plastic bags - sort of like tea bags. You drop them into a cup of boiling water and follow the instructions. Usually it’s a minute or two. ‘pull ‘em out and run a blade across the edge. There’s a little tool for that. I’ll bring a few.”

“Just add it to the bill.”

“Don’t worry. All of that’s on us plus a year of consulting.”

“What if he gets sick?”

“We have a list of doctors, but you’ll have to pay. As guardian you’re legally responsible.”

“Worse than a dog..” she said with a hint of a laugh.

Jolene didn’t answer that one.

“You must think I’m a crazy old lady.”

“Of course not! You saved someone from execution and two thirds of what you paid goes to getting others out. Saving people is not a bad thing. He knows that you’re the one who saved his life.”

“What does he know about me?”

“You paid his ransom and saved his life.”

“Does he know how much?”

She shook her head.

“Any details about me?”

“Other than you’re a woman -no. Wait. I may have used your first name once.”

“Did he give you any trouble?

“He was shocked at first and ran. I picked him up by his ankle - to stop him. It’s a good way to show dominance without hurting them, but you shouldn’t do anything like that often.”

“His ankle? but it’s so small.”

Jolene saw a pencil and gripped it near the eraser between her thumb and forefinger.

“Like this”

She watched Mary move her fingers in on an imaginary Taylor. Not exactly comforting, but using just two fingers is a lot safer than an inexperienced hand.

“Just firm enough. You should practice on that doll I sent last month. It weighs about the same and it has lights that’ll tell you if you’re squeezing too hard. Yellow is too much, red is broken bones or worse.”

The look on Mary’s face suggested she’d never tried it.

“Just don’t leave him upside down for more than a minute or so if you ever do it.”

She could tell Mary was interested in talking about things in general.

“I probably should get back to things. Since the house isn’t here I’ll email a writeup I came up with last year. Also a link to a video we made.”

“Can’t I take you out for lunch?”

“How about for one of the consultations…”

Both of them rose and Mary handed Jolene her raincoat.

“I’m so excited Jolene! Like Christmas Eve when I was five.”

Jolene didn’t feel well as she left. She kept telling herself ‘at least he wasn’t killed .. and twenty five others too.’ But does this encourage more kidnappings? It’s like a new trolley car appears after each incident. Maybe these guys need a bat signal. Smething like a code word? She wondered what Fernando would say. Both of them wanted to move completely into the rescue business, but for now maybe they could offer hope. But what kind of hope? Would it be too cruel if it was a long shot?

Her mind was so occupied that, opening her apartment door, she realized she couldn’t remember the path she had taken home. She wondered how he was doing now. It was time to talk to Fernando.

__________ 
The more detailed 3200 pixel final render goes to donors

Description
It had to be ice.. that was the only logical explanation.

The right rear door on their neighbor’s brand new BMW 7 series had that well-engineered solid feel that was absent in the family station wagon. He had to demonstrate. When the other three were in he re-opened the door and announced “listen to this quality” As he the door closed a shower of ice dropped from the window some of it coming into the car. Ice in July - it didn’t make sense to his fourteen year old mind.

The BMW was solid enough that a flaw in that pane of safety glass transformed it into a thousand pieces when the door closed. Glass shards fell in and outside the car. Reality at the moment didn’t calculate so his mind reached for something he knew about - an ice ledge. It look more than a few seconds catch up with what happened.

Now snow was falling from the ceiling. It wasn’t cold and the ceiling was vanishing, but snow nonetheless. Slowly he realized it must be dust from the moving ceiling. An earthquake And a giant was causing it. It was a giant girl and she was watching him. He tried to run, but his legs wouldn’t budge. All he could do was watch.

Her lips were moving. She must be talking. His name? how did she know? … The words made no sense. He could begin to feel his arms and legs.

“Taylor? I’m Jolene MacCallum. I’m here to get you re-oriented.”

“But…. “ it just didn’t make sense “You’re huge!”

“No .. I’m five foot ten. Maybe tall for a girl, but I’m not a giant. You’re about five inches tall.”

“What!? How did it? How did I get here?”  “A gang in Brazil put you up for ransom.”

He could feel his whole body shaking with confused rage.

“We have paperwork that said you went to Brazil to get downsized a few months ago. Somehow you were kidnapped.. Either that or someone downsized you by force. They were going to kill you in five days if ransom wasn’t paid..”

“I went down for a long weekend with my friend. I went out for a walk the first morning and was kidnapped. Why?”

“Someone figured they could ransom you or maybe it was because you were American” She waited to see if he was absorbing it.”

It was making sense. All of his hair was gone after the kidnapping. He’d read they do that when they downsize someone.

“Isn’t it - downsizing - illegal?”

“In some places. But you were lucky. Someone paid your ransom.”

“Can they fix it?”

“No - it’s permanent. You’re lucky though. The Chinese and some others are going smaller.”

“Who paid? My family doesn’t have much.. How much was it?”

“You don’t know her.”

“Her?”

“There are people who save others by paying off ransoms. By law she’s your guardian”

“Wait! I’m an American citizen. There’s no way. I need to call my lawyer.”

“You’ll meet her tomorrow. You can work out things with her. Technically she’s watching out for you and due to your size you no longer have full rights in some places.”

“Fuck!”

He turned to Thomas

“Get me out of here officer”

“I can’t. I’m not your guardian”

He had to do something. He turned and started running to the door,.

She sighed. Now she had to…

He had just broken into a run when he started falling forward. He right leg had stopped moving like it had been glued to something behind him. He was rising as he rotated forward. He was falling upwards with blood racing to his head. She was holding his right foot, ankle and a bit of his shin.

‘so light’ she thought as she brought him close enough to examine. He certainly looked in great shape. Mary must have had a thing for a certain body type. Well .. a shape .. his type is five inches tall.

He was hanging upside down facing a head that was much taller than he was. Her warm breath had a chocolate odor to it. He could feel her pulse and looked up toward his right foot. She had it pinned between two fingers!

“Let me down you fucking bitch!”

She realized she’d probably say something like that too as she started counting to herself.

“You’re not going anywhere ’til you calm down”

Below him was what looked like a table with a two story building on it. A huge sliding roof had been moved to one side. The roof she had pushed. The table was in a much larger very plain room. He had to break away somehow.

She let him squirm and work out his rage and probably fear.

Still holding him, she glanced down at Thomas. “Could you open his cell door? He’s gonna be a risk to you and himself.”

Thomas went to the call block and pulled the heavy door open.

It had been a bit over a minute. She set him down on his back in front of the open door as gently as she could. Before he could get up she pinned his shoulders with her thumb and middle finger used her index finger to push him in. The flick of her finger sent him skidding into the cell. As he tried to sit up the cell door slammed shut so hard it almost came off its hinges.

‘The model makers didn’t make these doors strong enough’ she thought. She should probably have let Thomas do it..

Now it was just sliding the ceiling back in place and resetting the latches.

__________

Back in the outer office she pulled the phone from her purse and made a call

“Mary?

Yeah.. it’s me. Are you free in about an hour?

Right.. tomorrow. I need to make sure everything’s ready.

Good! See you then”

She pulled on the raincoat and opened the door. Out into the much harder now.downpour.

____________

The rain had slowed to a sprinkle by the time she was at street level near Mary’s apartment. The main elevator in her building wasn’t working so she used the maintenance elevator. Her building must be one of the last on the planet that still had elevator operators. Old money has its own ways she thought.

Mary greeted her with a big smile as she took Jolene’s raincoat.

“tea?”

“I don’t think I want to see anything wet right away,”

Mary took her seat across from Jolene.

“How does he look?”

“Very healthy. I came from his orientation. He knows he’s been downsized now. That shocked him and he’s working it out now.”

“I had the lawyer you suggested go through the guardian and fee papers for tomorrow.”

“Excellent! We can do the final signing tomorrow. You can transfer the remainder to go our account then.

“Six hundred?”

“Right - that’ll be the full balance.”

“Do I need my lawyer then?”

“No .. assuming you’ve signed the papers. I’ll walk you through the how the house works now if you like.”

“It hasn’t arrived.”

“It should be here by now.”

“I’m afraid I didn’t get around to ordering until last Monday. There wasn’t enough time for what I wanted, so I bought - I think it’s the Essex. It’s coming tomorrow morning.”

“Good I’ll walk you through then. It’ll only take a half hour. I’ll bring over a few month’s worth of meals. They’re in little plastic bags - sort of like tea bags. You drop them into a cup of boiling water and follow the instructions. Usually it’s a minute or two. ‘pull ‘em out and run a blade across the edge. There’s a little tool for that. I’ll bring a few.”

“Just add it to the bill.”

“Don’t worry. All of that’s on us plus a year of consulting.”

“What if he gets sick?”

“We have a list of doctors, but you’ll have to pay. As guardian you’re legally responsible.”

“Worse than a dog..” she said with a hint of a laugh.

Jolene didn’t answer that one.

“You must think I’m a crazy old lady.”

“Of course not! You saved someone from execution and two thirds of what you paid goes to getting others out. Saving people is not a bad thing. He knows that you’re the one who saved his life.”

“What does he know about me?”

“You paid his ransom and saved his life.”

“Does he know how much?”

She shook her head.

“Any details about me?”

“Other than you’re a woman -no. Wait. I may have used your first name once.”

“Did he give you any trouble?

“He was shocked at first and ran. I picked him up by his ankle - to stop him. It’s a good way to show dominance without hurting them, but you shouldn’t do anything like that often.”

“His ankle? but it’s so small.”

Jolene saw a pencil and gripped it near the eraser between her thumb and forefinger.

“Like this”

She watched Mary move her fingers in on an imaginary Taylor. Not exactly comforting, but using just two fingers is a lot safer than an inexperienced hand.

“Just firm enough. You should practice on that doll I sent last month. It weighs about the same and it has lights that’ll tell you if you’re squeezing too hard. Yellow is too much, red is broken bones or worse.”

The look on Mary’s face suggested she’d never tried it.

“Just don’t leave him upside down for more than a minute or so if you ever do it.”

She could tell Mary was interested in talking about things in general.

“I probably should get back to things. Since the house isn’t here I’ll email a writeup I came up with last year. Also a link to a video we made.”

“Can’t I take you out for lunch?”

“How about for one of the consultations…”

Both of them rose and Mary handed Jolene her raincoat.

“I’m so excited Jolene! Like Christmas Eve when I was five.”

Jolene didn’t feel well as she left. She kept telling herself ‘at least he wasn’t killed .. and twenty five others too.’ But does this encourage more kidnappings? It’s like a new trolley car appears after each incident. Maybe these guys need a bat signal. Smething like a code word? She wondered what Fernando would say. Both of them wanted to move completely into the rescue business, but for now maybe they could offer hope. But what kind of hope? Would it be too cruel if it was a long shot?

Her mind was so occupied that, opening her apartment door, she realized she couldn’t remember the path she had taken home. She wondered how he was doing now. It was time to talk to Fernando.

__________ 
The more detailed 3200 pixel final render goes to donors