I heard pounding footsteps and smelled fish... Doctor Hookenline!
It had to be him walking down the hall. One of the projects at C.A.R.L. was developing a new breed of goldfish that would be tiny enough to seal in small vials of water that could be made into jewelry, a brooch for a woman to pin on her dress. Doctor Hookenline was chief investigator on the goldfish project.
He entered the lab before I could hide and spotted me running across the floor. "Vass is diss? A leetle teeny man?"
He snatched a goldfish net out of his back pocket and neatly trapped me with it. "Why... It's leetle Stevie! Why you so small, boy? Hee hee hee!"
"Doctor Hookenline! How do I get big again? I accidentally triggered the shrinker machine."
"Ja, serves you right for being too nosey. Don't be so nosey, Stevie."
"All right, Doc, I won't be so nosey. Just make me big again."
"No, Stevie. I got a job for you to do first. This is very lucky for me, you being so small now. You just right for the job." He scooped me up and dropped me in a specimen bottle.
I heard him rattling around with the lab equipment, then he picked up the specimen bottle and dumped me into a new container -- a terrarium. It was spacious - for little me - and had a soft layer of green moss, a few plants, and... "Doctor Hookenline! What's that?"
"Relax, Stevie. He won't bite you. Hee hee! That's a red-spotted salamander. He's pretty, huh?"
Shaped like an alligator, and just as big (to me), the salamander had smooth glossy red skin with black spots. His round head was as big as mine. He quietly observed me with his two jet black eyes. "Doctor Hookenline... Get him out of here! Please!"
"His name is Red, Stevie. He vill not eat you. You are too big. Make friends. Hee hee hee hee!"
"Doc!" But he just turned and left the room.
Red looked at me for a while, then he came creeping toward me. He was a cautious type. When his soft round snout was close enough, I balled up my fist and popped him right in the nose. He jumped back to the other side of the terrarium.
"Yeah!" I yelled. "Ya want some more? C'mon! C'mon!" And I danced around in my fighter stance, fists up and ready. But Red seemed happy enough to leave me alone. He kept his distance while I walked around checking out the terrarium. Every now and then I would look at him and shake my fist, just to see him flinch.
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