Bryan finished his preparations, leaving the box and payment on his kitchen table. He checked his watch, confirming that in less than half an hour, his neighbor would arrive to take the package to the post office, per his instructions.
He stripped off his clothes in his bedroom, then returned to the kitchen. He seated himself on his table before consuming the contents of the small vial.
The agent that years of testing had perfected quickly reduced him to a size of a mere quarter-inch, leaving him a pale, insignificant speck on the vast tabletop. He didn't marvel for long, knowing he needed to get inside the packing crate before Tommy's arrival.
He had started his journey across the tabletop when a sudden cacophony of noise, combined with a fierce gale, interrupted his trek.
His first thought was that Tommy had arrived early, but when he saw the huge man in the green uniform, a forgotten fact clicked in his brain.
"Crap! It's Monday!" Bryan cried aloud, his voice lost in the maelstrom.
His erratic work schedule meant that Bryan gave some people an unusual degree of trust. After a problem with ants in his kitchen and termites in his basement, he had hired a monthly pest service, giving them a key to his home so they could do their monthly maintenance during the day while he was at work.
The storm admitted into the kitchen swept clean the surface of the table. The almost empty package and the crisp $100 bill, picked up by the gust of wind, lifted upward before beginning their fall back toward the floor.
That same wind swept the unprepared tiny man right over the edge of his kitchen table. Everything happened so fast, he had barely time to scream, a feeble sound lost in the roar of the storm.
Then, with the closing of the door behind him, the employee with the local pest extermination agency brought a calm still back to the room.
That was of little comfort to the bug-sized man sprawled painfully on one of the kitchen tiles. Bryan had survived the impact at the end of the plunge from the tabletop, but at the cost of feeling stunned and brain-addled.
He had an instant to reflect on the perceived perversity of the universe. Thinking that he had planned so carefully, he was now reminded of that time-honored adage that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."
Bryan held his head in his hands, trying to find the strength to make it to his feet, as things prepared to get a whole lot worse...
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