Against his expectations, the shrunken scientist survived the terrifying plunge to the distant kitchen tiles. He marveled at his good fortune until he realized that the “lucky break” represented merely more evidence of his transformed nature.
He thought of all the times he had observed tiny bugs and ants tumble from tables and counters, seemingly immune from any lethal consequences. Their salvation rested in their extremely tiny size and mass, however… a trait the former scientist now shared with them.
His most immediate need upon impact was to pull air into his lungs. The breath had been literally smashed out of his body after his inevitable contact with the floor. As he remained motionless, fighting for air, he pushed aside the pain of his burns.
He could, given enough time, recover from the burns. He idly wondered if the damage inflicted by his gigantic neighbor’s magnifying glass might leave scars.
He would gladly put the nightmare behind him, if only he could succeed in attracting Tommy’s attention without the terrifying possibility the teenager might mistake him for a real bug.
A fresh wave of pain blurred his vision, making him question why he had ever been so foolish to shrink down to such a small size, making himself totally powerless in a world populated by awesome giants that could destroy him in the blink of an eye and not even know it.
-----
Tommy took a few steps toward the table, making a cursory search for the strange little bug that his buddy had so inconveniently blown off the tabletop. Although his eyes fell on the very tile where the tiny man rested, the colossal teenager failed to notice the minuscule form.
“ALL RIGHT,” Tommy admitted to Joe. “IT MUST HAVE JUST BEEN A BUG.”
Joe snorted loudly. “WHAT ELSE COULD IT HAVE BEEN?”
In impatience, Joe began unconsciously tapping the toe of one of his sneaker on the tiles. “ARE WE FINISHED HERE?”
-----
Now breathing almost normally, the tiny man groaned painfully as he realized the imperative need to move out of range of the enormous shoes worn by Tommy and Joe. The two teenaged behemoths remained utterly unaware of the scorched “bug” desperately attempting to avoid their destructive feet. The tapping of the one giant's shoe on the tiles sent powerful vibrations and loudly distracted the little man's thoughts.
He watched as one of Tommy’s huge shoes sailed over him as the teenager moved toward the back door. “YEAH, LET’S GO.”
Energized at seeing his only hope depart, the bug-sized man scurried over the enormous kitchen tile. “Wait! Don’t go! Don’t leave me here!”
Tommy turned and saw Joe staring at the floor. His friend had detected a tiny form sprinting over the flat tile.
Joe, thinking fast and not wanting to alert his curious friend, lifted his Airwalk a few inches off the floor and maneuvered it over the ugly, burned bug.
“I’M RIGHT BEHIND YOU,” Joe said, letting his shoe drop on top of the location where he had seen the scurrying bug.
The sudden action took the tiny man by surprise. So intent on reaching Tommy, he had let himself forget about the presence of the second giant.
The Airwalk looked immense as it hovered only inches over him, blotting out most of the light in the room.
“No!” The tiny man screamed as the shoe dropped.
------
Joe could have ignored the bug and spared its life, but he didn’t want Tommy to see it and delay their departure because of his insistence that the “bug” looked strange.
Strange or not, it was just another bug, and Joe knew a thing or two about how to deal with bugs. In the yard, he did stop to scrape the bottom of his shoe against the edge of the sidewalk. Then he followed his friend back to his house.
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