The Big Shrink

by Sarah Mlynowski

  Would Talon and Rainey call Nory and her friends wonkos and play tricks on them?

  No, she told herself. They would be nice.

  Clyde was nice, right?

  The basement rec room had been decorated with streamers and glitter strings and balloons. There were bowls of potato chips and choco fire trucks and jugs of what looked like lemonade. Talon and Rainey were eating potato chips and talking to Zinnia.

  Nory ran over to Zinnia. “Did you bring your new Dreggs?”

  Zinnia nodded. Everyone had spent their saved money at Brilliant Ned’s. Each kid had at least two Dreggs, and some people had lots.

  Clyde had set up Dregg activity stations all over the basement: a mini trampoline where Dreggs could bounce, an old toddler slide that Dreggs could go down, and a Dregg obstacle course made with Dixie cups and bungee cords. He had a tape measure spread out on the floor to measure how far each Dregg could hop.

  Nory’s favorite Dregg was still Glowie. Glowie was truly awesome on the trampoline. She and Elliott made Glowie and Groggy bounce insanely high. Marigold’s new Sparkle Dragon, Sparkle-Puff, could bounce pretty high, too. He did somersaults in the air.

  Ten minutes later, the room was full of kids, typicals and non-typicals alike. Clyde, Talon, and Andres, who wore his backpack full of bricks, measured how far their Dreggs could jump. Paige, Pepper, and Zinnia giggled as their Dreggs slid down the tiny slide. Willa and Marigold sat on a couch, urging their Dreggs back into the eggs so they could re-hatch them.

  “This is a good party,” Nory said to Elliott.

  Elliott smiled. “I didn’t want to tell you before, but I was nervous.”

  “I was, too,” said Nory.

  They ate potato chips. They drank lemonade. None of the Flickers did anything mean. None of the UDM kids did anything embarrassing. At one point, they herded six Dreggs onto the trampoline at once and got them all to bounce together.

  Paige, Akari, and Finn fluxed into kittens for a bit, playing with the Dreggs and batting them with their paws. Nory was tempted to flux with them, but she did still sometimes accidentally add dragon or goat or mosquito to her kitten, and she didn’t want to risk damaging Clyde’s decorations or his kind of fancy furniture by losing control of her human mind. So she just stayed Girl-Nory and had a good time.

  At four thirty, Clyde’s dad brought down a chocolate layer cake. He was handing out slices when Sebastian appeared. As usual, he wore his special aviator goggles to keep the noises in the loud room from overwhelming his sensitive eyeballs.

  The UDM kids waved at him. “Finally!” said Elliott.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Sebastian said. He said hello to Clyde and accepted a slice of cake, but instead of joining the festivities, he came up to Nory and told her they had to talk, right that instant.

  “It’s about Dreggs,” he said.

  “Yeah, you missed the games, slowpoke. But everything’s still set up. I bet you can get people to play.”

  “No, no,” Sebastian said. “The Dreggs have been banned. Principal Gonzalez sent an email to all the parents. Dreggs are banned at Dunwiddle from now until forever!”

  “Banned?” It was so unfair. Why would Principal Gonzalez do that? Nory waved her hands to get the others’ attention. “Listen to Sebastian, everyone. He has bad news.”

  The room went silent, and Sebastian explained.

  Then everyone spoke at once.

  “No Dreggs at school?” cried Rainey. They sank into a chair, distraught.

  Finn kicked the carpet. “Why do they have to ruin our fun? Dreggs never hurt anyone.”

  “Exactly,” Clyde said.

  Dreggs banned at school? No, no, no. It was a horrible idea. Nory vowed to fight back.

  Marigold was really glad she’d come to Clyde’s party. She loved how Sparkle-Puff was showing off his new tricks. Sparkle-Puff was special. Sparkle Dragons were flexible, athletic river dragons, so Sparkle-Puff was more flexible than any of the other Dreggs. He could contort himself into all kinds of catlike positions, and had the cutest little webbed feet. He jumped really high as well.

  When Sebastian showed up and broke the bad news about the Dregg ban, Marigold was bummed. She didn’t think it was fair for the school to ban something that brought kids so much happiness.

  Her granddad arrived as things were breaking up. He was collecting Willa, too, and taking them both out to dinner.

  Marigold and Willa both made their farewells and thanked Clyde and his parents for the party.

  “How was everything?” asked Granddad Lorenzo as they walked to the center of town.

  “Zwingo,” said Marigold. “It was fun.”

  “I used to host parties a lot when I was your age,” said Granddad Lorenzo. “The whole neighborhood came over. My mom would make tortillas and we’d all eat tacos sitting in the backyard. And your grandmother and I had a lot of parties when we first got married, too. She had a pot to make chocolate fondue.”

  “I want to make chocolate fondue,” said Marigold. “Wait. What is it?”

  “It’s a pot of melted chocolate that stays warm with a little flame under it. You spear things on skewers and dip them in the chocolate,” explained Granddad Lorenzo. “Pound cake, bananas, strawberries. Should we get Grandmom to search for the fondue pot?”

  “Yes,” cried Marigold, feeling bouncy.

  She and Willa linked arms and walked ahead of Granddad in the fading light.

  The restaurant was lit with candles and had a small fountain in the entryway. Willa, Granddad, and Marigold were given hot washcloths to clean their hands. They ordered dumplings and cucumber rolls and edamame. The waiter came and lit a candle in the center of their table.

  “Let’s hear about your tutor on Friday,” said Granddad Lorenzo. He was a Fuzzy and worked with the dogs who helped the Dunwiddle police force, keeping the animals healthy and taking them out to do their police jobs.

  “Layla is super unusual,” Marigold said slowly. “Like, she doesn’t believe in rules.”

  “Really? But rules keep our society together. Don’t they?” asked Granddad Lorenzo.

  “I’m not sure,” Marigold said. “Like what about the new ‘No Dreggs’ rule?” She stopped and made sure Granddad had seen the email. He had, so she went on. “It wasn’t a rule, and now it is. Kaboom. I wonder: All Principal Gonzalez had to do was write one single email? That’s all it takes to make a rule that affects hundreds of kids?”

  Willa squinted. “When you put it like that … zamboozle.”

  The food arrived. “Does Willa know about bigging up your sweatshirt?” Granddad Lorenzo asked Marigold.

  “Of course.”

  “Marigold’s been practicing a lot at home,” Granddad told Willa. “She bigged up several things. The fruit was the most fun.”

  Marigold smiled. “I made jumbo grapes and jumbo raspberries.”

  “How big?” asked Willa.

  “Not that big,” said Marigold. “Not as big as your head or anything.”

  “They were definitely bigger than usual,” said Granddad. “They were the size of apples.”

  “The raspberries went mushy before we could eat them all,” said Marigold.

  “But it’s an ingenious way to save money,” said Granddad. “Bigging up your groceries. We’re very excited about that.”

  Marigold blushed. It was true. It was the first time her magic had been useful.

  “Bigging up the toothbrushes wasn’t such a success,” continued Granddad.

  “No,” Marigold added. “And bigging up the pillows on the couch just made them look weird.”

  “Couldn’t you shrink them again?” asked Willa.

  “I had trouble re-shrinking the pillows. Maybe I need to practice moving between shrinking and bigging up? I don’t know why, but it’s hard to switch back and forth.”

  “Jumbo couch pillows won’t hurt us any,” said Granddad. “And I’m looking forward to saving on my grocery bill.”

  “Can you show me the bigging
up?” asked Willa. “Please?”

  Marigold looked around the restaurant. She focused on one lone dumpling, uneaten on Willa’s plate. She made the snapshot of herself in her mind. Then she enlarged it until her forehead tingled and zwoop!

  “Marigold!” Willa cried, laughing. “That is awesome.” The dumpling now dwarfed the plate. It was the size of a large watermelon! It slopped all over the tablecloth and glopped itself on top of the candle, putting out the flame.

  Marigold was surprised at how big the dumpling had gotten. At home, she had been making things a bit bigger, but not huge. She’d expected the dumpling to grow to the size of an apple, like the grapes had.

  Granddad Lorenzo looked around. “Marigold, that’s a lot for the waitstaff to clean up,” he whispered. “It’s all greasy. I’m really glad you can big things up, honey, but it would be great if you could shrink the dumpling back down.”

  Marigold flushed. “Of course. I didn’t mean for it to get that big.”

  Some other diners were looking over. Marigold shook her hands out and tried to just think casually about shrinking, the way she always had. She scrunched her face and aimed her fingers at the jumbo dumpling.

  Zwoop!

  Nothing happened. Willa’s eyes grew big. “Try again, Marigold.”

  Marigold tried to shrink the dumpling again.

  No luck.

  “Granddad, I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I just can’t shrink it.”

  Granddad wrinkled his brow. Then he smiled. “I have a tote bag in my coat pocket,” he said, pulling out a folded canvas bag. He held the bag open beneath the table, and Willa and Marigold pushed the jumbo dumpling in.

  “Well, I guess I know what I’m having for lunch tomorrow,” Grandad said with a laugh. Willa laughed, too.

  Marigold didn’t find it funny. If she couldn’t fix her mistakes, her magic wasn’t that useful after all.

  On Monday morning, Nory woke up feeling different. She had thought about it all day Sunday, and she’d come to a decision.

  Ban or no ban, she was bringing her Dreggs to school.

  That Principal Gonzalez. Who did he think he was, making rules about kids’ toys?! Nory could understand Ms. Starr asking kids to put Dreggs away while she was teaching. That, at least, made sense. But banning the Dreggs from recess? And the lunchroom?

  It was just. Too. Much.

  If Nory didn’t bring her Dreggs to school with her, they would suffer. Without the proper amount of attention, they’d learn no new tricks. She wouldn’t be doing right by her Dreggs.

  So she was bringing them. Done. No one would stop her. No one could stop her! She would be sneaky about it.

  In Ms. Starr’s classroom, everything was just like it always was. Willa whispered happily with Marigold and didn’t rain on anyone. Bax was his usual sullen self, twirling a pencil in his hands. Andres wore his brickpack and sat in his seat. Ms. Starr’s companion rabbit, Carrot, sat cheerfully on the teacher’s desk, munching on a slice of apple.

  Carrot was immune to Pepper’s scary magic. She could also talk, thanks to Ms. Starr’s upside-down magic, which gave speech to animals. “Good morning,” the bunny said to each kid on arrival. “How was your weekend? Ms. Starr and I went apple picking.”

  Nory couldn’t be bothered with Carrot, not today. She was too busy thinking about injustice.

  After taking roll and making morning announcements—including an announcement about the Dregg ban—Ms. Starr dimmed the lights. She began a science lecture with slides on the big screen. The fifth graders had finished their unit on dragons and were now learning about volcanoes. Carrot went to sleep in the top drawer of Ms. Starr’s desk. She liked the kids, but she didn’t care much for lessons.

  Nory slipped her hand into her backpack and brought out Glowie’s egg. She wouldn’t hatch Glowie, not in class. Of course not. She would just hold the egg. Nobody would know. And maybe it would count as playing. Maybe Glowie-in-her-egg could tell the egg was being held? Maybe it would help her learn.

  Behind Nory, Bax repositioned his chair, the metal legs scraping loudly on the floor. The sound startled Nory, and her fingers clenched reflexively around the Dregg. Squeeze!

  Uh-oh. She hadn’t meant to squeeze it.

  Ms. Starr kept talking about magma. She showed a video of glowing red lava spraying all over the place.

  Glowie-in-her-egg wobbled and rocked.

  P-b-b-bbbbbbh! Glowie hatched.

  The bitsy dragon popped out of Nory’s hand and bounced onto the floor, where she rolled several times, then picked herself up and shook herself like a wet dog.

  Elliott giggled. So did Bax. So did Marigold. Soon the whole class was laughing.

  Ms. Starr rapped her knuckles on her desk. “Friends. What’s so funny?”

  “Mrp!” Glowie chirped.

  The dragon hopped forward and crashed into the leg of Elliott’s desk, which was next to Nory’s. Then she fell over and played dead, with all four feet up in the air. Andres fell out of his seat, he was laughing so hard. He squirmed out of his brickpack and floated to the ceiling.

  Pepper covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking. Ms. Starr narrowed her eyes and flicked on the lights. She marched over to Elliott’s desk and looked underneath it.

  Uh-oh.

  The teacher picked up the toy dragon. “Whose Dregg is this?”

  No one answered.

  “Elliott?” Ms. Starr loomed over him.

  “It’s not mine.”

  “It’s under your desk.”

  “It …” Elliott looked like he was about to tell on Nory, but he clamped his mouth shut.

  “Elliott, I want you to tell me the truth,” said the teacher. “You know these toys are not allowed at school.”

  Elliott kept his mouth shut.

  Oh, drat. Nory couldn’t let Elliott get in trouble because of her Dregg.

  “Glowie’s mine,” she told Ms. Starr. “Sorry.”

  Ms. Starr looked really and truly mad. She held up the dragon and took the Dregg shell off Nory’s desk. She popped Glowie back into the egg. “Thank you for speaking up, Nory. As for this, it belongs to me now, until I can speak to Principal Gonzalez.”

  “What?” Nory exclaimed. “No way. Ms. Starr!”

  Surely Ms. Starr wasn’t really against Dreggs. She was the nicest teacher ever!

  But Ms. Starr’s gaze was steely. She opened her bottom desk drawer, dropped the Dregg inside, and closed the drawer with a resounding bang.

  “It is my right to take away contraband, and that is exactly what I will do to any Dregg I see in this classroom. Or on the playground. Or in the cafeteria.” Ms. Starr surveyed the class. “Is that understood?”

  Nory simmered. Yes, it was understood. But Nory didn’t accept it. Ms. Starr didn’t understand. If you left your Dreggs at home, you weren’t doing right by them.

  It was time to rebel, and Nory would happily lead the rebellion.

  Marigold was both shocked and impressed that Nory had brought her Dregg to school. Apparently some of the Flickers had done the same thing. She heard about it at recess. The teachers had confiscated Juice-Juice and several others.

  Marigold had hated leaving Sparkle-Puff and Tootsie back at home. Especially Sparkle-Puff. All day, she missed the way he contorted himself into the funniest positions, how he leapt in the air when he was surprised. She loved how he made her smile, and the way people clustered around her to see what Sparkle-Puff was doing next. The splits. A backbend!

  She also missed everyone playing with their Dreggs together. She had never been part of something like that before. The party. The Dregg Dash in the cafeteria. It was wonderful.

  Maybe she could invite some of her friends over after school for another Dregg Dash?

  The day felt dull and boring without Dreggs.

  When Layla showed up for her afternoon tutoring session, Marigold was happy for the distraction. “Come on, M-Boogie, let’s do this thing,” Layla said. “Today is going to be awes
ome.”

  Marigold expected them to go to the library, or maybe to the coffee shop, but this time, Layla walked out to the schoolyard. The two of them sat next to each other on swings. It was too late in the day for anyone to be at recess.

  Layla pumped her legs and swung up high. Marigold swung, too.

  “All right, kiddo,” Layla said. “The method I taught you for bigging things up allows your magic to work through your hands and forehead, yes? Shrinking things with your hands, bigging things up with your head?”

  “Yes.” Marigold glowed. Layla was so smart.

  “Okay, cool. So we’ve got that part figured out: You use your hands to shrink and your forehead to big up. How’s it going? Did you practice?”

  “I did, and some parts of it are good,” Marigold said. “But I’m still having trouble.”

  “What’s wrong?” asked Layla.

  Marigold explained about the fruit and the toothbrushes and couch pillows. “Of course I’m really happy about finally being able to make stuff big. Especially the fruit. I just wish I had more control over my magic.” She told the story of the jumbo dumpling.

  “Wow.”

  “It upset my granddad. And the waitstaff would have had to deal with it if we hadn’t had a tote bag with us.”

  Layla slowed her swing. “Listen. You don’t have to let other people’s opinions bother you, Marigold. You could just be proud that you made a giant dumpling.”

  “That’s not it. What bothers me is that I always used to be able to shrink things whenever I wanted.”

  Layla nodded thoughtfully. Then she hopped off the swing and grabbed a basketball lying in the fly-ball court. “Grow this.”

  Marigold bigged up the basketball, just a bit.

  “Bigger!” said Layla.

  Marigold put a little more power behind it, and the basketball became the size of an extra-large pumpkin. Hurrah!

  Layla enlarged herself, just like she had that day in the library, and dribbled the big basketball from one end of the fly-ball court to the other in five strides.