The Big Shrink

by Sarah Mlynowski

  “We’re shrunken fifth graders,” Marigold said, waving. The others joined in, calling out things like “We’re tiny! See?” and “Aren’t we adorable?” and “Don’t squish us.”

  Coach put his enormous meaty hands on his enormous meaty knees and squatted, peering at them. He let out a low whistle. “Hi, Nory. Kids.”

  “We’re protesting,” Marigold explained, looking back and forth between his enormous shiny eyes.

  “Yeah,” Nory chimed in. “We object to being told how we can play during our free time at school. We think the Dreggs ban is unfair and the principal didn’t think it through. And until we’re allowed to bring them to school, or at least to recess, we stay small!”

  “Yeah!” chorused the others. “We made ourselves tiny and we demand big change!” That was their slogan.

  “Bax isn’t with you, is he?” Coach looked worried.

  “No, Coach,” said Nory. “He thought it was a bad idea.”

  “Phew,” said Coach.

  “We need to get to class,” Marigold told him. She glanced at the others. “If we don’t go to class, the teachers won’t know we’re small. Plus, you know, we need an education.”

  “All right,” Coach said. “Hey, shall I flux into a cat to carry you? I can do Persian, Abyssinian, Manx. You know, I do nineteen different house cats. You could ride on my back.”

  “Don’t!” cried Pepper. “I’m here, remember? I’m not sure how well I can pause my fiercing magic if you flux. I paused it while Nory was Tiny-Dritten-Nory so I didn’t scare her—but that was only for about thirty seconds. I don’t know how being tiny will affect my magic. My magic might be tiny, too. I might not be able to pause very long and then Cat-Coach will get frightened. It could be dangerous.”

  Coach sighed. As everyone knew, he loved cat fluxing. “You’re right. In that case, climb aboard my arm.” He squatted and laid his forearm on the floor.

  Marigold climbed on first. She sat facing forward, clutching the fabric of Coach’s long-sleeved shirt in each hand. She felt a little wobbly—and more than a little scared.

  “Don’t be shy,” Coach said to the rest of them.

  They followed Marigold’s example and took their seats on Coach’s forearm.

  “Standing up now,” he said when they were all settled.

  “Whoa!” everyone squealed, tilting and working hard to stay aboard.

  “It’s like a roller coaster!” Nory cried.

  Marigold grinned. It wasn’t scary after all. It was fun. The floor seemed miles away, and every step Coach took rumbled his arm.

  Coach dropped Clyde at his Flicker class and Zinnia at her Flare class. He didn’t go in and speak to either of their teachers.

  Outside Ms. Starr’s classroom, he stopped and frowned. “I don’t think Ms. Starr is going to be pleased about this.”

  “That’s okay,” said Nory. “We are happy to be sent to the principal’s office.”

  “We want to tell him why we think it’s unfair,” added Marigold. She felt a little nervous. After all, this whole protesting thing was new to her. But she was excited, too, and her excitement was stronger than her worry.

  “If you say so,” Coach said. He rapped on the classroom door, then lowered his arm to the floor. Marigold and the remaining tinies tumbled off. Everyone was flushed and excited.

  I did this, Marigold thought with wonder.

  Even with six tiny students in class, Ms. Starr acted like nothing was unusual, which Nory found extremely disappointing. Bax and Andres must have already filled her in. Ms. Starr said good morning to all the kids and lifted the tiny students onto her desk. Then she took roll and made morning announcements, just like she always did.

  After a minute, Marigold and Pepper sat cross-legged on Ms. Starr’s desk. Willa perched on a box of paper clips. Sebastian settled on a paperweight and Elliott on a stapler. When Nory decided to join him, their combined weight made the stapler eject a staple. Cu-thunk!

  Ms. Starr gave them side-eye. “Nory and Elliott, please stop playing with my office supplies.”

  “We weren’t,” said Nory. “I just—”

  “Kids. All of you,” said Ms. Starr, setting aside her morning announcements. “I do love seeing that Marigold is feeling so confident with her magic. Marigold, I’m very proud of you. But we all know Lacey Clench went to the hospital when she shrank. So let’s talk. I’m concerned this protest is dangerous.”

  “It’s not,” said Marigold. “I can make everyone big again. Didn’t Layla tell you what happened in our tutoring sessions?”

  “No, actually. Ms. Lapczynski has not sent me a single report,” said Ms. Starr. “I’ve been meaning to speak to her about that.”

  “Well, I can big things up now,” said Marigold. “I’ve been practicing.”

  “You can?” Ms. Starr looked genuinely thrilled, the way she always was when her students made progress. “Oh, Marigold, I’m so happy.” Then her serious teacher face came back. “But I’m still not pleased about this protest. Andres and Bax explained it to me before you all arrived, and I really do have doubts.”

  Nory was frustrated. “But, Ms. Starr, our requests are reasonable. And not a single teacher or administrator has asked us kids what we think. Not once.”

  Ms. Starr pursed her lips. She sat down and rested her chin on her forearms so that she was gazing straight at the tinies. “I understand you want your toys back.”

  “Please don’t call them toys. We prefer you call them Dreggs,” Marigold said. She spoke with a confidence that surprised Nory. She marched across Ms. Starr’s desk and pointed at Ms. Starr’s coffee cup. “You get to bring stuff to class that doesn’t have anything to do with lessons. Coffee drinks. Your phone. Even Carrot, your rabbit. Why can’t we?”

  Ms. Starr sighed. “Carrot isn’t disruptive. The Dreggs are very disruptive.”

  Marigold went on. “The Dreggs ban includes lunch and recess. And the time before and after school. The principal is dictating how we play and what’s in our bags. We don’t think that’s right.”

  “Well, I do respect your right to protest in a peaceful way,” said Ms. Starr. “And I admit that you made a very original choice.” She stood up and went to the art cupboard. “Be tiny if you want,” she continued, “for today, at least. But don’t expect me to make special allowances for you.”

  “That’s fine,” Nory told her. “We can take care of ourselves.”

  “Bax?” said Ms. Starr. “Help me spread out the art paper, please. Andres, put on your brickpack so you can work down here on the floor. Our upside-down magic lesson today will be foot painting. Remember, this exercise helps you manage new sensory input and tap into your creativity at the same time. That helps you manage your magic.”

  Foot painting was one of Nory’s favorite activities.

  “We all know art and magic are connected,” said Ms. Starr. “And magic is grounded in the feet. So really stay alive to the sensations from your heels to the tips of your toes.”

  “Foot painting,” Willa exclaimed. “We get to leave our tiny footprints!”

  Ms. Starr and Bax unspooled a swath of paper across the floor. Then Ms. Starr anchored it with masking tape. She tossed the tape to Andres, who did the same.

  Since there didn’t seem to be any protesting to do at the moment, Nory decided to focus on the lesson. It would be amazing to foot-paint as a tiny. And at least Ms. Starr was letting them stay small.

  Bax lifted the tinies down and set them on the paper. “I don’t know about this whole plan, you guys,” he said. “You could get yourselves squished.”

  “You don’t need to like it. Thanks for the lift,” Nory said sweetly. She skipped over to an open jar of blue paint. This was going to be fun!

  “Give me a boost?” she asked Elliott.

  “Sure,” he said, coming over and forming a stirrup with his hands.

  While Ms. Starr was rummaging in the supply cupboard for brushes and other paint colors, Nory climbed to the edge of the j
ar. She could just balance. The paint below glistened like a perfect lake on a perfect summer day.

  She pulled off her sneakers and socks, tossed them to the ground, and rolled up the legs of her jeans. Then she carefully dipped her toes into the paint. Ooh, it felt good. She submerged her entire foot and squealed at its velvety gloopiness.

  “Come on up,” she called, extending a hand to Elliott.

  “I’m not sure this is smart,” Andres said, looming.

  “It is,” Nory reassured him.

  “You could fall in,” he said.

  “You’re just jealous.”

  Andres sighed and joined back at the other end of the huge expanse of paper. A few feet away, Marigold and Willa each held a brush. They were painting each other’s feet with yellow and pink paint. Pepper stepped in and out of a small puddle of black. She made a careful, cute trail of tiny footprints across the stretch of paper. This was the usual type of thing the students did when they foot-painted. But Sebastian was making green snow angels—paint angels—nearby, laughing as he swished his arms and legs in wide arcs.

  “This is awesome!” he cried.

  Ms. Starr looked over at him.

  Nory froze, hoping her teacher wouldn’t notice her sitting on the edge of the paint can.

  “Sebastian,” said Ms. Starr. “Please remember that magic is grounded in the feet. This exercise is about connecting your creativity to your feet, specifically.”

  Ms. Starr dug her head back into the cupboard.

  Sebastian stood up guiltily. He dipped his feet in a small dish of green paint and began jumping up and down, making tiny marks on the paper. Farther away, Bax foot-painted in gray and Andres in red.

  Nory grinned at Elliott, who sat on the rim of the blue can with her. “I’m jumping in,” she whispered. “Do you dare me?”

  “Do not jump into the paint can,” called Andres from where he sat, painting red onto his heels. “Just dip your feet and get on the paper, Nory!”

  “Paint could be poisonous if it gets in your mouth,” Elliott said.

  Nory splashed headfirst into the paint, then popped to the surface. It felt wonderful and slimy.

  But it did taste awful.

  She treaded paint for a bit.

  Why wasn’t Elliott jumping in?

  And … hmm. How was she going to get out?

  And what if the paint was really poisonous?

  A large hand reached down and lifted her up. “Bax!” Nory said.

  “You stupid-head,” he said, setting her down. He looked pale, with beads of sweat popping out on his forehead. “I can’t believe you did that. Isn’t foot painting wacky enough for you without swimming? You’re stressing me out. I am not good with stress. You know that.”

  Nory saw Bax shimmer, as if he was going in and out of focus.

  “Oh, no, he’s about to flux,” she cried. She started running, her blue footsteps tracking down the paper. “Clear the way! Bax is fluxing!”

  Boom! Nory’s brains shook and her bones rattled.

  Now Rock-Bax loomed above her, gray and craggy. If he had crashed down even an inch closer, she’d have been a goner. Her heart hammered in her chest.

  At the sound of Nory shouting, Ms. Starr stopped rummaging and turned around. Now she stood over the tinies. “Enough!” she exclaimed. “Students, please give me your attention.”

  Willa made a tiny eep of fear.

  “Nory, did you swim in the paint jar?”

  There was no lying about it. Nory nodded.

  “Oh, dear,” said Ms. Starr. “Rinse your mouth out right now.” The teacher set a Dixie cup with just a little clean water in it next to Nory, plus another empty one. “Rinse! Spit into the empty cup. Rinse again. Spit.” Nory could lift the Dixie cup, but drinking from it was hard. It was enormous. The water spilled down her front. But she kept rinsing and spitting.

  Ms. Starr continued. “Nory and Sebastian, you have foot-painted numerous times without covering your entire bodies in paint. It’s disruptive and dangerous, what you did today. It prevents your fellow students from learning, too. Here’s Bax, fluxed in the middle of a lesson. Now I have to take him to the nurse.” She shook her head angrily and fetched the wheelbarrow that they used to haul Rock-Bax around. At the nurse’s office, he would be turned back into a boy.

  Andres helped Ms. Starr lift Rock-Bax in. Ms. Starr swept her arm at the room. “Foot painting is over. Please clean this mess up. Yes, tiny students. Clean. I am really disappointed in some of you.” She gripped the wheelbarrow’s handles and headed into the hall, pulling the door shut behind her.

  The kids looked at each other, then got to it. Andres found the plastic container of Handi-Wipes and held a wipe out to Nory. She stretched it out on the floor and rolled in it like a burrito. She hated that Ms. Starr was mad at her, but the rolling lifted her spirits. Really, wouldn’t anyone be happy while rolling around in a giant Handi-Wipe?

  She took a second wipe and cleaned herself off some more. Good enough. She was mostly clean, although still blue in a number of places.

  Sebastian scrubbed up, too. He was definitely still green, though, especially his hair. At least his clothes weren’t dripping. The others got their feet clean and put on their shoes and socks. Some of them put lids on paint jars. Others stuffed the brushes into jugs of water. Andres moved the jars back into the art cupboard and set the jugs on Ms. Starr’s desk. He lifted the tape off the painted paper, picked it up, and re-taped it to the wall to dry.

  Their tiny footprints and Sebastian’s tiny green angels looked amazing. Nory knew she was going to love seeing them again tomorrow, when everyone was big again.

  Ooh, where was her Dregg? It was somewhere in the classroom, Nory knew. Glowie would be lonely. Maybe with Ms. Starr out of the room, Nory could pay her a visit. Maybe even rescue her!

  While the rest of the students finished cleaning up, Nory crawled under the teacher’s desk. Ms. Starr had left the bottom drawer open just a sliver, but it was enough. Nory dug her hands into the crack from below and walked backward in order to pull the drawer all the way open. Then she scrambled up onto the rim.

  Glowie! She was right there, still in her egg. “Oh, my Dregg, I love you.” Nory climbed into the drawer and hugged Glowie. Squeezed the egg. She had missed her Luminous Dragonette sooooo much.

  The Dregg began to rock. And jiggle.

  It was as big as Nory was.

  It was a little scary, the way it was jiggling.

  Pb-b-b-b-b-b-b. The Dregg’s fart was so loud that Nory stumbled backward into a pile of sticky notes.

  Glowie’s shell cracked and opened. A massive dragon head nosed its way out. Then a massive foot with deadly-looking claws.

  “Andres!” Nory shrieked. She scrambled up. “Save me! Glowie is attacking!”

  Andres rushed around to the back of Ms. Starr’s desk. He snatched Tiny Nory up, zwip! out of the drawer. Then he shucked off his brickpack and floated up to the ceiling. Nory clutched on to his thumb and laughed with relief.

  “We’re flying!” she cried. “Why did you fly?”

  “Uh, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time,” Andres said.

  “It was!” said Nory. “Glowie got really scary!”

  The door to the classroom opened. In strode Ms. Starr. Her eyes went first to the waddling, squawking Dregg making noise in her desk drawer. Then she looked up at Andres, who was floating with his back against the ceiling, holding Nory in one hand.

  “Excuse me. Students are not to go in my drawers. Or any teacher’s drawers. Ever,” said Ms. Starr, her hands on her hips. “Even if I have confiscated a toy. Even if you think you have a very good reason. Do you understand? Never.”

  “We understand,” said most everyone.

  “Nory?” asked Ms. Starr, looking up.

  “I understand,” said Nory. Her face felt hot with shame. Father would be shocked to know one of his children had rummaged in a teacher’s drawer.

  “Andres, please bring Nory d
own,” Ms. Starr requested.

  Andres pushed off the ceiling and caught on to a desk with one hand, still holding Nory in the other. He set Nory on the desk and went back to the ceiling.

  “We do not fly our friends, even if we can take passengers,” Ms. Starr reminded Andres. “Not until we have had proper lessons. And we do not ride our friends,” she said, looking at Tiny Nory. “You know that. We do not ride fluxed students and we do not ride Flyers. It doesn’t matter what size you are. All of that takes education before it can be done safely.” She stood with her arms folded. “I’m upset that all this happened.”

  Nory hung her head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Starr.”

  After magic, they did math. Then science and literature. The tiny students figured out how to break off bits of lead to use as pencils and how to jump from key to key on their calculators with their tiny bodies. Marigold broke off a piece of a thick pink eraser to use, though it was still as big as her hand. When the bell rang for lunch, she was exhausted (so much jumping!) but happy. It was time to show the rest of the fifth grade what they were up to, and how cool it was.

  Bax came back from the nurse and offered to carry the tiny students to the cafeteria in a cardboard box. Everyone climbed in. Bax held the box under one arm and Andres’s leash in his other hand.

  Marigold loved the feeling of going down the hall. Several people stopped Bax to see what was in the box, and Bax told them about the protest. “We made ourselves tiny, and we demand big change!” shouted Marigold. Other kids repeated the slogan and passed it on, spreading the word about her shrinking magic.

  “Wow, I never saw magic like that,” one kid said.

  “How brave are they?” said another. “I’d never have the guts to do that, even though I want Dreggs at school, just like anyone.”

  “I hope they get the principal to change his stupid rule,” loads of kids said.

  In the cafeteria, Bax got the tiny kids two cheeseburgers to share. Marigold and her friends sat around the burgers, picking up handfuls of warm, cheesy meat and shoving them into their mouths.

  It was amazing, sharing a giant community cheeseburger. Marigold’s hands got covered in grease. It dripped down her chin, too.