[GTSKate]

I started this story way back in 2003. It was posted in chapters as I was writing it long ago on the ZZZ’s giantess grows board. After several kind comments, and yearly reminders from Alex G., I have gone back and made a concerted effort to finish this work. So, I present to you, the beginning of the tale.

The tale is based (loosely) upon Romeo and Juliet. By the time I am finished, you will have read a monumental 70 page opus. I hope you enjoy!

Preface
“…A pair of star-crossed lovers…whose misadventures piteous overthrows…
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.”
-Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

…You Just Might Get It

Chapter 1

Carolyn slammed the door of the minivan shut with one hand, juggling a bag of groceries in the other.
“Nicole, help me with the other bag, please.” She asked her daughter as she fumbled her keys from the car door to the front door. Not for the first time did she wish she were stronger, so the groceries weren’t so much of a pain.
Nicole, a typical Midwestern girl at 14, was not thrilled to be helping her mother with the shopping and shuttling her brother, Scott, age 10, to soccer practice. After all, it was summer vacation, and she had things to do. Well, maybe not, but there had to be someplace better than here…
Nonetheless, she dutifully picked up the other bag and dragged her feet through the front door to the kitchen. Scott, on the other hand, leapt from the front seat and, still in his cleats, headed down the driveway to go play.
“Halt!” cried Carolyn. “Where do you think you’re going, Mister?” she said in that “Mother” voice; the one that indicated serious repercussions if not obeyed.
“But Mom…” Scott whined. “It’s still light out! Chuck Miller just got a basketball hoop and we were gonna play…”
Heaven forbid she should spoil that…
Carolyn judged the situation and relented, saying, “All right. But be home by 6:30 for dinner!” Turning to her daughter emerging from the front door, Carolyn she knew would now offer protest to her own captivity, she said, “I suppose you have somewhere to be, as well?”
Nicole’s face went from storm front to all clear in a fraction of a second as she fairly flew down the driveway. No doubt off to a very important meeting.

Alone in the kitchen, unloading the groceries, Carolyn was stretching to the top shelf with canned tomato sauce, soups, and fruits, when the can at her fingertips rolled backwards and clonked her on the head.
“Ow!! Damn it!” As usual, her subconscious threw up the thought: “If I were taller I could reach that stupid shelf without killing myself!” The thought was a regular ritual at grocery time.
The rest of the groceries were packed away without further incident, and Carolyn went to the family room to collapse in her chair for a few minutes. Jim was probably still at his “office”, writing more stories to lift the spirits of single, frustrated women everywhere for Joker’s Romance Publishing. Perhaps he could use a little more creativity at home instead of at work.
Relishing the momentary silence in the house, Carolyn sighed. She took a moment to let her mind drift, and came to the thought that everyone has occasionally. “This isn’t what I expected my life to be.” It wasn’t a bad life; in fact, it was pretty good. Carolyn knew she was fortunate enough to have a good husband who made good money at a good job, and she had good kids who didn’t get into trouble, but that was the problem. Everything was good; but not great. She was sure Jim loved her, but sometimes it seemed like he took her for granted. Things hadn’t been very exciting for them lately, not like when they were first married. Her mind drifted even farther back, to when they had first met…

Chapter 2
(twenty years earlier)

Carolyn was a senior at University of Michigan. If all went right for another two months, she would graduate with a Bachelor of Education degree and begin the rest of her life as a successful high school English teacher. She would inspire the youth of America and make them realize the value of reading and classical literature. Ok, she knew it was a little hokey, but she felt very passionate about teaching.
It was another Friday night, and her best friend, Alex (short for Alexandra, which Alex despised), had invited her to a frat party, hosted by Alex’s boyfriend-of-the-month, Dan Chambers.
“Come ON, Carolyn! What else are you doing tonight?” Alex whined through the phone.
“I just don’t like those parties, Alex. All they do is play music that I don’t like too loudly, and get drunk. Besides, I’m supposed to make up that star-charting thing for Astronomy…”
“Come to the party first, and chart the stars in that experimental telescope later! It’ll be clearer late at night anyway…you need to get out more!”
“Oh, all right.” Sighed Carolyn, giving in. “But I’m not staying very late, and if you barf like last time, you’re on your own!”
“Cool! Meet me there at seven! And I won’t barf! But if I do, Dan will be there. I think he’s the right one this time, Carolyn….”
Alex’s voice got dreamy as Carolyn hung up the phone. Alex was her best friend, but she got so dramatic over everything, who could tell when things were serious and when they weren’t?

As promised, Carolyn arrived at the doorstep of Mu Mu Mu fraternity at seven o’clock. She didn’t bother to dress up because she knew she’d be heading to the observatory later. She didn’t bring her purse, since such things tended to get misplaced or forgotten at such a party, but she always had a spray can of mace or something with her. This time it was a smaller can in her jeans pocket. College campuses weren’t always safe for a small woman like Carolyn. The loud music was already shaking the foundations of the building, and Carolyn idly wondered how these houses got to be so old when they were always hosting these events. Surely the noise vibrations alone could bring them down? She opened the door and walked in, figuring it didn’t matter, and no one would hear her knock anyway.
Carolyn instantly felt lost in the wash of humanity in the room. It didn’t help that she was small of build either. Carolyn stood only 5’ tall, and weighed only 100 pounds, so she felt even smaller than usual amongst the big, burly football players and even basketball players (Mu Mu Mu being historically a sports frat) who were towering above her at six and a half feet or more!
Somehow Alex spotted her and waved from across the room. Alex wasn’t as tall as most of the men in the room, but she was no slouch in the size department. Alex viewed the world from 5’11”, although she liked to say “six foot” if people asked. She didn’t play on any organized sports teams, but she would join in pick-up games of almost anything. She also went down to the recreation building at least three times a week to stay in shape, although Carolyn thought it was mostly just to pick up guys. Alex made her way across the room to greet her best friend, and Carolyn laughed to herself about their friendship. People were always asking them why they were friends, since their views on life were so different, but since they’d shared the same sense of humor all the way back to first grade, it was just the way it had always been. Alex looked down the 11” to see Carolyn and gave her a brief hug.
“I’m glad you came! Come here, I want you to meet Dan!” Alex shouted over the music. Carolyn followed her human roadblock buddy to the back and engaged in small talk (or rather small hollering) with “Mr. Right”.
As it turned out, Dan was pretty nice. He was about 6’2” (Alex’s only requirement of her men was that they be taller than she was), with blonde hair, a thick build (defensive lineman), and an actual brain! He was fairly quiet, though, letting Alex do all the talking. Yet, his silence stood out, even amongst the crashing music. Carolyn mused that her friend might have actually found “the one”. After a time though, Alex and Dan were bumpin’ and grindin’ to the music on their own, and Carolyn decided that it might be time to go to the observatory. It had to be getting late, and she didn’t want to arrive too late to use the new experimental starlight telescope. Due to the size of the people around her, Carolyn couldn’t quite see where the door was anymore, but started in a direction, figuring that even the wall must lead to a door sooner or later. Just as she found it, and was emerging from the noise and light into the darkened night, she received a rather large bump and was shoved out the door. All in slow motion, Carolyn realized that she couldn’t regain her balance before falling off the front stoop, so she braced herself for a fall. She shut her eyes reflexively, and when time resumed, opened them to discover that she hadn’t fallen to the ground, but had been caught in the outstretched arms of a rescuer!
A very tall man, about 6’5” was cradling her like a child, but looking at her with very concerned, sky blue eyes. It was the first thing she noticed about him, since the rest of him was rather dark. He had jet-black hair, rather wild, with a bushy moustache and a dark complexion.
“That was almost a bad fall, are you OK?” He asked.
Carolyn was very much enjoying being in his arms, but decided that modern girls don’t need help, so she said, “I’m fine. Thanks for the assist. Can you put me down now?”
The man blushed, as he seemed to only just realize that he was still holding her. He tilted her vertically and set her feet carefully to the ground before letting go.
“Sorry. I’m Jim Prescott, pleased to meet you.” He put his hand out. Carolyn grasped it, noting how small her hand seemed in his and said, “Carolyn Parker. Thanks again.” She turned to leave, figuring that a jock like that wouldn’t want to spend time with her anyway, when she heard him whisper under his breath,
“’If I profane with my unworthiest hand,
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a gentle kiss’…”

Carolyn whipped her head around with an amazed smile and said,
“’Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much.
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’
hands do touch, and palm to palm,
is holy palmers’ kiss’

…You’re not a “student athlete” are you?”
Realizing that he’d been heard, Jim shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “Uh, no. I got my degree in English Literature two years ago. My cousin invited me here. He tells me that I don’t go out enough.”
Carolyn was flattered by his quote and took a chance.
“Listen, I have to go to the observatory to complete an assignment. I could use an escort across campus?” She said, with eyebrows raised.
Jim didn’t give the party a second thought as he stepped forward to take Carolyn’s arm by the elbow.
“’Lead on, MacDuff’” he smiled. Carolyn clasped his arm in hers as she saw the way his blue eyes shone like the moon. They walked to the opposite side of campus to the observatory, looking like a quite unlikely pair. Carolyn was certainly in no danger while with Jim, since he stood 17” taller than she was and was rather imposing. They arrived at the observatory around 11PM.
Carolyn showed her student ID to the guard and announced her appointment for the hour it would take to complete her charts. The guard let them in, staring suspiciously at Jim. Research indeed…what did he care if these kids threw away their education, necking under the stars? He just wished they’d do it somewhere else.

The University had installed a brand new telescope this term. It was said to use starlight as a power source, and even had an experimental collector to determine relative wavelengths of starlight emissions. Carolyn didn’t know how the whole thing worked, and to be honest, didn’t care. She only needed the credits in Natural Sciences and figured Astronomy would be the path of least resistance. Had she actually known how the telescope worked, then she would have seen that the collector wasn’t positioned correctly…
At first, Carolyn and Jim chitchatted while she adjusted the viewing position of the lens. Now and then she would stop and make a mark in her notebook, but neither she nor Jim noticed the collector lens getting brighter with each new set of light wavelengths. Finally she focused on her last target.
“They said in class that this star went nova thousands of years ago, but that light hasn’t reached Earth yet. This telescope is powerful enough to see its light now, but it should put on a real show in about twenty years or so.” Carolyn was looking into the lens, and didn’t notice the collector lighting up the telescope. Jim, finally noticing the unusual glow, asked, “Is that thing supposed to be giving off that light? Isn’t it harder to see that way?” Suddenly, there was a noise like a light bulb breaking and Carolyn was bathed in light. Jim rushed to her side to grab her when she swayed and passed out. He shouted for the security guard from the lower floor and explained what had just happened. Jim carried Carolyn downstairs while the guard called an ambulance. Other than the collector being cracked, there didn’t seem to be any damage. But the light was no longer there.

Next day, Carolyn and Jim were off the hook, since it was determined that a professor had left the collector improperly adjusted earlier in the night. Carolyn went back to her dorm room after the doctors said she didn’t seem to have any ill effects from fainting. Jim discussed the event with her later that day.
“You’re sure you’re OK?” He asked, worriedly, staring into her eyes.
“I’m fine! It was just, …funny for a minute. I felt…” she started haltingly, glancing downward. “I guess it was like… I don’t think I can describe it. I felt like, well, you know that moment that you hold your breath after wishing on a star? It was like that single second, stretched out.” Carolyn knew it sounded strange, but couldn’t put it any clearer…She looked up and their eyes met.
Jim stared at her for a second as he said, “I know exactly what that feels like…” Then he exhaled and kissed her….

Chapter 3

(Back in the present)
That night, Carolyn and Jim lay in bed, discussing their respective days. It seemed almost a rote excersize for them to check in with each other that way. Jim had once dreamed of being the next John Steinbeck, instead ending up writing romance novels. Some nights his disappointment was palpable. It wasn’t a bad living, in fact, it paid quite well, but there was no challenge to it. The stories were all formulaic, throw in a few heavy descriptions, and instant romance. Of course, it wasn’t THAT easy, but sometimes it seemed like Jim lost his will to write. He lay on the bed, waiting for his wife to join him, and watched her silhouette in the moonlight.
“I love you, you know.” He said it wistfully, as if he knew what she had been thinking earlier in the day.
“I love you too…” she trailed off.
“Carolyn, if you could wish for anything, what would it be?” Jim suddenly asked.
“I have everything I could want, sweetheart.” She replied. But inside, her subconscious remembered the conk from the can and she thought, “I wish I was bigger, stronger, taller….” (Outside the window, a star winked)
“How about your own star to wish on?” he queried.
Snapped out of her dream-like state both by his question and a sudden strange feeling inside she said, “What?…”
He reached under his pillow, and opened a small box. “I haven’t forgotten that first night we spent. I always thought you were the answer to a wish on a star, so …. I got this for you. Happy anniversary.” He held out the box to her and Carolyn saw a beautiful moonstone pendant gleaming in the starlight through the window.
“Oh Jim…it’s gorgeous! You shouldn’t have!” For an instant, Carolyn felt a strong tingling sensation, but thought that it was just the moment. She kissed him, passionately and said, “How could I ever want more than you?”
But in the deep recesses of her mind, her private wish was repeated, and the tingling came back, if only for an instant.
They fell to each other’s company and slept only much later that night, as the star flared again in the night sky, explosive light from a dying star seen twenty years previous.
Next morning, another day began in the Prescott household, much as all the others of late did, but all the inhabitants of the house were unaware that a wish granted last night would have serious repercussions for all of them.

Chapter 4

Carolyn awoke to the warmth of sunlight on her face from the window, and the sound of her son, Scott, yelling at his older sister.
“Dad said we had to be QUIET and let Mom SLEEP! You’re going to wreck his SURPRISE!”
“YOU can’t keep QUIET if your life depended on it! YOU’RE gonna wreck it!” screamed Nicole in reply.
Just then, the door opened, and Jim sheepishly peeked in saying, “I was so close…”
He entered the room completely, as Carolyn propped herself up against the headboard of their king-sized bed. Jim was carrying a tray with eggs (scrambled, courtesy of Nicole), toast (burnt, courtesy of Scott), orange juice (courtesy of Minute Maid), sausage (courtesy of Jim), and a red rose in a pencil-thin vase. Carolyn smiled as her two “adorable” children peeked around the door, then stretched briefly (imagining her feet touching the edge of the bed) as she said, “Good thing I was up already, hmm?”
This brought beatific smiles from her offspring, immediately before they both punched each other in the arms saying, “You’re just lucky you didn’t wake her up.”

Jim glanced a knowing smile at Carolyn, then turned to say, “Okay, you got to watch, now get to Mrs. Miller’s place!”
Carolyn stole a peek at the digital clock, and was astounded to discover she’d slept till 10AM! She looked questioningly at her husband, who replied with a shrug of his broad shoulders and a bashful smile that extended to those magnificently blue eyes.
“You shouldn’t have let me sleep that late. But I’m grateful!
“You were so beautiful, like my own Sleeping Beauty…how could I disturb you? Happy Anniversary, my angel.” Jim said as he lay beside her, and stroked a stray wisp of hair from her forehead.
“Happy Anniversary, my giant knight. Why did you send the kids to the Miller’s?” Carolyn inquired.
“Because Rita has graciously accepted responsibility for our children while we enjoy the day together. It’s been forever since we were alone…just the two of us. I decided not to ‘work’ today, and we’re going to Lake Michigan. I’ve got a bag packed for both of us, and we’ll spend the day at the lakeshore! I thought we’d head to Traverse City, OK?”
Carolyn just smiled at her husband and inclined forward to kiss him. Then she whispered in his ear, “I missed you too. Some time alone together is just what we need!”
Jim started to pull away, to let Carolyn get dressed, but she held onto him tightly. Playfully, Jim started to rise to his full height anyway, enfolding her in his arms as he stood until he was upright, holding his 5’ wife against his 6’5” frame, all the while the two of them were locked at the lips, tasting each other deeply.
At last, they took a breath, and Carolyn gazed into Jim’s sky blue eyes as she rested her forehead on his. “I love when you do that. I remember the first time you ever did. You felt so strong, and I felt so safe with you…”

Chapter 5
(A week after the first meeting)

Alex looked over at her awakening roommate from the doorway of the bathroom and said through a mouthful of toothpaste, “Well, look who’s finally rising! Out late with Jim again?”
Carolyn yawned as she stretched her arms out, replying, “Yeah. We were stargazing again.”
“Right. Stargazing. I know what you were looking up at….”
“Stop thinking that way right now, Alex! Jim is just a good friend, and we haven’t even known each other that long, yet.” Carolyn admonished.
Alex rinsed in the sink, then turned back to her best friend and smiled, “Love at first sight doesn’t take that long. Anyone can see the way you two stare into each other’s eyes! It’s so romantic.” She let out an enormous sigh. “Besides, Jim is very hunky! Or is that height thing still bugging you?”
Carolyn sighed as she got out of bed. “You have to admit, Alex, we look kind of silly next to each other…”
Alex dragged her friend into view of the bathroom mirror and stood next to her; their disparate sizes, as always, immediately evident. “People have told us we look silly together ever since 6th grade. So, how come we’re still best friends?”
Carolyn studied the reflection, silent. Putting her 5’ frame next to Alex’s 5’11” wasn’t something she did often, since it demonstrated so clearly how small she was. When the girls were young there wasn’t much difference, but in 6th grade, Alex began a fairly impressive growth spurt that brought her to her current stature, while Carolyn watched her friend grow into a giant, comparatively. But the girls had always been friends, and a little thing like size wasn’t going to change that.
Still, Carolyn could always wish.
“Fine, point taken. Don’t you have an exam to go to?” smirked Carolyn, as she headed to the shower.
“Yeah, yeah, statistics 325…I’m going, but you know…there’s something about dating tall men… Hey, do you and Jim want to double tonight with Dan and me? We’re going to Uno’s for pizza, then to Showcase to catch the re-release of An Affair to Remember.”
“I’ll let you know later. I should check to see if Jim wants to go to a ‘chick flick’.” Carolyn chuckled.
Alex waved as she headed out the door, leaving Carolyn to her thoughts.

That evening, the foursome enjoyed pizza, as Carolyn and Alex discovered that Dan was the cousin Jim was to meet at the fateful party a week ago. The group became close friends over the deep dish dinner, and headed off to the movie.
Carolyn enjoyed the show, while Alex bawled into Dan’s handkerchief and shoulder (the hopeless romantic). When the credits rolled, they got up with the crowd to exit, and in the push, Carolyn was tripped and slipped to the ground. Dan and Alex turned to give the offender a mighty shove, and Jim dropped to Carolyn’s side.
“Are you OK?” Jim asked worriedly.
“I’m fine, I just twisted my ankle a bit. No big deal. Help me up?” Carolyn offered her hand to Jim. Instead of taking her hand, he slipped his arm around her shoulders, and his other under her legs, and lifted her from the ground.
Carolyn gazed into his eyes, then smiled.
“You’re a hopeless romantic too, aren’t you, Mr. Prescott?”
“Humor me…” Jim replied, as he bent his head to kiss her. Carolyn exited the theater, still in Jim’s arms, held close to his body.
Alex blew her nose into Dan’s handkerchief. “Isn’t that just the most heroic thing?” She curled into his arms as he smiled and escorted his own date to the car, saying nothing as usual; knowing his cousin was completely under Carolyn’s spell.

Chapter 6

(At the hotel on Grand Traverse Bay in Traverse City)

“Your suite, Mrs. Prescott.” Jim carried Carolyn through the doorway and deposited her on the bed. He dropped the suitcase from his other hand on the dresser and flopped onto the bed beside his wife. “So, what would you like to do first? Enjoy the beach, do a bit of walking downtown, or a canoe trip…?”
“Let’s walk a bit, then we can end up on the beach.” Carolyn arose from the bed to retrieve her bathing suit from the suitcase, and put it on under a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
They set out from the hotel, walking casually up Front Street, enjoying the shops. Occasionally, they would enter one and browse for a bit, looking at the wares of the various establishments. Hand in hand they strolled down the sidewalk, almost getting to know one another again.
“Jim, it’s been so long since we just enjoyed each other’s company like this. I’ve missed being with you.”
“It’s my fault, I know. Sometimes I get so frustrated with what I’m doing…this isn’t the kind of life I wanted to give you.” Jim’s smile had disappeared briefly, until Carolyn pulled her husband’s neck down and kissed him deeply.
“We both started out with big dreams. And maybe, this isn’t what we originally wanted, but it seems pretty good to me.” She said, as she pulled away momentarily. Jim straightened, as he usually did, holding his wife at his lips, 17” off the ground. Carolyn remained draped around her husband’s neck, loving every second of the feel of his arms around her waist and his lips upon her mouth. People walking by stared at the happy couple, both for their obvious display of affection as much as for the incredible size difference between them.
They began walking again, stopping before the beach only briefly to get some fudge at Doug Murdick’s Fudge. Once at the beach, they stripped down to their bathing suits and lay out on the golden sands of the Bay. The clear, blue-green water was filled with sailboats, schooners, and jet skis, all somehow sharing the rolling waves. Carolyn watched as Jim joined an impromptu beach volleyball game. She loved to watch his 6’5” frame dominate the smaller opponents. Now and then, a wish of joining the game would pass through her mind, but the reality was that a 5’ woman would not be much use in spiking the ball over the net.
After a while, the two of them enjoyed the water together, splashing about and swimming back and forth in mock competition. Before returning to the hotel, they even joined a group of twenty-somethings in pier-jumping.
As Jim and Carolyn dressed to go out to dinner at the Ember’s on the Bay, Carolyn noticed that her slacks were a bit tight…
“Probably the fudge,” she thought to herself. “I guess I’d better go easy at dinner.”
They were seated at a table by the huge windows that looked out on the bay and watched as the various boats still crossed the waters.
Carolyn ordered the whitefish with angelhair pasta, and Jim requested the swordfish steak. They both had a little wine with dinner, and stayed until the night lights of the Bay grew brighter against the rich red, purple, and gold sunset. The lighthouses lit the way home for another generation of sailors on the Great Lakes. The stars gleamed in the clear, Michigan skies reflected in the now calm, mirror-smooth waters of the Bay. Jim and Carolyn walked up the shore a while, watching the stars and silently communicating their love for one another.
Jim laid out a blanket from the car on the sand and the two of them lay down together, stargazing as on nights long ago. Carolyn fidgeted momentarily, finding her blouse sleeve cuffs a little tight. She lay close to her husband, as the sands had cooled in the absence of the sun. The moon was bright as they sought out long-forgotten friends in the constellations.
“Boy, that star to the left of Arcturus sure is twinkling! It almost seems to be pulsing.” Jim said as he pointed a long arm to the sky. “I wonder which star that is.”
Carolyn followed his finger to see the light, murmuring, “Follow the handle of the Big Dipper to the end, follow the arc to Arcturus…” and something jogged in her memory.
“It’s our star, Jim!” She realized.
“That’s sweet, but isn’t it a little corny? I mean, I wouldn’t even put that in one of my books…” He smiled.
“No, you big lug. I mean it’s the star that I was observing that night we met. The one that had gone nova, but light wasn’t reaching Earth yet…you know, with the telescope at the University…” Carolyn looked on in wonder. “I almost feel a kinship with it…”
“Don’t remind me of that stupid telescope! I was so afraid that night! I knew I’d met the woman I wanted to spend my life with, and there I was thinking I might have lost her just as I’d found her.” Jim stuck out his tongue at the star, then rolled Carolyn on top of his body. He folded his arms tightly around her. “I’m never going to lose you. Never.”
Carolyn lay her head down, ear to his chest listening to his heart beat. “You never will. You’re stuck with me, no matter what.”
Jim stroked her hair as he whispered,
“’O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard,
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.”

Carolyn replied,
“’…How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending ears.”
“Hey, that’s my line…” chuckled Jim.
They stayed on the sands till late in the night before returning back to the hotel.

[GTSKate]

(Chapters 7-12)

Chapter 7

Carolyn awoke late again, to find her husband packing up the suitcase, and laying out her outfit for the day.
“You’ve been awfully domestic the last two days. I could get used to this, you know.” She said, as she tensed every muscle in her body in a cat-like stretch.
“Things will be different from now on, angel. You’ll see. No more fantasies for the romance books. I’m going to be able to base things on our life.” Jim smiled a wicked grin at his wife, and leered at her in the bed.
“Yeah, yeah, talk is cheap.” Carolyn replied. “Besides, I don’t have any secret former lovers, heretofore unknown family members, or evil twin sisters. So what could possibly keep the plot going?”
“Perhaps this is the happily ever after part?”
“We’re too young for that, Mr. Prescott.” Carolyn winked. She gave one last stretch, and then exited the bed, pleased that she could leave the making of it to housekeeping. She straightened her disheveled black hair, and tied the bulk of it in a ponytail behind her. As she was getting dressed in the jean shorts and t-shirt Jim had left out, she noticed the top was not so roomy across her chest as it normally was. Dismissing the clothing to a trick of the wash, she headed to the bathroom to finish “arranging” herself for the day.
Wistfully, she and Jim finished stowing their items, and checked out of the hotel. They took their time getting home, stopping for lunch at a cute roadside diner before completing the trip. Jim pulled the car into the driveway, and they opened the front door.
“Surprise!”
They walked in to discover a big banner saying ‘Happy Anniversary’ with Nicole and Scott underneath, standing with Alex and Dan!
Carolyn rushed forward to greet her best friend. Alex bent down to complete the embrace, and Carolyn asked, “What are you two doing here? Surprise is right! You didn’t call!”
Alex chuckled, and released her friend, as Dan and Jim clasped hands tightly. Alex smiled down at Carolyn and said, “Happy twentieth! Dan and I decided to surprise you for your anniversary! We’re in town for a few days…scouting out new home sites! Dan’s been offered a position with the Ann Arbor Police, and we really want to move! We’d love to be close again. What do you think?”
“That’s wonderful, Alex! I’ve missed you a lot the last few years! When you and Dan moved to Florida, it just wasn’t the same.” Carolyn beamed with optimism. Nicole and Scott jumped up and down, anticipating the return of cousins Dan and Alex, and everyone fell to celebrating.
After spending the day catching up, they all went out to dinner, and laughed the evening away. They reluctantly parted late that night, with Carolyn and Alex agreeing to meet the next day to check out some houses in nearby neighborhoods. Jim and Dan had enjoyed quite a few beers while reminiscing and sharing ‘wife’ stories, so Jim had fallen asleep almost the moment he and Carolyn went to bed. Carolyn gazed at her slumbering husband from her window perch. A corner of her mouth upturned as she watched his chest rise and fall in even breaths. She turned to resume her watch on the stars, reveling in the black wrapping of night, broken only by the spangles in the heavens. As she said a fond ‘good night’ to her rediscovered heavenly friend, she felt a shiver run through her, that left her warm and tingling, like a lover’s embrace.

Chapter 8

The next two weeks were filled with the summertime routine of house hunting with Alex, keeping track of her children’s movements from house to house in the neighborhood, and more quality time with her husband. July 4th was celebrated merrily as Alex and Dan found a house they liked, and began closing proceedings, and Jim neared completion of his new book. Carolyn had gone to the grocery store to pick up some things for the barbeque, and was putting them away. She stretched to put the canned peaches on the top shelf and bent to put the corn in the refrigerator, and straightened up suddenly and stiffly.
“I can’t put things on the top shelf…the can always rolls off my fingertips and hits me on the head…” She thought. Slowly, rethinking what had just happened, Carolyn reached up to the top shelf again, and grasped the can she had just placed. She gasped as she realized that she could actually wrap her hand around the can, instead of finger-rolling it to the edge.
She dropped the can in surprise and shock.
“What’s going on, here?” Carolyn panicked. “Jim?!” She shouted.
He came running into the kitchen, expecting to see his wife rubbing her head, instead finding her shaking and scared.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Jim was nervous. Carolyn never panicked, never lost control of a situation.
“I…I don’t know. I went to put the can on the top shelf, and …and…I reached it.” She swayed, unsteady.
Jim didn’t know what to say, or do. It sounded so silly, and yet, Carolyn had never been able to reach the top shelf of the kitchen cabinets. He took her shaking hands, and steadied them in his own. “Angel, relax. There’s a simple explanation, I’m sure.” He tried to be comforting, his first priority calming his wife.
Carolyn was on the verge of fainting, her face pale. “Simple, right,” she laughed in that hysterical pitch. “Simple, like I’m growing suddenly, right?” She continued shaking.
Jim held onto her, speaking in a low, soothing voice, “I’m sure you’re not growing. That’s impossible, OK? Here, you’ll see.” He reached into the ‘everything’ drawer, and pulled out a tape measure. He drew the tape up to Carolyn’s head and said, “See? Oh…my…unbelievable…” His voice trailed off.
Carolyn turned quickly to see her husband’s finger holding the tape at 5’2”.

Chapter 9

By the end of July, Carolyn had grown another two inches, standing at 5’4”. Although she and Jim had seen several doctors, no one had an explanation for what was causing Carolyn’s growth. As time passed, the sense of urgency and panic that Carolyn had was lessened. She didn’t seem to be suffering from any ill effects, and if anything, she felt a little stronger than before. Jim commented that his wife looked more toned, tighter, and maybe a bit more curvaceous, but he didn’t mind.
That night, Jim and Carolyn sat down with their children after dinner in the family room.
“I wanted to have a talk tonight, so that you guys know what’s going on. I’ve been going to a lot of doctors, but I don’t want either of you to worry that I’m sick or anything like that, because other than my size, I feel fine. But I’m still growing, so this affects the whole family. I love you both, and I want to know how you feel about what’s happening.” Carolyn braced herself for her children’s response.
Nicole, being older, took the lead. She glanced at her father, who nodded his encouragement. “I guess it’s kinda cool. I mean, I’ll miss the way you swear when you get hit in the head with a falling can…” Nikki smiled at her mom.
Carolyn was about to protest when Scott interrupted.
“Yeah,” chimed Scott, “it’s like you’re a superhero or something, and we know your secret identity! It’s cool having a super-mom! I mean, you’re growing bigger and stronger, just like you were one of the X-men!”
Carolyn snickered to herself, “I’ve really got to pay attention to those comic books he’s reading…” But out loud, she said, “You guys are really OK with this? You’re not scared or anything?”
“Naw, I mean, you’re not contagious or anything, right?” Nicole inquired. Carolyn shook her head with a wry smile.
“I don’t seem to be, but it’s hard to tell around your father, and cousin Dan, and Alex!” She laughed. Nicole shared in the giggle, while Scott asked, “So, how big are you gonna get?”
Carolyn’s twinkle left her eyes as she told her son, “I don’t know. I don’t know what made me start growing in the first place, or how long it’s going to last.”
Jim took his wife’s hand in comfort, and said, “We’ll get through this together.” Then he took a deep breath, and announced to his children that they were all going out for ice cream. While the cheers softened as the kids were ushered out to the garage, Carolyn paused for a moment in silence.
“How big will I get…?” She wondered.

Alex and Dan closed on their new house by the second week in August, and were set to move in on August 10th. Carolyn and Jim arrived in the morning to help with the unpacking of the moving truck. Nicole and Scott were running in and out of the house, telling Alex just what all the rooms should hold. Dan and Jim were moving the furniture, while Alex and Carolyn were handling the boxes.
“I guess this growth thing is pretty handy for moving, anyway!” joked Carolyn. “The way I’ve been getting stronger, I can actually be of help, instead of unpacking the silverware.” Carolyn hefted a box out of the truck, and started towards the house. She now stood a fraction short of 5’7”.
Alex grunted as she lifted her box. “I just can’t get over it! But you’re right! You’re sure a welcome sight today! But, damn, you’re really strong, Carolyn! I mean, these things weigh a ton, and you’re just tossing them like they’re nothing!” Alex shifted her box again as she struggled with it, making her way to the family room where she dumped it unceremoniously, glancing enviously at the way Carolyn easily carried her box and trotted upstairs. She couldn’t see the shadow cross Carolyn’s face as she only just realized her strength truly had increased disproportionately.
Upstairs, Carolyn paused a moment to ponder what Alex had said. “I hadn’t thought about it before today, but she’s right. I have been getting stronger than I should have for my size. If I can’t gauge my strength accurately, then…” Her thought was interrupted by the sound of Alex hollering up the stairs.
“Hey, what’s going on up there? Are you taking a break, shorty?” She playfully yelled.
Carolyn grinned wickedly, then quickly arose and bounded down the stairs in 3 steps. Pulling up chin to nose with Alex, with hands on her hips she said, “Whom are you calling shorty? You’ve only got 4 inches on me right now, Chambers.”
Alex beamed as she looked down at her best friend, “Ah, yes,” She spoke, raising a pointed finger, “but a very important 4 inches at the moment!”
The two women embraced and walked back out into the sunlight chuckling.
Unpacking of the truck continued for the next four hours, everyone but Carolyn sweating under the August sun. After a while, Carolyn went to the back to check on the kids, and the sounds of their play could be heard out front. Alex, Dan, and Jim took the opportunity to take a break. They sat out under the shade of a maple tree in the front yard, panting slightly.
The yelp of delight from Scott at whatever game he and his sister were playing with their mother echoed into the front yard. The three adults all glanced towards the back simultaneously. Alex’s eyes caught Jim’s as the moment passed.
“She’s not tired at all, is she?” (Pause) “Does she realize how strong she’s become?” Her eyes narrowed.
Jim looked away, across the street at some kids rollerblading up the pavement. After a second that was pregnant with unspoken meaning, he met her gaze again. Before he could speak, Alex realized, “You’ve been distracting her from it, haven’t you?”
Jim’s gaze dropped to the ground as he fiddled with a blade of grass he pulled up. “Yeah, I have.”
“Why?” She whispered, incredulously.
His blue eyes glinted defiantly, his eyebrow raised, meeting her stare. “Because you don’t see her when she wakes up. When she opens her eyes in the morning, there’s a moment of panic when she looks around the room and it doesn’t look exactly the way she remembers. The fear before her eyes completely focus, as she wonders how much she’s grown overnight.” His words sped up. “Last week at night, she thought I was asleep. She reached out her hand to touch me, and I could feel the hesitation! She’s so scared of herself right now, that I don’t want to make it worse. So I’ve downplayed her strength. Yes, I’m covering up the truth, Alex. I don’t want her afraid.”
Dan put his hand on his cousin’s shoulder in support. He didn’t speak often, but his silence communicated more than most people’s speeches. (Alex likened him to Batman when she was being mischievous: Tall, dark, and silent)
“Are you really doing her a favor, Jim?” She softened. “It’s only going to get worse, with her still growing. She’s got to adjust to this.”
“You don’t understand, Alex.” He sighed. “She’s trying to adjust all the time. But every day, her adjustment is wrong because she’s constantly changing. It’s taking a toll on her emotionally. Some nights, her tears have awakened me. She’ll be up in the middle of the night, sitting by the window, just staring out there. I know which damn star she’s probably looking at, and I catch the moonlight glinting off the tear stripes on her face. I heard her whispering a few nights ago. She was praying to God to take back her wish.”
Alex was following Jim’s tirade sympathetically until the last, when she was taken aback.
“Take back her wish? What is that supposed to mean?”
Jim tossed the blades of grass away. “She thinks she caused her growth with a wish.”
No one said anything as they all pondered the conversation.
Carolyn came stomping around the side of the house to the front, a child hanging off each arm outstretched, all three laughing. Her arms were fully extended and slightly raised, Nicole pulling on the wrist of her left arm, Scott on her right, both children held off the ground. She looked over to see her husband and family staring at her, each with unreadable expressions.
Shrugging (still with children laughing), her eyebrows raised in confusion, she said simply, “What?”

“I think it’s time we finished up the truck.” And when Dan spoke, as he rarely did, people tended to listen. The kids went back to their play, and the four adults fell to completing the task of moving.

Chapter 10

The school year began with the obligatory shopping trip for supplies, and new fall wardrobes. Carolyn was going through the kids’ closets, boxing what no longer fit, so as to be taken to Goodwill, and cataloguing the remaining items to determine how many new outfits would be needed. Carolyn’s own clothing for the summer had consisted of cutoffs (donated by Alex, “They were too small for me anyway.”) and t-shirts, and the occasional sweats outfit. With autumn approaching however, Jim noted that his wife could use some new apparel too, having outgrown all of her old clothing.
Jim leaned against the doorframe of Nicole’s bedroom, where Operation:Schoolyear continued. “Not that I mind you wearing butt-hugging shorts, of course, but I might be a little miffed if I had to fight off every guy staring at you.” He joked.
Carolyn blew a stray lock of her raven hair out of her eyes with a puff. She gave her husband the evil eye from on her knees and said, “You know, there are better ways of helping me with this than criticizing MY attire.”
“Nope. It says in the ‘Dad manual’: ‘going through children’s underwear is definitely the Mom’s job.’” He twisted to avoid a flying sock, laughing at the sight of his wife giving him the raspberry. “All kidding aside, angel, you have to get at least a few things. You’ve outgrown your old civvies.” He hated bringing up this subject, since he knew it would cause her to stiffen like she did, discomfort screaming through her body language.
“I wouldn’t know what size to buy.” She said meekly, suddenly still.
Alex pushed Jim out of the doorway with a flourish, sweeping into the room. “THAT is what I am here for!” She announced.

Carolyn looked up from her knees to see her friend grinning down on her. Defeated, she rose slowly to her feet, finally raising her head to stare at Alex eye-to-eye.
“I have been waiting for this! Now, I can borrow some of your outfits, so it’s in my best interests to make sure you look good!” Carolyn couldn’t help but smile at the joke, as Alex whisked her away to her car in the driveway, and off for a girls-day-out shopping trip.
Jim let out the breath he was holding. “I don’t know how I could have pulled that off by myself. Thank God for Alex.” He turned, surprised to see Dan leaning against the stairwell.
“That’s usually my line.” Dan remarked with a slow grin, in his deep bass voice. “And I hate to disappoint you, ‘Dad’, but my wife rewrote your manual today. You DO have to finish going through the underwear, then take the kids shopping today. With a little help, of course.” He chuckled, and joined his cousin in finishing the Operation, then executing stage II with the kids in the minivan.

Meanwhile, Alex drove Carolyn to some of her favorite haunts. “Get used to finding these out-of-the ordinary shops, girlfriend, because finding tall women’s clothing is just as hard as finding that tiny stuff you used to wear!”
Carolyn didn’t laugh. She remained silent, lost in her thoughts until Alex parked the car.
A small sob escaped from Carolyn’s lips. “Why are you doing this?” She said in a small and trembling voice. “Don’t you know I’m just going to outgrow all of it? It just doesn’t stop.” Her lower lip danced out of her control.
Alex gently stroked her friend’s hair. With a comforting smile, she whispered, “’Cause you look like the She-Hulk in all your clothes, and the ripped clothing look went out in the mid 90’s with the whole grunge thing.” Carolyn snorted a laugh, despite herself.
“Because I need some hand-me-downs next season.” Carolyn’s mouth moved towards a smile through her tears. Alex’s face grew serious. “And because I care about you very much. I can’t know what this is like for you, growing steadily. But now you’re my size, at least for a little while, and I can try to help you adjust.
“But, everything is changing. I keep getting bigger, and you’ll…” Carolyn trailed off.
“I’ll what? I’ll stay the same? I think I can deal with you being the tall one for a change.” Alex knew she’d hit a chord when Carolyn let out another sob. “Car, look, our relationship won’t change if I’m not the tall one anymore. You’ve said before, that’s not why we’re friends. If I have to deal with looking up to you, then I will. I’m not going away because you’re bigger. You’re stuck with me, Carolyn Prescott. You’ve been stuck with me, ever since we got in trouble in Mr. Sheldon’s class for telling that joke in first grade.” Carolyn laughed this time as Alex remarked, “You’d think they’d be impressed that we could remember one that long in the first place.”
“I can’t even remember the joke, anymore.” Carolyn said laughing, as she dried her tears.
Alex just raised her eyebrows, and looked over. “The little boy in the ice cream parlor?” She prompted helpfully.
Carolyn exploded in laughter in the front seat.

Chapter 11

By the beginning of October, Carolyn had grown to 6’3”, and had grown tired of constantly buying new clothes. Today, she wore one of Jim’s sweat outfits and tried to keep as much normalcy in the family’s lives as possible. She would take Scott to hockey practice, pick up Nicole from play practice at the high school, and maintain the house as usual.
Jim had finished his new book, A Time and Place for Us, and he and Carolyn were awaiting the results of the first week of sales. Alex and Dan had settled in a few blocks away, Alex enjoying her job at Parhelion Technologies as a programmer/designer and Dan as a detective for the Ann Arbor Police.
Nicole’s 15th birthday was next week, so Carolyn had sent out the invitations to her friends, and was shopping for the ingredients for the birthday cake, as well as something for her high school freshman’s birthday. She had begun to grow used to the stares she got from people who knew her, when they would see how much she had changed, just in the last four months. Everything still looked skewed and Carolyn still had an occasional clumsy bump as she would reach for things aiming from her former height of 5’. For the most part, her friends and neighbors were quite helpful and understanding.
In the grocery store, Carolyn reached across to the top shelf to grab a can of pears and misjudged the height. Her slightly upward reach bumped the can and caused it to fall on her foot.
“Ow, damn it!” She swore as she bent over to retrieve the offender.
She heard a stifled snort of laughter behind her and straightened, turning to see who found her situation so humorous. Kathy Peterson, a neighbor from two doors down, came up to Carolyn saying, “I’m sorry, Carolyn. I don’t mean to laugh, but you have to admit, some things never change.”
Carolyn glanced down at the can in her hand and smiled grudgingly. “I guess canned goods just aren’t my forte. But it’s better than getting hit in the head.” The two women shared a laugh.
“I hate to ask, but I’m understandably curious. How tall are you now, Carolyn?” Kathy asked from her height of 5’5”. Carolyn looked down at the woman who once stood five inches taller than her. For an instant she had a wave of disorientation (as was common lately, when focusing on how much she had changed) as she realized she stood ten inches above Kathy’s head.
“I’m up to 6’3”. At least as of this morning.” She sighed.
“Well,” Kathy had one of her lopsided grins on, “don’t let it get you down. You really shouldn’t be feeling so low right now.” And she chuckled. That was Kathy all the way, thought Carolyn. She loved puns, and Carolyn couldn’t help but shrug her shoulders and smile. It was sooo bad.
Kathy joined her in the rest of the grocery shopping, the neighbors chatting as they walked up and down the aisles. Kathy updated Carolyn about her son, the eight-year old Paul, and his various activities of the week, and Carolyn shared her daughter’s joy about being cast in the play at school, and Scott scoring a goal in his last hockey game. Kathy asked about Jim’s book, and Carolyn described the pins and needles while they waited for sales info.
When they got through the checkout and parted ways, loading their cars, Carolyn was struck by how normal the whole exchange had been. If one didn’t know that she was growing, it would have appeared to be just another normal day. Carolyn was grateful for friends like Kathy. The whole ordeal would have been worse if everyone around her were treating her differently.
When she got home, she unloaded the groceries, thanking heaven that this chore had gotten easier, at least. Perhaps it was a small retribution for all the times she’d gotten knocked in the head. Making sure the kids weren’t home yet; she retrieved Nicole’s gift from the car for wrapping.
She had gotten Nicole a very well stocked chemistry set, still surprised that her daughter wanted such a thing. Carolyn didn’t believe that her daughter was the science-geek type.
“But then, she’s been involved in a lot of things the last year.” She thought. “In fact,” a puzzled look knit her eyebrows together, “her grades in all her subjects have been all ‘A’s. Yet, being in the play, she’s been so busy after school, and I can’t remember the last time I saw her doing homework. Scott, too.” Carolyn thought she’d better have a conference with their teachers soon, just to make sure there wasn’t anything unusual going on.
She finished wrapping the gift as Jim burst through the front door, yelling, “Carolyn? Carolyn, are you home?”
“Upstairs, dear.” She called.
Jim came bounding up the stairs, two at a time, to grab his wife around the waist and lift her joyously in the air. He wore a huge grin that evolved into a full-blown smile, and showed her a copy of the sales reports for his book as he put her down.
She did a double take looking at the numbers. She looked slightly up (thankfully, still up) into her husband’s eyes with wonder.
“Are these right?” He nodded vigorously in response. “Your book set the new record for first week sales?” His lips parted, exposing his white teeth in the biggest grin Carolyn could recall ever seeing on his face.
“I really made a good one this time! The returns are very positive, and everyone seems to like my heroine.” Jim held his wife close.
“It was a very good story, Jim. She was well-written, and had a lot of great qualities.” Carolyn smiled back.
“I know. She was based on a wonderful woman.” Carolyn blushed and looked away. Jim gently brought her chin back up, gazing deep into the brown eyes that had been so troubled lately. He stroked her cheek gently as he told her, “You proof-read the book, angel, you must have realized who she was.”
Carolyn bent her head slightly to rest it on Jim’s shoulder as they held each other tightly. She had felt so awkward in everything she did since her growth began, but she was very thankful for how she fit her husband right now. Her size complimented his in all the right places, her breasts snug against his chest, their hips matching like jigsaw puzzle pieces. She could feel Jim’s excitement and desire, and smiled. Her head still tucked in the crook of his chin; she unclasped one arm to caress his pectoral muscles lovingly.
“I think I’ve forgotten how chapter 13 ended. Perhaps you’d care to go over the scene with me?” She whispered in her best sexy voice. She detached herself from his embrace and walked to the door of their bedroom with a gentle sway to her hips.
Jim growled a wolfish smile as he followed his disrobing wife into the antechamber.
He closed the door behind them and locked it, and quickly stripped down. When he turned around, his wife was naked on the bed and he paused a moment to savor every line of her body.
From her head to her toes, the distance mathematically was seventy-five inches, but that didn’t begin to describe Carolyn now. At 6’3”, her toes were but three inches from the edge of the mattress. The toes crowned two lengthy, delicate feet that tapered into an artistic balance of heel and ankle. Her silky-soft skin glowed from the now tightly toned legs that gave his wife half of her new size. Her calves were thick with unflexed muscle, her knees a perfect bridge to thighs containing powerful elongated sinews that spoke of strength even in their relaxed state. They gently flared into a most womanly rounding of hips that no longer carried the extra weight they had stoutly held onto from birthing two children. Carolyn’s hips narrowed into an hourglass waist and flat abdomen that held an elegant symmetry of muscle groups connected to a broadened rib cage. Compared to her original 5’ size, her torso had widened to create room for augmented musculature throughout her chest, including her breasts, which were practically screaming for attention from Jim. Her collarbone stood out in relief, framing the balance of her upper body, spanning the distance between her rounded shoulders, which bespoke a strength all their own. His wife’s head was cushioned upon a pillow up against the headboard, her beautiful raven hair splayed upon its surface, dazzling brown eyes deep with lust staring at her husband.
Jim approached the end of the bed, and began by placing his hands gently upon her legs, caressing every inch of velvet flesh, now and then stopping to allow his lips to stroke her well-defined lines, moving his way up her enlarged body. Jim gently kissed her midriff; Carolyn giggling slightly as his moustache tickled her sensitive skin. He straddled her body, careful not to put any weight on her, as he slowly moved up her topography to lavish sensual attention upon her amplified bosom. He delicately nuzzled each mound, working his way up to her neck, relishing the time and distance involved in each maneuver. Carolyn was not still during her husband’s exploration, her powerful hands running up and down his body as well. She delighted in the bulges of muscle throughout his back and chest and felt a thrill of electricity in every touch of his hands and lips.
Finally, he reached her mouth, with Carolyn’s questing lips connecting with his own, needfully. She began to pull Jim down on top of her, and felt him resisting. She opened her eyes and looked into his, realizing his apprehension. Jim had never been on top of his wife in twenty years of marriage. She had just been too small to bear his weight. Carolyn pressed her lips to his again, then parted to whisper, “I want to feel you on top of me. I want to know what it is to make love with you, not on you like a table.” And she pulled his body down again, using her irresistible strength to erase any opposition from his weaker muscles.
Jim suddenly had a first-hand experience with just how strong his wife had become. In the grip of her passion, he couldn’t have raised himself from her even if he’d wanted to. Her titanium embrace meant that she was in command, and Jim found himself drawn to her power. Although Carolyn had always been “in control” in lifestyle, Jim discovered that he had been the one to direct their lovemaking, and now that direction was solely at his wife’s discretion. Instead of feeling threatened, Jim found that he was more relaxed than ever, knowing that his Amazonian wife was as gentle as she was powerful and that he could finally be free with her. There was no possibility that he could hurt her any longer, so he gave himself over to her ministrations wholeheartedly.
After they both fulfilled each other’s needs, they lay next to each other. Jim was propped up on his elbow, admiring his wife’s prone form and gently tracing his fingers down the curve of her cheek. Carolyn was smiling back at her husband, running the back of her hand across his chest tenderly. They were speaking without words, using only their eyes in the way that deeply in love couples do.
Then the doorbell rang.

Both their eyebrows shot up in surprise, and they giggled like teenagers caught in the act at home in the middle of the day. Jim leapt off the bed and jumped into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to answer the door. Carolyn, faced with the usual proposition of her husband’s sweatpants and one of his t-shirts took a little longer to make herself presentable. She went into the bathroom to comb out her hair at least, still giggling as she looked in the mirror at her reflection. Sex had never been so wonderful! Maybe her new body had its advantages, after all.

She gave her hair a last brush through, then went downstairs to see her husband talking with a middle-aged woman, probably in her late 50’s, at the door. She looked to be about 5’6”, and Carolyn unconsciously thought the woman would be six inches taller than she used to be. The woman wore large glasses that somehow seemed to compliment her face. She had red hair, and was dressed rather casually. She looked past Jim to notice Carolyn coming down the stairs.
“…And this must be Carolyn.” She said. The woman smiled a polite smile and waited for an introduction.
Jim looked nervous as he held out his hand for his wife. “Carolyn, this is Dr. Jessie James from the University. She said she had heard about your growth and came to ask a few questions.”
Jim and Carolyn had discussed the possibility of media attention and a national search for help a month ago, but had not wanted the circus-like atmosphere in the house that they knew it would bring, so they had not pursued any. In a naive way, they had both hoped Carolyn’s growth would stop before things got really serious. Dr. James’ arrival meant that the possibility of outside attention was a reality.
Carolyn and her husband exchanged worried glances, and Dr. James could see the hesitation between them. “Please, let me assure you that I haven’t brought any news crews with me, nor do I have any intention of making you uncomfortable with any sort of National Enquirer headlines. I’m here because I’ve recently become the head of a rather unique project at the University, and your name is in our file connected with it. Now that I meet you, I can see why.”
Carolyn looked both relieved and puzzled at the same time. “What do you mean? Why is my name in your records?”
Jim had motioned the Doctor inside during Carolyn’s question, and they all were seated in the living room.
“Carolyn, you haven’t always been this tall, have you.” Dr. James said it both as a question and a statement, looking for confirmation that she knew to be true. Carolyn nodded.
“Up until about four or five months ago, I was 5’ tall.” She confirmed.
Dr. James sighed. “I’m sorry, Carolyn. I think I know what’s happening to you. I know why you’re growing.”

Chapter 12

Dr. Jessie James paused to let Jim and Carolyn process the bombshell she dropped.
“Well, let me clarify that last statement. I don’t know exactly WHY you’re growing, but I do know what’s causing it. Have you ever heard of Porphyrion?”
Carolyn shook her head, no, but Jim paused in thought.
After a moment, he replied, “It’s a name from Greek mythology, but I can’t remember who it is.”
“Actually, he was the King of the giants, but that’s not my reference. Most stars are named for Latin or Greek characters. Porphyrion is a star. Well, was a star. It went nova over a thousand years ago…” Dr. James began.
Awareness dawned on Carolyn as she interrupted, “…and it’s light is only now reaching Earth to the naked eye.”
“You’ve got it.”
“Ok, then I sort of get it. What I don’t get is why this is happening to me.” Carolyn grew agitated, and Jim reached out his hand to hers to comfort and calm his wife.
“Let me start over. As I said, I just became the new head of a project at the University called Nostrodamus. Its original goal was to discover the relationship between the stars and foretelling. As you may know, Michel de Nostrodame or Nostrodamus, as he’s commonly called, predicted a great many events that would later come true. Debatable, but the similarities between what he wrote and many events are undeniable. Indeed, even as he wrote the stanzas in his book, Centuries, he knew that these things would not occur until well after his own death. He foretold events, making specific references to either dates, or astrological positions of the stars as identifiers. Most of the events of World War II can be found in his writings. Our project set out to discover if there was a specific way of predicting more current events, and what exactly the relationship was between the stars and human destiny.
To that end, phase one of Project:Nostrodamus called for the careful observation of several specific stars. Porphyrion was one. We built a telescope that would record as much data about those stars as had ever been discovered. We would study age of stars, size, whether their systems had planets, radiation content and wavelengths. Our own star, Sol, gives off light and radiation that can be measured on wavelength scales. We wanted to compare our star to others and maybe have a basis for comparison.
Our telescope, Nostros, if the lens were adjusted properly, could be connected to a ‘solar wavelength collector’ that would essentially capture a sample of this light. This part is starting to sound familiar, right?”

Carolyn and Jim nodded, anticipating their entrance into this fairy tale.
“Things were proceeding slowly on the project. I was just a junior associate researcher, barely out of my first Doctoral program, but I saw so much potential in what we were doing. One of the older professors did not.
Dr. Frank Kelley was nearing the end of his career, and had to join the project to save his tenure. I’m sorry to say that it was he who left the collector attached to the lens that night that you came to use the telescope. We lost four years of data due to that accident. Dr. Kelley was dismissed, and the investigation shut down the project for several years.
That’s why no one ever followed up with you, Carolyn. The project was abandoned for five years while we went through all sorts of hoops to get reapproved. When we finally did, we had to start from scratch. The data that we had collected was now essentially worthless due to a five-year gap in the records.
Porphyrion was scrapped as a test star, but we kept all the data that we had gathered to that point, since it never hurts to have information. Your name had been entered in the file with Porphyrion, but no other records on you were kept.
Fifteen years ago, we began anew Project:Nostrodamus. The first five years involved selecting new star ‘test subjects’. Then, I was assigned to create a new collector system for Nostros, and to discover what had happened to the previous set-up to cause the accident. Ten years ago, I succeeded in creating a new and improved ‘solar wavelength collector’ that captures light quality, radiation, and wavelengths. Nine years ago, in duplicating the procedures from our original plan, we exposed plant life samples to some of the light samples we had collected thus far. Five years ago, I decided to go back to the original collector that had been destroyed for comparison. In going over the remains of the collector, I discovered that it had been overloaded with energy. The harmonic wavelength of the light and radiation from Porphyrion was so strong that the collector couldn’t contain it. As you know, matter, and therefore energy, can never be lost or created; that’s what Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is all about. I couldn’t figure out where that energy went and in what form until today.”
Carolyn slowly stiffened, and her eyes widened as she realized what Dr. James was saying. She paled, and began to shake slightly as she stated what the Doctor implied.

“The energy went into me, didn’t it?” She whispered. “It wasn’t dispersed at all.”
“That’s correct, Carolyn. That night, you became a living solar collector.”

[GTSKate]

(Chapters 13-17)

Chapter 13

Carolyn no longer could deal with her situation. Her body shuddered and the tears began, as she couldn’t hold herself together any longer. She cried with all her soul. Jim embraced his wife; gently rocking her back and forth as her despair overtook her. Dr. James could see his pain at his helplessness darken his face. Carolyn sobbed into her husband’s shoulder; “It’s never over. Just when I think I can deal with this, there’s some horrible turn.” She trailed off, wracked with pain from a broken heart.
Jim tried to comfort his wife, his own pain at seeing her so defeated welling up inside. He held her even more tightly, one hand cradling the back of her head, stroking her hair as he whispered in her ear.
“Carolyn, we’ll get through this, I promise. I’ll never lose you. I can’t. I wouldn’t know what to do without you. Come on, angel. Please stop crying, I can’t bear it.
‘And yet I wish but for the thing I have.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.’
You’ll be all right, you’ll see. I love you, Carolyn.”

Carolyn’s sobs stopped, but her tears continued. Spent, she whispered, “Please, no more wishes.”
Doctor James felt horrible at being the bearer of such news. “Carolyn, I’m so sorry for all of this. But I want to help, if I can. I’d like you to come to my lab, so that I can find out more about your condition. Maybe I can find a way to stop what’s happening to you. Please, let me help.”
Carolyn didn’t answer, so Jim turned his head and pleaded with the Doctor. “Please. Help my wife.”

That Saturday, Dr. James officially made Carolyn a part of Project:Nostradamus when the growing woman was brought to the lab and introduced to the other members of the project. Dr. James started by running a complete physical on Carolyn: tests for coordination, endurance, hearing, sight, taste, and muscles that Carolyn never even knew she had. Mentally exhausted, Jim and Carolyn finally went home, with the assurance that Dr. James would check in with them again when she and her team had a chance to evaluate the results. Meanwhile, Nicole’s birthday party was the next day, and Carolyn insisted on continuing with life as normal.
Jim had been astounded to see his wife’s new abilities during the tests, but was very worried about her state of mind.
“Are you sure about the party tomorrow? That’s going to be a lot of strain, with seven teenagers running through the house.” Jim said to his wife.
“No, I’m sure. I need to do normal things. I have to believe that Jessie can help me. I have to.” Carolyn fidgeted with some ribbon in her hands.
Jim moved to his wife, and tenderly embraced her. As he held her close, feeling her relax in his arms, Jim’s mind was awash with the images of the weekend. Carolyn effortlessly holding up almost 600 pounds above her head; Jim’s wonder at how such soft, silky skin could resist the scalpel that tried to get a sample; Carolyn’s endurance as her heart pumped steadily while she ran for 5 hours then returned to a normal resting rate within ten minutes. Through it all, Jim could clearly see unease on his angel’s face, and her fear at her super-human feats. He squeezed her more tightly, knowing he couldn’t hurt her, wanting her to feel his devotion despite her changes. Meanwhile, up the stairs, and at the end of the hallway, in Nicole’s bedroom, Scott and his sister were having a talk about other changes.

“They’re still having the party. But I can hear how wrung out Mom is. Should we try to talk her out of it, Nicole?” Scott asked his sister.
“I heard too. But, no, I don’t think so. I think she’s right. She needs to have some “normal stuff” time. You didn’t tell them anything, right?” Nicole’s head was slightly cocked throughout the hushed conversation, and her eyes unfocused, as Nicole and her little brother listened to a discussion between their parents that no ears should have been able to hear from that distance.
“I didn’t say anything yet.” Scott replied.
Nicole stopped eavesdropping from across the house and turned to face her brother sitting on the bed beside her.
“Scott, we can’t tell them anything. Or anyone else, either. Mom and Dad would be terrified if they knew we were changing too.” Nicole said. “You know how broken up Mom is over what’s happening to her. If she thought something was happening to us too, she’d lose it. Besides, I don’t want to distract that Dr. James from helping Mom. We’re not growing like she is.”
“What DO you think is happening to us, Nic?” Scott waited for a response from his older sister with an inquisitive intelligence beyond his ten years.
“I listened to the explanation that Dr. James was giving Dad a couple days ago, and I think we’re being affected by the same stuff that’s causing Mom’s growth. Remember, she had her ‘accident’ before we were born. I think that because we’re made up of half-Mom and half-Dad that those solar waves aren’t affecting us as strongly as they are her. Instead of making us grow or get stronger muscles, it’s strengthening smaller things, like our senses. It’s why we can hear them across the house, see smaller details and stuff.”
“Is that why Mom’s meatloaf tasted so bad last week?” Scott grinned.
Nicole smiled, sharing the joke with her brother, “I’m not sure if it was an overdeveloped sense of taste, or it just sucked.” She and Scott fell to their backs on the bed, laughing.
A few moments later, they heard the sound of their parents coming up the stairs. Carolyn and Jim stood as twin towers in the doorway. “What’s so funny, you two?” Carolyn said, smiling at her children’s joy.
The pair looked up at their questioning parents, and both started laughing again.

Chapter 14

The next day began with an unexpected (and unwanted) gift for Carolyn. As she and Jim arose and kissed good morning, she discovered to her dismay that she now matched her husband’s height. She released Jim from her embrace quickly and closed the door of the bathroom behind her. Jim sighed and thought, “It’s going to be a long day.”
Scott awoke, fascinated as he was each morning at the power of his senses, able to see clearly instantly, to smell the French toast his father had begun preparing downstairs, and able to hear his mother crying in the master bedroom. Upon hearing her attempts to ready herself between her stifled sobs, he thought, “It’s going to be a long day.”
Nicole awoke with much the same awareness as her brother, and realized that at long last, she had turned fifteen years old. She smiled at the thought, but sobered a little at her mother’s distress.
“Come on, Mom. You can make it through this. I know you can.” Nicole whispered, half-hoping that her mother could hear her encouragement.
“She will, and we’ll help. Happy Birthday, Nic.” Scott whispered from his bedroom.
Nicole smiled more broadly. If nothing else, their heightened senses seemed to bring Nicole and her brother closer together at an age when they were supposed to fight like cats and dogs.
“Thanks.” She replied. “Race you downstairs for that French toast!”
She and Scott tore out of their bedrooms instantaneously. Nicole used her temporary advantage of age and size to muscle past her brother on the stairs and narrowly beat him to the kitchen.
Jim heard the flurry of activity and figured the kids had made an appearance at last. With a flourish, he placed a plate of French toast and sausage in front of his daughter as she sat down, saying, “Happy Birthday Nic!”
Scott sat next to his sister at the kitchen table and said, “Why is Mom upset this morning?” before he realized that he shouldn’t have said it. Nicole shot him a look.
Jim looked quizzically at his son. “How did you know she’s upset, sport?”
“Because otherwise she’d be down already, right?” Nicole covered, hoping it would be enough.
Jim sighed. “Right. Well, I’d love to tell you that we had a fight or something, but it’s just the usual. Your Mom grew again last night. She’s the same height as me today, and I’m afraid it’s kind of a milestone size for her. She’s just not comfortable with herself yet, and it’s up to us to help her with it.” He said as he placed a second plate in front of his son.
Scott happily shoveled a forkful of French toast into his mouth, at the same time saying (somewhat unclearly, due to the breakfast food), “Sometimes, I don’t get her. I thought she’d be happy she’s getting taller! I mean, she always wanted to be bigger, now she is. It doesn’t change the fact she’s our mom. I still love her anyway.” He continued to imitate a steamshovel with his sausages.
Carolyn had come down the stairs in time to hear her son’s affirmation of devotion. She came up behind him and ruffled his (always) unruly hair. “I guess sometimes I just need to hear that, sport.” She squeezed him affectionately from behind. Carolyn turned to her daughter and smiled. “Happy Birthday, Nicole!”
Nicole bashfully smiled back at her mother, and stood up. She deliberately rounded her chair to stand face to face with Carolyn. “Thanks, Mom.” She embraced her mother tightly, as Carolyn felt a comforting motherly moment. She stroked her daughter’s long black hair, so much like her own, and marveled at the way Nicole made her feel right.
Two years ago, Nicole was just beginning to mature, and was almost the same size as her mother. Carolyn had watched her daughter fondly as the two of them found new ground in their relationship. Mother and daughter shared jokes as Nicole slowly had begun to rise above Carolyn’s height. Nic had mentioned a few times the awkward feeling she had about being taller than her mother, and Carolyn had always laughed that she was her father’s daughter. But now, standing a full head taller than her child again, Carolyn was almost grateful that she had grown. There was nothing in the world that felt like holding her children in her arms.
Jim’s eyes twinkled tenderly at the sight of the two women he loved best in the world, then winked at his son. “I’d ask if the two of you wanted more syrup with that French toast, but there seems to be enough here already.” He deadpanned.
Carolyn and Nicole broke apart and looked each other in the eye, then mimicking one another turned to their favorite man, right eyebrow crooked, lips pursed, and hands on hips.
“Shut up and cook.” They said as one, then shared a glance and laughed as Carolyn joined her family for breakfast, feeling at ease for another day at last.

Meanwhile, inside her laboratory office at the University, Dr. Jessie James was going over the data from Carolyn Prescott’s day of tests. She was currently comparing that data to Porphyrion’s activity over the last four months.
“Incredible…just incredible. That her body could react like it has to ambient solar radiation is just amazing! And yet, our own sun, Sol, has been absorbing most of the radiation waves from Porphyrion relative to Earth’s position…” She trailed off, as her brain began making connections.
Her graduate research assistant, Jeff Connor, walked in the door to the sight of his professor frozen in thought, slouching in the huge leather chair behind the desk, frowning (which she always did while her brain separated her from the conscious world). Papers and graphs were strewn over the top of her desk, and she was leaning to the right, with her head balanced on the eraser tip of a pencil against her forehead. He tipped his head down to hide the amused grin on his face at the sight. Dr. James was a brilliant scientist, but her one eccentricity was that most of her research was in her head. She was so often lost in her thoughts that many grad assistants declined a posting in her department, thinking that she must have a cold personality or too harsh. Jeff knew better though. He could see through the outward image, to understand that Jessie’s genius just couldn’t keep up with language. She couldn’t speak fast enough to catch up to her brain’s leaps of knowledge, and she couldn’t write fast enough to take notes that would lead others through the maze of her discoveries. He had gotten quite good at following her mind, at least enough that he could transcribe her notes to a mostly understandable level. He knew that the appearance she presented now could only mean that her mind was making those light-speed connections in another problem.
Jeff waited patiently for Dr. James’ consciousness to catch up with her brain, standing in front of her desk. He knew that although he was standing right in front of her, she probably didn’t know he was there. Finally, after five minutes, he tried clearing his throat. Jeff didn’t want to disturb her, but she had a team meeting in the research room in two minutes, and if she didn’t move now, she’d be late.
“Shit.” Was all she said, as the pencil dropped to the desk.
“Excuse me?” Jeff replied, afraid he had offended her. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Doctor, but…”
“Jeff! How long have you been there? Wait, never mind.” Jessie said, in that speed voice that Jeff recognized. Her mind was indeed about three steps ahead of her mouth. Jessie held up her hands in a “halt” motion. “Call the Prescott’s right now, and get Carolyn back to this lab ASAP. I don’t care what you have to say to her, but she has to get back here right away.” Jessie was a flurry of activity, stacking papers in a particular order (Jeff’s influence; she was at least trying to recreate her thought processes), and starting and stopping sentences too quickly for Jeff to even begin to guess what she landed on.
“Professor, what is it?” Jeff tried to get her to slow down enough for her mouth to catch up.
Dr. James closed her eyes, clamped her hands to the side of her head and took a deep breath. “So far, Carolyn Prescott’s growth has been caused by ambient solar radiation primarily released from the collapse of Porphyrion.” She said quickly. “Those waves have traveled across the galaxy and been mostly filtered by the time they reach Earth by passing through other stars, which absorb some of that radiation. The biggest filter, though, has been our own sun, Sol. Through the last four months, Sol has been between Earth and Porphyrion’s position.” Her hands flew in front of her body as she tried to demonstrate what she was saying, “But as we exit summer and enter autumn and winter, the Earth’s position puts the Sun behind the planet, and Porphyrion’s waves will be hitting the Earth first, without that filter. In fact, Sol may even act as an amplifier, reflecting some of those waves back on the Earth…get it?”
Jeff was getting over the initial shock that she had gotten through the explanation all in one breath, when his own mind started putting the pieces together.
“Shit.” Was his own response when he realized that Carolyn Prescott was going to start growing a lot more, and faster as winter approached…

Chapter 15

Back at the Prescott household, Nicole was unveiling the gifts she had gotten from her brother and parents. As she ripped aside the last of the wrapping paper on her new chemistry set, she joyfully looked up at her family. “You got it! I wasn’t sure you would!” She eyed the contents listed on the back of the large box appraisingly.
“I was surprised that you would ask for it in the first place, Nic. When did you get this passion for science?” Carolyn started, finding the opening she needed to discuss schoolwork with her daughter.
Nicole looked up from her inventory to recognize the unspoken question in her mother’s question. As she searched for a way to divert Carolyn’s curiosity (which could lead to a revelation of the new abilities she and Scott were gaining, something Nicole definitely did NOT want), the phone rang.
“I’ll get it.” Jim arose from the sofa to pick up the phone.
Carolyn eyed her daughter suspiciously. “Nic, I’m just a little concerned that you don’t seem to have any homework this year. You either, Scott.” She turned, including the son that was trying to sneak away. “Are you both doing OK in school? You’re both involved in a lot of extra activities, the play, hockey, and I don’t see you doing any homework ever. I’m worried that you’re taking on too much, and you might be overwhelmed.” She gazed into her daughter’s eyes, looking for an answer.
Carolyn stared at both her children, noting the physical traits they had received from their parents. Scott had gotten her eyes, a deep honey brown, but Nicole had gotten a mystery. Her eyes were blue, like her father, but whereas Jim’s eyes were an inviting sky-blue that advertised his emotions clearly, Nicole’s eyes were an icy-blue, guarded and steely. Carolyn couldn’t read them at all.
Nicole was trying to quickly think of an answer that would satisfy her mother’s curiosity without jeopardizing the secret she shared with her brother. Just when it appeared her mother would brook no more hesitation, Jim set the phone back on its cradle and announced, “Carolyn, we have to leave for a while.” His normally dark complexion had noticeably paled and his eyes pleaded with his wife to come without question.
Carolyn puzzled over her mate’s expression. “But, the party…” she started.
“…Will still go on, Alex and Dan will help. But we have to go somewhere, now.” His tone was insistent, and still curious, Carolyn followed him out to the garage.
Jim looked over to his children. “Nic, I’ll call Alex from the car, and she and Dan will be over shortly.” He tried to smile, reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”

Nicole noticed his pronoun use, ‘“I’ll” be back, not “we’ll” be back.’ She turned to her brother to find out what he thought, and saw his own face paled like his father. “He really does look like a carbon-copy of Dad with Mom’s eyes.” She thought to herself.
“What’s up?” She questioned.
“I focused really hard, like you said, and I could hear the other end of the phone.” Scott began.
“So?” Nicole prompted her brother.
“That was Dr. James’ assistant, Jeff. He says that Mom has to come back to the lab immediately because she’s going to start growing a lot bigger any day now.” His voice quavered.
Nicole grew still, as she realized Scott was about to say something that neither of them really wanted to hear. “How much bigger?”
“She could become the next 50’ woman, he said.”
Nicole sat, stunned. Up until that moment, neither child had truly believed that their mother could grow so huge. Nicole’s expression darkened, her eyes filled with more steel than ever. She had to learn more about what was happening to their mother, or the lab would take her away. And Nicole decided she was NOT going to lose her mother to some science experiment.

Chapter 16

Alex and Dan played gracious hosts, but Nicole’s friends could see she was distracted. They were also a little disappointed that they didn’t get to see how big Mrs. Prescott had gotten, as well. The party became a muted affair, everyone going through the motions of having a good time, but the event ended far sooner than it normally would have, had everything been as it was five months previous.
Meanwhile, at the University of Michigan lab that Dr. Jessie James called her office, the elder Prescotts were being greeted with grim news. Jessie explained her theory, and wanted Carolyn to stay for the next few months. This would be the time of the greatest changes, according to the doctor, and she wanted to be able to catch any as they happened.
“Please, I know this sounds heartless, but if I’m to have any prayer of understanding how your body is changing, and to be able to stop it, I have to be with you as it happens. And, since any equipment I would need to analyze you is here, it’s the most logical place. I can’t exactly set up shop in your home.” Dr. James pleaded.
Carolyn shook her head adamantly. “I can’t! I just can’t give up my life to live in some lab as a test rat! These last months, our family has grown so close! I feel like we’ve all had a chance to really appreciate what we have, and I can’t give that up when we’ve only just gotten it!” She banged her fist on the table for emphasis, and then pulled back her hand like she had received a shock. Everyone had jumped at the noise, which sounded like a gunshot, but Carolyn was horrified to see the cracks in the marble surface where she had struck.
Carolyn pulled her arms to her side and sat very still. Jim reached his hand out to her shoulder, but she shrank from his touch like a chastised schoolgirl. He deliberately grasped her hand in his own and held it until she met his eyes from under her brow of her bowed head.
“Don’t be afraid, angel. I’m still here.”
“I can’t…please…” She whispered.
There was an uncomfortable pause, until Dr. James spoke. “I’m not here to hurt you, Carolyn. I only want to help. I will do everything I can to stop your body from changing much more, but I can’t promise anything. I hope that I can do something before you’re forced out of your own house. But please, at least stay tonight. Maybe I can get some comparisons done on your body chemistry and get a theory going on how to help.”
Her eyes were so sincere, that Jim and Carolyn relented.
“I’ll go explain to Nic and Scott. I’m sure they’ll understand angel. They’ve been just as worried about you as I am. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”
He rose, still searching his wife’s face for a glimmer of the woman who was in command of every situation with an iron will. Jim was disappointed and a little afraid at not finding her.

That night, the Prescott household was a quiet one, as everyone pretended to be asleep. Jim lay in his bed, alone for the first time since he was married, missing his wife, no matter what size she was. Scott was staring at the ceiling in his room, listening to neighborhood sounds, stretching his burgeoning ability, but for the first time, he was afraid. His mother’s growth was no longer just a curiosity; it could take her away from the family. Away from him. And Scott realized just how much he still needed his mother to hold him and tell him things would be all right.
Nicole sat in her desk chair, staring out the window. Glaring at the star that had caused so much upheaval in her family. Her steel-blue gaze was shining her hatred toward the heavenly light that was drawing her mother further away.
Mothers and daughters share a bond that is difficult to explain: It is adversarial, but there is no closer bond on Earth. Nicole’s eyes grew as dark as the cloud that passed in front of her enemy, and she turned back to the chemistry set that was now set up on her desk. She carefully drew a razor across her fingertip, and dabbed a drop of blood onto a slide. The war had begun, and Nicole had learned, to win at war meant you had to know your enemy.

Chapter 17

The sun arose the next morning, failing to bring comfort to a family that had not slept the whole night. Carolyn, although her body was not fatigued, was mentally exhausted at not being with her husband for the first time in twenty years. Jim cursed the sun, red-eyed at his lack of sleep, for just being a sun, since he was not feeling gracious toward heavenly bodies at the moment. Scott had spent the night listening to his father restlessly tossing, and his sister scratching notes on paper. Nicole had begun an ambitious project, which the dawning of the sun made her realize she was woefully unprepared for. As the darkness had deepened, Nicole began teaching herself all she could from observing her own blood sample. By morning, she had discovered that there would be no quick fix for her mother. To learn all that she needed, Nicole realized that it would take her several years of study, and high school science was not going to keep up with the knowledge she needed. So, she reached a decision. She quietly called out to her brother.
“Scott?” She whispered.
“Morning Nic.” He replied, in the same hushed tone only the two of them could hear.
“Scott, this is going to be more long-term than I thought. I think I need to do something drastic.”
Scott sat up in bed. “What do you mean? You’re not going to tell that doctor about us, are you?”
“No, not THAT drastic. But I need to reveal a little more of my smarts if I expect to learn what I need. I’m going to let them think I’m a science whiz. A real geek.” Nicole smiled slightly, “Will I damage your school reputation too badly if everyone thinks your sister is a nerd?”
“Gee, that IS drastic. You would sabotage your own popularity?” Scott asked.
“I have to if I’m going to skip some science courses. I need to get to college level stuff quicker than they’d ever let a freshman get there normally.” Nicole would be sacrificing her high school social life and potentially allowing herself to be ostracized to help her mother.
Scott considered. “Well, it would be worse if you were my brother, but since you’re a girl, I guess it wouldn’t be too bad. It means I’ll have to be a jock, though.”
“Like that’s a problem for ‘Mr. Sports’.” Nicole snorted.
And so, the campaign began in earnest.

Two weeks later, Dr. James was once again lost in thought at her desk. A vacant look in her eyes made the casual observer think she had “checked out without the baggage”. Carolyn had become restless in the lab proper, and so had gone in search of some conversation from the Doctor. She stood in the doorway (by now at 6’10”) and cleared her throat. There was no response from the slouched figure behind the desk.
“Excuse me, Dr. James?” Carolyn ventured.
She turned at the chuckle behind her to find Jeff Connor, the doctor’s assistant, smiling up at her.
“I’m afraid you won’t get through to her for a while. That’s her ‘lost in thought’ look. And for her, it really is lost. I don’t think she could find her way back to her consciousness if her coat was on fire.” He grinned again. “Can I help you with anything?”
Carolyn sighed. “I guess I just felt like talking to somebody. My husband is on a book tour for the next few days, and I usually would have gone with him, but I just couldn’t face going out like this.”
Jeff nodded. “I understand. Look, why don’t you join me for a cup of coffee? I’ve got some time until she comes out of that anyway.” He jerked his head in the direction of the oblivious Professor as he led Carolyn to the kitchen area.
As they sat down and Jeff poured them each a cup, Carolyn glanced knowingly over at the young man who seemed to understand just when she couldn’t take any more tests and casually inquired, “So, how long have you been in love with Jessie?”
Jeff coughed on his coffee and looked over sharply. “It’s not that obvious, is it?” He nervously pleaded.
Carolyn smiled. “No, only to someone who saw her husband looking at her that way once. And remember, my husband writes romance novels. It’s an occupational hazard to recognize love.”
The young scientist sighed with a wistful smile. “I admire her a lot. I guess I realized a few months ago I was in love with her, but she’s much older than I am, and, well, I don’t want to seem like some puppy dog chasing after her. Besides, I don’t want to jeopardize our working relationship with some silly schoolboy infatuation.”
“So, you’ve never said anything?”
“No. I’m not sad though. I get to spend every day with her, sharing her love of science. She couldn’t have been anything else in this world. She has to know how things work, has to see all the connections between cause and effect in the universe. It’s one of the things I’m drawn to about her.
There’s so much I love about her. Not least is her mind. Did you know that Jessie is a genius? When she was a child, she set the academic world on its ear. At the age of 8, she took a standard IQ test, and scored 277. Marilyn Vos-Savant is acknowledged as having the highest score ever recorded on an IQ test, and she only scored 228.”
“If Jessie scored that highly, why isn’t she ever mentioned in the news? Why haven’t I ever heard about her?” Carolyn wondered.
Jeff snorted. “Because she scared the pants off the intellectual community. There were those who said that she just guessed the answers, or she must have cheated, or some crap like that. Then there were those that claimed she was an idiot savant because of her, let’s say, brain pauses. When Jessie thinks, her mind works so quickly, making so many connections, or examining so many possibilities, she just can’t keep up vocally. Then, when she would try to explain what she had been thinking of, her teachers couldn’t make the leaps between conclusions to understand. It was so frustrating for her that she finally stopped trying to explain. The university lets her do pretty much whatever she wants, because they can’t understand what she’s proposing. They don’t really care, since she always produces some incredible research.”
Carolyn pondered this insight into her only hope. Then she asked, “Jeff, why couldn’t she explain better?”
“Try teaching a two year old how to do algebra. Before he could learn algebraic functions, he’d have to learn multiplication and division, and before he could learn that, he’d have to know how to add and subtract, and before that comprehend tens, hundreds, thousands. He’d have to know how numbers are organized. And of course, before that, our two-year old would have to understand what a number represents.
If all that isn’t overwhelming enough, now try, when, before you even start, the two-year old says he has learned all that he can, and refuses to see that there’s more to learn. That’s how Jessie feels when attempting to retrace her research for others.”
With a mighty sigh, filled with longing, Jeff pulled himself from singing the praises of his professor and desire, and asked, “So, tell me about your husband. You said you recognized the look of love from your husband as well?”

Carolyn began a tale, as epic as any ballad sung by a bard. Jeff listened, enjoying her telling of a classic love story, enraptured as the wordsong approached modern day.
“Before last week, Jim and I had not been apart since our wedding. Even when the passion had dimmed, we were always together. And although I desperately want him here to comfort me, I can’t be that selfish. He’s got a successful book out, and if we want to plan for the future, he’s got to stay employed. That means book tours, signing autographs and smiling for the pictures. I just didn’t think the pictures would look as good with me in them like this.” She glanced down at her enormous body, thinking back to five days ago, when they parted…

[GTSKate]

(Chapters 18-21)

Chapter 18

“I don’t want to leave you like this, Carolyn. I could postpone the tour, or just cancel it. Joker’s knows we’re having some family problems, maybe they’d let me just release a publicity packet…” Jim came up with any excuse to stay with his wife, but they both knew that he should go.
“Jim, I can’t let you stay. I want you to be with me so badly, but I can’t be responsible for sacrificing your career like that. You need this tour. It could lead to some other publishing houses giving you a chance. You know you have to go.” Carolyn was comforted at least by the fact that her husband had not let go of her hand during the entire exchange. She stroked his hand gently, still astounded at the size of her hand in his.
Jim quoted bitterly,
“’Tis torture, and not mercy. Heaven is here,
Where Juliet lives;
…every unworthy thing,
Live here in Heaven and may look upon her;
But Romeo may not—he is banished.”

Carolyn sighed and touched her hand to her lover’s cheek, whereupon he grasped it and held it there, closing his eyes.
“O Fortune, Fortune! All men call thee fickle.
If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him
That is renowmed for faith? Be fickle, Fortune,
For then I hope thou wilt not keep him long
But send him back.”

“I know you have to go, and I’m probably being silly, but, you will come back, right?”
“How could you ever doubt that?” Jim’s soft eyes watered at the thought of parting from his wife. “I’ve said before, I’ll never lose you. Never.”
He stood up, pulling Carolyn to her feet, gazed slightly up into her eyes, then drew her close, holding her tightly resting his head upon her shoulder. She tilted her head, resting on his and heard him whisper roughly, “Never.”
When he at last released her, Jim strode from the room, not looking back, as if the sooner he left, the quicker he could return.

(back in the present)
Jeff Connor remarked to the bard, “I can see where your husband gets his inspiration from. You’re a delightful storyteller. Do you two really quote Shakespeare that much?”
Carolyn smiled. “Yes, I’m afraid we’re a little sappy that way. It is how we met, after all. When he spoke, I knew that he was the man I would spend my life with. Our kids think it’s kind of funny, too.” She gave a slight chuckle.
“I’m envious, I guess. I was so concentrated on science in high school; I never really paid attention in English Lit. Certainly not to the point where I could quote anything.” Jeff responded.
“Shakespeare is easier than you think, Jeff.” Carolyn’s teaching instincts came to the fore. “First you learn the story, then the flow, then individual scenes or stanzas. And there’s so much Shakespeare already a part of our everyday idioms!
“That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Or
“Parting is such sweet sorrow…”
or
“The fault, Dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves…”
“I guess that last one strikes a little close to home.” Carolyn said with a wry expression.
She let out a long, slow sigh.
Just before the awkward silence could stretch much further, another member of Dr. James’ team poked her head in the doorway.
“Carolyn, you’ve got a phone call from Alex. Oh, and that new phone is set up in your room if you want to use it.”
“Thanks, Veronica.” Carolyn waved as she arose from her seat. She paused a moment to look down at Jeff, still sitting. “Thank you, too. For listening.” Jeff nodded and smiled. Carolyn walked down the hallways towards her recent home. She ‘harrumphed’ upon discovering that her ‘new phone’ was an old-style crank phone, where one spoke into the wall-mounted receiver and held the speaker to one’s ear. But at least it could be used more comfortably, unlike a regular phone that Carolyn had to continually shift from mouth to ear. She picked up the earpiece, feeling like she was using a toy phone and said, “Hi Alex.”

The cousins (in-law) chatted for a bit, putting Carolyn at ease. Alex had remained very concerned about her best friend, calling every few days.
“Ok, enough yakking. Let’s get to the heart of it. I’m hosting a Halloween party next week, and I want you and Jim to be there.”
“Alex, I can’t. You know that.” Carolyn rebutted.
“Yes, you can. Just take one little evening off from being a guinea pig, and come over. It’s just a few people from around the neighborhood, and I’ve got the perfect costume for you! I’ve even got one for Jim already. Come on, honey, you need to get out at least for the night. And it’s the perfect night! Who’s going to notice you on Halloween?”
Carolyn considered. She did always enjoy Alex’s Halloween parties, back in the days. And maybe Alex was right. Who would notice a giantess on Halloween?
“Well, maybe. But only if Jim wants to go, too. And only if Dr. James okays it.”
“Good, then you’re coming!”
Carolyn suddenly realized that Alex set her up.
“You already spoke to Jim, didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question. Carolyn shook her head slightly and felt a tug at the corner of her mouth.
“And the good Doctor as well. She says one night won’t make that much difference now. Of course, I eliminated all your excuses before I asked you. Saves a lot of time…”
Carolyn heard her friend snickering on the other end of the line and gave in.
“Fine. What’s my costume?”
“Nope. Not till next week. It would wreck the surprise. Speaking of surprises, Nicole has something to talk to you about! It’s kind of exciting, but I’ll let her tell you. Here.”
There was a pause, then Carolyn heard one of the best sounds in her life: her daughter’s voice.
“Hi Mom. How are you feeling?” Nicole asked tentatively.
Tears came to Carolyn’s eyes at the sound of her daughter’s voice, but she responded evenly, “I’m fine, sweetheart. I’m just feeling kind of…big.” Carolyn’s voice almost wavered, but she covered. “I miss you. Now, what’s this surprise Alex says you have?”
“It’s no big deal, Mom. I finished a test in Biology in twenty minutes, and Mr. Engelhardt said I had to come in after school for an additional test, and apparently it’s because I aced it, so he made me take another, but this one had stuff that he hadn’t talked about in class, so I tried to figure it out, and I guess I did, because he said I was in the wrong class, and now I have to take AP Biology and AP Chemistry at the same time with just me and Ms. Stevenson. They say I’m some kind of science whiz, and Ms. Stevenson was a little mad that no one said anything to her before this.”
In true teenager fashion, Nicole’s story had spilled out as one, long, run-on sentence, but her mother got the point.
“Nic, that’s fabulous! Congratulations!” Then Carolyn had a thought. “Do you want to take those classes, honey?”
“Oh, yeah. I think science is neat. I mean, it just makes sense, you know? The way things happen in cause and effect. I guess it makes me feel better, knowing there’s some sort of order in the Universe. You know, everything’s not one big accident?”
It was as if Nicole knew the right buttons to push to keep her mother from suspecting that she had “additional help” from the Universe.
They chatted a while longer, until Jeff came to get Carolyn and return to the main lab.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Carolyn,” he broke in. “but Dr. James needs your assistance.”
“I guess I have to go, sweetheart. That’s Jeff’s polite way of saying they need to test me again. Before I go, do you know what costume Alex has picked for me?”
“Yes. And it fits you.” Nicole giggled. But remained mute as to the nature of the attire.
Carolyn sighed.
“Nicole, I love you. Tell your brother too. I love you both.”
Carolyn was halfway down the hall before she realized that Nicole had ended the phone conversation in a most unique way. It was the first time that Carolyn could remember Nicole not saying, ‘I know.’ Or ‘yeah’.

She said, “I love you too, Mom.”

Chapter 19

October thirty-first arrived with brisk temperatures and changing leaves, making the Michigan landscape alive with a beautiful mixture of red, yellow, and orange cascading from the trees. Wherever one walked, there was the comforting crackle of leaves underfoot, and the crisp, cool breezes whispered the coming of the long winter.
Carolyn stood in the front hallway of her home, having been picked up by Jim on his way back from the first book tour. She had to squeeze into the back of the once-spacious minivan after removing the rows of seats. Now, she stood silent, absorbing the altered feel of her home. Carolyn now stood at 7’4” and was grateful for the cathedral ceiling in the foyer.
Jim looked up at his giant wife, wishing he could wipe away the discomfort of her smaller house. He caught her eyes, and made plain his body language, which spoke of the desire to kiss her. As she bent down to kiss him, he turned the tables on her, and clasped his arms about her neck, shifting his body to force her to stand straight. Carolyn instinctively straightened, then recognized the move. It was the way they used to kiss before her growth, only now Carolyn was the taller. She smiled through the lip-lock, not breaking contact, and grasped her husband about the waist to support him. They stood, Jim held off the floor in his wife’s powerful arms, adjusting to the new, familiar position.
The old lovers broke a moment for a breath, and Carolyn shifted to put Jim down. He stopped her quickly. “No, don’t. I just want to stay here, like this for a moment.”
Carolyn sighed, but in her heart was happy to hold Jim forever.
Jim breathed in his wife’s scent deeply. “I don’t want to let go of you yet. I thought I would go crazy being separated from you for so long. And, maybe this isn’t what you want to hear, but I like how this feels, Carolyn. You’re so strong, and you surround me. It just feels…right, I guess. Warm.”
Carolyn laughed and changed her embrace. She held her husband close to her, wrapping her enormous arms about his shoulders and the small of his back, clasping him tightly to her chest. “I think that’s exactly what I needed to hear. I’ve been so afraid that you wouldn’t…well…that I’d be too big, and you wouldn’t…” She couldn’t finish.
“Carolyn, you’ll never be too big for me. I’ll always love you, and I’ll always be here for you. We’ll find a way to be together, no matter what.” Jim whispered in her ear, and tightened his hold upon his growing wife.
Finally, Carolyn put her husband to the floor, to see the feet of her children emerging from Scott’s bedroom on the second floor. She looked up with a smile that spread to her eyes when she saw their delight at her return.
Carolyn had not let anyone visit her at the lab, fearful of letting others see exactly how she had changed thus far. She had seen the look on her husband’s face at her strength only a few weeks ago, and didn’t want to see it on anyone else. She was still so uncomfortable at her own appearance that she didn’t like to be seen by even her own family.
Scott looked over the railing at his gigantic mother, the top of her head only a few inches from the second floor, and in his understated way, said, “Wow! You are growing a lot!” Carolyn had no time to react to his statement, as he leaped over the barrier. In a lightning-quick motion, Carolyn caught her daredevil boy, almost before he’d had time to fall two feet.
He looked up at her from the cradle of her arms with a reckless smile. “I knew you could do it! Boy were you fast!”
Carolyn didn’t know whether to kill him, or to be flattered by his trust. She couldn’t know that Scott would have been able to use his own lightning reflexes to land safely, but she settled for breathing a sigh of relief as she placed him next to his father.
“Scott…” She tried to begin.
Scott hugged her around her legs (as he only stood to the top of her abdomen, now) and said, “I’m glad you’re home! I’ve missed you!” How could she argue with that? She tenderly stroked his head and replied, “I’ve missed you too, sport.”
Nicole had descended the stairs and stood next to her mother, her steel-blue gaze, for once, open and delighted at the sight before her. Carolyn moved her other arm to encircle her daughter, sensing the comfort her offspring felt at being with their mother again. Perhaps everything would be okay, at that.

Carolyn was beginning to adjust to the size of everything, relative to herself, when Alex emerged from the family room.
Carolyn felt dizzy as Alex walked up to her, smiling. She had never, ever seen Alex from this perspective, more than a foot taller than her closest friend, and it disoriented her so much, she had to sit right where she was.
Alex knelt instantly next to her sister-in-law. “Carolyn?! Are you okay?” The fear was evident on everyone’s faces.
Carolyn began laughing, her whole body shaking with the effort. She put an oversized hand on Alex’s shoulder to reassure her. “I’m fine, Alex. I thought I was adjusting okay, and then I saw you down there, and…I knew in my head that I’d be taller than you now, but I just wasn’t ready to see it, I guess.”
Alex snorted. “Scare the crap outta me, why don’t you. I’ll let you get away with it, but only because it’s Halloween.” Carolyn stood up again to embrace Alex, still marveling at her reduced size.
“Speaking of Halloween, where’s this costume of mine?” Carolyn stated.
Alex grinned. “It’s going to be perfect! Jim?”
Jim turned to his wife. “I have the pleasure of helping you with the first part of your costume.” He too, had that mischievous grin back on his face. He turned to his children. “Is the bath ready?” They nodded, sharing the look that seemed to be contagious.
“Bath?” Carolyn inquired.
“Just follow me, milady.” Jim pulled his wife up the stairs, reminding her to duck through the doorway. Alex called after them, “Nicole, Scott, and I will be handling the rest of the outfit. It will be ready when you’re done!”
Carolyn could hear a ripping sound coming from the family room as she ducked into the master bath. Looking down, she got a pretty good idea of what her costume would be when she saw the green dye in the water…

Chapter 20

Walking the short distance to Alex and Dan’s house for the Halloween party, Carolyn was astounded that Alex was correct. No one seemed to notice a giantess walking down the street on October 31. She turned her head to her husband and said, “So tell me again who you’re supposed to be?”
As one might surmise, Carolyn had turned green from her bath in the dye, and was wearing a ripped shirt and pants of Jim’s that truly was too small for her. The rips gave her just enough space to move comfortably, and still cover her modesty, though she felt a bit silly at being dressed as the She-Hulk. Jim had let his beard grow during the book tour, (at Alex’s request) and was wearing a studded leather halter, green boots and shorts, and an orange headband.
“I’m supposed to be Hercules! Okay, I’m not the most buff guy around, but at least I’m not paunchy or anything. I was going to be Wyatt Wingfoot, but Dan suggested that most people wouldn’t know who that is, not to mention it’s not much of a costume.”
“Never mind. I wouldn’t have known who Wyatt Wingfoot is either. So, who are Alex and Dan going to be?”
Jim chuckled. “I think you’ll recognize them easily enough.”
They arrived at 7:30PM, apparently the last ones to make it. Carolyn was greeted at the door by Batman (Dan) who gave Carolyn the once-over and broke character long enough to smile at her. Then he nodded towards the living room, where all sorts of decorations set the festive yet spooky tone for the party. Carolyn spotted Catwoman (Alex) at the far end of the room and snickered to herself. She also noticed the Petersons, (as Vampire and her victim) the Millers (as a renaissance lord and lady), Tim Paulsen and his partner, Bill Jackson (as a “harem girl” and sultan), and Tina Rodriguez with her fiancé, Dmitri Pavlosky (as a succubus and a red-faced devil).
Jim and Carolyn stepped into the room and began to mingle. Carolyn was a bit nervous at first, but seemed to relax as the evening went on. Dmitri had never met Carolyn yet, and so Tina was introducing them.
“Carolyn, I’m so glad you could come! You can finally meet Dmitri!” She pulled him away from a discussion with Tim and Bill. “Dmitri, this is Carolyn Prescott, and her husband, Jim, the writer.”
There was an awkward moment as Dmitri looked up and down Carolyn. She braced herself for an uncomfortable response, but Dmitri said, “We probably shouldn’t stand so close to each other like this. With your green body, and my red face, someone might think it’s Christmas, not Halloween.” He laughed, with that delightful Russian accent of his.
Carolyn breathed a sigh as she joined his laughter. The evening was going so well! No one made her feel out of place, or freakish. Kathy Peterson wandered over with a drink in her hand and greeted Carolyn and Jim.
“Hey, you two! Congratulations on the book, Jim! I hear it’s selling quite well, and I certainly enjoyed it!” Kathy’s weakness was romance novels, so of course, she was very familiar with Jim’s work. “Gosh, I almost felt like I knew Karen, your heroine.” She gave Carolyn a wink and a knowing smile. “I’m so pleased for you!” Turning to Carolyn, she said, “How are you feeling, Carolyn?”
Carolyn actually felt almost giddy with relief at how her friends and neighbors were reacting to her. They didn’t shun her, and no one seemed to feel uncomfortable around her. Except for the new perspective when speaking to her, it felt as normal as it always had in the neighborhood. “I’m feeling fine, Kathy. I was actually a little scared to come tonight. I just wasn’t sure I could be comfortable around people.” Carolyn admitted sheepishly.
Kathy put a sympathetic hand on Carolyn’s arm. “It must be very frightening, your body changing every day. But, Carolyn, like the saying goes, ‘size doesn’t matter’, you know? We’re still your friends, and if Bob and I can do anything for you, let us know, okay?” Carolyn smiled and gave her friend a quick squeeze in thanks. Bob came over, obviously a bit tipsy from indulging too much.
“Perhaps we should go, Bob appears to have seen too many ‘spirits’ tonight.” Kathy let the joke fall, as she was slightly embarrassed at her husband’s condition. She waved towards Alex and Dan, and pushed Bob in the direction of the door. Bob called over his shoulder to Carolyn, “So who are you supposed to be anyway? The jolly green giant?”
Everything in the room stopped for a moment as the guests either glared at Bob, or looked sympathetically to Carolyn.
“No. Not yet, anyway.”
Kathy looked mortified at Bob’s breach of etiquette, and came back over to Carolyn, after pushing him out the door. “I am so sorry, Carolyn. He’ll feel awful tomorrow that he said that.”
Carolyn patted her friend on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Kathy. I know he didn’t mean anything cruel. He always puts his foot in his mouth at parties.” She gave a brief smile downward.
“Still, his drinking is no excuse, Carolyn. I’m ashamed that he said it. I’m sorry.” Kathy still was horrified at her husband’s remark, but Carolyn really wasn’t too upset.
“Kathy, just knowing that you’re still treating me like the same old Carolyn is reassuring enough. In fact, if Bob hadn’t said something stupid when he’s had too much, then I would have been worried.” She smiled. Kathy started towards the door to take her husband home, and glanced back to Carolyn. Carolyn mouthed back, “It’s okay” with raised eyebrows to convince her neighbor, which seemed to mollify Kathy.
Carolyn realized that her hearing must be improving too, when after the door had closed, she could hear Kathy yelling at her husband as they walked away, “I ought to just let you pass out in the bushes and leave you there, I can’t believe you would say something so insensitive, and if you think that I’m going to stand by and let you do this ever again, you’ve got another think coming…” as her voice faded into the distance.
Jim pulled his wife’s cheek down to him as kissed her. “What was that for?” She asked.
“Because I love you. And because I’m proud of you for handling that well. Even if I did want to go outside and give Bob a beating for what he said.”
“You know, it’s actually funny, Jim. I’m really not upset with Bob. I mean, every time we have a neighborhood party, he drinks too much, and says something offensive to somebody. It was just my turn tonight. It’s all so normal, I guess it actually made me feel better.” She gave a laugh, and picked up her husband in their special embrace. “In fact, I feel so good tonight, so safe around my friends and family, that I don’t care who knows how strong I am!” She kissed her husband right there.
Gradually, they became aware of the applause by the other guests at the party. Jim and Carolyn smiled into each other’s eyes, and Carolyn put her husband down. She realized that they were the two tallest people at the party, and everyone had turned to see them standing a head above the rest of the group while kissing.
“That looks like a good idea to me!” Shouted Bill. “Maestro, some make out music, if you please.” As Dan put on a ballads CD, the lights were dimmed and couples partnered up to enjoy some less social moments at the party.
“Still afraid to come out, angel?” Jim whispered to his love as he ran his hand through her raven hair.
“I’ll go anywhere with you, my tiny knight.” Carolyn snickered.

The party truly broke up around midnight, with the couples exiting the door, and thanking Alex and Dan for hosting. Carolyn and Jim had said their good-byes from the couch, then got up to help with the clean up. As Carolyn arose from the sofa, everyone stopped to look at her. Alex had a worried look in her eyes when Carolyn glanced over to her.
“What is it, Alex?”
“Carolyn, you’ve gotten taller. Your head is almost up against the ceiling.”
Carolyn looked down, and finally noticed that her clothing had torn further, now barely covering her. Her head was dangerously close to the ceiling, and she realized how much smaller Jim seemed. Instead of coming up to her chin, he only stood as tall as the top of her chest.
Carolyn paled, then swallowed hard.
“I think I’d better go back to the lab now, instead of going home tonight.”

Chapter 21

Nicole and Scott awoke the next morning to discover a note from their father on the kitchen table.
“Last night, your Mom experienced a severe growth spurt.
It continued for a while into the night, so she’s gone back to the lab.
Have Alex drive you over after school,
Your mom could really use the support.
Love,
Dad.”

Scott looked worriedly over to his sister. Her eyes were as cold and hard as he could ever remember seeing. They softened when she met his gaze. “She’ll be okay, Scott. We’ll go see her after school. Come on.”
She hustled her brother out the door to the bus stop, knowing he would play with his friends until his bus arrived. The high school being closer, Nicole set off for her own classes. She was so preoccupied, she didn’t realize she’d forgotten her books until she’d arrived at school. It didn’t matter; she didn’t need them. She’d already memorized the contents a couple days ago.
Nicole’s teachers all noticed her distracted state, and some assumed that she was goofing off. Every time they asked her a question though, she always had the correct answer. Ms. Stevenson confronted her during her independent study in Science.
“Nicole, you seem unusually distracted today. Is something wrong?”
Nicole snapped herself to attention. “I’m fine. I’ve just been thinking.”
Ms. Stevenson nodded and asked her more questions relating to the last two chapters in Advanced Placement Chemistry, which Nicole answered perfectly, but distantly.
“Nicole, am I boring you?”
Since the question was asked in the same tone of voice as the others, Nicole had answered automatically, without thinking. “Yes.” Suddenly, she realized what had been asked.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Stevenson. I didn’t mean it.” Nicole panicked.
“It’s okay, Nicole. You did mean it. You’ve already read through the texts haven’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Nicole replied, tentatively.
“Do you understand everything you’ve read so far?” Ms. Stevenson asked.
“Yes, ma’am.” Nicole admitted, realizing that she couldn’t back down now.
Ms. Stevenson skipped to the trial exams, and asked Nicole questions at random. Nic answered every one correctly.
“Well, what are we going to do with you now, Miss Prescott?” Ms. Stevenson sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me before that you had an eidetic memory?”
“Because I didn’t realize that I did until now. So what happens next?” Nicole hadn’t planned on being this far ahead, and realized that whatever kicked her mother’s growth into high gear had probably caused this surge in her own brainpower. Still, maybe she could turn it to her advantage.
Ms. Stevenson pondered the possibilities open to Nicole. Perhaps, being in Ann Arbor, there was a chance she could get her enrolled in some university courses right away. Nicole, meanwhile, was thinking of the visit to her mother this afternoon.

Jim had stayed with Carolyn all night, leaving only briefly early in the morning to leave a note at home for the kids and change clothes. He called Alex before going back to the lab to arrange to have the kids picked up and driven to the lab after school. He walked back into the huge arena that had become Carolyn’s home away from home, and sat down next to her sleeping form. The tear-tracks were still on her face, dried, and Jim rested his back up against her, as he traced his hand gently down her cheek. He hadn’t been able to sleep, worried about his wife. Carolyn had cried herself to exhaustion as she grew bigger and bigger, until her body, spent from the incredible growth, lulled her to sleep.
Jim gazed from one end of her massive body to the other, taking in the almost ten feet his wife had become. As he sighed and continued caressing her cheek, she unconsciously drew him closer, her hands holding him as a teddy bear. Jim marveled at the size of her hands. They were still so delicate and her fingers tapered, but one hand’s span covered nearly his entire chest. He bent his head down and kissed her hands clasped over his chest, frowning only slightly at the taste of the green skin dye still on her. Perhaps he could clean her up while she was still asleep. After all, she had ripped her “costume” to shreds growing out of it last night and was covered only by a king-sized sheet from her chest to her knees. Jim chuckled briefly at the sight of his immense wife still colored green from head to toe.
Jessie came in the room in time to hear the sound and from Jim’s expression deduced what caused it. “She does look a little strange in that color, doesn’t she?” A half-smile turned up the doctor’s lips as she took in the sight of Jim, for all intents and purposes, trapped against his wife’s covered breasts by two enormous hands. “And yet, you look so content there. Comfy?”
Jim had to grin in response. “I think there are more men out there than would admit that would love to trade places with me right now.” He sobered then, thinking that Carolyn would wish to trade places with anyone too. “Jessie, what happened? Why did Carolyn experience such sudden growth?”
Dr. James looked almost embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Jim. I didn’t expect her body to react like this. I knew her rate of growth would accelerate, but I didn’t think that it would happen in spurts. As long as Porphyrion’s radiation continues to travel past Earth, Carolyn’s body will continue to absorb it and grow. I’ve been trying to develop a shield the last two weeks that will block it, but I couldn’t get it done quickly enough.”
“Don’t let her fool you, Jim, she got one done plenty quickly. Dr. James already has a prototype shield being manufactured. It should arrive in three days.” Both heads turned to see Jeff Connor joining them in the converted auditorium. He turned to Jessie. “Engineering just called to confirm shipping today. The sheets will arrive in three days and can be installed here that day. I’ve scheduled some techs to cover it. And before you ask, no, they don’t know about Carolyn. They only know that we’re experimenting with radioactive conductivity. I’ve also scheduled for Carolyn to be in auditorium 4 that day. Veronica and her staff are converting it as we speak, but it will take them two days to completely secure the room for Carolyn to use. Veronica is planning to accommodate Carolyn at up to three times her present size, just in case.”
Jim looked slightly relieved at Jeff’s announcement. That Jessie’s team was trying so hard to help Carolyn, and still hide her changes from anyone that could leak it to the media was comforting. He glanced quickly up towards Carolyn’s face to see if she had heard, but she was still asleep.
Jessie nodded. “She’ll probably sleep for a few more hours, Jim. Her body needs the time to recover the energy she used up growing, and her mind can certainly use the break too. She’s emotionally wiped out, which will help keep her asleep.”
“Good. I’ll have time to clean her up a bit.” Replied Jim.
“Do you need a hand getting out of there?” Jeff offered.
Jim crooked a smile at the two doctors. “No. Just get me a tub of soap and water, and a dozen washcloths or so. I’ll work my way out.”
Jeff snorted a laugh as he turned to fulfill the request. Jessie’s smile faltered as her guilt tugged at her. “Jim, I’m sorry I couldn’t have stopped this. I know it changes everything. She won’t be able to get in a house again, or a car, and even if I can stop her growth, I’m not sure what else I can do. She’ll still be a giant. Life won’t ever be normal for her again.” Jim studied the smaller woman’s face. Her eyes held such a haunted emptiness. There were lines around her eyes that hadn’t been there when she introduced herself less than a month ago.
“That’s an awful lot of guilt for someone who only just became the head of this project a few months ago.” Jim prodded.
“I’ve never been good at apologies. I didn’t really work on social skills as a child, so I’m not saying this right.” The doctor took a deep breath to settle herself. “Jim, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you and Carolyn and your kids. You’re a really great family, and you deserve better than what’s happening to you. I just keep thinking that if this project had never been created, that you wouldn’t be in this mess.” A tear formed at the corner of Jessie’s eyes, but her control wouldn’t let it drop. “When I was young, I never thought about the consequences of my research or how it would affect people. I just thought that learning was all that there was. My parents were uncomfortable around me, and let all kinds of doctors study me, test me, and I grew up in labs where I didn’t really see the ‘real’ world. I learned about science because I wanted to know how things worked. I didn’t consider anything past that.
When I met Carolyn, I felt in the pit of my stomach the way Oppenheimer must have felt when he saw the results of the hydrogen bomb tests. He theoretically created hydrogen energy to be a positive thing, but when he saw the mushroom cloud put into reality for the first time, he quoted, ‘I am become death, the destroyer of worlds’. Do you understand what I’m saying Jim? I wasn’t just a junior associate researcher on Project:Nostrodamus, I gave them the idea for it. I’m the one that theorized that Michel de Nostrodame was making accurate predictions because he was tuned into the wavelengths of the cosmos. I’m the cause Carolyn’s suffering, because I didn’t think about what could happen when a human was exposed to stellar radiation, even by accident.” Jessie’s voice broke at last, and a single tear escaped her control. She fled the room before Jim could say anything, unable to face him any longer.
Jim stood enveloped in Carolyn’s gigantic hands and arms silently. He wanted to blame someone for his wife’s distress, but Jessie? The facts swirled about his mind, trying to find a pathway that pointed to reason.
“No. I can’t accept that. What happened to Carolyn was an accident. No one could have planned for the consequences of the collector bursting like it did. Hell, it didn’t even have consequences until four months ago. Jessie’s not to blame for this.”
“She told you, then, didn’t she?” Jeff asked as he reentered the room with cleaning supplies. He could see the conflict on Jim’s face and heard the last muttered.
Jeff wheeled the cart with the tub near Jim until they were separated only by the wall of Carolyn’s arms. The young researcher looked more serious than Jim had ever seen. Jeff always seemed to be smiling, chasing away tension, but now he was filled with concern and love?
“Six weeks ago, Jessie was going over the original notes from the project, still trying to puzzle out why there hadn’t been an explosion when the original collector burst. She hadn’t ever known about Carolyn until she discovered her name in Dr. Kelley’s footnotes. She was horrified when she read his one-sentence reference to Carolyn Parker. She spent two weeks just tracking down your wife, fearing something horrible. We knew that Porphyrion’s radiation had been hitting Earth for almost three months by that point, and Jessie was terrified that Carolyn might be dead. When she came back to the lab after meeting the two of you, she locked herself in her office and cried for two hours. It broke my heart, but not as much as the fact that she’s only slept three hours a night the last month. She gets by on as little as possible. She even moved into her office full-time. She sleeps on a cot in there and hasn’t left the lab since then.
Jim recognized the signs of a man deeply in love, who has never admitted it to the object of his affection. He realized that Jeff was trying to protect Jessie. “It’s OK, Jeff. I don’t blame Jessie for this. I was there too, I know it was an accident. Besides, she didn’t design the original collector, she’s said that. I want someone to blame, but not Jessie. Even having someone to blame won’t change what happened, and there’s no one better than Jessie to have working on fixing it.” He dunked a washcloth in the soapy tub and began lovingly stroking the green from his wife’s oversized fingers. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and you’ve got a doctor who needs a hanky.” He winked at Jeff knowingly.

As Jeff walked through the doors to the stairs towards Dr. James’ office he thought, “Is there anyone who can’t tell I’m in love with her?” He sobered momentarily at the realization that Jessie probably couldn’t.

[GTSKate]

And now, some mostly new stuff, at least for those of you who may have read this several years ago…

(Chapters 22-24)

Chapter 22

Jim gently worked his way around Carolyn’s hands and began up the length of her left arm. Since she was laying on her right side, her right arm would be difficult to complete. He made long, deep strokes up and down her left forearm, figuring that a ‘full body massage’ was in order. Every few strokes, he would stop and rinse the green dye from the washcloth and bend briefly to kiss his wife’s emerging natural skin tone. As Jim reached Carolyn’s upper arm, he was in awe of the muscle tone she now showed. Carolyn was never plump, since her original 5’ size didn’t permit her to carry much extra weight, but she also never had the definition that her body showed at 9’11”. At his comparatively small size, Jim could feel every muscle and tendon in her arm, and found himself growing aroused at exploring his wife’s giant body.
“Would be rather embarrassing to have her wake up now, wouldn’t it…” He mused. His tactile exploration continued. Both hands rubbed deeply across her relaxed bicep and across the valley to her shoulder. Carolyn exhaled deeply in unconscious pleasure. Jim looked over at her face, mildly hoping that she was at least dreaming of him, but continued his journey with the soapy cloth across her skin. Getting the underside of her arm was tricky, since her arm weighed as much as his leg, maybe more. Jim settled for sliding his arm in between her arm and ribs. As he reached the joining of her left arm to her body, he was sorely tempted to break the line and dive under the sheet covering her chest, but propriety won out. He continued along her collar, tracing the bone and the valley of soft skin at the base of her neck. He leaned into the strokes across the bone, and let up on the backstroke, beginning to sweat at being around his naked wife.
Gently caressing the skin with the cloth, Jim couldn’t resist running his lips up the side of her newly glowing neck, his breath hot against her already warm flesh. Carolyn’s husband took his time tracing her every facial feature, relishing the smoothness of her cheek and the ridges of the bones of her face. He was pleased to see the smile emerge from the green, and again had to stop to lavish kisses along the reddened lips that were big enough to cover his own mouth and chin. Apparently, Jim was too gentle around her left earlobe, since Carolyn gave a snort of laughter in her sleep and rolled to her back. Jim had to jump backward a few steps as Carolyn’s head rolled towards him. He took the opportunity to complete the journey he had just made in reverse on her right side.
Finally, realizing that he couldn’t clean off her back, Jim faced the decision of going to Carolyn’s legs, or peeking under the sheet. Standing at her side, Jim was astounded to note that lying on her back, Carolyn’s body rose as high as mid-thigh on his standing form. The siren call of her breasts still sang in his ears as he sighed and moved to her feet. He would have to be very careful here. Carolyn had very ticklish feet and being a ten-foot tall amazon would only make it worse, he knew. Kneeling next to her right foot, Jim began with the top side. His strokes went from the ankle to the toes, digging in deeply so as to minimize the tickle factor. As her pink flesh was revealed, Jim just couldn’t help staring at her toes. He’d never been a ‘foot man’ before, but there’s something about seeing toes as big as fingers that is very captivating. Her big toe fit into the palm of his hand neatly, as he scrubbed the nail clean. He repeated the capture of each digit before moving to the underside. The heel was easy, if you don’t count hefting a foot almost as long as an arm, and then the test began in earnest. Jim dug in firmly and went from side to side across Carolyn’s right foot, instead of taking the bigger risk moving up and down through the instep. He applied as much pressure as he could, not wanting her body to misinterpret and flinch.
Genuinely sweating from exertion now, Jim removed his shirt, leaving him only in the sweat pants he threw on after changing at home early in the morning. He decided to take a break by going up her right foot to her knee, rather than doing the left foot right away. Again, the tapered muscles of her lower leg kept Jim aroused as he used a cloth in both hands to stroke up the sides of her leg and join in the middle at the knee for the trip back down. He practically had to straddle her lower leg to reach the underside, and feeling the rock of muscle bunched at her calf almost made him lose control. As he rose to switch legs, Jim couldn’t resist the urge to compare his height to his wife’s. She hadn’t stood next to him since attaining her new stature. He lay down, feet even with hers, blushing at the size of her feet next to his. Jim looked over to see where he topped out, and blushed even more to see the graceful line of the sheet covering the downside of her breasts. If they were both standing, he would be underneath her nipples. Dangerous thoughts. He stood and moved on to her left leg and repeated the previous job, kissing her kneecap when he finished. He began again on Carolyn’s left foot, but had grown a little too confident in the job he had done thus far. As he began on her toes, a reflex jerk of her foot upset the tub of water and sent him roughly from his knees to sprawl on the floor. An aborted giggle awoke Carolyn from her slumber. Sitting up, she found her husband at her feet, a tub covering his head and chest and greenish water spilled all around.

Carolyn glanced around, trying to figure out what she had awakened to.
“You’re still very ticklish.” Jim’s comment echoed from under the tub covering him.
Carolyn wanted to be very mad at him to cover the fear she felt pounding in her heart, but seeing his boyish expression peek out from under the enormous tub covering him, she didn’t speak as harshly as she intended.
“You could have been seriously hurt doing what I think you were doing.”
Jim smiled his lopsided smile from the floor, his normally unruly hair matted down from the dunking. “Stop the lecture for my own safety. Surely with those giant eyes of yours, you can see that I don’t want to talk right now.”
Carolyn almost yelled until she followed his gaze towards the soaked sweatpants that clung to his skin and showed exactly how he felt right now.
Her eyes grew wider as she realized he was staring at her now-exposed, still-green breasts.
“I was a good boy. I saved the best parts for when you woke up.”
She didn’t know whether to scream at him, or back away, until he waggled his eyebrows at her. Carolyn broke down laughing and reclined again, letting her husband climb up to straddle her stomach. Jim reveled in the feel of her firm muscles bouncing him up and down as she laughed.

Chapter 23

Alex arrived at the high school to pick up Nicole and take her to see her mother. She waited outside the building while the buses cleared out the other students, taking them home to their ordinary lives. She slumped in the driver’s seat a while, and tried to take stock of the last few weeks. Carolyn’s growth had been so slow that it had lulled everyone into accepting her changes as normal. This last round had changed everything, and Alex realized how different things would have to be from now on.
“Nicole and Scott are going to be the most affected.” She pondered. “I know Jim and Carolyn will find a way to work things out; they’ve always been so good together. But my younger cousins will have to find new ground with their mother. Carolyn’s always done so much for them, it’s almost like she’s handicapped now. How ironic to be the most powerful person on the Earth, and not be able to do the simplest tasks. She can’t drive a car, hell, she can’t even fit in a car now; she can’t even make breakfast since she can’t stand up in the kitchen.”
Alex waited another ten minutes, then realized that if Nicole didn’t come out in the next few minutes, they would have to wait until Scott was out of school to go to the lab. She pulled the car into a now-emptied space, and headed into the building. She found Nicole in the counselor’s office, and was greeted by a woman who leapt to a wrong conclusion.
“Ah, good, Mrs. Prescott. I’ve been calling you all day. I’d hoped you’d get my messages. We need to discuss Nicole’s future schooling.”
Alex was both amused and dismayed to be mistaken for Carolyn. Hadn’t this woman ever met Nicole’s mother? She quickly looked to Nicole to see if she’d been hurt by the assumption.
“I’m not Mrs. Prescott, I’m Nicole’s Aunt Alex. I’m afraid Mrs. Prescott has been under the…uh, well, …she hasn’t been feeling quite like herself, so I’m here to pick up Nicole.”
Alex shot Nicole an ‘I-know-that’s-not-quite-the-truth-but-it-saves-time’ look as an apology. “We’re going to see Carolyn in the, uh, hospital.”
“Oh, I’m very sorry. Is it serious?” Asked the counselor.
“It may be. But she has some good people working with her, so I’m sure she’ll pull through.” Alex tried to wrap up the conversation by taking Nicole by the arm.
Nicole was willing to go, but as she turned with Alex, she said to Ms. Lockhart, “My Dad will call tomorrow and discuss the options with you. I’ll tell him about what happened.”
Nicole followed Alex out to the car. “I’m sorry, I know I’m a little late, but I, well, …never mind. I’ll tell you when I tell everybody, so I don’t have to keep repeating it.”

Alex worried a little at that. Nicole had become so secretive the last few months. It was more than just the furtive nature of a teenager, this seemed so much deeper. “I guess I’ll wait till you’re ready then.” Alex sighed. “But, now we’ll have to wait until your brother gets out before we can go to the lab.”
Nicole just nodded as she stared out the passenger window, buckling her seat belt. If the right person had seen her expression, he might have thought she looked just like Dr. James going into one of her ‘lost-in-thought’ looks. Since Alex was putting the minivan in gear and checking the road as she pulled out of the school parking lot, it went unnoticed.

Forty-five minutes later, as the bell sounded in the middle school the van had gone to, the doors of the building released a flood of hyperactive preteens into the afternoon. Alex turned her head to notice Nicole muttering something, but was distracted from inquiring about it due to the boy-sized torpedo that had suddenly changed course for the minivan. Staring at Scott oddly as he threw open the side door and jumped in, Alex raised her eyebrows. “That was …unexpectedly fast there, sport.” She finally caught the look that brother and sister shared and Nicole replied in place of her sibling. “Can we get to see Mom now? We’re just really…” Nicole’s voice trailed off as she saw the look from Alex.
“I’m not going to ask right now. Because you’re right: we need to see your Mom and make sure she’s okay first. But tomorrow at the latest, you two better have a good explanation for what I think I just saw.” Alex navigated the dwindling mob of middle schoolers released for the day and headed towards the University campus where Carolyn was secreted away. The silence stretched all the way to the parking lot, where the children shot out of the van, racing towards their mother’s building.
Alex only raised her eyebrows again thinking, “I think we’ve all been looking at Carolyn so much, we’ve missed a few other changes around here….”

Carolyn sat inside on pins and needles. Jim held one of her enormous hands in both of his own and kept patting it for comfort. “Angel, you’re their mom. You’ll see. They’ve missed you so badly these last few weeks. They’ll love you just the same.” Jim kept a steady stream of reassurances trying to still the trembling he felt in Carolyn.
“I shouldn’t let them come yet, Jim. I’m not even dressed properly. Wearing sewn-up blankets? This is ridiculous. Go out there and wait for them, Jim. Tell them…tell them something. But I can’t….I don’t want them to see me like this…” Her voice began to falter, but Jim turned to look up to her. For the first time, Carolyn saw a hint of the hardness that had somehow been hidden in Jim’s eyes all this time that normally came out so clearly in Nicole’s.
“No. I’ve been as supportive as I can, Carolyn, but I am not going to tell our children that you don’t want to see them. I can’t hurt them like that. And I know you don’t want to hurt them either. So get over the shock of your size and consider how hard it’s been for them not to see you every day. Consider how empty our house has been while you have been stuck here.” Jim’s voice finally released all the frustration he felt all the while he’d been showing a brave face. “Do you have any idea what it’s been like without you? We all get up and have breakfast in the kitchen, sharing small talk, trying to pretend like you’re just sleeping late. Scott, Nicole, and me for God’s sake! We…I …I need you Carolyn. In whatever size you are. We’re still a family, and we miss you. You’re what makes everything work in this family Carolyn!” Jim’s jaw clenched and the desperate need in his eyes made Carolyn ashamed.

The amazon Mrs. Prescott could only swallow down the lump in her throat and say, “I’m sorry.” Her voice grew hushed for such a large woman and she took her husband into her arms. “I’m so sorry. I love you all so much I didn’t want to be such a burden. I didn’t realize what it’s been…I love you Jim, you’re so important to me. And Scott and Nicole…I need them so much too.” The second generation Prescotts took that opportunity to come running down the aisle of the converted auditorium Carolyn was sitting in. Carolyn held out her other arm to her children and took all her family into her wide embrace at once. “We’ll manage. All of us. I promise I’ll do my best…” She took a moment to realize how large she had grown so far. Large enough to hold her family comfortably, and feel how much each one of them drew strength from her. She gave her precious bundle a gentle squeeze that made Scott laugh with glee and put smiles on all four faces.

Chapter 24

“This is cool! It bounces every time your leg twitches!” Scott sat upon Carolyn’s right leg, his sister mirroring his perch upon her left. Jim had slid down to her feet to use them as a backrest while he lay back, listening to Nicole explain her school news.
“Mom will play with you after, sport. But you’re interrupting your sister.” Jim admonished from his casual spot.
“Oh. Sorry Nic. It’s just cool…” Scott grinned with his wide-eyed innocent face, and Carolyn bounced her knee, sending her son into fits of laughter as he held tightly to the powerful thigh as if it were a barroom bullride. She winked, putting a finger at her lips. Giving her attention back to her eldest child, she motioned for Nicole to continue.

“…Well, I didn’t mean to imply that she was boring, and I’m glad she wasn’t mad, but then Ms. Stevenson understood, I guess. She said I had an eidetic memory. Which I looked up, and it’s not really photographic, you understand, I just don’t seem to forget anything I’ve read, I guess. So, she made me take a bunch of quizzes, and then talked to the principal. Then he called someone, and now I’m supposed to take some classes at UofM in the afternoon. If you and Dad say it’s okay, anyway.” Seeing her mother’s doubtful expression, Nicole added hastily, “I really want to do it though, Mom. It…well, studying all this science…I’m good at it. And it makes me feel like I understand what’s happening to you, at least a little.” Still young inside, Nicole stared at her mother with such a child’s need that it almost made Carolyn weep again. She bent her forehead to her daughter’s head the way she used to when Nicole had been smaller than her the first time around. “If it means that much to you, short stack, then okay.”
Nicole’s eyes sparkled and a smile crept out of her lips. “You haven’t called me that in a long time.” She whispered.
“You haven’t been small enough for me to say it in a long time. At least from my perspective.” Carolyn smiled back into those eyes that held such a power over her and felt a swell of pride at Nicole’s smarts. Scott giggled from her right side and made Carolyn realize that her pride wasn’t the only thing swelling at the moment. Fascinated, Carolyn watched as her family shrank just a little upon her. Her maternal instincts flared powerfully as she barely resisted the urge to grab them up into her arms again, to protect them from the shrinking. But of course, it wasn’t that Jim, Scott, and Nicole were shrinking, she was growing again. Alex watched from the back of the auditorium where she had stayed silently since delivering the children. She had never caught her friend growing before, and seeing the ripples of muscle dance under Carolyn’s skin was fascinating. Alex’s eyes darted from Scott’s playful bounces to Jim’s comforting squeeze upon Carolyn’s enlarging ankles. But she frowned when she saw the chilling look in Nicole’s eyes. There was such intensity that was so out of place on the face of a fifteen-year old girl. In fact, it looked a lot like the way Dr. James was studying Carolyn on the other side of the auditorium. Alex filed away that fact for the talk she would have with the younger Prescotts tomorrow. In the meantime, she came down towards her extended family to put a hand on Carolyn’s rising shoulder. “Hey cousin. The family that plays together, stays together, eh?” Carolyn looked over worriedly to see that she was not looking up to see Alex’s face by all that much, even seated. In fact, as she watched, her eyes grew level with Alex’s before her body stopped swelling. She drew a ragged breath to steady herself as her skin flushed red in shame. Surprisingly, it was Nicole that spoke first. “Don’t freak out Mom. You just grew a little bit, that’s all. Don’t go all Daryl Hannah on us.”

Carolyn was ready to argue, but then she frowned and looked down at her daughter. “What is that supposed to mean? Daryl Hannah?” Nicole shrugged and looked at least a little embarrassed. “Rampaging across the countryside kind of thing…like from ‘Attack of the 50’ Woman’, you know?” Jeff entered the auditorium from a hallway to find an ever-larger Carolyn smiling through the tears that were already drying upon her cheeks. Jim raised up to sit upon Carolyn’s ankles properly and said towards him,
“’My true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.”

Carolyn stuck her tongue out at her husband replying, “I’m sure Juliet did not mean anything like this when she said that.” Holding the sewn blankets somewhat more awkwardly now, she turned her head towards Jeff. “I hate to bother, but I think the clothing fairy needs to visit again.” Smiling, the young man replied, “I’ll get someone right on that. In the meantime, we’ll see if we can’t figure out what the ‘sum of half your wealth’ is right now, Jim.” He tossed a 15’ tape measure towards Jim and retreated back the way he came. Alex noticed Nicole’s slightly vacant stare was matched on Carolyn’s other knee by Scott as the tape measure flew past them. She dutifully took one end from Jim and walked the length of her best friend’s form, pushing Carolyn into a prone position as she headed for the end opposite Jim. Sighing, Carolyn obeyed, letting the littler people around her control her movements for now. Once she stayed unmoving for a few moments, she tilted her head backwards to see Alex. “Well? Am I still covered by the tape measure?”

Alex shook her head, disbelieving the number between her thumb and forefinger, even though the evidence was stretched out before her. She had never contemplated a human being so large. “Yeah, you’re still in range. But…sheesh, Car. You’re huge.” She glanced up to see Jim’s angry expression and shrugged. “I’m sorry Jim, but 13’4” is HUGE! It’s not like we’re going to convince Carolyn that she’s only seven feet or something. No wonder you can look me in the eye from your butt, girlfriend!”

Carolyn just stared at Alex, still reclined upon the floor. “I think my brain hurts. I just can’t keep getting used to all these sizes. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to push everyone away, I …I just need some time by myself. It’s not so bad if I don’t have to compare my body to a normal sized person. Please understand?” Nicole leapt off of her mother’s knee and came over to her head. “We understand, Mom. Can we come back tomorrow though? Please?” Carolyn nodded and took Nicole’s hand in her giant one for a brief squeeze. Nicole smiled quickly, and leaned over to kiss her Mom’s cheek. “I love you, Mom.” Scott mimicked his sister on Carolyn’s other side quickly, then both children took a place on either side of Alex, leading her away. She frowned a moment, realizing she was being pulled, and called back to Carolyn. “Later, Car. I’ll see you later. Promise. I’ll take the kids home and call you later.”

Jim still sat upon Carolyn’s ankles and so she rose up from her back and gathered her husband into her arms. She sat him on her lap and held him tightly, whispering, “I love you so much, but I just need to be alone Jim. I can’t take this much longer. Seeing everyone shrinking around me; it’s scaring me and making me want to scream. There’s nothing to fight; nothing I can do. There’s all this strength inside me, and there’s nothing to turn it upon. All I can do is watch it happen, and I just can’t.” She squeezed Jim to her as if he were a teddy bear and he drew in a pained breath, cursing himself for allowing it to escape, even though the pressure his wife had brought was enormous. Carolyn immediately put him upon the ground and wrapped her arms back around herself. “Please Jim,” her voice trembled softly. “I don’t want you to be hurt because I keep remembering being small. I want to cry, and I don’t have any tears left. I want to lash out at anything, and I can’t afford to do that with anyone near me. I know it’s coming. Please go away before I hurt you…again.”

Jim watched his wife’s enlarged form rock back and forth and all he could do is tell her, “I can’t. I feel that same rage, that same sense of helplessness. You’re growing away from me, and no matter how fast I try to help you adjust, you just keep growing more.” He became more agitated and his anger started to show at last. Jim’s eyes finally took on the appearance that he had passed down to Nicole. “You want to scream?” He shouted. “So do I! I’ve spent twenty years keeping you safe, building a good life for us, and this starts tearing us apart! I can’t leave you, do you understand? I can’t walk away, even for an afternoon, or I’ll lose you!” Jim was pounding on a nearby chair, punctuating every frustration. His voice finally broke and he deteriorated into just pounding on the back of the chair rest. He struggled to tear the bolted chair from the floor of the auditorium as his anger flooded out. Carolyn’s heart wrenched in her chest as she watched her husband fall apart. Letting loose his frustration seemed to drain her of her own and she reached a hand over to casually use her strength to rip the chair from its mooring. As the resistance was eliminated, Jim threw the projectile ten rows away, letting out a howl of desperation. Jim stood in place, panting as the release of his anger drew away his energy. He glared at Carolyn for a moment, then dropped his head and calmed his breathing. “Fine. You want to be alone; I’ll go.” Carolyn put a giant hand upon his shoulder to stop her husband as he turned away from her. He stopped, but didn’t turn. “You won’t lose me, Jim. I need you just as much as you need me.” He nodded, but still did not turn. Finally, Carolyn relented and picked her husband up, hugging him back to her chest until he too, released his anger and wrapped his arms around her neck. “I need you to rage when I can’t. I still need you to tell me you love me, even though I’m an enormous wreck.”
Jim squeezed all the tighter around Carolyn’s neck.
“Forever. Just don’t send me away. Don’t banish me as Romeo from Verona. I can’t bear it even an hour. As long as I know you’re mine, I’ll face whatever I have to.”

From the other side of the auditorium, Dr. Jessie James watched unnoticed with tears spilling down her face. She whispered to no one in particular, “I hope you can still mean that when your wife is large enough to hold you in the palm of her hand.” She retreated back into her office, praying that the shields she had designed would arrive sooner than three days hence.

( more will come as I proofread and re-edit what I’ve written lately. Hope you’re liking it!)

[AlexG]

( more will come as I proofread and re-edit what I've written lately.  Hope you're liking it!)

What not to like – its superb!

Keep on GTSin', Lady Kate! ;D  8)

“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

[Mr. G]

A long ago story is right. It's been years since I've seen this. Reposting the whole thing was a great idea. Glad to see you decided to contune the story. Wonder if she'll really get big enough to hold her husband in the plam of her hand.

[Silent One]

Mr. G?  NottheMr. G?  It's great to see you again.  This thread feels like the ZZZs board reunion thread.  ;D

Kate, I missed this the first time around, thanks for posting it again for me to enjoy.  I like what you have so far so please hurry up with the editing and posting (not like I have much room to talk, how long has it been since I posted anything?)  It's awesome to see you writing again. 

[AlexG]

It's of my doing, this morning I sent out heralds to the various GTS forums announcing her return.

And yes, its THE MrG – he posts his Wishbone stories on Pete's GTS Magic Story forum.

“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

[GTSKate]

Time for another section. I think it’s good enough to post now. Getting closer to the end!

Chapter 25

Back in the minivan outside Alex waited until the door was shut and the kids were buckled in. Then she spun around. “Alright. Spill it. What is going on? You two couldn’t WAIT to come today, and then you didn’t put up any kind of argument about leaving. And what was with the spaced out looks you two had during your Mom’s growth? Earlier, I know I saw you moving faster than any kid should be able to Scott, and I would have sworn you were talking to him before he even left the building, Nicole. And why do you both look so scared?” She stared at them with growing concern as the fear on their faces was evident. Nicole took a deep breath and decided to start at the beginning. “Alex, Mom isn’t the only one changing.” She put up her hands right away in a stopping motion. “Don’t freak, please. There’s more. A lot more.” She glanced at her brother, who nodded, letting Nicole set the tone. “At first, Scott and I noticed that our senses were improving. We could hear Mom and Dad talking across the house. We could both see stuff a lot further than we could before. And then I realized that schoolwork was getting easier and easier. We talked about it, and if we heard something explained once, we just didn’t forget. But the last couple weeks, there’s been more. I knew when Mom was having growth spurts because I started seeing images flashing in front of me. They were too fast at first.” Scott nodded from the backseat and Nicole continued. “Inside, back there, I saw everything so clearly. It was slower, and I could see people more clearly; not a blur. I saw Mom, huge. I mean, gigantic. She was standing in the auditorium back there, but something was wrong. She broke through the roof, and she was yelling something. I couldn’t hear yet, though. She was so big, when she stood up the building only came up to her waist. And she was crying.” Nicole seemed shaken. Alex was looking at her with sympathy, not knowing how to comfort her.

Scott responded from the back seat in the silence. “I saw something too, but it was Dad. He was shouting into a cell phone, and then he got into the van, and…and…” His voice trailed off as he started shaking. Alex put a hand on his knee. “What did you see, Scott?” Somehow, Alex knew that these visions weren’t just daydreams. There was something so crazy in all this, that they had to be real. Scott wiped his nose and he managed to continue, “He kept yelling something into the phone, and then he swerved to miss something…and he crashed.”

Nicole’s eyes grew even colder. “Alex, Jessie’s experiment works. I don’t know how yet, but I think Scott and I can see the future. But you have to help us find a way to change it.” Alex stared helplessly into the faces of her young cousins. For the first time that Alex could ever remember, Nicole’s eyes grew watery. “Please. I don’t know what else to do. I just know that we can’t stop it by ourselves.” Alex put a hand on Nicole’s cheek and glanced to Scott. “We’ll try.” A hundred thoughts went flying through her mind. Carolyn was the one who was good at organizing things, not Alex. The only thing she could think to do right then was call Dan. She got his desk phone and left a message. “Puddin’? It’s me. Call me when you get this message, it’s pretty urgent. It’s about Scott and Nic.” Then Alex drove the kids to their home.

Dan met them at home, showing as much worry as he ever had. “What’s wrong?” And he waited for an explanation, seeing the kids safe in the van. As Alex and Scott and Nicole exited the vehicle, Dan took in everything. He looked for signs of injury and found none, then looked into Alex’s eyes for a hint. Alex motioned him inside first. He waited until Nicole and Scott flopped onto the couch, then pulled up a chair to sit opposite them. “I’m going to assume that you’re ready to tell me that you’ve been gaining enhanced senses.”
Nicole blinked. “You already knew?”
“I am a detective, you know. But Alex wouldn’t have said it was urgent if that was your only news. So I’ll ask again: What’s wrong?” Dan’s words may have sounded harsh, but his tone was all soft and sympathetic. He listened while Nicole and her brother spilled everything out again. Then the detective went to work.
“You said that you can’t hear anything in the visions?” He asked, making notes in his notepad.
“No, just images. And they still come in flashes, not like watching a movie. Kinda jumbled, but I can recognize the flow of time. It’s getting smoother though, each time well…each time Mom grows.” Dan nodded and gave a tiny, comforting smile. “Were there still leaves on trees, or were the trees bare?” Nicole replayed in her head what she could see but it was Scott that spoke first. “They were bare. But there wasn’t any snow yet.” Dan frowned slightly, knowing that with the unpredictable snowfalls there had been the last few years that still didn’t narrow the month down any better. Probably not later than January, but most likely not earlier than Thanksgiving either. “Think carefully. Was there anything else that might have indicated the date? Did you see a newspaper, or see a movie title? A license plate that had a renewal sticker? Anything?”

Nicole had her eyes shut tightly and Dan could see her trying to squeeze any piece of information she could out of her memory of the vision, but Scott was shaking slightly. He whispered softly, “Please, I don’t want to see it again. I just want to stop it.” Dan realized that Scott may be watching his father die each time he replayed the vision, and patted his head. “It’s okay, Scott. We’ll figure it out. Trust us.” Alex swept Scott into a hug.
“Just knowing something’s going to happen gives us a chance to stop it, Scott. You may save your Dad by seeing what you did.” And she gave him an extra squeeze that made him brighten at least a little. Alex released Scott and headed for the kitchen, intent on making some kind of dinner. She decided to make more than enough, on the possibility that Jim would come back, but in her heart she knew that he would do all he could to stay with his wife this night. Jim was becoming more and more restless at home. Alex knew that he was frantic that Carolyn would never come back to him.

Chapter 26

All night long, Nicole sat upright upon her bed, staring into the night, replaying the vision in her head trying to gain some hint, some clue of how to prevent the disaster it seemed to show. Was it at the same time as Scott’s vision? Were they related? And just how could Nicole stop her mother from becoming such a gargantuan giant? But no matter how she stared; no matter how she concentrated, the vision refused to become clearer. There were still blank spots throughout, and though it was slow enough to recognize some things, it replayed in her head still too quickly to capture any details beyond her mother’s size and location. Her ears strained for anything, but no sound could be gleaned. Helpless, Nicole smashed her fist into her pillow to release some tension.

Scott whispered from his room even though he knew that Alex, sleeping downstairs, wouldn’t be able to hear him. “Nic? Are you okay?” His voice was even, but Nicole knew that he was still shaken by the vision he kept seeing in flashes. She let out a slow breath to calm herself and reassure her brother. “I’m fine, Scott. I’m just frustrated. I want so much to find out how to stop this. I wish none of this had ever happened to Mom, but all I can see is her size getting worse. How are you doing, though? You seemed to have a rougher vision than I did. I wish I could trade you.”
“I don’t think I want to see what you’re seeing either, Nic. Up till now, all our changes were kinda cool, but I don’t want this anymore. Not if I have to see Dad….” Scott couldn’t bring himself to say anything drastic. Nicole rose from her bed silently and went to Scott’s bedroom. Her brother sat on his own bed, his knees drawn up to his chin, and he tried valiantly not to cry. But he was, after all, only a ten-year old boy whose mother had been away from him for almost a month, and who had seen what he thought may be the death of his father. Nicole hugged her brother, trying to do all she could to clear away a child’s fear of losing parents while ignoring the thread of that feeling within herself. Scott held on to his sister tightly, pretending for just a few minutes that she was his mother, promising to chase away everything bad. He couldn’t stop the tears though as both their bodies stiffened while new visions flashed through their minds.

Nicole closed her eyes tightly during the flashes that came too quickly to make sense of. Different than the first vision, all Nicole could grab from this one was a brief glimpse of red hair, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Without truly knowing what this vision held, Nicole had a horrible feeling of dread that this one would get clearer and she would not like what she saw, anymore than she liked the first vision. Realizing that if she had a new vision Scott was likely to have had one too, Nicole held her brother tightly. “Okay? Something new, or more of the old one?”

Scott seemed to be taking this new vision a little better than the original, because at least he wasn’t shaking. “New…I’m not sure what, yet. It was so fast. And jumbled. I couldn’t make out anything. But I think I heard gunshots. And an explosion. I hate this, Nic. What good is it to see the future if we don’t know what we’re seeing?”
“It’ll get better, Scott. I’m sure it will. There must be time for us to figure it out.” She reassured. “All the people who have ever had visions; I’ve been studying them all. I think they all write them down in the hopes that people can prevent them. They just don’t have as much information as we do; or as much as we will. Alex and Dan will help us. We’re not in this alone, Scott.” Her brother seemed to ease some of his tension at that, happier that they had shared their secrets with their cousins at least. Nicole tucked the blankets securely around her brother again before returning to her own room. She stopped at the top of the stairs to see Alex lying sprawled on the couch downstairs. Nicole had to admit, it felt better knowing that Alex and Dan knew about the abilities she shared with her brother. She gave a brief smile that Dan seemed to know all along and wondered if he really did know everything like her Dad said he did. Settling back under her own covers, she wished he knew a way to solve all their troubles.

Back at the lab, Jessie stared at all the data from the last week’s measurements of their resident giantess. Putting her head in her hands, Jessie felt for the first time betrayed by her mind. Solutions were fewer and further between since Carolyn had arrived, giving a human face to her theoretical work. Realizing that real lives were being affected by all that she had done scientifically had shaken Jessie more than anything else in her life. Since seeing Carolyn’s family enduring such emotional trauma, the doctor’s once quick mind had slowed dramatically. She was second-guessing all her conclusions, unwilling to let her mind leap forward without analyzing every move, every theory for its possible ramifications. It was crippling her. There was some connection she was supposed to make, but couldn’t. Jessie’s lack of confidence was paralyzing her mind, but she knew that each day, the Prescott family was suffering for it. She would gladly have taken on any kind of punishment, but seeing someone else suffer for her actions was slowly taking the scientist to a monumental breaking point. Unable to hold still for long, Jessie rose from her desk and went out to the auditorium to stare at Carolyn’s sleeping form as she had every night for the last week. Jim slept comfortably upon the top of his wife’s enormous body, his head resting against her chest, lulled into rest by the steady sound of her heartbeat. The giantess slept, her jaw opened slightly, her loud breathing magnified by her size. One hand lay gently upon her husband, holding him safely against her chest, subconsciously reminding her not to roll over. Her body appeared to tremble slightly, but Jessie recognized the tell-tale signs of Carolyn’s growth. Her fingers upon Jim’s back elongated slightly and the giantess’ body grew a tiny bit larger. Her feet stretched closer to the edge of the stage front. The make-shift blanket that had barely covered from the giantess’ chest to thighs shrank slowly over her. Carolyn’s torso rose with each loud breath and her husband’s de facto bed lifted him higher as the flesh around him expanded.

Dr. James watched for hours, repeating quietly, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” She returned to her office as dawn brought light into the hallway outside the auditorium. She stared accusingly at her desk, seeing size graphs, photon concentrations and temperature charts blurring together but not forming a road map to a solution. Laying down upon a cot against the wall, she felt lost and betrayed, even as she fell into her fitful dreams.

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