"Why are you 3 following me?" "Just cause dad." Joey smiled innocently, and so did his cousins, Madeline and Matthew. They were Martin's kids, and they were twins. "Yea. No reason Uncle Chris." "You sure you're not spying on me?" "Of course not Uncle!" Matthew broke out laughing, and so did Joey. "Um, ok. If you say so. I only trust you 3 because you're my son, nephew, and niece." "Whatever." "Hey, what's this?" "Just an old invention of mom's." "It is Joey? Oh yea! I remember that she told me about it back, let's see, 22 years ago." "God, that long ago Uncle Chris? How old are you?" Madeline asked, eyeing the invention. "28. I was only 22 when Joey was born." "And dad? How old is dad?" "Martin is 32, Matthew." "Gosh, he's that old?" "Hey, I was only twenty one when you 2 were born. He was 25 at that time."
"Wonder what this does?" "No, dad do-!" Chris pressed the trigger, and a blast of light came at the 3 kids. "Holy shit! Uh, Joey? Madeline? Matthew? You guys ok?" "Yea dad. We're fine." "Where are you guys? I can't see you!" "Um, down here Uncle Chris." Matthew began waving his arms, and Chris still couldn't see them. "Wait." He grabbed his reading glasses from his pocket, and put them on. "There, I can see you now. I'm kinda blind, and I can't see things that small." "Oh, that hurts." "You sound like dad, Joey." "How? When Uncle Martin got stuck in the suit and he was all like, oh, that hurts!" "Exactly." "Um, Joey, your mom is gonna kill me." "Why?" "I get left in charge of you guys for a day, and look what happened!" "Hey, there's a million other reasons Aunt Aviva would get mad at you, so cheer up!"
"Was that supposed to be helpful Matthew?" "Why do you say that sister?" "Just sayin'." "Uh huh. Yea right. And I'm like, yea, that was helpful." "Hey! Joey!" Matthew pinned Joey down, and they began fighting. "Joey! Matthew! Cut it out!" "But he started it!" They both spoke at the same time, and blamed it on each other. "Now boys, I thought you 2 learned your lesson after you got grounded for a month! Not even your sister Matthew!" "Ya va a empezar con el mismo rollo." Joey whispered to Matthew,and he laughed. "See? Can't you get along like that? Like regular cousins?" "Yes Dad. We can, and we'll try our best not to fight." "Got it Uncle Chris." Madeline face palmed herself at her brother's lie. "A little fighting is ok. I get it, your dad and I would always fight when we were your age, but trust me, after getting grounded about a hundred times, I think that was the end of our quarrels. Though we still fight sometimes, like over who gets the tougher creature power disk, or who gets to try it first." "Chris? Who are you talking to?" Aviva walked up to him, and was smirking. "Um, no one Aviva, why do you say that?" "Because, you're leaning against my desk, and seem to have 3 ants next to you. You are sweating, and you look nervous." "Dang." Chris thought in his mind, and Joey climbed onto his shoulder. He spoke into his ear, and smiled.
"Foiled, are we? By mom's detective powers?" "Yup." Chris nodded, and put his nephew and niece on his shoulder next to Joey. "Hey Aviva?" "Yes Chris? "Would you get mad if I told you I shrunk our son, nephew, and niece into 1/4 inch kids?" "You. Did. What?" "Yea. I shrunk them." "I don't believe you, come on, Chris,it's past April fools! Come on, get in the present!" "This is no joke." "Oh yeah? Where are they?" "Here. On my shoulder, why?" "I can't see them. Wait." She put on some magnification goggles, and set it to high. She saw the 3 kids, and began to laugh. "You guys are that small! Gosh, I forgot about the shrinking ray! I invented it when I was 6!" "Hey! This is no joke,mother! This ain't funny business, it's serious business. I just hope this lasts a short amount of time!" Joey began to roll on Chris' shoulder of laughter, but his cousins sighed. Joey stood up, and wiped the lint off his clothes. "Yea, I know. The little nerd will never be funny, but hey, at least I got my joke!"
Chris got on both knees, and began to beg her. "Please Aviva! Don't get mad!" "Why would I get mad because you shrunk the kids?" "Because only 1/3 of the kids are ours, the other 2/3 belong to Martin."
An hour later...
"So, what is it you want to tell me bro?" "Um, I sorta shrunk your kids." "You. Did. What?" "Same answer, twice. Do you think Aunt Koki would respond the same?" "I don't think mom would say that, Joe. I mean after all, she's seen weirder things. Like that time when uncle Chris and daddy switched places with Aunt Aviva and mom." "Yea. That was not such a good idea. Especially when dad tried to invent! Gosh, even I can invent things that actually work." "Hey! That was a good thing your uncle and I invented Joey! It worked!" "Yea. For microseconds Uncle Chris." "But at least it got off the ground!" "Yea, and Uncle Martin caused a system meltdown." "This was what, 5 years ago? Gosh, I'm sure the only thing I actually got done right was take care of you 3. You weren't even toddlers yet!" "Cripes. I forgot I was only 2. And that Joey was only a year old." "Exactamente." "Chris! Stop fighting with the kids!" "Sorry Martin." "I thought you said you were going to set an example for Matthew and Joey by us not fighting, and not fighting with them!" "Dad! Uncle Chris! For Pete's sake can all of you guys go without fighting for at least one day?" "He-he. Sorry Madeline." Martin turned red of embarrassment because he just got a lecture from his 7 year old daughter.
"Chris!" "Yes Aviva?" "I just might be able to reverse them back to normal height!" "You can?" They all exclaimed at once. "Yup. Hey, a good inventor never loses their blueprints." "How about that time you lost the blueprints to the deactivation module?" "That was a freakin' giraffe!" "Yea. Not good." Martin said, rubbing his neck of the remembered pain. Chris kissed Aviva quickly, and Joey made a sick face. "Gross!" "Hey Joey, that's nothing. Trust me. Once I saw mom and dad in a serious lip lock." Madeline whispered in his ear, and Joey smiled. "Yea. I always catch mom and dad kissing. I guess they just really love each other." Joey whispered back to Madeline. Aviva's smile turned into a frown as soon as she remembered what she was going to tell them.
"Hey,uh, guys?" "Yea?" "Well, uh, yea. You guys know I'm a fast inventor, but since I built that ray a long time ago, it might take me a while to make an enlargement ray." "Exactly how long, Aunt Aviva?" "Days, weeks, possibly months Matthew!" "Oh gosh." "Yup. That long. But I'll try my best to work as fast as I can. Wonder how Koki will react when someone decides to tell her that Chris shrunk the kids." "I already did." "And what did she say,Martin?" "Hey, I asked that!" Joey said to himself in his mind. "She didn't say anything. She just said I was crazy, and resumed her work." "She didn't believe you? God, I didn't believe Chris, but when I saw these 3 little guys, boy, was I amazed." She picked up the 1/4 inch kids, and smiled, hiding her laughter.
What turned out to be 1 month later...
"Finito! One month later, and I finished the enlargement ray. I just hope it works." She took off her goggles, and brushed her hair back. Chris blushed, and Joey nudged him. "I thought the whole, blushing around mom thing finished a long time ago. When you told her what you really felt about her." "Yea. I still blush sometimes though." "Yea. I know. You have the butterflies even after you married her. Any man still gets them from his wife here and there." "Yup. Guess you're right Joey." "I just need to test it out...huh. Hey Chris?" "Yea?" "Do you know where the shrink ray is?" "Yes. In the first drawer of the desk. The locked drawer in other words." "Oh ok. Thanks." She resumed her work, and Chris continued talking to Joey. Madeline and Matthew were on a hike with their father, so it was just the tech crew, Chris, and Joey.
"Hey Joey, how come you know so much about love?" "If you pardon my language, I'll tell you." "Ok." "Hell! I've only been in one stupid relationship, and I am not a big fan of romance. Shit, that girl made me kiss her! I did not want to, plus, I found out she was just using me to get the stupid science and math answers from me! That bitch was cheating on me the whole time we were dating! On a supposbly cute boy! She just came up to me one day and said, Joey, I'm sorry, but you're not my type anymore. I found someone else. In reality, you're just a nerd like your mother. Shit, I began to choke on my milk, and my friend Weslaco had to hit me on my back just to make me ok." "Seriously? A nerd like your mother? Who the fuck says that? Oh yea. Zach does." "That bitch who broke up with me was Zach's daughter. Yup. That dick head's daughter was trying to hit on me. Shit, she was crazy. I was out of my mind. Luckily I'm only 6. She was what, 13? Yea. In 8th grade. Shit, she thought just because I'm in 7th grade math and in the most advanced classes, Advanced Magnet Student Honor Roll, she thinks I'm a stuck up nerd. Stuck up nerd my friend Luis!" "Your full classes' name is Advanced Magnet Student Honor Roll?" "Yea," he took a breath, and smiled,"man, I needed to take that anger out. All I needed was for you to talk about romance, and viola!"
"What are you boys talking about?" "Nothing much. How's it coming along?" "I'm done. I just tested it, and perfecto! It worked!" "It did? Awesome!" "Yup. I just have to try it on something realistic." "A tree?" "Good idea Joey!" "Huh? Oh, I was talking to Sparky. He needs to pee, and I think he wants to pee on a tree." "But a tree is realistic son. We can try it out there,and if it works, Chris can use it on you and your cousins." "Me?!" "Yes. You caused this Chris, you fix it. All I did was make matters a bit lighter for you." "I knew she was going to say that sometime." Chris followed Aviva outside with their son on their shoulder. Joey climbed on top of Chris' head, and grabbed on to his hair. "You know Aviva, it's kinda funny to have a 1/4 inch son, and a 1/4 inch niece and nephew." "Yea, for you Chris. I don't think it's funny. How many times have I told you not to mess with my old inventions? Jeeze, after a year I forget what mess they create." "I'm still sorry. Really sorry." "Yea. It's ok Chris. I just hope you learned your lesson about getting things that aren't yours." "Oh, I did Aviva. Trust me." He kissed her on her cheek, and Joey made another grossed out face. Since he was 1/4 of an inch, they didn't see his reaction.
"Hey Chris?" "Yea?" "You remember that fieldtrip we took to that army place?" "Yea, why?" She had one hand one the gun, and she brought it up. She gripped it with both hands, and secured her finger around the trigger. She placed her left foot first, then her right at the back, and pressed the trigger. The white light blinded Chris and Joey for a second, and when their vision returned, all they saw was Aviva lowering the gun, smiling. "That. Was. AMAZING!" Aviva shrugged at Chris' comment and continued speaking. "Should I have not learned a thing or two at base camp? Jeeze, at the end, don't you remember they picked two people to shoot a real gun at a board about 150ft away?" "Yes." "Remember how unfortunately me and Zach got picked, and since girls go first, I amazed the class with how I grabbed the gun and shot it?" "Yup. Especially me." Joey climbed down off his head, and spoke in his ear.
"Snap out of it dad! It was just a gunshot. So what? She's just good at aiming and at shooting." "Yea. But she's the first woman I've ever met who actually knows how to shoot a gun. And not those toy ones, the real deal." "Whatever. Continue with your romance story." He climbed back up to his head, and laid down on his hair. "Kinda comfy dad." "What? I might have forgotten to put some gel in the morning. Surprised my hair stays the same, except after I get wet. Otherwise, my hair is the same." Chris turned to face Aviva, who did the same movements again, and shot the enlargement ray at the very tiny 1/4 of an inch Joey sized tree. "It worked!" "Huh?" Joey instantly sat up, and saw Chris smiling, and that 14 ft tall tree, normal again. "If it worked on that tree, it'll work on you. Stand right there in the opening, and I'll zap you." "That sounds kinda weird." "Sorry, I meant to enlarge you." "Shoot it Aviva! Shoot it! The suspense is killing me!" "Don't rush me Chris!" "Sorry." She did her war gun shooting reenactment, and shot it at Joey. "Holy cow." Joey said to himself as a light blue flame evolved him. When the light faded away, he was back to normal. "Ah yes! 4ft, 2in tall! Back to normal height!" "It worked Aviva! It worked!" He hugged her, and Joey smiled.
"Time to try it out on your cousins." "You sure?" "Joey, if it worked on you, shouldn't it work on them?" "That's true." That afternoon, when the twins came back, Aviva led them to a clearing. "Where are we going, Aunt Aviva?" "To bring you back to normal." Aviva set them down on a rock, and went back about a couple hundred feet. She turned her night vision magnification goggles to high, and grabbed the gun from the gun holder on the side of her leg. She grabbed it with one hand and did exactly what she had down earlier, and shot it. The force was so hard and fast, she stumbled back and Chris caught her. "You ok?" "Yea." The last time, she didn't fall down because the tree caught her balance. The light blue flames of electro magnetic electricity evolved them, and seconds later, the flames disappeared, revealing a Madeline and Matthew normal sized, and smiling.
"It worked! It really worked!" "Yea. I'm just gonna keep these guns away from your uncle Chris so he doesn't do that again. "I said I was sorry!" "I know you're sorry, I'm just saying I'm going to prevent any further usages of these two guns. Cripes, I just hope I don't have to use these two guns again. They can cause damage and initiate crazy side effects if used too many times on one thing. That's why I just did it all at once to get it over with, and viola, you're back to normal, and I'll have to find a way to secure this under heavy key so Chris doesn't decide to act like a kid again and mess with it." "Whoops. Sorry." "Just don't let it happen again." "I promise." Matthew looked at Joey, and smiled. "What did Aunt Aviva just say? I haven't the slightest." Joey slapped his forehead, and smiled. "All mommy said was that she was going to try her best to keep daddy from getting the gun again, and that if you use it too many times on the same person, side effects might happen." "Oooohk. Ok."