CHAPTER 2: CHANGES

It felt odd at first for Sho when his body began to shrink. He looked up and saw his aunt Sadako, Aphrodite, and the entire room become bigger and bigger as he got smaller and smaller. Then, it was over. He stood up on his bed to check himself and his new perspectives on his once familiar surroundings out.

The dresser and night stand now look like towering buildings. The small TV in his room now looked like an IMAX screen.

He then looked at himself. He was thankful that his clothes shrunk with him. He would have been embarrassed if they didn't and he was naked in front of everybody, especially Arrietty.

Then his eyes widened. Arrietty! He thought to himself. Smiling, he quickly turned around to see her. He sees her standing there, looking more beautiful than ever. Arrietty is overcome with happiness. She covers her nose and mouth with both of her hands, smiles, and tears of joy begin to stream down her face.

Oh Sho, you gave up everything for me! I'm so happy! Arrietty thinks to her herself.

She quickly rushes to him, puts her arms around him and gives him a kiss as tears of joy stream down his face as well.

Aphrodite is elated to see this. She looks down at them.

"So, I take it you two are happy?" She asks.

Sho and Arrietty manage to turn from their loving gaze into each other's eyes to Aphrodite.

"Yes, thank you." Sho replied as Arrietty smiles and nods as she wipes her eyes before they turn their gaze back to each other and kiss again.

"You're welcome." Aphrodite says smiling, giving a giggle.

Aphrodite turns to Sadako, who is smiling.

"I see you're happy with this?" Aphrodite asks.

"Yes, I am. I always worried and fretted over him over his heart condition keeping him from enjoying life. Now that you've cured him, I can see he'll be able to. I thank you. But there's one thing that will still bother me."

"What's that?" Aphrodite asks, concerned.

"What he will wear. He can't go around in his pajamas all the time!" Sadako says giggling.

Aphrodite giggles. "Don't worry about that." She says as she points to the dresser. "There. Now all his clothes are shrunk to fit him."

Aphrodite then turns to Pod and Homily.

"How about you two? Are you going to be happy with this?" Aphrodite asks.

"Well, I always worried about Arrietty not being able to find someone since there are so few of us. This boy does seem nice, and I think he'll make a good son-in-law one day." Homily says.

Pod scratches his head and gives a sigh and a slight smile. "Well, I guess it would be nice to have someone with a strong back to help me. Okay, then."

"Excellent, then! Well, I must take my leave now. There are many people who need my help." Aphrodite says.

"Thanks again!" Sho and Arrietty say.

"You're both welcome. I'll definitely keep a close eye on you two. Take care, my two sweet lovebirds."

With that, Aphrodite disappears in a flash of light.

"Well, we should return home now. It's getting late. Sho, I'll come for you tomorrow and you can help with building an extra room for you to stay in." Pod says.

Sho smiles. "Of course. I'm looking forward to it." He says.

"Why go back there? Why not stay in the dollhouse?" Sadako asks.

"Dollhouse? What dollhouse?" Homily asks. She then looks at a table where a Victorian style dollhouse sits. "You mean in there?"

Sadako smiles and nods. "Of course! It was built and meant for you and your family by my father. He claimed to have seen others like yourself when he was younger, and wished to meet them and become friends with them. So, he had this house and all the furniture in it built to specific instructions, in the hopes they would move in it. It even has electricity and indoor plumbing too. Would you like to see inside?"

Homily nods. "Yes, I would. Thank you."

Sadako holds out her hand, and Homily, Pod, Arrietty, and Sho climb on. She carefully carries them to the table, lowers her hand in front of the dollhouse, and they climb off.

"You're going to love how it looks inside, mother." Arrietty says.

Homily opens the door to the dollhouse and walks in, followed by the rest. She gasps at the beauty of how it looks inside. Sho was definitely in awe as well. When he was bigger, he admired how detailed everything was inside. Now, he can see it much more.

Homily oohed and ahhed at everything, trying out the various furniture in the living room. From there, she went into the kitchen.

"I'm defenitely looking forward to finally getting to use this." She says.

From there, she went into the dining room, the study, the bedrooms, the bathrooms, and then the one room that excited her the most- a sewing room.

She squealed with delight at seeing a tiny sewing machine along with various spools of thread of different colors and various types of fabrics.

"This is so wonderful! It's like a dream come true!" She says, touching the sewing machine and fabrics.

After touring inside the house, they then walk back outside the dollhouse.

"So, what do you think?" Sadako asks.

"I love it. Are you certain you want us to stay there?" Homily asks.

"Of course! My father would have wanted that."

Homily turns to look at Pod. Pod contemplates what to say. When they first moved under Sadako's home and he discovered it, he kept it to himself, knowing Homily would want to stay there or take some of the furniture. But since things have changed to where only Sadako knows about them and Sho has become one of them, the risk element has lowered, but not completely disappeared. He decides to take a chance.

"Very well. We'll live there. Thank you very much." Pod says.

"Wonderful!" Sadako says.

"If you'll excuse me, me and Arrietty need to go back to our place to pick up a few things. Homily, stay here with them."

"Of course. Be careful." Homily replied.

Pod turns back to Sadako. "Could you let us down, please?" He asks.

"Of course." Sadako replied, extending her hand.

Pod and Arrietty climb on, and Sadako gently lays it on the ground. They hurry to a small mouse hole and go in.

"I do hope they'll be okay." Sadako says.

"They'll be fine. They do this all the time." Homily replied.

As they hurry through the crawlspace, Arrietty asks a question.

"Why didn't we enter the crawlspace through the dollhouse? It'll been easier."

"Yes, but I didn't want her to know about it."

"Who? Mom or Sadako?"

"Both."

Back in Sho's room, Sadako turns her attention to Sho.

"Well, Sho, do you think you're going to be able to adjust to being small?" She asks.

"Yes. I believe so. There are so many opportunities open to me now, I don't know what to do next."

"Well, first things first." Sadako says as she goes to the dresser.

"What's that?" Sho asks.

"You've got a lot of clothes to put up." Sadako replied, taking out his clothes and bringing them to him.

"Um, yes. Of course." Sho says taking them. He takes them and brings them inside the dollhouse and places them on the coffee table. He goes back outside the dollhouse.

Meanwhile, Pod and Arrietty arrive at their home.

"Take only the food and clothes. Leave everything else." Pod instructs. Arrietty nods. After getting what they needed, they leave.

Back in Sho's room once again, Sadako yawns.

"Well, my darling Sho, it's getting late, so I'm heading on to bed. I'll see you in the morning." Sadako says.

"Okay, Aunt Sadako. Goodnight."

Sadako smiles and heads to her bedroom. Sho and Homily head back in the dollhouse. They sit in the living room, folding Sho's clothes and making small talk while waiting for Pod and Arrietty to return.

Suddenly, Pod and Arrietty appear behind them.

"We're back." Pod says.

Homily quickly turns around.

"How did you get in without us seeing you?" She asks.

"Come, I'll show you." He replied.

Homily and Sho follow him to a wall panel that he gently opens to a crawlspace in Sadako's home.

"Wow. This looks amazing." Sho says, looking in.

"Sho, would you excuse us for a moment?" Homily asks.

"Yes, of course." Sho says as he leaves the room.

"You've known about this all the time?" Homily asked.

Pod nods. "Yes. I'm sorry I kept it a secret from you, but it was only to protect you. I didn't want you to come here and get attached to it in case we had to leave."

"I see. But now that I do-"

"I haven't decided yet."

Homily sadly nods.

They go to the living room where Sho and Arrietty are sitting on the couch holding hands.

"Is everything okay?" Sho asks.

"Yes. Everything's fine." Pod replied.

Arrietty begins to yawn. "So, how are we going to decide who gets what bedroom here?" She asks. Pod, Homily, and Arrietty look at Sho.

"It doesn't matter to me. You choose." Sho replied.

Pod and Homily take the master bedroom. They make sure the bedroom next to it is Arrietty's. Sho takes the last bedroom down the hall. After Sho puts away his clothes in the dresser in his room, Pod calls a family meeting. All of them sit at the dining room table.

Pod gives a sad sigh before speaking. A nice home with no danger lurking was nice. But he had lived long enough to learn that such luxuries don't last for long.

"This is only going to be temporary. We'll have to move again, eventually." Pod says.

"Why is that?" Sho asks.

"Sho, your aunt is getting old. I know you love and care for her deeply, but when she dies, this place will become unsafe. The dollhouse will be one of the first things taken out, I'm sure of it."

Sho gives a sad look and nods. "Of course. I guess you're right." He says.

"Do we have to talk about such things now? Let's not make the rest of the night unpleasant for everyone." Homily asks.

"I'm sorry, but I must. It's important. When we have to leave, we'll go back to our old home to stay for a short while before leaving for elsewhere."

The matter is put up for a vote, and they agree to move, but only after Sho's aunt passes away.

Afterwards, they decide to turn in for the night. Pod and Homily go to their room, and Sho and Arrietty kiss goodnight before making their way to their rooms.

Early the next morning, Homily is preparing breakfast. Sho and Arrietty are helping her in the kitchen. Pod gets dressed and heads for the panel.

"Where are you heading off to? Breakfast is almost ready!" Homily asks.

"I have to go to the rendezvous point to tell Spiller that we've changed our mind about leaving. No doubt he's probably worried why we haven't arrived yet."

Homily gasps. "That's right! I completely forgot!"

"Spiller?" Sho asks.

"He's another one like us, but more of a rugged mountain man type. He helped father when he injured himself." Arrietty says.

As Pod opened the panel to leave, they see Spiller standing there.

"Ah, Spiller! Please come in! I was about to leave to see you." Pod says.

Spiller enters. Sho was surprised at how he looked with his unkempt hair, ragged clothes, facepaint, and a rat fur pelt draped over his shoulders. He was also surprised to see he was about his and Arrietty's age.

This is Spiller? Sho thinks to himself. Arrietty was definitely right in her description of him. He does look like a mountain man, like Grizzly Adams or Jim Bridger.

"You no show. Began to worry." Spiller says.

"Our apologies, Spiller. Our situation has changed. We decided to stay here."

"Why that?"

"It's a long story. I'm not sure you'll understand."

Spiller gives an annoyed grunt, then notices Sho and walks toward him.

"Who he?" He asks, pointing to Sho.

"Spiller, this is Sho. He's my boyfriend." Arrietty says.

Spiller looks at Sho up and down, then extends his hand.

"Pleased meet you." He says.

Sho shakes his hand. "Likewise." He replied.

"How did you manage to find us here?" Arrietty asked.

"Follow scent from home. Not hard find."

"We were just about to have breakfast. Would you like to join us?" Homily asks.

Spiller nods. They all sit at the table and eat. Afterwards, Spiller makes his way to the panel to leave.

"Thanks for food. Must go now."

"I'll see him out. Sho, be ready to leave once I get back. You need to learn how to live and survive like us when the time comes." Pod says.

"Yes, sir." Sho replied.

Pod gives a nod and takes Spiller to a grate that leads to the outside.

"Take care, Spiller. If you're in this area again, please stop by and visit."

Spiller nods and hurries off.

Pod returns and sees Sho ready to leave. Arrietty is putting her pin on the side of her dress.

"I'm coming along, too." She says.

"Very well. Let's go, then." Pod replied.

All three of them begin to leave.

"Be careful!" Homily says.

"We will, mother! See you later!" Arrietty says, waving bye.

Homily waves back, closes the panel, sighs, and goes to the kitchen to make herself some tea.