Mike looked up from the desk and at Jonathan, barely able to see the giant man’s face over his huge belly. A huge smile was on Johnathan’s face, between his thick gray mustache and the long, rounded beard that hung over his chest.
“Good thing I found you little guy,” Jonathan laughed, slipping a cigarette between his lips and lighting it. “That cat was about to make short work of you.”
It had been almost three weeks since the shrinking virus had taken its toll on Mike. He had been the manager of Bloom Bagels, which sat right beside of Laverne’s Tire and Auto. One night, while closing the bagel shop, the sudden effects of the virus had taken hold of Mike. Left at only an inch tall, he had been rummaging around the bagel shop, living off of crumbs until Shelly, a ditzy cashier, had swept him up unintentionally.
She had dumped the dustpan in the dumpster out back, and Mike had managed to escape through the drain pipe. Moments later, Mike managed to catch the eye of a stray cat, and thought for sure this was the end. Jonathan, Laverne’s son who now ran the auto shop, had walked a bag of trash out the dumpster and spotted Mike, and snatched him before the cat could.
Jonathan was a portly man, probably weighing in around 400 lbs. He was a little older than Mike, probably in his late 40s. He frequented the bagel shop, so Mike had gotten to know him. He seemed like a nice guy.
“I noticed you hadn’t been at the bagel shop,” Jonathan said, exhaling a cloud of smoke into the air. “Girl there told me you just quit and didn’t come back. I wondered if the virus had got a hold of you. Looks like you’re around an inch tall, you certainly got the brunt of it.”
“Thank god you found me,” Mike yelled up, doing his best to cover his tiny naked body with his hands. “I thought I was a goner.”
“The world isn’t safe for people your size,” Jonathan said, allowing his cigarette to dangle between his lips as he reached his hand out towards Mike, easily picking the diminutive man up between his thumb and forefinger. As Jonathan lifted Mike up, the phone rang. As he answered the phone, Jonathan stuck Mike in his big, thick gray beard.