Waking at 10:00 am the next morning, Bryan nearly leaped from the bed as he hurried into the kitchen. Today was the day he thought. The day that he really put the miraculous formula he concocted that was capable of shrinking him smaller than an eighth of an inch to the test.
Set before him on the kitchen table was a shipping box the size of his hand. Rather unremarkable at a glance, the current contents included an ordinary handkerchief, and a collection of minutely scaled supplies. These included everything Bryan would need for his journey. Bread crumbs, blankets, and a barely visible bottle of liquid. This liquid is the most important item he would have after shrinking, it was the antidote.
A careful check of the contents to be sure all necessities were there, and Bryan turned his gaze to the vial sitting on the counter. Roughly the size of his thumb, this vial contained the breakthrough formula. Bryan was able to develop it with ingredients and chemicals he had meticulously smuggled from EDL labs where he worked. The resulting concoction was a pale blue liquid that tasted bittersweet, and almost instantly shrunk the user.
With a heaving thrust, he sat himself on the counter. His whole body trembled in excitement, it always did at the thought of shrinking himself. The feeling never waned, even after testing it briefly six times already. This time would be the longest. He grabbed the bottle.
"Here goes nothing! Zack, here I come!" Bryan mumbled aloud. Licking his lips and swallowing nervously, he brought the glass vial to his lips. One quick motion, and he down the bitter liquid, his eyes closed in anticipation.
A full ten seconds later, the scientist opened his eyes, prepared to take in his new surroundings. Bryan found himself staring at his refrigerator, the numerous letter magnets still at eye level. Strange, he thought, the formula usually worked after only a few seconds, the longest having taken only ten. So far an entire minute had passed and he remained unchanged.
Bryan remained seated on the counter, waiting for the expected change. 10 minutes passed. Then 25, and then 45 minutes. It was already passed 1 pm, and yet the formula had done nothing. His mind wandered over various explanations. Could he have developed some sort of resistance to it? Or, perhaps something went wrong while preparing it? He frowned as he stood up, annoyed and confused.
He needed to examine himself back in his makeshift laboratory. Reaching for the telephone, he dialed Tommy's phone number.
"Hello, Tommy? This is Mr. Smith. I am afraid that I will be cancelling my trip till further notice." Tommy responded with disappointment, sad that the promised payment would be delayed. Bryan apologized, and hung up the phone. Bryan hated to disappoint the teen, but he needed to investigate this problem.
The confused scientist spent the rest of the day trying to determine the cause of his formulas failure. He preformed numerous tests on himself and the extra shrinking solution.
Bryan finally resigned himself to sleep after finding no solid results, his mind was beyond weary from stress and confusion.
With a start, he woke late the next morning. Wandering gloomily to the kitchen, he sighed st the sight of the unused shipping box. "How could his formula not work?" He thought angrily as he reached to open the fridge.
Another distressed sigh emitted from the bedraggled man as he took in the empty refrigerator. He had purposefully not stocked it in preparation for his trip. His stomach grumbled noisily, demanding sustenance.
Dressing himself, Bryan went to....
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