JOSE

JOSE

Jose was over joyed. Spread out down at his feet was the village of the shrunken, tiny people. Most of the shrunken people he had heard of had their villages underground or hidden around boulders. With youthful, quick strides the thirteen-year-old moved excitedly into the village. Tightly gripped in his hands was a butterfly net that he had borrowed from a neighbor.

The tiny people rang their alarm at the approach of the gargantuan boy. A group of little people held each other’s hands as Jose’s formable sandals came crashing down behind them. One man with the look of horror on his face shouted to the others, “We’re no bigger than grasshoppers compared to that gigantic monster.

Shouting back over the din of the thundering pounding of the massive sandals a middle-aged woman replied, “He’s not a monster but just a boy.”

“Oh God!” screamed another man who had turned his head to see the progress of the sandals of doom. “Their right on top of us!” The tiny group of people found themselves being covered with debris thrown up into the air by the giant sandals. A huge shadow glided over them. “This is it!” shrieked the man. Everyone stopped and prepared to be crushed. Instead, the awesome bottom of the sandal glided over them and came thundering down, pulverizing the ground before them.

Jose was mindful of the tiny people down at his feet. However, despite his care regarding the fleeing tiny people, Jose had crushed beneath his sandals several of their huts. Fortunately, no one was in them.
The massive Jose couldn’t help and feel like some sort of God as he towered over the very, tiny humans. He knew catching them was no problem in spite of their attempts to flee from him. Jose was keeping a keen eye out for tiny people near his age. He felt he could better relate to them though Jose knew he was going to be their master. He figured what else could he be to a person the size of a large bug.

A smile appeared on his face. Jose spotted several youngish guys. “Hey! He shouted. Jose’s voice shook and reverberated throughout the toy like village. The three young men stopped. They turned around. They bent their heads back and gazed up at the towering, young teen. Pointing right at them, Jose in a rather commanding voice said, “You three. I want you three come here.” The three young men looked at each other. Not wanting to be captured, they suddenly bolted for a lean-to. Jose shook his head. As the three young men scrambled toward it, a gigantic sandal came careening down and kicked the lean-to into oblivion. The three young men stopped in utter shock. “You can’t escape me tiny ones,” echoed the booming voice of Jose. Not knowing what more they might try; Jose slammed his butterfly net right down over them. Jose giggled as he saw their futile attempts of escape. Crouching down, Jose gently held the white netting the three young men were enmeshed in. Standing back up, Jose peered in to view his unique catch.

The three young men on their backs, swayed with the motion of the netting. They gazed up at the sky filling face of their colossal captor. The face had a light olive complexion. The moon size eyes were clear and a light brown. Drooping over the huge forehead were thick locks of wavy, black hair.

The tiny people figuring the titanic youth had what he wanted slowly drew near to the giant. His sturdy building size legs rose and disappeared into the dark openings to his denim shorts. High above the shorts was a black tee-shirt. And crowning the base of the giant boy’s huge neck was a silver chain. To the tiny people it looked like the chain to a ships anchor. And from there the boy’s imposing form narrowed out to the very sky.

Licking his huge, red lips, Jose reached into the net. The hearts of all three men raced as the enormous hand descended down towards them. They closed their eyes as the large, hot fingers curled in around them. Jose smirked. He thought the three tiny men who squirmed in his grasp felt like baby mice he once held.

Jose placed them down the right pocket to his denim shorts. The three young men found themselves in a pitch dark, warm, soft cocoon. The tiny people way, way, down below could see the slight bulge the three young men made at the base of the massive pocket.

About to leave, Jose told the tiny people, “Oh, I have some things for you.” Unbuttoning a side cargo pocket, Jose removed from the pocket a handful of items. He placed them down before the curious tiny people. “There’s food, bits of material for clothing and other supplies you might need. My mother prepared the package last night.” Standing back up, the towering teen stepping over the tiny people left the village. The tiny people tried to keep their balance as the gargantuan boy walked away.

The next couple of days were a fun time of exploration for Jose as he got to know his pets. It was kind of a battle for Jose not to think of them as pets. They could speak. They looked like him but they were so small. Jose measured the three tiny humans. All three were a little less than three inches. “How else can I see them as pets. Everything from food to protection comes from me. Without me there would be nothing but death for them. I’ m their life,” thought Jose rather pleased and proud of his new distinction. “Yes, they’re my pets.” Jose had settled the conflict in his mind.

Jose had found because of their tiny size their voices tended to be too feeble to understand. To carry on a useful conversation with them, Jose had to place them next to his ear.

The ages of the three tiny men found Jose were eighteen, nineteen and twenty-one. The eighteen-year-old whose name was Chad was Jose’s favorite. Many times, he had Chad sleep with him on his pillow at night. Sometimes Chad would sleep in Jose’s thick, crop of wavy hair. The other two pets, Jose usually secured behind the waistband to his pajamas.

One Saturday morning, Jose was getting ready to play soccer. He had his white uniform laid out. While Jose was on the other side of his bedroom, Chad on Jose’s bed, went over to the white soccer shorts. To Chad they were the size of a three-story house. Walking onto the expansive shorts, Chad found himself walking in-between huge folds of material. Coming back over to his bed, Jose picked up the soccer shorts and put them on. Chad as the shorts were lifted up buried his fingers into the small holes of the fabric. Meanwhile, Jose slipped his feet into his sneakers. Heading quickly out of the room, Jose’s tiny pet was violently swinging from side to side. Chad felt humiliated hanging for his life on the back of Jose’s gigantic butt. Jose’s mother was in the hallway putting away fresh towels when she noticed something on the back of Jose’s shorts. “Jose, you have something stuck to the seat of your soccer shorts.”

Moving a hand behind him, Jose searched for the object. When he felt the tiny, warm wiggling object he carefully removed it. There in the palm of his hand was his pet Chad. “Hey, what were you doing hanging on to my butt?” Chad just turned red and smiled embarrassedly. Rolling his eyes, Jose said, “Tiny people. How can you figure.” Jose went back into his room and placed Chad in his sock drawer with his other two pets. “I wish I could take you with me. But I think it would be safer if you stayed here. When I come back, we can hang together” Jose gave them a little wave. Before leaving the room, Jose turned and looked at his dresser and the drawer his pets were in. Jose always loved to have his pets with him. Making a sigh, Jose left the bedroom.

Some hours later when Jose returned home, he hurriedly went up the stairs to his room. Going over to his dresser he looked in the sock drawer. His pets were sitting on a pair of gray socks. “Hey, I’m back.” The three tiny pets lifted their arms up instinctively for protection as Jose’s huge hand came swooping down and gathered them up. It was always unnerving for the tiny men when Jose would pick them up with a quick motion of the hand. Stretching out on his bed, Jose titled his hand and watched his pets roll onto his chest. He began to tell them about the soccer game.

Jose proudly showed off his tiny human pets to his pals. On one Friday, Jose had two of his close friends stay overnight. When they were watching television for part of the evening, Jose let his buddies hold his pets. His pal Frankie held the twenty-one-year-old in his hand and from time to time he would pet the tiny man. Jose’s other pal Jordan kept the nineteen-year-old in the pocket of his gray tee-shirt.

Later, a short time before bed, Jose had placed the tiny humans on the floor. The three tiny guys were rather fearful for their safety as gigantic socked feet boomed down all around them. The twenty-one-year-old man was carefully keeping his distance from the small island of enormous feet when he heard a thundering voice from on high say, “Stand still.” The twenty-one-year-old man looked up. It came from Jose’s pal Jordan. The tiny man became alarmed when he saw the building size teen lifting up his right foot directly over him. The young man closed his eyes and covered his head with his arms. A moment later came a loud, deafening thud followed by a concussion of air that knocked the tiny human onto his backside. When he uncovered his head and opened his eyes, the twenty-one-year-old man saw the gigantic sock foot sliding back and forth. When the mighty and fearsome in appearance foot lifted up, the tiny man saw a gooey mess. Bending both his back and neck, the tiny man looked up at Jordan. “It was a spider and it was crawling close to you.” The twenty-one-year-old man gave Jordan a profound bow of thanks. Jordan gave the tiny man the thumbs up.

Picking the tiny guys off the floor, Jordan and Frankie couldn’t help and have some fun with them. Frankie tossed the nineteen-year-old up into the air then catching him in his giant hand. “Man, it’s like he has no weight at all,” commented Frankie.

Jordan held the twenty-one-year-old man firmly between his thumb and forefinger. He slowly worked the tiny human into his left ear. “Hey guys, what do you think? Doesn’t he make a crazy piece of ear jewelry.” Frankie laughed at the sight of the tiny man’s thin, little legs kicking madly up and down out of Jordan’s ear. Jose was mildly amused. “Hey Jose,” said Jordan. “it’s your turn to do something funny.” Jose placed Chad onto the bridge of his nose and made a goofy face.

After their antics with the tiny people, the three teenagers got ready for bed. Jose let Frankie and Jordan sleep with his pets. Frankie placed his tiny human behind his right ear. Jordan had his tiny person sleep between the toes of his left foot. Jose hoped the evening wasn’t too much for his pets. But Frankie and Jordan were his closest pals. And they were cool guys. He knew they wouldn’t have damaged his tiny humans.

A couple of days later on a Sunday afternoon, Jose wanted to go to the park that was near where he lived. The park had a small hill that Jose liked to climb. He loved to sit and look out above his town and think. Putting on a pair of loose-fitting jogging shorts, Jose remembered they didn’t have any pockets. But the shorts did have inside a small pouch to carry keys in. Jose placed his pets in the pouch. Leaving the house, Jose headed for the park. On his way, Jose was happy that his pets weren’t angry over the playfulness of his pals. “My pets are really cool guys. Real amigos,” Jose warmly thought.

Inside the warm, dark pouch, Jose’s three human pets could hear the loud, thundering pounding of Jose’s sneakers against the pavement of the sidewalk. The three tiny humans had come to get use to pocket travel. And it did remind them just how small they were.

Reaching the entrance to the park, Jose headed for Cedar Hill as it was called. When he reached the summit, Jose headed for his favorite spot. After sitting down on the warm, grass, Jose extended the waistband to his jogging shorts. He pulled out from the pouch his three human pets. Jose placed them on his right knee.

Sitting on the giant knee, the three tiny men all thought the same thing. This wasn’t the life they had envisioned for themselves. The shrinking virus had changed all that. However, they came to appreciate their giant master who was as they would find as time went on---a great friend.

THE END