Little White Lies. An illustrated story

[DocRick]

Now, I'm not really known for my sensitivity nor my discretion. Political correctness is not among my virtues either. So when I saw Ashley wearing a handknit multicolored doll minidress, I friggin' lost it.

Stuttering through my laughter, I told her that dress is definitely not her. She frowned and picking up something else, she dips behind a coffee cup and came back out in a simple T-shirt and frilly skirt. "It's pretty warm today. I guess I'll let you get away with that." I said, still laughing a bit.

"Are you finished?", Ashley said with a grin. "I need to see what I need from the bathroom. How about giving a little lady a lift." she said pointing down at the top of the table. I complied, extending my hand, palm up and laid it on the table. She hopped on, without any hesitation. When she sat down, I raised my hand and carried her towards the bathroom.

[DocRick]

I set Ashley on the top of the vanity and she slowly approached her collection of bath items. I think it kind of overwhelmed her for a moment as some of the bottles were bigger than she was. Shampoos, hair conditioners, skin cleansers, facial lotion, body lotion, body washes...I have shampoo and soap in my bathroom. Never understood why females seem to need three times the amount of stuff guys need, though I do appreciate the work they put into making themselves beautiful. Not that Ashley would need a ton of warpaint to look gorgeous.

"Wow. I always liked to buy the jumbo-sized bottles at Costco, but these look like they last me a lifetime.........." she said, her voice trailing off at the end and she turned towards me. Her eyes had a little bit of fear in them, as is she was thinking she would be tiny forever.

"We'll take them anyway. No reason to try to put them in smaller bottles. There's enough room in my bathroom for them as they are and you can carry them home yourself, once Professor Stephans finds a way to restore your size."

She walks through the maze of bottles and selects the ones she wants to take back to my house. I check all the tops to make sure none of them leak and put them in a plastic shopping bag I found.

"Before we leave, I have to .......go." Ashley said giving me an odd look, like she has to complete a task that she doesn't understand how to do it.


 

[DocRick]

It took me a second, but then I understood what she was saying. I put the bathroom bottles in a bag, then with my hand palm up, I moved it behind her so she could sit down on it. She scooted herself to the center of my palm then I lifted her up. Carrying her back into the living room, I set her down onthe table by the couch.

"Give me one minute." I said.

"That's about all I have." she replied.

I went to the kitchen and found a small plastic cup, then a cardboard box in which she had recently received something she had ordered online. Then, grabbing a Kleenex, I returned to the living room. I set the box down on its side, placed the cup inside along with the piece of Kleenex.


"Sorry, this is the best I can do in such short notice. Desperate times require desperate measures, ya know?"

Ashley stepped into the box, and I left her alone to finish packing up all the things we had purchased or gathered up here. A few minutes later, I saw her coming out of the box.

"Finished?" I asked.

"Yes. Not too bad actually. At least I didn't just have to squat down like when I was camping a few years ago." she answered.

"I'll set up something like this at my apartment for you. A little bit nicer."

"Thanx. This is something I didn't think would be such a problem. I don't think I'd feel very comfortable perched on the edge of a regular toilet seat."

I took the cup, rinsed it out and dumped it in the toilet with the Kleenex. I had thought about just tossing it into the kitchen trash can, but something told me that I shouldn't leave anything around that could make someone suspicious. I knew eventually someone would report Ashley missing and the police would search her apartment. Right now, I think keeping her condition a secret is still the best course of action. I still have no idea how long this will last, when or even if Professor Stephans can figure out what happened to Ashley and how to restore her to normal size. I definitely don't want her to end up as some lab rat in a government laboratory. Returning to her, still standing on the table, I set my hand down and she climbed on. I raised her up and tilting my hand, dumped her into my shirt pocket again. Locking the door behind me, we started heading back towards my apartment.

[DocRick]

On the way back to my house, Ashley tells me to stop at a farmer's cart on the sidewalk. He's busy with another customer so I lean down like I'm looking at the produce and she tells me what to grab. After I pay the farmer, we continue home. I set her on the island and she tells me how to slice the vegetables. Then, she says she would really like to take a bath.

She climbs onto my hand, and I grab the bag of her toiletries. I set her down on the vanity and we look around. The sink looks too deep, and she would be unable to climb out herself and could even slip down the drain if we weren't careful. Then I got an idea........

"Stay put, I'll be right back."

"Where am I gonna go?" she replied, looking over the edge of the vanity to the floor.

I'm back in a minute. I set a ceramic bowl on the vanity and a couple condiment cups. I squirt a little of her shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the cups, then some bubble bath in the bowl. I turn on the water, and waiting until it's not too hot, but very warm, I fill the bowl. I move a bar of soap in its dish next to the bowl for Ashley to use as a step, then put the three condiment cups on top of the soap. She stands back and looks it over.

"That just might work. Give me about twenty minutes. The water should be getting cold by then and I'll be ready to help you with dinner." Noticing me still standing there, she adds, "Now go,,,,shoo" giving me the traditional go away hand motions. With a sheepish grin on my face, I walk backwards out of the bathroom and return to the kitchen to start dinner.

Ashley climbs into the bowl and lays down, resting her arms and head on the edge. The water feels good so she just relaxes in it for a few minutes. Although it's nice to lie in this huge "bathtub", she frowns to herself, realizing that at her current size, she would never be able to take a bath without someone's assistance. She's always been independent and liked to do things herself, so having to depend on this giant guy is going to take a little getting used to.

She ducks under the water and washes her hair, rinses and puts on some conditioner, scooping handfuls of the vicious fluids out of the condiment cups. Then scooping a big handful of the body wash, she stands and washes the rest of her little body.

She wasn't paying attention to the time and after twenty minutes, without thinking about it (it's been a while since I had to wait for a woman to get out of a bubble bath) I rapped my knuckles on the door and walked in....

"Here" I said. "How about this cute dress?" as I was holding that awful knit dress I had laughed at in her apartment. She was standing up in the bowl, still wet and glistening with the body wash all over her. She dropped into the water up to her neck. I expected a tongue lashing for my thoughtlessness, but she just laughed.

"Five more minutes......please?" she said in the cutest little falsetto voice.

With the image of her standing there bare naked like that, I couldn't think of anything witty to say, so I just mumbled, "Okay" and backed out of the bathroom again.

[DocRick]

Walking back into the bathroom, this time with my hand covering my eyes, I stumbled into a wall as I exaggerated a blind man's walk. Ashley laughed and said to open my eyes. She was standing on the vanity, wrapped in a suitably sized washrag that I had cut to fit her as a towel. Setting my hand down on the vanity, she sat down on the edge of my palm, then scooted herself to the center. Her butt was still damp and warm on my skin. I carefully raised my hand and carried her into the bedroom. Blocking out a thought that had just entered my mind, I set her down on the nightstand where I had left her clothes.

"I'm gonna have to make you a dressing room or something."

"Yes, that would work." she said. "So you don't have to keep leaving the room while I change. Remember, you said you would make me a room to go to the bathroom too."

"Yes, I did. I'll get to that later. Get dressed, I'll give you a few minutes."

I left her in the bedroom and finished washing the vegetables we bought on the way back from her apartment. Then, I found in my cupboard the olive oil, breadcrumbs and spices she had asked for. My mind was still wandering as I formed a picture of Ashley, dressed in some skimpy outfit, like the teddy she had made to sleep in last night. She was sitting in the palm of my hand, smiling up at me, then her hand reached over and slowly slip one of the straps off of her shoulder, then reached over for the other one.........

Shaking my head to figuratively clear the image from my mind, I went back into the bedroom, knocking on the door and waiting for her to say to come in before entering. She was wearing a floor length lavender dress, open in the back and supporting her ample breasts in the front.

"Wow" I said. "You look beautiful."

She blushed and simply said thank you, then added "I'm hungry" as she motioned for me to reach down and pick her up. I put my hand down on the vanity and she sat down on it, but this time instead of scooting to the center, she just sat her, her legs dangling over the edge. I positioned my other hand beneath her, just in case as this made me a little nervous and took her into the kitchen.

[DocRick]

Setting her down on the countertop, she examined the vegetables and other items I had prepared. Ashley instructed me how to cut the vegetables into the proper sizes and shapes. I noticed she looked a little apprehensive as she watched the blade of the knife, nearly twice her size, slice through the vegetables. I made sure she was back far enough to avoid spraying her with juices or bumping her with my forearms. Once everything was cut to size, she told me to put some of the olive oil in the frying pan and heat it up, then she explained how to coat the pieces of food in more olive oil, coat them with breadcrumbs, then some parmesan cheese. We chatted a bit while I was doing all this. More truthfully, she chatted, and I just responded with "Yes", "No" or "Okay". I could tell she was feeling a bit useless, too small to do anything but give instructions. I tried to raise her up some, making comments like "This is looking good" or "I've never even tried to cook anything like this before."

While the food was simmering in the oil, I set out a plate and silverware for me and found a small cup I inverted on the table for her to use as a seat. I thought to myself, "I'm gonna have to find something better than this.....maybe a dollhouse table and chair for her." In truth, not knowing how long she was going to be my tiny houseguest, I was going to have to figure out a lot of things to give her a little independence. Either build her a doll house on the floor or ladders to climb up to the nightstand or coffee table. That would be quite a climb for her. I've never been very fond of ladders since I fell off a roof as a kid trying to help my father fix the TV antenna when the ladder slipped sideways. Fortunately, I landed in a snow drift and wasted injured. I'm not afraid of heights.....I've ridden in helicopters on missions, sitting on the deck with my legs dangling in the air. The first time I jumped out of an airplane during jump school, I just never looked down until the chute popped open. Even hanging off a rope while rappelling didn't bother me but something about ladders.........

[DocRick]

The food was ready and I spatulaed it out of the pan and onto a plate and set it on the island. She climbed onto my hand, and I transferred her to the island, then cut a few small pieces of the vegetables and put them in a clean bottle cap. Making a mental note to find something better to for her to use as a plate, I handed it to her as she sat on the inverted cup. I put a few drops of wine in her plastic dollhouse wineglass, thinking that the plastic must really spoil the taste of the wine, but Ashley didn't complain. I'm not sure I could find anything made of actual glass that she could use. Maybe I could make something out of a pipette from the lab. Some of those are very small and the glass in very thinwalled, but I'd have to find a way to seal the bottom. I'll have to look into that. We ate in relative silence though she did mention that the food tasted much better than when she had made it before. I said that maybe her size in comparison to the food amplified the tastes of the spices.

The rest of the evening was quiet. We laid on the couch, watched a Hallmark Christmas movie, then I carried her into the bathroom so we could wash up for bed. Since she didn't have a toothbrush, she used her finger with a smidgen of toothpaste, then a drop of mouthwash from her wine glass. I don't know if anyone made a dollsize toothbrush small enough for her to actually use, but I had used my finger as a toothbrush on a few occasions when I lost or forgot to pack one on an operation, so I guess it works okay for now.

[DocRick]

I carried her into the bedroom, and she mentioned the box she had used for a bed was gone. I told her I had a surprise for her, and I grabbed a slipper that I have found in her apartment. It had still been in the box in her closet, and she had never worn it. The slipper had thick fleece for the insole and "sides" that would keep her accidentally rolling out. She smiled at this and thanked me as I set her down and she made herself comfortable, her little hands running through the fleece. "This is better than my bed in my apartment." I guess I did good on this one, I thought as I covered her with a blanket I cut from a larger fleece blanket, my fingertips gently tucking it in around her. Climbing into my bed, I rolled onto my side and just watched her for a while as she stretched and tried out the "bed" on her stomach, her sides, her back, until she finally settled. She said good night in a rather sultry voice and closed her eyes. She was out in just a minute.

[DocRick]

Suddenly feeling chilled, Ashley pawed around her "bed" for her blanket. Unable to find it, she sat up and looked around in the darkness, illuminated only by the faint luminescent numbers of the alarm clock next to her. The size of the numbers startled her for an instant, then she remembered where she was. She reached around again, over the side of the slipper for the blanket. Still not finding it, she hoped she had not knocked it off the nightstand. She would never be able to get to it on the floor and didn't want to wake up her giant friend. Suddenly, she felt two meaty pinchers wrap her around her abdomen just below her breasts, pinning her arms to her sides. She was harshly lifted up into the air, her feet kicking the open air, her entrapped hands clutching at nothing. She heard a voice coming out of the surrounding darkness...."It's time to pay the rent, little one", a rough, sadistic sounding voice. She saw a huge index finger and thumb coming towards her. The telephone sized appendages pinched the right strap of her homemade teddy and ripped it away, bruising the skin of her shoulder as it was yanked away. The fingers took hold of the other strap and tore it away too, nearly dislocating her shoulder. The index finger hooked the top of her teddy and peeled it away, exposing her breasts, then began to stroke her nipples. She tried to twist and lean away but the grip of the fingers around her tightened and she was unable to escape the giant finger. The thumb moved in and squeezed her breasts between it and the finger. The fingers left her breasts, and she felt them push between her thighs, rubbing up and down between her legs, pausing to squeeze and fondle her feet, moving higher and higher with each upward stroke. The fingers pinched the bottom hem of her teddy and jerked it off of her, dangling it in the air for a moment before dropping it to the ground. She watched it flutter for a moment before it disappeared into the darkness. The finger forced its way between her thighs again. She tried to clamp her legs together, but she was no match for the strength of this giant molester as the finger pushed her legs further apart and began to probe her vagina with a pressure that caused her immense pain as it crushed her flesh against her pelvic bones. Her tormenter just laughed as she shrieked in pain and anguish, the demonic laughter getting louder and louder, drowning out her own screams...........

[DocRick]

I was instantly awake. Many nights in what we referred to as Indian Country taught you how to listen and hear danger. You no longer hear the crickets or peepers singing in a tropical jungle but you snap to when they stop. You won't hear the wind whistling through the trees but the crunch of a dry leave instantly alerts you to danger. There's an old saying about not seeing the forest for the trees. Screw the forest.......the forest won't kill you but a tree just might.

Even though the sound was faint, my hand shot up for the light over the nightstand. I saw Ashley standing up in her bed, her arms wrapped around herself, her tiny chest expanding and contracting while she was hyperventilating. I reached over and quickly but gently wrapped my fingers around her, lifting her up and bringing her to my chest. I held her against me, cradling her in my hand as her breathing began to slow. I didn't say a word and eventually her breathing returned to normal, then I heard her begin to softly cry.

Sitting in the palm of my hand, still trembling, she finally looked up at me. She had a strange look on her face, as if she was looking at something she thought she knew but now wasn't sure. I gently brushed the back of her hair with a fingertip as I asked her if she was alright.

"Bad dream?" I asked.

"Horrible" was her one word reply.

"Just relax now. You're okay. Just breathe. Slowly."

After another couple minutes passed, I asked if she wanted to talk about it. She shook her head side to side, looking down at my hand, then over to my thumb, then my other fingers as if they were something she had trusted but suddenly unsure if she still could.


"Do you want to try to go back to sleep?" I inquired, my hand slowly moving back to the slipper that served as her bed.

"No.........no. Can I just stay here for now? Please?" she quickly responded.

Never one to argue with a lady, I laid back a bit onto my pillow and laid Ashley on my chest, covering her with her blanket, then placing my hand over her. It seemed to take hours, but her slowing respirations told me that she had finally fell back asleep. As for me, my eyes wouldn't close again that night.

[DocRick]

The sun was starting to rise, its rays beginning to infiltrate the blinds on the window. Ashley began to stir then slowly pulled herself up to a sitting position. I watched her as she looked around, and down, then she looked up at me. She didn't smile. Didn't say good morning. Just had a strange look on her face....a little sad, a little anxious....I really couldn't tell. I didn't move, I just lay there and said good morning. She stood up, then nearly lost her balance. I instinctively put my hand behind her as she stumbled back into it. She recoiled from my touch and sat back down as I moved my hand away.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Other than the obvious."

"Nothing".

Okay, I'm by no means an expert at women but the one thing I do know is when a woman says nothing's wrong, SOMETHING is wrong.

"Would you like to freshen up? You had a hard night."

"Yes, please." she answered.

I carefully lowered my hand next to her. She didn't climb right on as she had been doing. She stood next to it as she reached out and placed one hand on my palm, moving it from side to side, then pressing down on it, as if trying to determine if a mattress would be comfortable. But I sensed it was much more than that. She finally slowly put one knee on my palm, then the other, then crawling to the center of my palm. She sat with her knees to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around her legs. Even more slowly than before, I raised my hand, sat up and got out of bed. I reached down and grabbed a few of her doll clothes we had bought yesterday and carried her to the bathroom, setting her down on the vanity. I took the cap off the toothpaste tube so she could scoop out a gob to finger-brush her teeth and poured a drop of mouthwash into the toothpaste cap. She just stood there so I told her I would be back in a few minutes and left her to make some coffee. A few minutes later, I returned, knocking first on the door. She was standing there in a black tank top and shorts. Again, I set my hand down on the vanity so she could climb on. She didn't hesitate quite as long this time, but it still seemed like she was more anxious about being in my hand than before. I carried her into the kitchen and set her down on the island. The coffee was still perking so I put a few drops of orange juice in one of the dollhouse sized cups I had purchased yesterday, then excused myself to get rid of the morning funk in my mouth.

Breakfast was quiet. She didn't seem to want to talk, just nibbled on the pieces of food I scraped to the side of my plate. After we ate, I cleaned up the dishes and sat down in my chair while she was still sitting on the table.

"Could you get my cellphone. I want to call my mom." she abruptly said.

I didn't think it was a good idea. What is she going to tell her? "Hi, Mom. This is Ashley. You wouldn't believe it but I'm only five inches tall !!" Or is she just going to tell her she's fine and just wanted to hear her voice. I really felt we needed to keep this situation a secret and I knew her mom would overreact......overreact? How else would a mother respond to finding out her daughter is now a living breathing doll?

But I didn't think it was my place to tell her what she could or couldn't do. I got up and unplugged her phone from the charger and set it down on the table in front of her. She looked down at it then blurted out, "Crap. It's set on facial recognition and it doesn't recognize my face at this size.
!!!"

"What's your password? I'll enter it for you."

"I don't remember. I've been turning it on like this for months !!!"

I thought for a minute. Then I picked up my phone and asked her to look up at me. I zoomed in on her face and took a picture. Then I held my phone above hers.....nothing. I guess it doesn't recognize a face constructed of pixels.

"What's your mom's number? You can call her on my phone."

"I don't remember. Her number was in My Contacts. I don't even remember my own number !!!"

She started to cry a little. Maybe I shouldn't have but I asked her if she was going to tell her what happened to her. She said she was thinking about it and maybe it would be better if she went home until the professor got back from Europe.

I was shocked but more saddened to hear this. I thought we were getting along as well as could be expected. Then, I asked if this was about the nightmare she had last night.

She didn't say anything for a few minutes. We just sat there in an uncomfortable silence. Then she opened up:

"A few years ago, I started dating this guy. He seemed nice, took me to expensive restaurants and an amusement park. He refused to let me pay for anything. He came from a wealthy family. I didn't pick up on his expectations of my returning his generosity with sex. Then one evening, he was dropping me off from a dinner date. He kissed me goodnight and as I tried to disengage, he forced himself on me. He was much bigger and stronger than me and he pushed me into my apartment. He held my hands behind my back, forced me down on the floor and raped me. When he finished, he got up and said, "That's called paying the rent." I was powerless to stop him and even since then, I have been scared of someone doing that to me again."

I didn't say anything. I resisted the urge to reach out and "hug" her or even touch her hair. Then she added, "Last night I dreamed I was raped again by a guy much bigger and stronger than me. A guy YOUR size."

I was horrified by what she had just told me. Sure, my fantasies had drifted into having some kind of sexual relationship with her as a tiny, but that's all they are.....fantasies. I've done a lot of bad things in my life, some as a teen, others while in the service in the line of duty or so they say it was, and I've been in a lot of barfights, but I had never, ever harmed an innocent person.

"Was it me who hurt you in your dream?"

"I don't know. It was dark. I could only see the guy's hands and fingers and his voice was distorted, but he used the phrase about paying the rent. It was just so horrible.....it scares me to be so small and vulnerable. I wouldn't be able to stop you if you wanted to........"

"Ashley," I began, "I would never hurt you or make you do anything you don't want to do. I like having you around and it's not because you have nowhere else to go. You are welcome to stay here.......rent free......for as long as it takes to get you back to normal......even if....." I almost said if it's forever, but I stopped myself. I really barely know this girl and I'm gonna make a promise to take care of her forever? Sure, I would mean it if I said it, but I'm not sure she would believe me. Plus, I didn't want her to give up hope on being normal again. "For what it matters, and it doesn't matter to me, you're not adding to my expenses at all. I don't even pay rent here. The college is letting me live here for free in exchange for the work I do there. You won't add a penny to my food budget, in fact if you keep teaching me how to cook, you'll probably end up saving me a ton of money and I'll eat a lot healthier. I haven't been in any kind of relationship for a while now and I know I'll probably do or say something wrong, but please believe me......I'll never, ever do anything intentionally to upset you or hurt you."

Ashley sat there in silence, still looking down at the table. She wiped the tears from her cheeks, then stood up and took a few steps closer to my hand which was still on table next to her phone. She reached out and put a hand on my finger. Then she looked up at me and gave me a little smile.......

[DocRick]

We got dressed and prepared to take a walk outside, maybe on a path behind my house into the woods. Then, the rays of sun faded and darkness began to spread across the sky. Well, that kills that idea. I asked Ashley if there was anything she wanted to do now and she thought for a minute then said she used to make furniture for her dolls when she was a kid. She said maybe they could find some stuff to make a few pieces of furniture that were more her size.

I went down into the basement and began to look around. The former resident of this house was a hobbyist, and I found some wood dowels, sandpaper, glue, and a few other things. I took them upstairs, spread them on the table and Ashley began to look them over. She took a stub of a pencil and began making marks on the dowels, telling me to cut them at the marks. Other than the cutting, obviously she was too tiny to handle a saw, she wanted to do all of the work. So, I cut the dowels to the lengths she requested and excused myself from the kitchen while she began to sand and paint the pieces, then gluing them together. This took her a couple hours and I stayed in the basement most of the time, occasionally coming up to see if she needed any help with anything.

I stopped up to show her a toilet I had made from a plastic bottle with a cap that opened like a lid. She examined it for a moment and said, "Well, it might work. At least I won't have to worry about" she said with a smirk, "anyone leaving the seat up." I pointed my finger at my chest and mouthed the words "Who? Moi?" I looked over the things she had made so far. A table was built by gluing a few pieces of wood to make a frame, then gluing a mason jar lid to the top. Then a stool made of wooden matchsticks and a Coca-Cola bottle cap. Both pieces were painted red, the only bottle of paint I could find that had not dried up. She was quite pleased with her work, as was I. At least now she could have something a little more "normal" on which to eat her meals instead of picking off the edge of my plate. I left her alone again for a while so she could clean up and change out of her sawdust encrusted clothing. When I returned, she had put on a little red dress from the pile I had left on the table.

"So, what have you been doing all this time, while I've been toiling at the forge?" she asked.

"I'll show you." I held my hand at the edge of the table, remembering what she had told me this morning. She walked to the edge of the table, hesitated for a moment, then took a step onto my hand, followed by a couple more quick steps with her arms held out for balance as the soft surface of my palm doesn't make for very firm footing. She dropped to her butt when she got to the center of my palm.

"Once around the park and home, James, and don't spare the horses!" she laughed, using a line from a very old classic movie. So, she likes old movies, does she? I'll have to remember that. I've always preferred the old classics to the crap being made in Hollywood today. James Cagney, Humprey Bogart, Eryl Flynn, John Wayne, Betty Grable, Dorthy Lamour......all the greats. Real artists back then.

"Yes, Miss Daisy", I said as I raised my hand. Okay, that's not a real old movie but any movie with Morgan Freeman in it is a classic. I made a lap around the kitchen, then the living room, exaggerating the tilt of my hand as we rounded the corners. Ashley squealed a little and grabbing onto my thumb which I had curled across her lap like a safety bar on a roller coaster, then I headed down the hallway and towards the bedroom..........

[DocRick]

We entered the bedroom and she saw a box on the nightstand. I set her down in front of it and she walked up to it looking around at everything inside...

Two playing cards taped to one wall gave her a little bit of privacy to change clothes or use the new toilet I had made. A clothes rack made of bent aluminum tubing would serve as a clothes rack to hang her dresses and coats. I could try to make a dresser out of some wooden match boxes later for folded clothing items. A spool would work as a table with two plastic dollhouse sized wine glasses sitting on top of a penny beneath a hamster cage water bottle.

"Am I supposed to drink out of THAT?" she inquired.

"Of course not. I learned this in high school physics. Water surface tension theory. It holds the water inside the bottle, but if you touch it, the water will come out. Try it. Take one of the wine glasses and touch it briefly to the water you see at the bottom of the metal tube."

Ashley picked up one of the glasses and tapped it momentarily to the end of the tube and one drop of water came out, filling the cup.

"Cool. It works."

"You could even use it to take a quick shower or wash your hands and face once I figure out how to make one that keeps the water hot. You could use a small bowl as a tub to keep the rest of the place from getting wet. I could put your slipper inside it so you could sleep in privacy........

"NO" she snapped. "I want it right where it is." pausing for a moment, she added quietly, "If that's okay".

Actually, I was pleasantly pleased with her response. I liked to have her where I could watch her sleep. I know that sounds a little weird, but I hope it's because I want to be sure she's safe.

"Okay. Your wish is my command, your Highness." I said, trying to keep the mood light. "Hold on the wall for a second." She took hold of one of the vertical cardboard walls and I moved the nightstand closer to the bed. "Now, you don't have to worry about anything falling between the bed and nightstand." Including you, if you ever chose to join me on the bed, I thought to myself. "I know it's still a little crude, but you could paint it, wallpaper it, carpet it, anything you like, even though it's not like you're going to spend a lot of time in there and hopefully, it will only serve you for a short period. We could make a dresser or something and other furniture if you want. We'll play it by ear and see what happens next."

She looked around inside it again for a moment, then turned and gave me a big sweet smile. "Thank you. I love it."

[DocRick]

The rest of day was lazy. The rain came down in a steady drizzle so after a dinner of eggplant parmesan, which of course, Ashley instructed me step by step, we chilled on the couch watching some movies. Both of us were falling asleep, me in particular having only had a few hours sleep over the past two days, I carried Ashley to the bedroom and tucked her into her slipper/bed. I climbed into my bed and while trying to stay awake to watch her sleep, I finally fell into a deep slumber.

The morning sun coming through the window woke me up. Without moving, I opened my eyes and looked over at the nightstand, to find the slipper unoccupied. I looked down and found Ashley had jumped from the nightstand to the bed sometime during the night and curled up next to me. Fortuitously, I don't toss and turn in my sleep.

On extended operations, you have to get some sleep to remain combat effective. Two guys will stay awake on watch for two hours, allowing the rest of the team to get some sleep. Then they would wake up two guys who would take over the watch and the first two would get some sleep. Usually, you would get maybe six hours of sleep, how uninterrupted depending on which watch you take. First and last watch were always the preferred assignment as you get the longest period of steady sleep, while second and third watch has to stand their watch in between their sleep times. No matter how hard you try, your "battle rattle", which is your combat load of helmet, ballistic vest, ammo pouches, canteen and all the other gear we carried, makes noise when you move. At night, the slightest noise can be heard for a long way, so we learned to find a comfortable position and stayed there while we slept. Sometimes that involved leaving your backpack on so you couldn't roll onto your back and your helmet and rifle tucked in front of you to keep you from rolling onto your stomach. I developed a habit of sleeping nearly in a fetal position and this has continued since I left the military.

I just lay there quietly, watching her sleep. She had dragged her blanket along with her and it had fallen away from her or she had tossed it off. I was almost a little disappointed that she was sleeping on her stomach. The blanket was still covering her ass and legs, but her tits would have been in full view. But then again, maybe it's better this way....for now at least. Then she slowly started to move, stretching her arms, then her legs, then she rolled onto her side, facing me. Her eyes opened and she was looking directly at my face, which to her was the size of a hot air balloon. Anticipating a panic attack, I was pleasantly surprised and relieved when she simply smiled and said "Good morning. I was cold and I thought you wouldn't some of that heat your humongous body produces. I hope you don't mind." She reached down towards her hips and pulled the blanket back up and wrapped it around her. So much for my free show.

Mind? Is she freakin' kidding? I wouldn't mind waking up like this more often.....and falling asleep the same way. Maybe with her curled up in my hand, tucked under my nose so I could smell her enchanting aroma.....and I'm not referring to her perfume, which she hasn't had any on since she took her first bath her. Mind? Hell, no.

"No, I don't mind at all. My body to happy to serve you in any way you wish." SHIT !!! Did I really say that? Good, she giggled at that. Whew !! After what she told me yesterday, I don't want to make any unwanted advances which would probably scare her. Maybe she might think she would have to go along so she wouldn't get hurt. No, if our still developing friendship blossoms into something else, I want to make sure it's what she wants. If not, then I think we'll have a friendship that lasts the rest of our lives. We lay there for about an hour, just chatting about nothing. I used to hate making small talk with a woman. It was hard sometimes, trying to keep a conversation going when I didn't think I had anything of interest to say. I couldn't talk much about my past. Most young women are rather liberal, so God and country stuff would be a turn off to them. Thankfully, most women are much better conversationalists than me. But with Ashley, it came easy. We talked about school, cooking, our childhoods, places we've been, though I left out the places I had been deployed to other than for training. El Salvador for jungle training, upstate New York for cold weather and mountain training, the Bahamas for dive training, Death Valley for hot weather training.....all places that had at least some nice scenery, when I had time to enjoy it. We still weren't sure when Professor Stephens was going to be back, so we didn't talk about that or when or even if, she would be able to restore Ashley to her original size. I would like to kiss her.......like a normal sized girl. I wouldn't know how to kiss her like this. On top of her head? On her cheek? Maybe on her chin and she could return the kiss on my upper lip......man, thinking about this could drive me crazy and I wasn't even trying to think about banging her. How in the Hell could we do that?

I got up first and went to the bathroom, washed my face and brushed my teeth. I filled a Dixie cup with soapy water and another with just water so she could rinse the soap off since she couldn't use the running faucet. Then I went back into the living room. She had jumped back onto the nightstand and was wrapped in a doll robe and had a handful of clothes in her lap. I put my hand down level with the nightstand so she could walk on to it. I made sure I held my hand steady as walking on a moving platform is more difficult than crawling on one. Once she sat down, I carried her into the bathroom. "Back in 10?" I asked.

"Make it 20." she giggled, pointing to the improvised toilet I had made and had taken out of the box and brought it into the bathroom.

"You got it. Take your time." I said as I walked out and into the kitchen to make coffee and see what we could have for breakfast.

[DocRick]

We eat breakfast in relative silence. I don't know which of us felt more uncomfortable about this morning......or were we VERY comfortable and are just uncomfortable talking about it. There's always that awkward feeling in the morning after a one night stand, once sobered up and remembering what you had done the night before, but this was a little different. We didn't do anything last night, but sleep. Did she want more? I want more, or at least I think I want more. I'm again plagued by the confusion of whether she is attracted to me or if it is because right now, I'm all she has. I really have to learn not to think about things too much.

Now, she's on the table reading a magazine. Actually, sitting on the magazine. It's cute how she has to keep moving around on the page to keep reading the paragraphs. I'm washing the dishes when I hear my phone buzz, so I dry my hands and pick it up.

"It's for you, Ashley."

"For me? No one knows I'm here ...."

"It's Professor Stephens on Facetime."

Since I don't have a cellphone charging cradle, I scoop Ashley up off the table and hold her so she can see the phone screen.

"Good morning. You must be Ashley. I'm Dr. Stephens."

"Good morning, Doctor."

"How are you feeling? Physically, I mean. Has your size changed any since this first happened?"

Ashley looks over at me and I shake my head side to side.

"No, I'm still the same size. About five inches tall."

"Good. Well, at least you haven't become any smaller. Otherwise, are you feeling okay? Headaches? Dizziness? Nausea?"

"No. Physically I feel pretty good."

"How about mentally? Are you still able to think clearly? Any noticeable loss of intellect? What is the square root of 144?"

"Twelve." Ashley answered and I picked up just a bit of indigency in her voice.

"How about emotionally?"

"What do you mean? I'm scared shitless that I may be stuck like this forever."

"That's understandable. Do you feel safe where you are? With my assistant?"

"Yes. I feel very safe here. Your 'assistant'," she says a little coldly, "is taking good care of me. He's a very nice man."

I'm a "nice man"? I can't remember the last time I heard anyone call me that !!! Other than my great grandmother when I did some work on her house. I'm not sure if Ashley just inflated or deflated my ego !!! "Nice man"? Me?

"Okay. Good. I've discussed your condition with a few of my more trusted colleagues here and we have come up with a few possible reasons why this happened to you. I'll need to do a very thorough exam on you when I get back in the country. Should be a day or two. I'll call when I get back." /click/ she disconnected.

Ashley looked up at me. An odd quizzical look was on her face. Not disappointment but not elation either.  I carried her into the living room and sat down on the couch, setting her down on lap. She crawled over to my left thigh and laid there, staring at the television, but I don't think she was thinking about what she was watching.

[DocRick]

After a bit, we both get dressed. Ashley's still moping around a bit so I suggest we get out into the sunshine for a while. I know of a path that leads from the backyard of the house, though the woods and down to a creek and a pond. She asks about other people being around and possibly seeing her. I assure her there are rarely people in this area. There is no real access to it except from the backyard, unless you walk the creek from the park about a half mile away. She still hesitates, so I scoop her up in my hand and start tickling her with my finger. She finally agrees so I grab a bottle of water and a few other things, put them in a backpack and we start out the back door, though the yard, towards the path.






Ashley brightens up a little. The sunshine on our faces feels magnificent compared to the dreariness of yesterday. It's still early spring and the mosquitoes aren't around yet. I'm sure she would freak out if she saw a mosquito the size of a small cat to her. I kept a close watch around us and since there were no people in sight or hearing range, instead of my pocket, I carried her in the palm of my hand. Of course, I didn't want to risk tripping over a rock or tree root, so I kept glancing down at the ground which gave me an excuse to get a quick view of her in the tight knit shirt she was wearing. It was made of a very thin material that was stretchy and clung snugly in all the right places.




We came to a slight clearing in the woods. The ground cover plants were just starting to come up and the earliest of the wildflowers had bloomed. Naturally, the mushrooms, thriving in the dark, damp nutrient rich ground, were popping up everywhere. Ashley pointed out some morales that we could eat and a few others that she said were poisonous. I set her down on the ground and she wandered around the flowers and mushrooms, in her eyes, the color was much brighter and intense, as well as the size, many of them taller than she.

"Maybe it's a 'growing mushroom'. I wonder which side would make me grow and which side would make me shrink even more?" she said. She sat down beneath one of the larger ones. "Do you see any caterpillars smoking a hookah?" I could tell she was only joking and knew that this mushroom was poisonous. I reached down and picked a couple pretty flowers and handed them to her. She tried to put one of them in her hair, but even the smallest flower was much too large. So, she just held them like a bridal bouquet as she wandered around some more with me right behind her, searching the ground for any possible threats. It's a little early for snakes to be coming out of hibernation, but there are many other small animals around that would make her a snack. Ferrets for one. I've seen a few of those sneaky little bastards around. And, as I looked up into the trees and sky, I knew there were hawks and owls around, but the upper canopy was a bit too thick for them in this area to fly through.




We came to a waterfall. Really just the end of a ditch that allows ground water to drain into the creek. She stripped off her shirt and shorts, revealing a white bikini she had worn under them. She sat down on a moss covered rock.

"Is it very deep?" Ashley asked. I removed my shoes and stepped into the creek.

"Not here, in this area. It's only ankle deep.........or nearly waist deep for you." I added with a laugh which resulted in a small pebble bounced off my calf. She jumped off the rock, into the waterfall and down into the creek.

"Jeez !!!!! It's cold !!!! You didn't tell me that."

I reached down and lifted her out of the water. "You only asked if it was deep." which earned me a barrage of tiny fists beating on my thumb.






I saw a lily pad in the pond which was directly beneath an opening in the canopy. I set Ashley down on one of the pads that was above the surface of the water and dry. She sat down on it, basking in the rays of the sun. I sat down on a log, my bare feet in the water. I don't know what felt better. The sunshine, not having anywhere I had to go or anything I had to do, the cool water on my feet or watching Ashley on the lily pad, turning and twisting around in the sunbeam like she's posing for a photoshoot.

Since I had left the military, I felt a little like my life was aimless. I really didn't know what I wanted to do for a new career. I had been taking a few general studies at the university and a few classes that I had an interest in, but I really didn't feel like I was going anywhere or doing anything of consequence. Maybe this is why this happened? Was there something more to this situation than a damsel in distress and her knight in shining armor? If there was, it was far beyond my field of vision.

My thoughts were abruptly disturbed by a splash. A frog had climbed onto the lily pad Ashley was sitting on. To her, it was size of a large dog, but I didn't think it posed a threat to her. Even at her size, she was too large for it to consider her a meal. She didn't seem to mind either. She started petting it. Women......Once when I was dog sitting for a friend's mastiff, I learned that dogs are "chick magnets", especially big, friendly, goofy dogs. "He's so cute !! May I pet him?" they would stop and ask while I was walking him in the park or downtown. I even got a couple phone numbers thanks to that furball. So, frogs...dogs....ladies love them all. Then another frog comes out of the water and onto a nearby pad. Then another and another and another until the pond was covered with frog topped lily pads. And they all started croaking at once. With so many of the critters within these small clearing in the woods, the cacophony was deafening and a hundred times worse for Ashley sitting right in the middle of it.








Ashley dove into the water and disappeared beneath the lily pads. I panicked for a moment. The pond gets a bit deeper and I didn't know if there were any larger fish in it. I've seen a few small bluegills but there could be some larger catfish lurking on the bottom. I didn't want to go plodding around the pond when I didn't know where she was. I jumped up and skirted the edge of the pond towards an area clear of lily pads, hoping to get a glimpse of her under the water. Then she surfaced just past the edge of the floating plants. The water there was too deep for her stand up in, so I waded into the pond and dipped my hand into the water. She swam towards me and into my palm. As I raised her out of the water, the scene in King Kong '77 came to mind. I was tempted to "blow dry" her, but I didn't know if my breath was very fresh. I just lifted her up into the sunshine to air dry before heading back to where I had left my backpack and she had left her clothing.

[DocRick]

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the woods, looking for edible mushrooms, berries or anything else we could find to eat later. A cold front started sliding in, so I carried Ashley back to the house and started preparing dinner.

"I'm a little cold. You know what would feel good right now?"

Several things crossed my mind, but I kept them to myself. "What is that?"

"A long hot bath."

"Well, I'm a little busy right now." I said with a grin.

"No. For me, silly. Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm a little selfish at times." she replied with a sheepish smile.

"Okay, I have an idea."

A bowl of water at the size she could use for a bathtub would cool quickly. But a coffee cup on a cup warmer would keep the temperature high enough to last quite a while. I got a coffee cup out of the cupboard and took it the bathroom and put some of her bath oil in it, then filled it with hot water, then retrieved a doll sized bathing suit from the bedroom. I plugged in the coffee mug warmer and set it to 105 degrees F. Ashley stepped behind a box on the table and changed into the bathing suit. She stepped onto my hand, since she wasn't tall enough to climb in on her own, and I held my hand next to the coffee mug as she tested the water.

"Oh, that's perfect." she said. "Any way to make this into a jacuzzi?" she laughed.

"You are selfish, aren't you? I'll try to think of something next time."

Ashley luxuriated in the "hot tub" while instructing me how to prepare and cook the morels we had picked. When dinner was nearly ready, I handed her a sexy little babydoll outfit which just fit the end of my finger. "You ready to get out. I got you something to wear for dinner."

She looked at the thing on my finger and scowled. "Not funny."

[DocRick]

A distant rumble and darkening of the skies forcast an evening inside for Ashley and I. There was nothing on television worth watching, so we just sat on the floor and talked. After a bit, I excused myself and walked over to my backpack by door. I retrieved the book I took from Ashley's apartment.

Sometimes you have to make a decision that you don't know how the chips will fall. It would appear Ashley has an interest in tiny people, like Borrowers, as many little girls do, usually pretending they are Arrietty themselves, but as she is actually the size of one, how would she feel about it now? I would hate to do anything to mess up our friendship, but I wanted to get inside her mind......has being miniaturized diminished this fantasy or stimulated it?

I walked back into the living room and sat down, then I set the book on the floor next to her.

" I had found this next to your bed when we were at your apartment. I thought it might be important to you so I grabbed it. I hope you don't mind."

She looked at the book for a moment, then stepped up on top it. She sat down and stared at the tiny Borrower girl on the cover. She didn't say anything for several minutes. I thought I had once again I did something stupid, then she looked up at me. She had a tear in her eye, but she was smiling.....

[DocRick]

"I've had this book since I was a little.....or should I say young girl", she said with a wink. "I used to dream that I was Arrietty. A tiny person living in a giant world. I could sneak around anywhere I wanted, and no one could ever find me. My mother helped me come up with a costume and she would take me to a local garden center that had a static display of way oversized flowers. There also giant gardening tools, cardboard seedling planting pots, even a pair of gloves bigger than my mattress. Somewhere, Mom has some photographs she took of me there. It was always my escape from reality, even as I got older, too old to play children's games. I stopped dressing up as Arrietty, even when I thought about resurrecting my make-believe persona when I went to costume parties at Halloween. I didn't want anyone to know I still fantasized about being a Borrower. I figured they would think it as childish. I never thought about how dangerous it would be as a tiny person in a giant world. In my world, like in the book, I could scurry around on the floor or within the walls of the house. I would hide behind the sofa and pretend I was under it, as I watched my parents walk around the house looking for me. There was enough height beneath my bed that it would become my refuge when I was upset about something. I had made some doll furniture, like the stuff we made yesterday, that I would pretend I could actually use."






"Now that I really am "Arrietty", in size at least, it's really much, much different. It's freakin' scary. I think about cats and other animals that would be terrifying to me now. And the Beans......", she allowed her sentence to run off.

When she didn't continue, I asked, "What about beans? I've always liked beans, especially navy bean soup. What do beans have to do with being a tiny person?" as if I wasn't very familiar with the Borrower stories. I don't know why I had just lied to Ashley. I've had fantasies about tiny girls most of my life. I always kept it to myself, thinking it was a little weird and I didn't want anyone else to think I was weird. Or maybe if I claimed any knowledge on the subject of "tiny women", Ashley may start being suspicious that I had something to do with her being miniaturized.

Yes, I had also watched "The Borrowers" movies, the original from 1973, later the 1998 version, finally, as I was well within the grips of puberty, the 2011 version. "Arrietty" got older in each remake. She was a child in the first movie, a tween in the second and a teenager in the third where it really started taking a hold on me. My teenage hormones would flow and threaten to take over my brain as I thought about capturing and keeping Borrower Aisling Loftis as my own pet Arrietty.






I would watch the King Kong movies, especially Kong '76. The handheld scenes of Kong clutching Jessica Lange in his fist was intoxicating to me. The feel of a tiny woman squirming around in my hand was a sensation that I longed to experience.





But the scene where Kong was holding Dwan in his hand as he stroked her with his huge finger and ripped down the front of her dress, exposing her left breast was what really did it for me. In my mind, it wasn't Kong with a tiny Jessica Lange, but my hand and it was my finger that stripped a tiny
woman much further than just the front of her dress.....







Finally, with my discovery of the vastness of the Internet, I would find and watch reruns of "Land of the Giants", which fueled my fantasies of tiny women. I would imagine catching Valerie and instead of turning her in the SID, I would keep her in a cage in my bedroom. In my fantasies, I would tape her down to my desk and torment her with a pencil eraser like in the pilot episode. Other times, trapping her in a net and watching her struggle inside it. Or I would reach into the cage I kept her in and let her duck and dodge my deliberately clumsy hand trying to grab her until I would pin her in the corner, helpless as my fingertips slowly forced her away from the walls as they wrapped around her miniscule body. But sometimes, I would imagine holding her in my hand as I pulled off those 1960's Go-Go boots and leggings, then her miniskirt, finally her tiny panties and bra as she squirmed and screamed. My fingers would explore her body, fondling her tits and ass.......



I never shared my fantasies with anyone. I always thought I was weird or something. By this time, I was a sophomore in High School and already had passed the six-foot mark, but I still found myself strangely attracted to the shortest girls in my class. But peer pressure kept me from asking out a couple of the girls that were only five foot or even a little shorter. I would only date girls that were no more than a few inches shorter than me. With the exception of the one very short girl I dated while in the military, I never revisited my tiny woman fantasies, putting it completely out of mind for years. That is, until a few days ago.

[DocRick]

She laughed. "No, silly. Beans are humans...human beings.....Beans. Get it? The Borrowers are a British thing. They talk funny in England."

"Oh. Beings....Beans. That makes sense.....I guess. So are the Beans bad? Not nice to Borrowers?"

"Beans think Borrowers are vermin and usually try to kill them....The Squishing as the Borrowers refer to it. But Arrietty finds one Bean that is kind, and they become friends. In my imaginary stories, I always found the nice Bean." Again, another smile sent in my direction.

"I always thought it would be nice to sit in the palm of a Bean's hand. It would be warm and cozy. He would keep me safe from any bad things in the world. My Bean friend could carry me to places too far for me to walk, like the park or the beach or a nice stream and pond in a secret place in the woods. Our difference in size wouldn't make any difference in our friendship. Then as I grew older, I rarely thought about it anymore. I was too busy with school and other things, but when life got difficult or I got stressed out, I would bring my Bean out of the back of my mind and he would hold me in his hand again where I would feel safe from the world."

[DocRick]

I sat there quietly as she described her fantasy life as a Borrower. Here I thought she was tough, the way she quickly adapted to being only five inches tall and dependent on a giant, or should I call myself a Bean now, for her safety and everything else she needs. I couldn't help but wonder if her adult Borrower and Bean relationship included any........romance. As cute as Ashley was as a tiny girl, she was still a beautiful, desirable woman. It had been a while since I was in any kind of relationship with a girl. Not that I didn't want one, I just didn't want to be committed to anyone right now. I preferred my freedom, to do what I wanted, when I wanted with nothing or no one to tie me down. I had thought a few times about packing up and leaving this college town, but for some reason, I never did. Maybe because for the first time in years I was actually settled somewhere? Found myself a home? I never held much stock in fate or predestiny, but was I supposed to find Ashley when she needed someone? All I knew that even though I was in a strange place right now, my life intertwined with a girl who was in an even stranger place, I didn't want to be anywhere else right now.

But I wasn't sure how to proceed. Do I just sweep her up and kiss her, like I would do with a normal sized girl? I don't even know how I would kiss her. On top of the head, or on the side of her head, on her cheek? I would think a full facial kiss would be a little unnerving for her, especially an unexpected kiss. I decided not to consider it right now. "So, if you're a Borrower, I would be proud to be your Bean. Anytime you need a hand, my hand is ready, willing and able to serve. If that's okay, I mean."

Ashley smiled, then laughed. "I can't believe you're being so shy. As long as I'm like this..." she gestured with her hands indicating her size, "I am happy to have such a nice Bean for a friend."

A "friend".........I thought, a little crestfallen. I don't think I could handle being in the "friend zone" with her. It's only been three days. Shouldn't rush it, I guess. While I don't think Professor Stephens will be able to restore her to normal immediately, would she still want to be with me when she is restored to her former self? Am I merely her protector right now? Does she feel the same things I'm feeling and just as confused as I am as how to move this relationship to the next level?

Then she reached towards me, holding her hand palm up. I extended my hand down to her and she crawled into my palm and curled up. She sighed and said, "This is nice, Bean. I do feel safe in your hand. And very warm, too." She shifted her position a few times as I felt the warmth of her soft skin rubbing even through the thicker skin of my palm. I lifted her up and held her against me as we sat there on the floor in deafening silence.

[DocRick]

"I'm hungry", Ashley abruptly complained, stirring in my hand.

"We just ate a couple hours ago." I replied.

"I need something sweet", she said with an emphasis on "need".

"Okay. I'm not sure what I have, but we'll take a look."

"First, could you carry me to the bedroom. I want to change into something different."

I carried her into the bedroom, both hands cupped around her and set her down by the box that served as her dressing room. I turned my back, even though she was standing behind the playing cards taped to the edge of the box, and I couldn't see her anyway. After a minute, she said "okay." and was standing at the edge of the nightstand. I put my hand down at the level of the top and she hopped on, one jump, landing on her cute little butt in my palm. I lifted her up high, over my head and we went to the kitchen for dessert.

[DocRick]

I had some cream filled cakes in the freezer. Though I try to eat fairly well, I have a weakness for these. My mother used to make a similar dessert for us since we were too poor to buy them. A brief exposure to microwave radiation and they were defrosted enough to cut and eat. I set a plate of cut cakes on the table and Ashley walked onto the plate as I started to break a piece off for her with a fork. Then, I playfully dipped my finger into the cream and dabbed it on her nose....okay, most of her face. She started laughing as I licked the remainder of the cream off of my finger, then I did it....

I picked her up from behind, my thumb and index finger on each side of her hips and lifted her up to my face. I gently nipped the glob of cream off of her nose with just the tip of my lips. As I moved her away from my face, the look on her face startled me. She looked shocked.....stunned.....afraid. I quickly apologized, stumbling over my words as I set her down on the table.

"I'm really sorry. It's just....you looked so.....cute. I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry. I crossed the line."

Her expression softened. "It's okay. I just wasn't expecting it and it overwhelmed me for a second." Then she wiped the rest of the cream off of her face and licked it off her delicate little fingers, looking up at me while she was doing it. "Just give me a little advance warning....next.....time."

"NEXT" time.....relieved that I hadn't totally f*cked up, I finished cutting off a tiny piece for her while I ate one of the other pieces. "Next time", she had said. Does that mean she's open to a little romance? I always thought women were a confusing species of humans, but a tiny woman has really gotten me bewildered. I'm not even sure HOW to romance a five inch tall girl. I think I had better back off a little.....at least for right now.




After we finished, I carried Ashley to the bathroom and we both cleaned up for bed. It was interesting, to say the least, to watch her scooping water out of a Dixie cup to wash her face and brush her teeth with her finger. Then I carried her to the bedroom and set her down on the nightstand. She walked into her "dressing room/box" and stripped off her shorts as the tank top she was wearing was long enough to reach her midthighs anyway. I had gotten into bed and was lying on my side, watching her as she came out of the box. Damn, she looked hot. She walked past her slipper/bed and jumped over to my bed. Ashley walked up to my face and taking a hold of a couple of my mustache hairs, gave me a little kiss....on my upper lip, not my nose as she had done before. She sat down and leaned back against me. For a few minutes, I just listened to her breathing. Small as she was, in the stillness of the night, I could hear her breathe.

"I have a confession to make." she said, breaking the silence. "You remember I said that sometimes when I'm stressed or worried about something, I imagine I'm Arrietty again, sitting in the palm of my Bean?"

"Yes, I remember. You said it made you feel safe and secure from the world."

She leaned back a little harder, pressing the back of her head against me. My right hand was lying flat next to her. She reached out put her hand on one of my fingers, gently running her fingers over my fingernail as if inspecting a fresh manicure.

"One day in class, I was feeling a little stressed about finals and how I was going to pay for the next semester. The girl in front of me was using her compact to adjust her makeup and I could see you behind me in the reflection. You know most of the guys in class are young and a bit immature. You're older than any of them and you don't act like they do. You just sit there quietly. My escape from reality began to come out and I imagined myself as Arrietty again, sitting in the palm of a Bean guy.......YOU were the Bean. It really kind of surprised me. We had never even talked, and I didn't even know your name, but right then, in my mind, there I was.....safe and happy, snuggled up in the palm of your hand."





I turned my hand on its edge and moved it closer to her, curling my fingers around her and she leaned over and wrapped her arms and legs around my index finger like one of those body pillows, laying the side of her face on top of it. We lay there in silence, finally drifting off to sleep. At least she fell asleep. I think I was awake most of the night.

[DocRick]

I woke up to a barely perceptible touch on my upper lip. Without moving, I opened my eyes to see a very blurry Ashley standing on my pillow, leaning on my face to keep her balance.

Another kiss, this time a little longer and with a little more pressure then she said, "Wake up, sleepy head. It looks to be a beautiful day. I wanna do something."

My hand slipped up behind her. With my palm facing upwards, I slid it behind her knees, causing her to fall into my palm. She giggled as I sat up and brought her up to my face. Her expression gave me permission, so I planted a kiss on her face.

"Good morning, little lady." I said. "You look like you slept well."

"I did. I actually had some very nice dreams. I was Arrietty again and it seemed so real."

"Well, in a way, you ARE Arrietty. Something any other girl has only been able to imagine." Me, too. I'm sure many other guys have fantasized about having a tiny, beautiful woman literally in the palm of their hand, but I'm not imagining it. It's actually happening. Maybe I'll get her to dress up as Arrietty. I'm sure I could find all the accessories she would require. It would be like roleplaying, but for real. It could lead to something.......maybe a consensual scenario, though a nonconsensual scenario could be fun.....seriously, it would be fun. Very fun if I could tie it to some of the fantasies I had about Deanna Lund as a teenager.





Ashley jumped off of my hand, landing on my reclining chest and slid down my T-shirt to the bed. She skipped across the mattress and jumped onto the nightstand. She disappeared into her dressing room/box. I got up out of the bed and walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth and splash some water on my face. I went back to the bedroom to find her dressed in a rather frilly doll dress. Lowering my hand to the level of the nightstand, she hopped on and sat down on my palm. I lifted her up and carried her to the kitchen, setting her down on the table. I started the coffee pot and began to gather up some eggs, bacon, cheese and bread to make breakfast. I thought about pancakes. She would probably get a little messy trying to eat pancakes with syrup. It might be a little fun to "clean her up". No, not this morning. I'll see how today goes. Maybe this evening........

After breakfast, I got dressed. It was already getting hot and humid, even this early in the morning. "How about going to the beach?" I asked her. "I know a very secluded beach that no one seems to know about." Well, no one but me and a couple of ladies that I had dated while I was still in the service. My buddies and I used to come to this town to meet girls and a few more successful "operations" ended up with the sun rising on sand coated bodies on this certain beach.

"Yes, that would be great. I need some sunshine on my body." And I'm sure you'll need someone to rub on some suntan lotion too, I was thinking. Hopefully, you have an aversion to tan lines.

I packed up a few things, some water and snacks that I could cut up for her, a blanket, suntan lotion, and two glasses, one my size and one her size. I carried her and my bag to the car, and I drove to a small parking lot on the side of the road in a nearby wildlife preserve while Ashley sat on the dashboard so she could see the scenery. Sitting in the center, next to the obnoxious hula dancer that had been glued to the dashboard when I bought this car. I never took it off. I really don't know why. A slow song came on the radio and Ashley suddenly stood up and gave the hula girl a shove, getting it swaying back and forth. She joined in and began to imitate the toys movements. It was more than a bit difficult to keep my eyes on the road. Her ass and tits swayed and bounced as she swung her body back and forth in a poor example of a Hawaiin dance routine, but she would have made a lot of tips as a pole dancer.

No one else was parked there. That was good. I pulled in and put my backpack on, then reached in for Ashley. She hopped onto my hand, and I lifted her out of the car, closing the door behind us. The sun was shining straight down on us, and I lifted her high into the air for a moment so she could feel it on her face. I brought her back down to chest level, but as no one was around, I didn't slip her into my pocket. I spotted the trailhead to the beach. It looked a bit overgrown. Maybe it has been forgotten about in the few years since I was last here with some drunken coed I met in the town.


The trail itself was still fairly clear once we got past the entrance. About a hundred yards or so in, we got swarmed by butterflies. It would seem the northern migration of the Monarchs was in full swing. One of them decided to land on my hand. Ashley jumped back from it. I laughed and told her that they don't bite. A few moments later, a couple more landed on my hand surrounding her. One of them began to climb on her foot. She managed to stay still as it walked up her leg, then up to the top of her head. Ashley giggled and shooed it away, then the other two finally rested enough to fly off too.

[DocRick]

We finally break out of the woods and onto the beach. I glance up and down the shoreline and there are thankfully no other people around. Ashley has already stripped out of her dress, revealing the red bikini, actually made for a doll, she had put un underneath. Damn, she is hot. The straps are so thin, I could use them as dental floss. I set my backpack on the sand and kick off my sandals. I carry her to the edge of the water and kneel down, placing the back of my hand on the sand so she can jump off. The surf is barely there, only about high enough to cover my toes, but nearly up to her knees. The sun is bright, the sand is clean and the water is chilly, but crystal clear. We walk along the shore for a bit. She takes about a dozen steps to each of my one deliberately short steps. I move my feet slowly, taking care not to splash her while she kicks water at me, the droplets not even reaching my ankles. She's laughing. I still have a difficult time comprehending how she can be so happy, being only five inches tall. To me, it would be terrifying under any circumstances. Maybe because I'm so used to my independence and having no one to depend on but me since I left the military. She seems perfectly content to have to depend on me for just about everything. I'm her protector, her transportation, her provider of shelter, her chef...even though she guides me through my cooking.

"I want to go swimming." she says, bringing out of my thoughts. Well, not here in the ocean. Even though the water is relatively calm and clear, there are things out there that, given the opportunity, would make a quick snack out of Ashey. Hell, I've seen things out there that would eat me.





I stop walking and look around. Ah, there it is. A pool left behind when the tide retreated across the sand. It's only about eight feet across and looked to be no more than a foot deep. I kneel down and scoop Ashley into my hand by bringing it up behind her at the level of her knees. As my hand contacts her, her knees buckle, and she drops down onto my palm. I lift her up and carry her over to the tidal pool, then lower my hand into the water so she can swim off, after of course, I scan the bottom for crabs or fish or anything else that could threaten my tiny girl. That's me. Always the guardian, always having an eye out for any kinds of danger or threats. One girl I dated kept getting mad at me when she realized I was doing it. I can't help it. It's just ingrained into my psyche now. Especially with people. I have a hard time trusting anyone. Not the guys on my former team of course. I trusted them with my life, just not my money, my car or my women. And this particular woman, the one I'm watching swimming around in this pool in that little red bikini. No, I don't think I could ever trust anyone with her, even the knowledge of her existence like this. Well, there is someone.....someone I think I could count on if for some reason I needed someone to watch over Ashley.

Her name is Emily. She's another student employee in the biology department. She's pretty cute. About five foot one or so. I nearly laughed out loud at that thought. I always thought Emily was short.....compared to Ashley, she's a giant. Emily is about the closest thing I've had to a friend since I came to the college. Yes, I said a friend. I'm definitely in the "friend zone" with her. She's, as I found out when I flirted with her, a lesbian. I don't have any problem with that. In fact, it's kind of refreshing. I can be myself around her, not over worrying about impressing her, or at least not saying something stupid. One thing I've learned about women is they are far more likely to need a friend of their own gender than guys are. And since Emily wouldn't have any interest in me, neither girl would feel left our or like a third wheel. They could be friends without any threat or pressure regarding my relationship with Ashley. Guys are usually okay with casual friendships with other guys, maybe even as coworkers, acquaintances, without the friendship getting too deep. I guess one reason I tend to not develop close relationships with other guys, is I've lost too many. Two of my friends died when I was still a teenager. The first in a car crash while driving drunk and the other killed in a fight. Then, a few friends were killed in the war. It's a little selfish I suppose. If you don't let anyone in the door, they can't slam it on you on the way out. But I'll wait at least until Professor Stephan gets a chance to exam Ashley. I'll ask her if it would be okay to bring Emily into our little circle.

A shadow flashed over the pool, yanking me out of my brain. A seagull had just flown a little too low for comfort over the pool. I don't know if it saw Ashley and thought she was a fish caught in the pool when the tide went out or it was just flying around. Either way, I don't want to take any chances. I stick my hand into the water and tell her to climb on. Ashley looks at me for a moment, and I guess the look on my face told her that I didn't want to discuss it. She swam towards me and when she was over top of my hand, she grabbed onto my thumb, and I raised her out of the water.



Carrying Ashley to where I left my backpack, I sit down on a driftwood log and reach into the bag with my free hand. I pull out a towel, rather a piece of towel I cut from a larger towel, to a suitable size for Ashley. She hops off my hand onto the sand between my calves. I periodically glance around us for other people who may wander onto our beach and up for seagulls. Pulling out a Tupperware container and setting in down on the sand, we snack on some of the food I brought. Teeny tiny slices of grapes and watermelon, cheese and lunchmeat slice ham for Ashley and a few larger pieces for me. It's only been......three days or has it been four since I found Ashley along the sidewalk in the park. I'm already getting focused on doing things for her, like cutting her food into these tiny portions. I mean, I've always been a gentleman with my ladies. Opening doors, pulling out their chairs, walking them to their apartment doors after a date....even if I didn't think I was going to be invited in yet. With Ashley, even her taking a bath required my assistance. She doesn't seem to mind, though if she was going to be like this for very long, we would have to come up with ways to make her a little more independent in my house. Maybe ladders from the floor to the top of the nightstand or too the table. Those would be some mighty tall ladders for her, like me climbing a ladder to the roof of a three or four floor building. I might be able to figure out how to make an elevator of some sort that she could operate. Perhaps with an electric motor or at least a pulley system so she could raise and lower a gondola up and down. I'll mention that to her later. I still have a week and a half vacation so there's no rush. I'm kinda enjoying being her primary mode of transportation.

A sudden "Hey you. How about putting some suntan lotion on my back so I don't burn" returned my attention to Ashley. She was lying on the towel and had been slathering on the suntan lotion that I had squirted onto a gum wrapper. I must be chewing a pack of gum a day since I quit smoking two months ago. I definitely don't want to let the stress of all this get me smoking again. I doubt Ashley would want to kiss a mouth that smells like an ashtray, especially at her size. I'm sure it would be extremely overwhelming to her. Looking down at her, she still had her bikini strap fastened. Damn. I guess she doesn't care about tan lines. I dip the tip of my finger into the lotion and begin to rub her back. She sighs and moans a little. I'm not sure if I'm pressing down a little too hard or she's enjoying it. I know I am. Maybe she might go for a little massage later. I usually use a massage to get a relationship going a little more physically, but that was a bit different. I always used both hands and ten fingers for past girlfriends, not just one finger. Wait...did I just think "girlfriend"? She has provided a few tidbits of encouragement. Her hug the other day on my finger, her kiss this morning. Were these indications of affection or was she just one of those girls that aren't uncomfortable with PDAs with friends. She could just be experiencing some "Stockholm Syndrome", since she is completely dependent on me and is just wanting to keep my interest in her wellbeing for now or is she actually developing feelings towards me. It's been a while since I was in a real relationship. Usually, I just want to get laid and leave it at that. Why am I so stuck on what the status of our relationship is and where it is going with Ashley?