Chapter Four -- Farmer Jack

 Mike shouted, "Help!" and pounded on the door. The lights flashed every time he shouted.

 He kicked the door and screamed as loud as he could. Then the lights went out and stayed out.

 He felt his way along the wall to a back corner and sat down on the floor. The lights came back on. Now the elevator looked so much bigger and emptier, and he felt so much smaller than before. He fell asleep watching the indicator lights flash number after number.
 
 

The moment he woke up, he saw the door slide open. He jumped up, dashed out and tripped over a shovel.
 
 

There were dozens of shovels leaning against the wall near the elevator door and a long row of wheelbarrows full for dirt.
 
 

Mrs. Murphy and Leroy were there, shoveling dirt from nearby wheelbarrows and spreading it over their feet and legs.
 
 

"Hello, sonny," said Mrs. Murphy. "Did you decide to join us?"
 
 

"The door just opened and... " he tried to explain.
 
 

"Oh," she said. "So it was Frank's idea. Even without elevator shoes he brought you here. Congratulations."
 
 

"For what?" he asked.
 
 

"You silly boy. This is your big chance to really grow."
 
 

"But..."
 
 

"No time for buts. Pick up a shovel and get to work. The sprinkler turn on any minute now."
 
 

Mike just stood there, staring in disbelief.
 
 

Then along came a man with a long beard, wearing overalls, pushing another wheelbarrow full of dirt.
 
 

"Good morning, Jack," said Mrs. Murphy. "How's your beanstalk doing?"
 
 

"Fine, Mrs. Murphy, just fine," he answered. "It grew another thirty feet today. This new fertilizer is something else."
 
 

"Really?" she asked. "Could we try some please?"
 
 

"Certainly, ma'am, certainly." And he threw some of his fertilizer on Mrs. Murphy's feet and some on Leroy's feet. "What about your friend here?" he asked, pointing to Mike. "What's wrong with him? Doesn't he want to grow?"
 
 

"Certainly not like that," Mike replied, backing up against the wall, and trying to think of how he would defend himself if they started throwing dirt at him.
 
 

"He's a silly, silly boy," explained Mrs. Murphy. "We met him on the elevator. Believe it or not, Frank brought him here even though he's wearing street shoes." 

Just then the sprinkling system turned on and water started spraying everywhere from fixtures in the ceiling.

 Suddenly, Mrs. Murphy and Leroy started to grow and grow. They kept getting taller and taller, laughing like they were having the time of their lives. As they got taller the ceiling moved upward, like an elevator.

 "Come back, Mrs. Murphy. Please come back!" shouted Mike. "Don't leave me down here. The elevator won't work for me. I'm just a little kid. I'm just nine years old."
 
 

"Did you hear that one?" asked Leroy in a booming voice. He was already about twenty feet above Mike, and still growing. "That little runt says he's nine years old." Leroy and Mrs. Murphy laughed very loudly. They now sounded huge and far off, like giants.
 
 

"Please come back, Mrs. Murphy, please," Mike shouted. But he was afraid she couldn't hear him anymore. Her head was already thirty or forty feet up above him, and he was so small to her that she must think he looked like a mouse.
 
 

"Boy, can I help you?" asked Jack, who was the same size as before. "Wouldn't you like to grow, too?"
 
 

"No, please, no," pleaded Mike, leaning against the wall. "I just want to go back down to the car, to my Aunt Maggie. I just want to go home. I wanted to deliver this note to Mrs. Grant, but now I just want to go home. Please. I don't want to grow like that. If I grow like that, I'll never be able to get out of here. I'll never be able to fit in the elevator or out the door or into Aunt Maggie's car."
 
 

Jack laughed. "Well, son, and how do you expect to get out of here if you don't grow?"
 
 

Mike looked up where Jack was pointing. The walls were taller, and the elevator door was bigger than it had been before. Now the "up" and "down" buttons were way up, far beyond Mike's reach.

 "Mrs. Murphy! Leroy! Help!" hollered Mike. "Help! Don't leave me behind!"
 
 

"Oh," said Jack. "So you do want to grow along with your friends?"

 "Yes," begged Mike. "Yes, please. I don't want to be left down here all alone."
 
 

"Well," laughed Jack. "You're not exactly alone. I'm here. I'm always here. I get a lot of fun out of making things grow and watching them grow. Maybe you'd like to stay here with me?"
 
 

"But I don't want to be small."
 
 

Jack laughed. "You're no smaller than you were before."
 
 

"But they're so big now, and the elevator's so big. I have to be big too, just to get out of here, just to get home."
 
 

"Okay, boy, okay," said Jack, seriously. "If it's all that important to you, grab a shovel fast while the sprinkler's on. Use fertilizer, just fertilizer. That ought to do the trick."
 
 

So they shoveled hard. Then Jack dumped the rest of the wheelbarrow full of fertilizer right on Mike's feet and legs. His knees hurt, his ankles hurt, he felt dizzy, and he started to grow and grow. Soon he was standing face to face with Leroy. Then the sprinkler stopped, and the elevator door opened.

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