Chapter Five -- Dr. Gulliver, the Shrink

Mrs. Murphy laughed, "Takes a bit of getting used to, doesn't it? All that new bone and muscle. Takes a while to figure out how to use it all, isn't that right, sonny?"
 
 

"I don't know, Mrs. Murphy," Mike answered humbly. "All I know is that I feel very small. It's like I'm a very small person in a big body."
 
 

"Well, we know just the medicine for that, right, Frank?" The elevator lights flashed off and on. The door shut. And the elevator went speeding upward.
 
 

"Where are we going?" asked Mike.
 
 

"To see the shrink," answered Leroy.
 
 

The elevator suddenly stopped and opened.
 
 

"Hurry up, now, Mike," ordered Mrs. Murphy. "Dr. Gulliver is waiting."
 
 

"Dr. Gulliver?"
 
 

"Yeah," said Leroy. "He's the shrink."
 
 

Mrs. Murphy explained, "When you get out of touch with yourself, when you feel like a little person in a big body, it feels good to shrink all together again. As for me, I like to shrink just for the fun of it."
 
 

"But what fun could that be?" asked Mike, wobbling along, trying to keep up with the others and not lose his balance.
 
 

"Growing's a trip, kid," answered Leroy. "And shrinking's a trip, too."
 
 

Suddenly, a sea gull landed on Leroy's shoulders. Mike looked, then looked again. "A gull with glasses?" he asked in disbelief.
 
 

"A boy without elevator shoes?" asked the gull in disbelief.
 
 

"Yes, Dr. Gulliver," explained Mrs. Murphy, "Mike here doesn't seem to know where he's growing."
 
 

"He's not into the growth trip at all," offered Leroy.
 
 

"No elevator shoes?" repeated the gull. "And he's come to live in the high rise?"
 
 

"No, sir. I mean, yes, sir. Yes, I don't have elevator shoes. But, no sir, I didn't come to live here. I just wanted to deliver a note to Mrs. Grant on the 36th floor. But the elevator doesn't work."
 
 

"On the contrary, young man," replied the gull, "the elevator works to perfection. There isn't another elevator like him in the universe."
 
 

"But," protested Mike, "what good is an elevator if it doesn't take you where you want to go?"
 
 

"Go? Go?" asked the gull, readjusting his glasses to take a closer look. "What do you mean 'go'? You're here to 'grow' not just 'go.'"
 
 

"But..."
 
 

"No buts about it. The poor child's confused," continued the gull. "No wonder he doesn't have elevator shoes. He hasn't earned them yet. I wonder why Frank let him in in the first place."
 
 

"Perhaps he saw some potential in the boy," offered Mrs. Murphy.
 
 

The gull flew over Mike, looked at him closely, then landed on Mike's right shoulder.
 
 

"What do I have to do to 'earn' elevator shoes?" Mike asked cautiously.
 
 

Leroy laughed and did a handstand, showing off his own shoes.
 
 

"Look here, young man," said the gull. "Do you want to shrink or don't you?"
 
 

"What?"
 
 

"I'm the shrink. You came to see me. Now do you really want to shrink or do you just want to chatter?"
 
 

"I really don't care," said Mike. "I just want to go..."
 
 

Before he could finish his sentence, four birds suddenly swooped toward Mrs. Murphy and Leroy -- a hawk, two black birds, and a thrush. They circled round and round them, then flew away. When the birds were out of sight, Mike noticed that Leroy and Mrs. Murphy were far smaller than him now -- they looked no more than three inches tall. He fell backward. He tried to scream, but he had no voice, like in a nightmare.
 
 

"What's wrong, young man? What's wrong?" asked the gull.
 
 

"Nothing seems to make any sense," answered Mike.

 "Is it your size that bothers you?"
 
 

"I don't know. I just feel strange. They're so small down there."
 
 

"So it isn't your size that bothers you. It's everybody else's size."
 
 

"Oh, you silly bird," Mike lost his temper. "I just want to be normal. But who can be normal when everything changes so fast?"
 
 

"So you would like to shrink, wouldn't you?" asked the gull, settling on Mike's chest.
 
 

"I... I guess so."
 
 

The four birds appeared again, circled Mike, and once again shot out of sight. Suddenly, Mike was once again the same size as Mrs. Murphy and Leroy -- whatever size that was.
 
 

"That really feels good, doesn't it?" asked Mrs. Murphy, smiling.
 
 

"What?" asked Mike.
 
 

"Shrinking, of course," answered Mrs. Murphy.
 
 

"That hawk really knows his stuff," said Leroy, doing back flips.
 
 

"How big am I? How big are you?" asked Mike, confused. "How big are Mom and Dad and Aunt Maggie? Am I a giant? Am I as small as a mouse? Am I some kind of a freak? What are you doing to me? What's going to happen to me when I get out of here?"
 
 

"What a silly, silly boy," squawked the gull, flying off.
 
 

"I want my Mommy! I want my Daddy!" screamed Mike, rolling on his back, shaking and kicking.
 
 

"Grow up, kid," said Leroy.
 
 

"I don't want to grow up!"
 
 

"Then grow down," suggested Mrs. Murphy. "You have to grow one way or the other. You can't stay still in a high rise."

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