Work From Home (Chapter 16)

When he was raised up into view of all three women, Carl said or did nothing. He remained just as still while Tamatha held him out in the center of the table to be looked at like a zoo animal, while Blair laughed and clapped her hands, and while August studied him dispassionately over the rim of her glasses. All three of them were so exquisite, so imposing, and so much larger than life. Even when he was held out in the plush open plain of Tamatha’s palm, and watched his older daughter’s omnipotent fingers descending meaningfully toward him for collection of the offering, Carl did or said nothing. The words that came next from them passed into his ears without changing his expression or the remnants of his soul, instead just adding to the growing pile of awful truths he’d already have to live with forever, and festering.

This was the beginning of the end.

“It looks like you’ve done a very good job so far, Mom,” August said of her father, the same clinical calm in her tone never wavering. Her bespectacled gaze only briefly glanced Carl’s way where he was sprawled in her palm for scientific demonstration. She instead granted her attention and sophisticated knowledge to the more deserving parties in the room. “He’s already well-on his way to being in a highly malleable state, if he’s not there already. I’d judge him to be maybe at stage two already.”

“He seems pretty broken down now!” Blair observed. Neither did she look at Carl directly. “Does it really happen much more than this?”

“Oh, certainly it goes further. Just wait until you see. And he is broken, in a manner of speaking. You had some time with him yesterday, didn’t you?” August asked.

“Yep! Mom says I’ll have another turn after dinner, too. I’ve been waiting all day.”

“So you should know, then. You’re right. He is broken. But when you deal with things like these, the kind that have to be re-taught how to live for you and your feet, instead of for themselves, you have to redefine the word broken. It means something much different for them. Something we can’t even adequately describe with the English language yet. But we’re working on that.”

“How many stages are there, then, sweetie?” Tamatha questioned with superlative interest. The trio of ladies spoke as though Carl as an entity instead of an object had ceased to exist. “I imagine this is all necessary for us all to understand, going forward.”

“Technically there are five stages, just like grief, though there are other schools of thought among our community who share this information about whether there’s a sixth stage as well. I myself believe it’s possible, theoretically. The first stage change always comes quickly, shortly after the shrinkage takes place and usually within the first three days. It can happen even faster if done well, like it seems you two have done with Dad. That first change is always a special one, when you get to see them give up for the very first time. But there’s always more for you to look forward to. I’ll be able to show you later on with Dylan and Ronnie just how much further you can whittle them down, given the time and patience required for transition. Once you get a good look at all three of them together, you’ll see the difference right away. The later stages will require much more diligence to reach, though I can assure you from personal experience, it’s worth every ounce of effort. Dylan is on the verge of stage four now, and Ronnie is already there. They, even, still have yet to reach their final forms. Though, by no means do I want this to sound like work. It is, but it’s also the kind you’ll hardly notice once you get the hang of it. Now, obviously, it should feel like work for them, but not for you.”

August explained all this with the zip and collectedness of an infomercial hostess. Everyone present, Carl included, guessed this wasn’t the first time she’d provided this spiel to an audience.

“Huh!” Blair mumbled. She didn’t have much else to say, as she was now deeply entrenched in the possibilities laid before the family. Her blue-green gaze continually flitted from the dreamy space above the table, to her puny father himself where he sat prostrate in August’s open palm. The girl licked her lips, gnawing on another bite of her dinner, and far below the tabletop, Carl could hear the faint resonant echo of his younger daughter curling and popping her toe-joints, thinking of what she’d do next with her father when he was hers alone to use.

“This is all very fascinating, darling. There’s just so much to absorb, and so much I feel we have to learn from you,” Tamatha agreed. She, of course, seemed no less stunted by this breadth of insight than she was with the actual revelation of shrinking human beings. This was the most enthralled she’d been with anything even remotely related to her husband for the entire length of their sordid marriage, if not her whole life. “Do you think you could spend the night, August? I’m sure we would benefit immensely from your guidance and support, to make sure we’re starting off on the right “foot” from here.”

Three of the four members of the family shared a hearty, raucous chortle at this that brought happy tears to their sparkling eyes.

“I’d love to,” August affectionately declared, looking from her mother to her sister, now united in a way that was sure to strengthen their bond like never before. “You two show a real knack for this, and I’m sure that’s going to make you all the more effective once I’ve given you some directed training. There’s a great deal of nuance to our methods. What kinds of shoes to wear, the types of stockings and transportation modifications you can make, how and when to go bare, the best kinds of activities to sculpt a little mind like clay, and where exactly to keep the thing under you for maximum efficiency that’ll both re-educate it and allow you to enjoy the full benefits of its devotion. Then there’s sleeping arrangements, how to keep them sustained on a diet of mostly sweat and toejam, plus ways to replace arch support and insoles, on and on and on. This is practically its own language, really, with all the things I’m going to teach you. All the amazing things we’re going to use Dad for. I know if you keep up your enthusiasm, and learn to use the tools available to you, you’ll see him broken right into stage three by next month. After that, it’ll take a bit longer, as it does for all of his kind once they’re assigned to their proper place in the world, but please believe me, if you believe nothing else, when I say that it is so very worth the time it takes. But again, don’t look at it as work. I expect you’ll both take to all this like natural artists getting your hands on the brush for the first time.”

“Well, I, for one, couldn’t be more excited,” Tamatha announced.

“Me, too!” Blair chimed.

August nodded in solemn acceptance. For a second her palm bobbed gently in midair, hefting the empty husk of a man-turned-creature, and when she cast one final sober unsmiling look down at Carl, he saw it was with new eyes, like they’d never met before, and indeed, from what he knew was about to be done to him for the betterment of his wife and daughters, for all intents and purposes, he was a tiny stranger to them all.

“Let’s get started,” August insisted, closing her hand into a fist and ascending from the table along with the two newest members of her society. “I’ve said this so many times before, but it means more to me for you now than any of the others I’ve helped guide into the sisterhood: Welcome, Mom and Blair, to the club.”

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THE END (but not the last of this particular world)