RR Nina Beckett - Chapter 15

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Reduction & Relocation: Nina Beckett

Chapter 15 - Days Go By

[February 06, 2010]

Good news and bad news.  Good news first.  

Very early on in Jenna’s walk home, David had become dislodged from between her thick, sweaty toes.  

But the bad news…his soaking wet, sweaty body had become adhered to a disgusting cluster of dirt, detritus, deteriorating insole, and general foot funk.  And that clustered mix of biomass and earth had wedged itself, along with David, into one of the fractures running along the toe section of Jenna’s sneaker.  He spent the entire trip back, ironically enough, adhered to Jenna’s insole…but this time through natural means.  As disgusted as David was to admit it, the cluster of Jenna’s toe jam was keeping him relatively safe as the thunderous toes pounded overhead.  And the mass was soft, giving way easily enough to allow David to voluntarily immerse himself deeper for its inherent protection.  

It wouldn’t be until she got back to her apartment and kicked her shoes off that David could even consider freeing himself.  Once again, his insole floor had now become an insole wall, and he was suspended in place. After several hours of impatiently waiting, forced to watch Jenna move freely and gracefully through her apartment space, enjoying her weekend, the bond of dirt, grime, sweat, and dead skin against the worn, beaten sole finally began to weaken.  David believed it to be that the dead skin of Jenna’s feet was drying and cooling and therefore the biomass was shrinking in size (irony!).  It gave the imprisoning mass of foot funk enough clearance for David to un-wedge it from the insole crack.  And now David had enough room to wriggle out of the company of his peers and David plummeted down.  The disgusting concoction caked his naked body from head to toe, and still may as well have been concrete to the 1/32” tall man.  With so little energy remaining, David finally scraped the last remnants of Jenna’s dead foot skin and lint from his body.

His instincts demanded that he continue his trek.  Remember, the shoe was on its side so David was walking along the inside edge of Jenna’s sneaker.  He avoided the perilous eyelets where, despite a thick white lace’s presence, there was plenty of room for him to fall through and get stuck.

After nearly an hour, David made it to the base of the shoe.  He could see the opening.  The lights in Jenna’s living room were out and the sun was beginning to set.  David’s instincts told him to free himself.  To take a few steps forward and jump, leaving the hellish, smelly sneaker.  Freedom from Jenna’s feet was right there…he could see it. He could practically taste it!

But he didn’t jump.  He couldn't.

If he jumped, there was no way he could get back into Jenna’s sneaker.  Sure, that sounded like a dream come true, but what if he needed to get back in?

David realized he had no idea what else was in Jenna’s apartment.  For all he knew, there could be a hungry cat roaming the corridors.  A warring bug ready to devour him, a flea looking for a fight.  Not to mention Jenna could have gotten up out of bed at any moment and trampled him.  Getting lost in Jenna Hernandez’s apartment was not the way to get out of this horrifying shrunken situation. Getting back to the lab was the only thing that could help him.  Specifically, getting back to Dr. Bexley. 

And how was he going to get back to her?  David cringed, his heart fighting the logical answer his brain was putting forth. 

He had to stay put.  He had to stay in Jenna’s sneaker.

For come Monday morning, she would wear it back to RR Labs.  And he’d have to just hope that Dr. Bexley had noticed his absence and would be looking for him.

Hell, maybe he could even take part in seeing to that demented goth chick getting punished.  This was all her fault, after all…and she deserved to be fired for this. 

As much as he hated himself for the decision he’d made, and as much as his heart screamed to him that he was a fool, blowing this one opportunity to get away from the women of RR Labs for good, David retreated back into Jenna’s sneaker. He trekked deep into the toe section, hoping to find some semblance of warmth.  He couldn’t believe that he was wishing for Jenna’s sock to cover him once more.

          *

The Next Morning (02/07/2010)

          *

“Hey Dr. Walker!  Yes, yes! I’m up!  I’m about to walk out the door now, I’ll see you there!”

The sound of Jenna’s heavy footsteps throughout her apartment jolted little David awake.  She only came into his view a few times and each time she did, Jenna was moving quickly.  “Shoot, I can’t believe I overslept!” Jenna continued to chastise herself as she grabbed a pair of nylon running shorts out of her unfolded clean laundry hamper.  David watched the shorts tighten the further up her hips they shimmied, finally settling snugly with very little slack over her expansive glutes.  The carpeted floor kissed her bare soles with every noisy step as she sorted out the rest of her rushed morning ritual. She had her phone, she had her keys, and she had her purse. And David’s heart began pounding when her eyes aligned with the last thing she needed.

The vibrations of her heavy bare-footed footfalls reverberated through David’s bones, not helping at all with his trembling as she gently kicked her shoes over so that the opening was pointing straight up.  David tumbled clumsily, loosely rattling about inside the sneaker just like when Jane dropped him in just a million years ago.  This time, however, he didn’t have the Elmer’s glue to hold him firmly.  He stared up in abject horror as five bare toes barged into the opening, followed by an immense, smooth sole. He didn’t get a chance to observe the heel, for her chubby naked toes had already scooped David up and rammed him down to the deep recesses of the pink Nike sneaker.  

Ask an anthropologist what separates a human being from animals.  They’ll give you a bunch of things for sure but if they’re worth their salt, one of those answers will be ‘the ability to detect patterns.’

David, who still considered himself a human at least for now, detected a quite prevalent pattern.  For every experience he was non-consensually subjected to, there was always another right around the corner prepared to have him looking back with rose-tinted glasses.

The abrasion of Jenna’s gray sock against his skin was rough and difficult to tolerate, sure, but that was nothing compared to gallons of sweat pouring off the Hispanic intern’s toes at yesterday’s 5k.  And now it was happening all over again.  At first, David identified and appreciated that Jenna had actually taken a shower since the 5k.  He would have even gone as far to describe–albeit begrudgingly–that Jenna’s feet actually smelled nice.

But oh, that did not last.  

The familiar, musky natural scent overpowered her fruity lotion and soap quickly, and it brought back with it the slick sweat.  And now he heard Dr. Walker’s voice.  The two were off running, and going much faster than Jenna and Sarah had gone at the 5k.  

The sweat was literally falling like a torrential downpour over David’s poor naked body.  Any time he tried to move from out between her toes, she’d take another huge leap of distance for her run, either sending David deeper between her toes or dislodging him, but never outside of contact with her bare foot.  The heat was sweltering and oppressive.  The air may as well have been that of the beach, considering how much humidity and salt was floating around in vapor form.  

Somehow David fell into a rhythm during the run, occasionally being able to sandwich himself deep between the Hispanic girl’s toes.  The most embarrassing part of that, though, would have been the toe lint he was once again joining–once again fusing with.  

The toe lint must have had the same idea, huh?  Was David the same as toe lint now?  He was stuck between a pretty girl’s toes who had no idea.  Maybe he really was among his peers here.  Another droplet of sweat accrued and rolled, absorbing David into its epicenter before colliding with the sole and absorbing into the already damp cushiony foam.  Only when it disappeared into the sole, contributing its own small part to the continued discoloration and dirtiness of David’s floor did the droplet actually choose to release him.  But it was on the next step that Jenna’s wet toes, glistening with salt scooped little David up again, hell bent on playing with him as she ran. 

Did he make a mistake in remaining with the sneaker?  He did it for Dr. Bexley..and for his future so the answer was no, right?

The mouthful of salt and foot funk lent to a more critical look at his decisions. Was it a stupid decision to voluntarily wait here for that massive bare foot?  Those five bullying toes so eager to smash him?  Yes, it was a stupid decision…but they were his decisions. His autonomy was mostly gone and he never realized how much he’d miss the simplicity of a simple decision.  Even though it could have been the worst…well..second worst decision of his life, there was some comfort and strength in knowing he was making them.  Another mouthful of toe liquid he couldn’t avoid.  David couldn't even keep his eyes open anymore due to the brine biting at his eyeballs. Not that open eyes would have mattered anyway. He’d been consumed by the growing ball of lint and detritus, absorbing the staggering humidity as well as David’s heart and soul, sapping him of the very limited strength he still had. 

Maybe it was better that he couldn’t see.  Once you see sweat droplets the size of school buses literally seeping through the soft and velvety skin of a girls’ toes, you don’t need to see it again.

          *

The Next Morning (02/08/2010)

          *

David cried as Jenna latched her small purple locker shut and left the RR Labs locker room.  His tears were a complicated mixture of joy and hope–a desire to believe that this horrifying chapter of his life was over.  Another part of him cried at the inevitability of Jane coming in, retrieving his loose body from the shoe and subjecting him to something else terrible.  Or worse…what if he just stayed in here for Jenna’s entire workday…and he only emerged from this locker when she was going home.  And then he’d start the whole process over again.  What if that was his life now?  Adhered to a foot.

No…he couldn’t handle another second of that…let alone a lifetime.

He made several promises to himself.  If he were to get rescued by someone out of this godforsaken, vinegary, salt-water flavored sneaker, then he swore he would do everything in his power to avoid Brandi.  The girl was sweet and friendly, but clearly the Kitten from Hell was having NONE of that. 

His cries stopped the moment he heard the locker room door opening and the shuffling of flats against the polished linoleum floor.  David’s heart felt like it was about to explode. Depending on which woman this was would dictate how he’d spend the next day.  Or the next week.  Or the rest of his life.  These women had so much power over him it wasn’t even funny.  It wasn’t even surreal.  It wasn’t even believable.  He’d lost everything to them.  And now he was praying for the ‘good witch’ to show up instead of the ‘bad witch’.

Like all the employee lockers in the RR Labs locker room, Jenna Hernandez’s locker was unlocked.  Dr. Bexley felt some sense of regret for taking advantage of staff trust, but this was very important!  

“It’s not as if we’re taking anything from her.” Dr. Bexley reasoned with Rose as the two approached the bank of purple lockers.  

“Oh, I completely agree, Dr. Bexley.” Rose said.  “I mean, it's not like he belongs to Jenna…and I doubt that Jenna even knows that he’s there.”

Dr. Bexley found a pair of jeans, a pair of very small nylon shorts, and a few textbooks.  “Oh dear…she did wear them today, didn’t she?”

Rose frowned.  “She runs with Dr. Walker on Monday mornings..and I’ve only ever seen her wear those pink NIkes.”

“Maybe she was still wearing them?”  

Not this again…Dr. Bexley was about to give up and look for Jenna when she saw, toward the back, a glimmer of pale pink.  

“Yes!” 

Her hand darted into the purple locker and removed Jenna’s Nike sneakers. She went directly for the left sneaker, carefully removing the balled up, damp gray sock from the sneaker and peered in.

Anyone not knowing exactly what they were looking for would have dismissed the tiny little speck in the toe section of Jenna’s sneakers as dirt, toe lint, or maybe even a fleck of the Hispanic intern’s dried skin.  Dr. Bexley, however, knew that the speck atop the expansive sole was David.

She immediately felt a swell of relief radiate out from her chest as she let out a long, breathy sigh.  “David…I’m so glad you’re still here.”

He was huddled up at the base of Jenna’s sneaker, perhaps deliberately as far from the toe section as he could possibly get.

“Listen, I owe you an apology.” Dr. Bexley gently tilted the sneaker, allowing David to tumble into her open hand, along with a few slightly larger grains of dirt. “I spoke with Jane about the mistake.  You should know that she feels terrible about it.”

“Look how excited he is!” Rose giggled.  It looked as if David was waving his arms. Probably elated at this recovery and apology!

“I had a verbal counseling with her…don’t worry, it was informal..nothing that’s going to go on her record; we all make mistakes, after all.  And I understood where she was coming from as I’m sure you will as well.  She said that Laura’s slippers were not available and she decided to…pardon the pun…but ‘think on her feet’.”

“And I suppose the glue, while strong enough for Laura’s sedentary desk job, clearly couldn’t compete with Jenna’s active lifestyle.”  Rose peered in at the cracked, worn sole, her nose wrinkling in disgust at the pungent aroma.  “Yeah, not even a fleck of it left here…long gone, I’m sure.”

“Anyway, I just wanted you to know that both Jane and I are very sorry that this happened the way that it did.  She also expressed sympathy for wearing the toe ring while you were inside of it but you know what?  Truly positive people can always find a silver lining and you know what, there’s a silver lining here as well!  I don’t want to give you any false information because everything is still so up-in-the-air, but Jane was inspired by the experience of wearing you and let me just tell you, it’s going to be a great experiment to run!”

Dr. Bexley sweetly deposited David back into the toe ring and capped the jewel overtop, sealing him in safety.  “But we can talk more about that later, my little Employee of the Month.  You’ve had a VERY busy weekend so we’re going to give you the whole day off today…how’s that sound?  And then tomorrow morning, bright and early after you’re nice and rested, we’re going to start putting things in place for Jane’s idea.  I’ll give you a hint…Dr. Becotte wanted to go first and considering the circumstances, it’s only fair to let her!” 

          *

Nine Days Later (02/17/2010)

          *

“I really appreciate this, Carla. I suppose this will be your first time meeting David?”

“Oh, we’ve met.” The redhead chuckled.  “I just wore him yesterday.”

David winced and blushed, his mind immediately returning to the day before when Dr. Stanhope had signed up to check him out. Yet another foot he called home for the day. The redheaded doctor’s toes were much longer than Jenna’s, and they were porcelain-pale, fair as her face.

David’s return to RR Labs nine days ago, despite all the factors working against him, was nothing short of a miracle. While he’d accepted that Jane wouldn’t be punished for her ‘mistake’ or ‘overstepping’ or whatever the hell else Dr. Bexley justified it as, David was beyond despondent to learn that Jane was actually being praised.

And what was she being praised for?

Why, a brand new experiment of course! Dr. Bexley would not stop going on and on (and on…and on…and on) about how creative and genius it was. The funny part was that Dr. Bexley had no idea just how genius Jane’s plan actually was…but let’s come back to that!

Apparently Jane had been working for years on creating gyroscopic monitoring sensors and then reducing the footprint.  It had been her freshman design project in college and the pet project continued on with RR Labs.  While David was subjected to the worst weekend of his life, literally trapped between Jenna’s bare toes, forced to breathe, smell, and even taste the oblivious hispanic intern’s foot, Jane was hard at work in her apartment.  

Motivated by her hatred for David, Jane pulled two all-nighters, restructuring the gyroscopic sensors and cutting their footprint just enough that they could fit inside Dr. Becotte’s toe ring.  And just like that, “Project GyroToes” was born.  

A presentation was quickly put together and the idea pitched at the quarterly Board of Investor meetings. The idea was presented as a way of counting steps, gait analysis for movement patterns of the foot, balance stability, and even the impact of different types of footwear.  The Board of Investors were always on the lookout for fresh, new ideas that could offset the cost of their investments in RR Labs which, they all understood, had a remarkably slow…return on investment.  

They simply loved the idea, several of the women even opting to try the toe ring on just for the novelty of wearing it and watching the metric values flow on the screen like the bright green characters in The Matrix movies.  Of course they may not have been so excited about it had they not known of the tiny, near microscopic man confined within the jewel.  Those women…jeez…they were so different from the ladies of RR Labs.  They seemed so much more..powerful–dangerous…and they knew it, too.  

David even swore he recognized one of the women.  She might have been around his mom’s age although she looked great.  Nice hair, pretty smile, and as she removed her pumps and slid David onto her toe, David recognized that her feet were very well taken-care of.  Honestly, of all the business women that tried him on, he minded hers the least…even if she did take off her nylons first and then put them back on over top of him.

“Someone needs to monitor the sensors and recalibrate if necessary.”  David had to admit that Jane was a good public speaker (when not trying to stammer and stumble through a conversation with Brandi).  Everyone at the presentation (except for David, of course) completely accepted that it would naturally be his responsibility to remain inside the jewel while it was worn and maintain the integrity of the sensing equipment.

David realized Jane’s cunning, devious ploy shortly after “Project GyroToes” was greenlit when he was worn in an official capacity for the first time. His first time was with none other than Dr. Bexley.  He didn’t know whether to feel betrayal or affection as she gently slid the toe ring on , her toes so much smaller than Dr. Becotte’s that she had to slide the ring on her big toe. He begrudgingly acknowledged to himself that Jane’s sensor design was revolutionary.  She’d earned her keep at RR Labs for sure…why did his keep have to involve so much humiliation and degradation?  David sat cross-armed, pouting and stubbornly refusing to calibrate the equipment as required.  

But remember earlier when David recognized how cunning and devious Jane was shortly after “Project GyroToes” was greenlit?  

The sensing equipment was so well put together that it was completely self-sustaining and could even self-calibrate–a feature that she failed to mention in the presentation.  She also didn’t mention that the equipment was tamper proof.  

David had not once had to intervene with the sensing equipment and it became clear, after four hours trapped in Dr. Bexley’s purple sock hugging her big toe, that his stay inside this toe ring was not to preserve the equipment or advance this cutting-edge experiment.  

He was here for one reason and one reason only…to satisfy Jane’s desire for revenge.  

It really was genius. 

“Oh, that’s great. What’d you think of it?” Dr. Bexley asked as she sat down and slid her black flat off her left foot.  

“The metrics were really interesting.  I think there’s definitely something marketable there.” Dr. Stanhope grinned down at the raven-haired doctor’s comparatively tiny, round toes wiggling out of her purple sock.  “How many times is that for you?”

“Just three or four, I think.” Dr. Bexley removed the toe ring from her foot, leaving the faintest trace of the band’s several-hour hug around the base of her second toe.  She held it up to peer inside.  

There he was.

Right where she’d left him at 7AM that morning, David was staring out at her, his tiny little hands pressing against the pale pink jewel. 

“Oh, that’s a lot of toe-time for him.” Dr. Stanhope chuckled.  “Wear him any longer, he’s gonna develop a crush. Foot pheromones are a thing, look ‘em up.” 

Dr. Bexley brought the ring closer to her eyes and it wasn’t until her long lashes were flicking against the face of the jewel that she could make out the face of the tiny man encased within.  What if Dr. Stanhope was right?  What if David was catching feelings for her?  Dr. Bexley wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but a small part of her wanted not to hand him over to Dr. Stanhope.  A part of her wanted to slide him back on her toe, conceal him within her socks, and keep him close to her.

Dr. Stanhope accepted the toe ring into her hand and with a polite laugh, Dr. Bexley was quick to redirect the conversation.  “So the ballistics are set, then?”

“So, the ballistics are set then.” Dr. Stanhope’s voice brought Dr. Bexley back to the moment–back to the lab.  The red-headed doctor was holding out her hand.  “May I?”

Dr. Bexley’s fingers gently released their grip on the toe ring and tilted it slowly so that it slid into Dr. Stanhope’s open palm, changing David’s custody from one woman to another.

Dr. Stanhope’s pale fist partially closed in around the toe ring, securing it within a cage of dainty fingers.  “It’s a shame you won’t be able to observe.”

“Ah, I wish I could!” Dr. Bexley frowned. “Unfortunately, I’m catching an overnight flight out to California.  Participant house call tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, with who?”

“Fran Burlusconi.”

“Oh, I should have figured it out when you said California! That sounds like fun; you’ll have to tell Fran I said hello!”

“Sure, it’s always nice catching up with old friends.” Dr. Bexley looked down at the toe ring, cradled in Dr. Stanhope’s hand.  David had been a trooper up to this point…but he was going to have a hard time with this one.  Maybe it was best that she wasn’t going to be there.

“Oh, please send my regards to Dr. Stirling as well!” Dr. Stanhope shouted before Dr. Bexley rounded the corner. The raven-haired doctor shot an eye roll and smirk while the redhead let out a hearty and mean-spirited laugh.

~