Read Online Shrunk! by F. R. Hitchcock - Free Book Online Page A

I’m a genius, see? Have you got the games?’
    â€˜As you’re a genius, have you found Jupiter?’
    Jacob slaps himself on the forehead. ‘Oh – I forgot to tell you . . . It was in the . . . Of course not, you idiot. Anyway, they’ve told us all about it on the radio. It seems that we’re most likely to be spattered with asteroids and comets before catapulting into the sun and roasting. Oh, and the Taj Mahal’s been destroyed, and the Arizona desert now looks like Eric’s skin and worst of all, a huge piece of rock has broken off from the Asteroid Belt and is on a collision course with Earth.’
    â€˜Oh.’
    â€˜And it’s due to hit Earth the day after tomorrow, 2nd November.’ Jacob sounds quite pleased. As if he doesn’t really live on Earth.
    â€˜That’s my birthday.’
    â€˜Sorreee.’
    I now feel completely sick. I really would like to go to bed until my birthday, and I’d like someone else to sort this whole thing out. And I’d like Jacob to go away.
    We’ve spent an hour searching the floor for Jupiter, or at least I have. Jacob’s been slurping oxtail soup and singing Queen’s back catalogue in a squeaky helium voice.
    He’s got the top of the little games console open, and he’s catching babies. It looks like a widescreen TV next to him.
    â€˜Still no games?’ he says, just like Tilly would.
    â€˜I’m going for a wee,’ I say.
    â€˜What about the squirrel?’
    I look around the bedroom for a secure place to put Jacob. I spot a blob of chewing gum that I stuck to the mirror last week. ‘Here – this’ll keep you safe.’ I take it, stick it in my mouth and chew until it goes soft and stick it to his back. Then I press him to the wall over the washbasin.
    I
do
put the plug in.
    â€˜Hey! You can’t leave me like this!’ But I can, and I turn on the radio, really loudly, and slip out of the door.

Chapter 23
    I can’t get to sleep. I don’t think Jacob can either, although at one point I hear tiny snoring. But I suppose it could be the squirrel. Jacob’s on the windowsill by my bed now, sleeping in one of my socks.
    I can’t stop thinking about Grandma and shrinking. She must have shrunk loads of things. All the Christmas trees in the model village, the tiny gnomes in the tiny crazy golf, the street parties – all of that fiddly stuff must have been her.
    And I’d always thought she was just weird.
    When I do sleep, I dream that I miss my birthday. That I wake up and the whole day’s gone past, and everyone’s forgotten about it. Then I dream that Mr and Mrs Magic do a birthday party for me, and invite the whole school, and I go and I’m only wearing my pants and I wake up sweating. I lie awake staring at the meteor showers, and I must fall asleep again because this time I dream of giant asteroids crashing into Australia – I can tell it’s Australia because the streets are bounding with koalas and the trees hang with kangaroos.
    I get up half a dozen times in the night to look for Jupiter in different places in my room.
    The last dream I have before morning is of Grandma, peering into my ears and pulling out my thoughts with a crochet hook. It’s really scary. When the alarm goes off, Jacob’s sleeping like a baby on my pillow, his face all spattered with Grandma’s oxtail soup. He liked it so much he climbed into the mug to lick up the last bits.
    Ugh.
    Tilly’s up early too. She’s got music playing in her room and I can hear her dancing.
    â€˜She’s in there – get the games off her, will you?’
    â€˜No – I’m going to look for Jupiter.’
    â€˜I’ll scream, I’ll get Granny.’
    I knock on Tilly’s door, and try to push it open, but it’s barricaded. ‘Tilly, have you got the games?’
    â€˜Go