Shrunk! Read Online Free

shore’s waving at it. Some people are weird. And in this village, they’re even weirder.
    In the distance are some sheep, and next to them are some cows, and Mr Burdock’s donkey. And a squirrel on the monkey puzzle tree.
    They’d be dead cute small.
    I don’t even think about it.
    Click
,
    Click
,
    Click
,
    Click
,
    Click
,
    Click
.
    â€˜Eeyore,’ squeaks the donkey and poos on the carpet.
    Yay!
    The tiny animals race round the floor, nuzzling at the carpet as if they could eat it. They’re really cute, but I think they’re also really hungry.
    Oh dear, I hadn’t thought about that. They’ll need something to eat. Grass? I chase them around the room and more tiny poos appear on the carpet.
    I’d forgotten they could poo.
    I corner a sheep, catching him with a glass and a piece of paper. He’s like a motorised piece of popcorn racing round and round, but I can’t keep him in a glass.
    I catch them one by one and collect them together in the lid of a box. Now I’ve got three pieces of popcorn running about. I trap the cows and donkey between my school shoes and drop them in the box. The squirrel’s run away already. I suppose squirrels don’t really mix with sheep and cows. I worry about its disappearance for about a nanosecond and address the problem of grass.
    It’s nearly dark, but so warm all the doors and windows are open. I slip out on to the landing, and tiptoe down the stairs. Dad’s stringing silk handkerchiefs together, and Mum’s flicking through playing cards.
    â€˜Hello, Tom, love,’ she says, calling me into the sitting room. ‘Everything all right?’
    â€˜Yes, Mum.’
    â€˜Lovely living here, isn’t it – the sea on your doorstep.’ She smiles and strokes my hair.
    I think of the skanky beach, the tar blobs on the pebbles, the stink of dead fish. ‘Yes, lovely.’
    â€˜Pick a card?’
    Mum holds out the cards. I pick one. Ace of diamonds.
    â€˜Now.’ Mum closes her eyes and waves her hands about. ‘Eight of clubs, you’ve got the eight of clubs.’
    â€˜No,’ I say, turning the card round so that she can see it.
    â€˜You’ve got the ace of diamonds?’ She looks puzzled. ‘I don’t understand, you shouldn’t have – what’s gone wrong?’
    I leave Mum staring at the pile of cards, and sneak over to the French windows.
    No sign of Grandma.
    I slip through, into the garden. Behind the miniature bowling green is a miniature meadow. I grab some handfuls of grass and swing round to run back into the house. But Grandma’s standing in the doorway, looking expectant.
    I hang on to the grass, though I’d like to drop it. ‘For Tilly’s Woodland Friends,’ I say, and charge past.
    But I notice that she’s got my school bag, with all the pockets undone, as if she’s looking for something.

Chapter 7
    I get up early and shrink a model dinosaur. It’s really small, so I put it in the capsule with Jupiter.
    â€˜Baa.’
    My little animals are racing round their pen, so I give them some more grass and hide them under the bed.
    Mum’s trying on a pumpkin suit.
    â€˜What d’you think, Tom?’
    It’s not a good look. ‘Lovely, Mum.’
    They’re doing a Halloween performance in the town hall tonight. I wish they wouldn’t.
    Grandma’s putting saucepans away, noisily. The man on the radio’s droning on about something, but with Grandma crashing about, I can’t really hear. My breakfast is cereal from a cracked bowl, eaten with a serving spoon which might once have had a silver coating, but is all scratchy and coppery now. It’s too big for my mouth and tastes weird.
    â€˜. . .
And we’re going over live to our reporter, John King at the University of Manchester . . .
’
    Crash. Grandma drops the roasting pan.
    â€˜So, Tom, dear – the other night