The next few days were terrible for me, even though Lou didn't follow through on his threat and just ignored me as soon as my ex-boyfriend left, as he otherwise did with all the tiny men and women he displayed in the store. He followed a daily routine: in the mornings he would inspect us closely (sometimes even using a magnifying glass), I guess looking for any marks or symptoms of illness. After that he would leave us a tiny cup with water and another with some kind of feed, disgusting in appearance and taste, but which, being the only food we had, we all ate voraciously. I later learned that it was a soluble compound containing all the nutrients a body needs. We had to be healthy if he wanted to make a good sale with us. In the evening he would stop by the cages again and drop off two new cups of water and food.
Other than that, the giant shopkeeper totally ignored us. When he inspected us, I would try with all my might to ask him to let me go, that I had been cheated, that he should find someone from my family or friends, that I would pay him anything... he never paid the slightest attention to me, although I am sure that, from so close, it was impossible for him not to hear me. The truth is that I wasn't too surprised. He must have been completely used to that kind of pleading and, besides, he had already made it clear to me on my first visit to the store that we were not human beings to him. Do you know what it's like to be locked up, without even being able to see the sunlight, without the slightest interaction with other humans, with absolutely nothing to do, for hours on end? Your head feels like it's going to explode. At least convicts are allowed to go out for a few hours in the yard, take a walk... we were too insignificant to deserve such a privilege. On the other hand, our cages were far enough apart from each other to make communication between us almost impossible. Only by yelling could we get our closest companions in misfortune to listen to us. It was so hard that I soon gave up, all the more so since, in our desolate state, most of them didn't feel much like chatting either.
Throughout the store's opening hours, various giants passed by, looking at the "merchandise". It was not a large clientele. Let's not forget that we were luxury goods. Few people could afford to pay our price. Nevertheless, there was a certain movement of people of very varied types: rich mothers with children, no doubt looking for "toys" for them, sinister looking guys who made us tremble about what they would do with one of us in their hands, some group of teenagers, more out of curiosity than anything else... Very occasionally one of the little ones was sold and Lou would take his cage and give it to the buyer. At first, I was really terrified of being sold, but as the hours and days went by, I began to want to get out of there any way I could, no matter how uncertain my future was in the hands of my buyer. So, every time a visitor appeared, I would stick to the bars and try my best to be noticed. Maybe he or she would be less ruthless than Lou and let me return to my normal size.
Four or five days had passed when one afternoon a customer came into the store. When I approached the bars, as I usually did, to get his attention, I saw something familiar in his gigantic figure. At my beckoning he came toward me, and as I saw his huge face approaching, my heart skipped a beat. It was my father!
-Dad, Dad... -I shouted madly- It's me, Dad!
-Artie, darling! -he exclaimed, with a beaming smile. I was surprised that he used my pet name. It had been a long time since he had called me that. Of course, now my pet name was literally a "pet name"-. It's you!
I started to speak in a rush, but he signaled that he didn't understand me. Then Lou appeared from behind him.
-Is that your son? -he asked.
-Yes, that's him. My God, I found him!
Lou then handed him an intercom, which my father put in his ear and gave me a tiny device, a kind of microphone. I immediately tried it:
-Dad, can you hear me?
-Yes, son -my father answered and continued talking agitatedly-. You see, since I couldn't believe what you were telling me in that email and I couldn't get through to you, this morning I went to see your boyfriend. He assured me again and again that you had voluntarily shrunk yourself and, moreover, that you had asked him to sell you, because you wanted to have an adventure in this size.
