Officer Smitty and the Growth Suit

While she was walking, she saw something shiny hiding under a bush next to the sidewalk. It was round, metal, and had large holes. To Isabella, it did not look like a ball. To her, it looked like an astronaut costume. It looked like it cost a lot of money. This was the point that Isabella had a problem. She liked the costume. It was shiny and had a pale blue light that shone on the inside. It was pretty. She also knew that it was too nice for someone to throw away. She thought maybe she should tell a grown-up about it. It was a hard choice for Isabella. It might be a hard choice for you, too. Isabella knew the right answer was to tell a grown-up about it, but today, Isabella made a bad choice. She took the shiny ball, which I am sure by now, you have figured out was the shrinking machine that fell out of Anna the scientist’s car. Isabella put the machine in her backpack. Her backpack looked silly since it was so big now that she almost could not zip it up. Isabella headed to school, holding the books that used to be in her backpack. She was excited now because she had a secret. Her huge backpack bounced up and down as she trotted along. Later that day, Isabella was at home in her room. She sat at her desk with the shrinking machine placed in front of her. She looked in wonder at the computer controls on the machine. She quickly figured out how to turn it on. She saw there was a switch that said “Inside” and “Outside.” She said, “Well, I am inside the house, so I guess that’s the right button.” She went and got her teddy bear that her father bought for her 5th birthday. It was a rather large stuffed bear and was nearly as large as she was. She still believed the machine was a costume. She had cleverly discovered that the holes in the machine were just right for her arms and head. The largest hole was where her body would go. She placed the machine on her teddy bear. She stepped back to look at it. She giggled and clapped with joy. It was the perfect space suit! Isabella said, “I wonder if the buttons do something special?” She pushed the first button. It said, “Reduce.” Isabella had no idea that word meant to be made smaller. The second button said, “Enlarge.” She did not know that word meant to make bigger. She said, “Well, let’s start with the first button. She pushed the Reduce button, remembering that it meant to make it smaller. When she pushed the Reduce button, another button slowly flashed with a green light that said, “Activate.” The soft, slow blinking of the green button invited her to push it. She pushed the button. A bright burst of light flashed inside the machine. Isabella saw her teddy bear disappear. She let out a gasp and cried out, “Teddy!” She leaned over the machine to look inside the hole on the top. In the light of the soft, blue glow in there, she saw her teddy bear had not disappeared, but it shrank. The bear was now the size of her hand. She became scared. Did she ruin her bear? She was about to cry when she thought if this suit could shrink him, it must be able to make him grow too. She pushed the “Enlarge” button and she pushed the “Outside” button. When she pressed the “Outside” button, she saw a blue laser beam shined out of the center of the suit. The laser did not do anything. It just shined. Isabella saw she could aim the laser by moving the part where it came out of the suit. Again, the “Activate” button glowed green. She pushed the button again. Isabella did not realize that she’d pointed the laser at a pencil on her desk. When she pushed the green button, a powerful beam of blue light flashed out and hit the pencil. It grew until it hit the wall on both sides of her room. The pencil was like a huge log that was as long as a car. The tip poked a hole in her wall with a crunch. Isabella’s mother called from downstairs, “Bella, Everything OK up there?” Isabella panicked, took her blanket off her bed, and covered the pencil. You could still see most of the pencil. “Everything’s fine up here, Mama,” Isabella shouted. She realized the “Inside” button could shrink things, and the “Outside” button could shoot the laser to shrink or grow things. So, she pushed the “Inside” button and pushed the green button. It was already set to “Enlarge,” which you remember means to make things get bigger. The machine flashed its blue light, and her teddy bear began to grow, but it became too big. Her bear was now bigger than her father. The machine, which Isabella thought was a suit, also got bigger when the teddy bear grew. It was at that moment that Isabella had her second bad idea of the day.