CAFE Blues (Part 4)

[Jaypat]

I used to think I was so into Sky that it didn’t matter what he talked about, I could listen to him for hours. He was quickly proving me wrong.

I had only stayed at CAFE headquarters for a short while after my growth spurt, just long enough for to find out where the clinic was and for Shepherd to come up with a fake name for me.

“How about Sam Short?” asked Shepherd.

Was he kidding? “Why not Spencer Spy or maybe Arnie Agent? Can you come up with something a little less freaking obvious?”

“Ok, what do you want to be called?”

“Well, I’ve always liked the name Brian. I guess could be Brian, and my dad’s name is Peter. How about Peterson?”

“Very good. Brian Peterson,” he said writing it down. “That seems completely unremarkable, very un-spy-like.”

Something was wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it but I knew that something was not quite the way it should be. But Sky was there and he looked excited. I’d like to say he looked happy, but I suddenly realized that I’d never seen him smile.

Shepherd wrote down the clinic’s address on a piece of paper and gave it to me. “Be there at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning. We’ll have everything fixed by then.” I yawned. I was really tired. I guess there’s something about growing that really takes it out of you.

“One more thing,” said Shepherd. “I need you to promise that no matter how things turn out, no matter what happens, you will give me a blood sample.”

Wow. That seemed ominous. What did he think was going to happen? But it didn’t really matter. I was committed to the plan despite any risks. I just had to find a way to grow. I just had to, and a blood sample wasn’t any big deal to me, so… “Sure,” I said.

“I want your word of honor on this,” he said.

“Sure,” I said. Word of honor. Whatever.”

“Ok, I’m going to hold you to it.”

“Ok,” I said yawning big time.

“Come on,” said Sky. “I’ll see you home.”

As much as I wanted sleep, I couldn’t go straight home. I had to make a stop first. “Does this college have a cafeteria?” Thanks to my growth spurt, I was still incredibly hungry.

“Sure,” said Sky. “I’ll buy you lunch.”

I didn’t think I could have had a better offer. But as soon as I got my three trays of food, (That had to be some kind of a record for me; usually I ate like a bird.), I began to rethink my assumption. From the minute we sat down, Skyler started talking about Shepherd. Isn’t Shepherd great? Wasn’t Shepherd brilliant? Didn’t he have the kindest, most selfless goals? He is so accomplished. He’s won this academic award and that academic scholarship and someday he’ll squat down to take a shit, and out will pop a Nobel Prize. (I actually added the last part, myself.) God, I was so sick of hearing about Shepherd.

I tried to change the subject to movies or music or video games, but it was no use. All roads lead back to Shepherd.

“How old is he anyway?” I asked, stifling a yawn. Damn, I was getting sleepy.

“Twenty-four.”

“Twenty-four? He’s eight whole years older than you! When you’re his age, he’ll be… thirty-two! That’s practically middle aged.”

“So?” asked Sky, a little defensively. “What has that got to do with anything?”

Oops. “Nothing!… I just thought I’d mention it… you know… in case…you know… it ever became important…”

“Why would it become important?” he asked sharply.

.“Ah… I don’t know.” I yawned again. I couldn’t help it. Now that my hunger was gone my exhaustion was sneaking up on me. “Look, I’m finished eating and I really should be getting home. Can we leave now?”

“Sure.” Sky was looking at me strangely, and I had a feeling I had narrowly dodged a bullet. What was I thinking? Skyler probably wasn’t going to admit to me or anybody else how he felt about Shepherd, and here was I, talking about it like it was the fucking weather. What an idiot!

I let out a huge stifling yawn and suddenly, I felt incredibly sleepy. I could barely keep my eyes open. Then it happened. I began to feel all my muscles start to contract again. What the fuck? Was this supposed to happen? Shepherd didn’t say anything about another spurt. My head dropped. I looked down at my plate and spied a large dollop of mashed potatoes, and it was coming closer and closer and… THUNK. Great. All over my face. I rolled onto the floor as my limbs were pulled back into a fetal position and I started trembling again. And I became instantly horny. I got rock hard. My first thought was, fuck, I’ve already gone through my underwear, but then it started to feel really, really good, and pretty soon I just went with it. And the feeling just built and built and got more and more intense, and this time I was pretty sure I could feel myself growing; my arms and legs were pumping up harder and thicker like swelling iron rods, and that shooting pain now felt more like stretching, and my dick was so hard and getting harder and fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I was going to blow! Any second! OH…OH…FUCK! It exploded. It felt like a pleasure bomb had just gone off in my pants, and my cock kept shooting and shooting, completely out of control. I was shaking with the force of it. When it finally subsided, I looked up, gasping. The pleasure was fading and I felt like I’d just run a triathlon. Every muscle was aching and I was completely spent. Sky and a small crowd of gawking people were gathered around me.

“He’ll be fine,” I heard Sky say. “He has these seizures all the time.”

Yeah, if only. And just as I thought that the exhaustion claimed me and everything faded.

My eyes fluttered open. What happened? I remembered keeling over right into my mashed potatoes. I passed my hand across my face, but there was no sign of any residual vegetable. But where was I? I looked around. It was dark. I could just make out that I was in a strange bedroom, covered with a blanket and lying on top of someone’s made bed. Holy crap, I was completely naked!

I quickly sat up, gathering the blanket around me. I half expected to be doused in cum from my growth seizure, but I was clean, a little too clean and my hair was damp. Fuck. Someone had bathed me. I quickly decided I didn’t want to know who.

I spotted a window. It was dark outside. Oh my God, what time was it? I could make out a lamp on the bedside table and I turned it on. It was someone’s room alright, obviously a guy’s. The untidy piles of books everywhere and the absence of anything frilly told me that much. A clock told me it was 4:43 pm. The sun must have just set.

I stood up and got a closer look at the place. In a second, I realized where I was; it must be Shepherd’s room. Terrific. I looked at some of the photos he had on the desk and tables. There was Shepherd graduating from somewhere. Here he was getting an award. There was one of him lying down in traffic—obviously some kind of protest. Why couldn’t the damn cars have just kept going? But in all the photos, I couldn’t help noticing the figure that was always with him. He was a really short, skinny, good looking guy. It must have been Benz before whatever happened, happened. God, he did kind of look like me. And he looked so happy and normal in the photos. It was hard to imagine he was the same guy as that creepy shriveled thing. There was another one of Benz and Shepherd, arms across each other’s shoulders, in some bar, obviously drunk off their asses. And here was another one of them—holy fuck, they were lip locked! Ok, I’d seen enough. Time to move on.

There was a full length mirror on the back side of one of the doors. I couldn’t resist. I dropped the blanket and had a good look. Wow. I had bulked up a little. My muscles were no longer just traces; they were easily identifiable—not huge or even big by any stretch of the imagination, but they were definitely clear and present, and I couldn’t take my eyes off them. I was bigger. A slow smile spread across my face. This was awesome.

I flexed my arm and watched my bicep swell up into a golf ball sized lump. Wow. I felt like a monster. I ran my fingers over it. It was hard like a golf ball, too. I got a little stiff. Naturally I had to go through the entire posing routine again. I had to see exactly how much lumpier I had gotten, and I had definitely gotten lumpier and I could even see a couple of thin line-like veins running along my limbs. Cool.

Suddenly I heard the sound of clapping coming from behind me. I whirled around. It was Shepherd.

“Very nice,” he said, smirking. “Nine point nine for both style and enthusiasm, but were going to have to work a little on the rest.”

I felt my face turning beet red. “How long were you there?” I said quickly pulling the blanket back up around me.

“Only a minute, but I think it was the best minute.”

“You could have said something.”

“Sorry, it’s just for a second there, you reminded me of someone else.”

I was pretty sure I could guess who. “I’m not him.”

He sighed. “That is only too obvious.” He tossed me something he’d been holding. My clothes. The fresh, clean smell of detergent told me they had just been laundered. Even my underwear was there. I clutched them tightly to me while still wrapped in the blanket.

“What are you waiting for?” asked Shepherd. “Oh, I see. You want some privacy.” He smiled like it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. “Fine, I’ll wait downstairs. Skyler will be relieved. Poor Sky was pretty upset when he carried you back here, covered in mashed potatoes and spunk. It made an interesting combination, though.”

Sky carried me?! And I missed it?!

“You looked really sweet while he was cleaning you off.”

Holy fuck! Sky had bathed me? ...And I slept through it!

For some reason he took a step toward me, but I took a step back and he stopped. “Anyway, I’ll leave you alone to get dressed.” He chuckled as he left the room and suddenly I realized he must have been there when Sky was washing me. I guess I had no secrets from him, now. I lost no time in pulling my clothes on. Just being in Shepherd’s bedroom was weird enough. Being naked in Shepherd’s bedroom suddenly felt kind of freaky.

I opened the door and stepped out into the hall. I figured I must be on the second floor of the old frat house. There was a light on downstairs and I could hear voices. As I got closer I recognized the voices of Sky and Shepherd talking.

“I don’t know what he was doing in there,” I head Shepherd say. “Sometimes he has these moments of confusion. I’m not sure even he knows what he’s doing then.”

“If Colin had woken up and seen him, he would have freaked,” said Sky.

“Yes, I noticed your little friend’s high strung reaction when he first saw Benz. I hope he’s going to be all right at the clinic.”

“He’ll be just fine at the clinic,” I said, walking into the room.

“Well, Mr. Modesty arrives,” said Shepherd.

“What happened to me?” I asked. “You didn’t say anything about a second growth spurt.”

Shepherd shrugged. “You had a much stronger reaction then I anticipated. I don’t know why you’re complaining. You should be happy. You grew another inch.”

“I did?”

“Measured you myself,” said Shepherd.

Yeah, probably while I was naked. Euwwwww. “And passing out like that?”

“That was just your body reacting to your growth spurts. It takes a lot of energy to grow an inch, and you grew a total of two.”

“You could have warned me.”

“I’m sorry I did not anticipate you taking a nose dive into your mashed potatoes, but we’re exploring new frontiers here. Not everything is going to be predictable.”

“It’s late,” I said. “I should go home. My mom’s probably really worried about me.”

“She’ll worry about you even more when you disappear to that clinic for a few days,” said Shepherd. “What are you going to tell her?”

Holy crap! He was right. What was I going to tell her? “I…I don’t know.”

“You can tell her you’re sleeping over at my place,” said Sky.

Sleeping over at Sky’s? I felt my heart racing. I knew it was just a cover story, a lie, but I started getting dizzy just from the suggestion.

“A sleepover,” said Shepherd grinning. “How cute.”

What a dick.

“I guess that’ll work,” I said. “But not for Thanksgiving.”

“We’ll think of something else by then,” said Sky.

“Well,” said Shepherd, “You should run along home, too, Sky, before mommy starts worrying about you, as well.”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Sky, blushing. “Come on, Colin.”

I was more than ready to go.

While we were waiting for the bus, Sky looked over at me and said, “Shepherd treats me like a kid.”

“Well, you know, compared to him…”

“What?” he asked sharply.

“Nothing.”

“I’m not a kid,” he said. “I could really help him if he’d only let me.”

“You are helping him,” I said. “He just isn’t giving you any credit. Without you, he wouldn’t have me on his team, and this whole clinic thing wouldn’t be possible.”

He looked at me and smiled. First time. It did wonders for his face, and that’s saying something. We didn’t speak for the rest of the trip, but just before he got off the bus—his stop came first—he turned and gave me a hug. “Good luck tomorrow,” he said, and then he was gone.

I swear I was floating six inches off the seat for the rest of the trip. I almost missed my stop. And after the bus pulled away, I must have stood there at least five minutes just lost in a kind of pleasant haze. But eventually I came back to Earth. I realized I had to go home. And that was a definite buzz kill.

As soon as I walked in, it started. “There you are,” said my mom. “Where have you been?”

“I—”

“Never mind,” said my mom, cutting off what would have been a first class lie, “The Reverend is coming by. We’ve got something important to discuss after dinner, so go wash up.”

I started toward my room. “I’m going to change first.” This cartoon race car had just run out of gas.

“Well, hurry up. And get your brother from the garage.”

“The garage?”

“He’s been in there all afternoon playing with his new weight set.”

“He has, has he?” A slow smile crept across my face. Well, I just had to stop in and see him, didn’t I? This was going to be good.

But first things first. I went to my room and pulled off my jacket. I felt something heavy in the pocket. I reached in and pulled out my bottle of Charles’ magic juice. I couldn’t help but think about all the money I’d spent on it; all wasted. The stuff was useless. Even CAFE didn’t want it. Oh well. I stuck it in my night stand drawer. Maybe I’d think of something to do with it later.

Then I went to my closet and pulled out a long sleeved jersey and put it on. I was going to do just a quick check in the mirror—you know, just to make sure everything was in the right place. But as soon as I saw my reflection I had to stop. I looked different. It wasn’t anything anyone but me would notice, but I could definitely see shoulders and a chest, where nothing had been before. It was awesome. And my pants were actually starting to ride up around my ankles. I was going to need a new pair! Was that incredible or what?

And now, I was absolutely ready to go get Nigel. As I approached the garage door I could hear him grunting on the other side. I opened the door and found him sitting on his weight bench curling a ten pound dumbbell. His face was red and contorted. Sweat was pouring off him. He was really giving it everything he had. So much so, that he didn’t even notice me come in. My first impulse had been to ambush him with the fact that I was taller than him again. But as I stood there watching him, I realized how serious he was about this. It wasn’t just a game to him. He really meant business. The effort he was putting into it was really impressive. I actually started to feel proud of my little brother. And somehow the fun of topping him just died.

He grunted out his last rep and dropped the dumbbell. That’s when he noticed me.

“Hey there, older brother,” he grinned.

Ok, the warm fuzzy feeling was starting to pass. “You can just call me Colin, Nigel. Remember? It’s my name.”

“Hey,” he said, jumping up from the bench. “Check me out.” He flexed for me and his thirteen-year-old bicep, still very boyish, was all pumped up. “I’m getting huge already!”

“That’s great, Nigel,” I said. “Keep it up and you’ll defiantly be tossing bullies around by high school.”

“You better believe it. I feel stronger already.”

“That’s just the pump—”

“I bet I’m stronger than you.”

Ok, now he was pushing it. “You’re not stronger than me.”

“Bet I am.”

“You’re not.”

“Wanna arm wrestle.” Nigel ran over and planted his arm on Dad’s old work bench. He wriggled his fingers and shot me a challenging stare. This kid obviously didn’t know anything about working out. I had just seen him push his bicep to its limits. Right now he was probably weak as a kitten. I was tempted to just stride over there and crush him without mercy, but there was still a vestige of brotherly good will in me, so I explained the reality of weight training to him.

“Oh, I forgot,” he said, removing his arm. “You used to work out with Nathan, didn’t you? You probably know all about this stuff.” Oh God, not Nathan, don’t go there. That wound was not yet closed.

Nathan had been my best friend through pretty much all of elementary school. We did everything together, hung out, went swimming at the pond, and played video games. For his thirteenth birthday he had gotten a weight set, and the two of us had started working out. Nathan continued to grow, while I did not. I slowly watched him get taller and taller while his thin kid muscles expanded into large powerful masses. When we started, we were pretty much the same size. Then, about two and a half years later, when we were at the pond, he took off his shirt and I suddenly realized how big the difference had become. What had happened? Nathan didn’t look anything like the same guy anymore. It was like he had transformed into something else. He was nearly a foot taller than me, had cobblestone abs, bulging pectorals, biceps like baseballs and bulbous, striated shoulders twice the width of mine. We didn’t even look like the same species. I felt like an ant next to him. “Jeeze you got big,” I remember saying. Then his lip curled into a kind of half smile as he absentmindedly rubbed his ripped six pack, and said, “Yeah, hard to believe I used to be as small as you, isn’t it?” He flexed and I saw those arms bulge up hard, round and strong. I remember swallowing hard and him laughing at my reaction. Then he had me lay flat. He grabbed me so hard it hurt. His fingers were like vices. I realized if I wanted to break free, I wouldn’t be able to. I was totally helpless in his powerful hands, hands that used to be just like mine, but had now become something more. He picked me up, lifted me over his head and began doing military presses. I couldn’t believe the change in him. How did he get so fucking huge, while I stayed exactly the same? “Oh yeah,” he said in a kind of trance like voice, “I’m so much fucking bigger now, so much fucking stronger.”

“Put me down,” I yelled at him.

“In a minute,” he said. “I want to do at least ten reps.”

“Put me down now!”

“And if I don’t? What are you going to do about it, little man?” He said playfully and laughed again. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I was terrified and humiliated and confused all at the same time. What had happened to my best friend? Nathan would never have treated my like some kind of a toy. As far as I could tell, Nathan I knew had gone. And the big guy who had replaced him… I didn’t know him and I didn’t like him. When he set me down I could see he had a full on boner under his swim suit.

“I do presses all the time,” he said, grinning. “But it’s a lot different doing them with a live guy for a weight.”

I didn’t want to hear anymore. I just hopped on my bike and took off. I heard him calling after me, but I never stopped, never even turned around. And that was pretty much the last time I saw him.

It wasn’t long after that I found out about my hormone deficiency. I couldn’t stand the idea of watching all my friends get big, while I stayed small so I pretty much became a loner.

“It’s too bad you’re stuck being so puny,” said Nigel. He really wasn’t getting on my good side.

“I’d watch what you say,” I said, “because right now you’re even punier than me.”

“Un ah,” he said taking a stride over to me, a move obviously meant to demonstrate that we were the same height. But as soon as he did, he noticed we weren’t. His cocky grin wilted. He looked down at my feet. “What have you got in your sneakers?”

“Nothing,” I said, kicking them off. I was now standing in my stocking feet and I was still taller than him in his sneakers. The look of shock on his face was priceless, extremely comical, and I have to say, immensely satisfying.

“You grew!” he said. From his tone you’d think he was accusing me of murder. “No fair!”

“Are you sure, Nigel? Maybe I’ve just always been taller than you.”

“No way. This morning I was just as big as you—” Suddenly he broke off. I could see the wheels turning in his head. “This afternoon in the car, you said you might grow. What did you do?”

“Do? Who says I did anything?”

“You did something.”

“Well, if I did, I might just keep right on doing it. What do you think about that?”

Wow. Nigel looked mad, completely outraged. He opened his mouth and yelled, “Mom!” The he turned and ran into the house. I followed after him. When we got to the kitchen, Mom was just setting dinner on the table.

“Mom,” bellowed Nigel. “Colin got bigger!”

Mom looked at Nigel and just shook her head patiently. “Nigel, you know your brother isn’t growing anymore.”

“But look. He’s taller than me.” Mom looked over at me and I shrugged.

“He does look taller than you.”

“He wasn’t this morning,” said Nigel.

“Of course he was. I must have just measured wrong. You know people don’t grow like that in the course of a day, especially not your brother.”

Nigel just turned to me and scowled. “I’m going to find out what you did,” he said, and then he stormed from the room. A moment later we heard his bedroom door slam. Poor Nigel. Skipping dinner wasn’t going to do his bodybuilding any good at all. On the other hand, I was starving. I sat down and ate up a storm. Mom was amazed. She said she’d never seen me eat so much. I guess my body was still recovering its energy reserves.

I was just about finished when the Reverend arrived. “Good,” he said, “Colin, you’re here.” Ok, we have established that the Reverend is not blind.

“Did you show it to him,” he asked my mom. Show me what?

“No,” she said, “I haven’t really had time.” Then he whisked a brochure off the counter and handed it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Colin,” said the Reverend. “I want you to read that and tell me what you think.”

I looked at the brochure. It was from Little People of America. Was he kidding? This was an organization for midgets. I wasn’t a midget, was I? I flipped through the publication and it described all the services and facilities it had to offer its members. It actually seemed quite impressive. Then I came to the last page where it described the membership requirements. It was open to people four foot ten and shorter. I think it was the first time in my life I was actually to tall for something. Thank God..

I put the brochure down and looked up at the Reverend. “So?”

“It’s a wonderful organization, wouldn’t you say?” asked the Reverend.

“I guess, but I’m too tall for it.”

“They offer scholarships, help with job placement, even dating services. You wouldn’t have to worry about meeting girls.”

“Yeah, but I’m too tall.”

“If you were to join, it would really give you an advantage in life. Your mother could stop worrying about your future.”

“But it says right here,” I said pointing at the brochure, “that you have to be four foot ten or shorter.”

Then the Reverend and my mother exchanged a glance and suddenly I got very worried. What the hell was going on here?

“Colin, there’s an operation you could have. They would remove two inches of bone from your legs, just enough so you meet the requirements.”

I spit out all my food. “What?! You want to make me a midget?”

“The scholarships alone would be worth it.”

“Nothing is worth it!” I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Come on, Colin, you’re so short already, what’s another two inches?”

“If two inches is nothing than you have the operation!”

“Now, you’re being foolish,” said the Reverend. “Stop thinking about yourself for a moment and think how much this would mean for your mother. She needs to put two boys through college. Do you have any idea how expensive that is?”

I looked over at my mom, who had so far just remained silent. “Do you really want me to do this?” I asked.

“Not if you don’t want to, sweetie,” she said.

“Isn’t that touching,” said the Reverend. “You’re mother is willing to selflessly sacrifice, just so you can hold onto a little false vanity.”

Ok, I’d heard enough. I got up and marched out of the kitchen and went straight to my room and locked the door. I had been going to feed my mother the line about sleeping over at Sky’s, but I was so mad now I decided not to. Let them worry about where I was for a couple of days. It would serve them right. By then, any question of this stupid operation would have gone, because when I got back, I expected to be a lot bigger and I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to it.

[Xyggurat]

Nicely done, and worth the wait.

The Reverend is way creepy.

[scot158f]

Sounds like all too many 'Reverends' that think they're the savior from 'the gay' as the rabid fundamentalists call it. This has turned into a most awesome development, and I truly hope you make the main character grow MASSIVE to ram it down the throats of all those people who look down on him. You've struck a chord in your story's relationships that makes them feel so real, so double edged - the 'helping reverend' wanting to push his view on an unwilling man; the 'nice younger brother' who's nothing more than a jumped up bully that SO needs to be put down and hard. I truly hope that you go extreme on our protagonist. Thank you for writing a truly captivating story!

[Otaru_grower]

I just want you to know how much I look forward to your stories...this one is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

Love the main character and his brother. The Reverend is in for a surprise! (hopefully he gets assfucked too, that would be a nice addition)

[tagsnola]

... has that same wry tone as "Second Puberty." I absolutely LOVE your writing style! Thanks for this one, JayPat. Can't wait for the next chapter!

[omelissokomos]

Although I've never met anyone like the Reverend (thank goodness), he comes across as so real and completely hateful.

[rextorres]

Thanks, Jaypat, for bringing back an old-fashioned muscle-growth story. Lately, the stories in this forum have been getting rather "weird"...

[Ender]

Well there was a time when it was fairly common to castrate boy sopranos to help them maintain their singing voices into their mid and late teens... And there are stories of various Eastern European countries stunting the growth of some of their male gymnasts, weightlifters, wrestlers by inducting puberty early by shotting them up with testosterone to keep them short and therefore lighter... And delaying puberty in women gymnast to keep them from getting "curves and breasts", which are mostly fat, and maintain their androgynous, boyish, shape...

The clergy was one of the big promoters of castrating choir boys... Maybe the Reverend got the idea to shorten Colin from the good old days... I really don't think creepy is the right term for the Reverend... SICK and PSYCHO are closer to the mark not to mention DISHONEST. The risks involved in shortening the long bones in the legs are about the same as to lengthen them although the recovery time is shorter... If the Reverend thinks having Colin shortened to under 4'10" is such a great idea, may be he should be shortened to under 4'10" and join LPA with Colin. Guys like the Reverend love to suggest that other people be willing to make selfless sacrifices, that they would never for a moment consider themselves. The pious prick must be sleeping with Colin's Mom and doing a really good job at it for Colin's mom to even consider having Colin mutilated like that. Maybe they should stunt Nigel's growth and have him shortened too so they both get all the free goodies...

Little People of America lobbies against the aborting of fetuses that have any of the several genetically cause syndromes that result in conditions of short stature, by normal height parents but also frown on the termination of a normal fetuses by parents of short stature... They wouldn't be likely to condone the medical mutilation of a kid to a gain access to LPA programs.

I would say the jury is still out about whether Skyler is gay or straight. It's obvious that Sky worships Shepherd, but in my opinion it is hero worship and not love... the moment he sees Shepherd for the snake he seems to be he will be gone and feeling very betrayed. Also that this point I think Shepherd is a fraud and is looking to steal CAFE Blue and make a killing selling it.

If I were Colin I think I would be inquiring about the volume of the blood sample Shepherd wants from him... I wouldn't be surprised if near the end of the story Shepherd will be looking for a lot more than five liters from Colin...

If Colin has another growth spurt after dinner and/or grows while he's asleep he may out grow his eligibility as a test subject...

Maybe Colin and Nigel consider using Charles grow juice to get big enough to get rid of the Reverend... and then it turns out that with the CAF? Blue in Colin's system, Charles grow juice will will make him tall... And maybe it will fix Benz too...

The idea of hacking several inches out of Colin and the Reverend suggesting it really pisses me off no end...

Ender

[nj.]

I like the mood of this one a lot
Thanks for writing!

[Jaypat]

I guess I hit a home run with at least one of the villains of this piece. Everyone seems to hate him. I?m sad to say I did know someone like the Reverend; maybe not as evil, but he definitely had a way of making the most heinous ideas seem rational and reasonable, and he made you feel there was something wrong with you if you didn?t agree with him.

I?m sorry it took me so long to produce this chapter. You have no idea how many times I rewrote large portions of it. It still doesn?t feel quite right to me. Thanks for your patients and I hope to get the next part done a lot faster.

[tagsnola]

... I guess you should wait til your muse comes back. But, if what you've done so far has been on your own, without the aid of your muse, you've done a smash bang-up job! This story is a classic!

Ender, your comment on the reverend, "The idea of hacking several inches out of Colin and the Reverend suggesting it really pisses me off no end..." is understandable. Fortunately, most clergymen are not of this ilk. UN-fortunately, the ones who are engender distrust of all clergy. Maybe this reverend regards small boys the same as church weddings, "benefit of clergy."

[wolfotehmoon]

That whole "Reverend" business is a bit fishy... Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that line, "Your mom has to put two boys through college"... What with all the weird stuff that's been going on in this story's universe so far, how far a stretch would it be to say that Colin's parents inhibited his growth on purpose for a potential scholarship? We've got parents in real life who believe in transferring their disabilities to their children so they can "relate" better, so... I dunno, just an idea. :P

[Ender]

I was thinking of the Reverend as a bit like the "Mad Monk", Rasputin, but with a lot less ambition. Unless Colin's family has some sort assets of which I'm not aware. The only other way I can imagine for Colin's Mom to consider the sort of mutilation proposed for Colin would be for her to have Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. In which case it seems odd that Nigel appears to not have been a target too, but maybe there is some family history that would "rationalize" targeting of Colin over Nigel.

I would rather believe the self righteous, holy-er than thou, self serving Reverend is a villain and has Colin's Mom enthralled in some way. Any one that inflicts their views on "spiritual matters" on another person is suspect of having ulterior and probably self serving motives in any thing they do in my book... We already have a likely villain in Shepherd. But as any paranoid will tell you, "Having paranoia doesn't mean "THEY" aren't out to "GET" you." So having multiple bad guys with unrelated agenda is to be expected but to believe them all to be working in concert is sick...

Also I would think Colin being two inches taller at dinner time than he was at breakfast would have registered at least with Nigel with out it having to be pointed out. And once the question was raised the rest of the family noticing...

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