Thursday, February 09, 2006

Mini people

Sir Angus meowed faintly. I realized that he had tried earlier but I was not awake enough to let the information process. But now I was. I popped off the couch and let the happy cat out into the sunshine. I leaped back on to the couch and drifted off into quasi sleep land. 30 minutes later and I am brushing teeth and putting on work clothes.

When I got to the job sight, the guys were all gathered around a box, speaking in hushed intense whispered voices. When I approached, they quieted up. Now the game appeared to be gauging my reaction. “What could it be?” I thought to myself. “Hm, maybe they caught a snake… yeah a baby rattler or something. They always come out on hot winter days.”

But my guessing could not be more wrong. When I am able to see the contents of the box, I don’t quite figure out what I am seeing, at least not right away. At first, I think that they are toys, little plastic people for kids to have some fun with. But as I continue to peer into the carboard container, it dawns on me that these toys are moving around and in fact, as I begin to listen, I realize that I can hear tiny voices. It even seems like they are speaking English.

I stand up straight for a second and rub my eyes, stretch my spine and move my head from side to side.

Turn to Anthony and ask: “What’s going on?”

He just laughs in that full bellied unconscious manner of his and says: “Oh… I guess you haven’t heard, these folks are Charlie Slylove’s new crew.”

“Huh… new crew?”

“Yeah, he got this new gig… the clients want a bunch of miniature houses built. Oh, and the clients supplied the little people to. They figured out how to shrink people down to the size of crickets. Isn’t that crazy? Anyway, there are not any laws about this kind of thing, at least not yet.”

“Are they speaking English?”

“Yeah, but it’s their second language. They all volunteered for this experiment. Oh and don’t worry, they are getting paid for this.”

“Yeah, oh, that’s a relief.”

“So now, Charlie’s gonna teach them how to make houses or what ever.”