THE SMALL TO TALL CURSE

7/18

THE SMALL OR TALL CURSE

Me, my name is Miggs. I am a little person, a little little person. Most of the time. What do I mean by most of the time? I mean on Monday through Friday I am only 2 feet tall, but on the weekend, I am 7’2” through no fault of my own. Thanks to (or rather no thanks to) the whim of Exos. Exos is a black-hearted sorcerer.

I was born in a tiny village and put under a curse by Exos who was no little person himself but very small indeed in terms of character. Exos loved practical jokes. The more senseless and cruel the better. And what could be more amusing (for him) and torturous (for me) than to make me go through life being both small sometimes and tall at other times? Why did he pick me of all the people out of the whole village to punish with this /curse? Why didn’t he choose Gasko the mean spirited cross-eyed butcher or Mervyn the vengeful hunter who trapped poor little wild animals and turned them into table ornaments? I should never have strolled past Exos’ gardens that morning when he was out shooting arrows at the tiny wild rabbits in his garden.He was in the blackest of moods and he was hunting for bigger game.

“But Wow, Miggs”, (I can hear you say) “that is amazing .Being both smaller than other people and bigger. It is almost like you have a super power of your own! Being able to walk shoulder to shoulder with your big hound and also being able to look into bird’s nests in the tree tops!”

But is it a super power? I feel more like a candidate for a side show!

Imagine if I was a professional cyclist. Five days a week I wouldn’t be able to get up on the seat of my bike, let alone ride it, even recreationally. Or imagine if I was in the movies playing a dwarf alongside Snow White. I would be too tall on weekends to get into SnowWwhite’s cottage or sit on the little dwarf chairs! Either way, I would eventually waste away from this so-called super power. No, it is more like a curse.

So, to manage my ups and downs, I have both big and small furniture in my big and small house. And big and small clothes depending on the day of the week, even big and small friends, depending on the day and the activity. And both a miniature poodle and Great Dane. But as you might imagine, all this big and small stuff can get confusing. And dangerous! It isn’t easy keeping the secret of your small self a mystery to .your tall friends and vice versa. What if I am playing basketball with my tall friends on Sunday night and it becomes Monday and I am holding the ball which now I can’t barely lift let alone score a basket with, since I am small again?

It is not just comical and weird but now will I be laughed at and bullied!

What if I am playing poker with my little friends on a Friday evening that drags into Saturday morning when I suddenly shoot up to 7’2 and turn the tables over, ruining the game and terrifying the other little people players?

Like a said, a curse.

The little people don’t want me when I am tall and the tall people don’t want me when I am little.

I am like twins in one body; I am living a double life. But not for long. No, it is tall Sunday and

I am on my way into the High Hills to find Exos. I will demand he must reverse the curse. Yes, I want to be just like all the other town people. . Not too small not too tall. And it is easier to make this demand when I am tall!

The curse has run its course. Did I mention that it was only supposed to run for a year? And the year is up!

TWO HOURS LATER

It’s done. I have seen Exos. He sat back in his gold chair with his performing moneys and laughed at me He said he will reverse the curse but only if I show myself worthy by performing a selfless act like saving a life. I don’t trust this untrustworthy sorcerer but I, at least, am true to my word.

IN THE VILLAGE

“You have changed, Miggs. Listen to me, I am your friend Amos. I have known you my whole life and you are different. You look very different right now. “

“Different? Has he reversed the curse but made me ugly as an ogre although I cannot see it ?…. Has he taken away my power of speech so I am talking nonsense even when it sounds sane to me? has he dulled my sense of smell and given me the aroma of a deed fish? “

“No, it’s not that, Miggs, It is that you, you look like…”

“Like what? Who?”

“You look just like Exos…. That’s what he must have done to you as a practical joke…Look at your huge eyebrows and your long nose ….People will be running from you because. they will think you are Exos come down to create more mischief.”

“How will I ever perform a good deed if everyone is hiding from me and I still have with the tall and small curse? It is still Sunday. The little people will have nothing to do with me while I am this big… I need to sit on the river bank and think.”

“Miggs….come over here where the water rushes over the damn… it’s the cobbler’s daughter Annalise….in the deep deep water…see her waving her arms…the cobbler can’t swim, and the water it too deep for all the little people. No one can reach her. ”

“I can reach her…. I am not little….. And it is hours until I will be small again if the spell still holds.”

“But she will be terrified if she sees your face as Exos….. Here, put on this hood…Can you swim without seeing the water?.”

“I don’t need to swim…I just need to take big giant steps! …..dear little Annalise. It is Miggs, me, Miggs, your friend. I am coming to rescue you…..Annalise, here I come... Stay calm, it is your friend little Miggs, under this hood.”

“Miggs, Miggs the little person?”

“Yes, Miggs the BIG little person. Take my hands, Annalise, get on my back, we will walk to shore.”

I removed the hood; I delivered Annalise back to the arms of her family. By the time I got to her cottage, I was 5’10”! I was no longer tall, no longer small, Annalise was safe, and the sorcerer they told me had broken both his legs chasing after a deer and was now a much smaller man. What a practical joke on him!