Pipsqueak - Tumblr Posts
Terry shuddered when the manila envelope showed up in his mailbox--nowadays, since his career was over, no news was good news. He’d become happy in his new life, keeping to himself, trying to forget how things used to be.
In the envelope was a stack of photos of what he used to look like--big, massive, powerful. The man in the photos looked unfamiliar. Had he ever been such a gigantic man? Now, he had to use a ladder to get dishes out of the cabinet. He needed help getting his groceries to his car.
Underneath the envelope was a package--he knew he shouldn’t open it, but he had to know what was in it. He sobbed when he unrolled a pair of his old boxers: holding the waistband above his nipples, they hung down past his knees. He knew who was sending him these things--the same guy who did this to him--but how had he gotten a pair of his old boxers, still ripe with the sent of his big sweaty body? And how had he been able to elude the police for so long?
He remembered the night it had happened--ESPN had sent a crew to his gym to interview him about the upcoming World’s Strongest Man competition. Terry was in the best shape of his life, stronger than he’d ever been, poised to shatter world records. He was the last one to leave the gym that night, so confident (what would a man his size and ability have to be afraid of?) that he never suspected he’d have anything to worry about.
He’d barely noticed the little guy standing next to his car--thought it was a child at first: black trenchcoat, bowl cut, thick glasses, whip-thin, gently shaking. “You okay?” Terry called.
“No, I’m not okay,” the little guy said.
“Look, buddy, I need to get home and get my 8 hours or else--”
“Or else what? You won’t be the strongest guy around? You know how stupid that is? What a stupid goal? Physical strength is useless in today’s world. Intellect rules, you fucking caveman.”
Even the namecalling didn’t raise Terry’s ire--he could’ve one-handed this little man through a wall. Basically, the guy was nothing to him. It may have been that attitude, he thought for years later, that invited what happened to him.
Terry had had enough, though, so he just stepped toward the car, edging the little guy out of the way with his big body. Without even meaning to, he knocked the little guy to the ground.
“Oh, you think you can just bully people who are smaller than you?” the man shrieked. “Let me show you how physical strength matches up with my brainpower!”
Terry flinched as the man whipped out the ray-gun--he’d expected to get shot by a bullet (and for years would wish it had been). When the man clicked the trigger, nothing happened at first--then Terry’s whole body collapsed like a balloon. His shorts fell to the ground. His shirt hung around him like a tent--in an instant, he’d gotten so small and skinny that he could fit through his neckhole. He stumbled around in way-too-big sneakers, tripping over the bottom of his shirt and tumbling to the ground.
As he stared up at the night sky, the little man--now his size, maybe even bigger--loomed over him. “Look at you now. Not so big and strong now, are you?”
Terry, still in shock, quivered in his oversized tee and stared up at the man, wondering what was next--but then the man took off, leaving him there, a fraction of the man he’d once been, wondering what to do next.
Doctors couldn’t explain what had happened--fingerprints identified him, but he’d lost over two-hundred pounds in an instant. Not only that, but his potential to gain muscle had been entirely sapped on a genetic level. His early statements to the press were that he wouldn’t let this keep him down, that he’d come back, but his body seemed to resist physical exercise. No matter how he tried, no matter how much he ate or trained or shot steroids into his ass, he never gained a pound. Soon he was nothing but a novelty, laughed at on ESPN and mocked in public.
Turns out the guy who’d done this to him wasn’t alone in resenting him for his size. Now that he was tiny and weak, fans who’d heard about what had happened to him were all too eager to shove him around, lord over his reduced stature. The worst was, after each of these terrifying experiences, looking back on the men and realizing they would’ve been scrawny nobodies next to his old body.
Still, his assailant continued to assault him with reminders of what he used to be, how much size he had lost, what a massive man he had been--and what an insignificant bug he’d become. One day he came home to a life-size cutout of his old, gigantic body. He barely came up to the crotch on it. “Your strength is nothing compared to my brainpower,” said the card attached.
Terry Hollands
Why is this the gecko thats in my nightmares?
Pernatty Lagoon Knob Tailed Gecko (Nephrurus deleani) family Carphodactylidae, Pernatty Lagoon, South Africa
photograph by Kai Goold
🐟
fish
Life Tip #45
always teased for being short? start calling tall people names like “squirt” and “short-stack” ! not only will it catch them off guard, they’ll probably try to defend themselves only to be shot down again! let them feel the revenge of the under 5′2s !!
“wait, i’m above average, you can’t call me that”
“whatever you say, pipsqueak”