¨¨¨~«††*&@                                          @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*&                                          &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨~«††*                                          *††«~¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*&                                          &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@                                          @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨~«††*&@# they tell me:  "we  are going to  shrink #@&*††«~¨¨
¨~«††*&@## you."  i  don't quite like the  tone  in ##@&*††«~¨
¨¨~«††*&@# their voices, like they are  restraining #@&*††«~¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@ themselves.  there  is a hunger  in them @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*& and  it wants  me  to  shrink. and  what &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨~«††* really   irks  me  is  that   so  do  i. *††«~¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*&                                          &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@ they  give me  wristbands  and  anklets, @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨~«††*&@# made  of  some   strange   stone.  their #@&*††«~¨¨
¨~«††*&@##      surface is swirling, like dark      ##@&*††«~¨
¨¨~«††*&@#   thunderstorms trapped in glass, like   #@&*††«~¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@ windows into a smaller  world,  close to @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*& my  body  so  that  it  can see  clearly &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨~«††*              whats in store.             *††«~¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*&                                          &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@ they give me food:  prawn-like bugs that @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨~«††*&@# make my  tongue  curl with satisfaction. #@&*††«~¨¨
¨~«††*&@## "out of this world",  i think, having no ##@&*††«~¨
¨¨~«††*&@# frame of reference. i  eat only two, but #@&*††«~¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@      the bugs leave me suspiciously      @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*&                satisfied.                &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨~«††*                                          *††«~¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*& they measure my  clothes. "you are going &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@ to become about half  as big", they tell @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨~«††*&@#  me, barely controlling themselves with  #@&*††«~¨¨
¨~«††*&@##              anticipation.               ##@&*††«~¨
¨¨~«††*&@#                                          #@&*††«~¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@                     †                    @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*&                    «««                   &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨~«††*                  ~~~~~                   *††«~¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*&                 ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨                 &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@                   ~~~~~                  @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨~«††*&@#                   «««                    #@&*††«~¨¨
¨~«††*&@##                    †                     ##@&*††«~¨
¨¨~«††*&@#                                          #@&*††«~¨¨
¨¨¨~«††*&@                                          @&*††«~¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*&                                          &*††«~¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨~«††*                                          *††«~¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨~«††*&                                          &*††«~¨¨¨¨