Midge Sara ran, her chest had started to get painful from the lack of oxygen. Why did the boys at school have to be so cruel? What had she done to them? Especially Gareth Jones, she thought they were friends, maybe even more – at least she had hoped so. But obviously no, what was wrong with her height? Granted she hated being tall, but didn’t everybody hate how they were. The pain was getting quite great. She was going to have to stop soon, but was she far enough away from them? No. she did not think so. But she was going to have to stop. She crumpled to the floor outside a broken in front garden wall. Pain seeped up her legs. She was going to have to stay here for a while. She looked around her and realised she had no idea where she was. Panic started to creep up on her, Mum would be expecting her home, she had only hanging around with the boys because Gareth was there, she should have been home ages ago. ‘Are you okay my dear?’ asked a disembodied voice from behind her, Sara looked around and saw a lady of around 80 looking over the garden wall at her. ‘Um – yes – err – I’m just a little tired, that’s all.’ Sara stuttered, the lady giggled. ‘I can see that my dear, you wouldn’t be sat on that dirty pavement if you were not.‘ Sara laughed along with the lady. It was nice to have a friendly face beaming at her. Sara then blurted. ‘ I hope it not too much, but can I call my mum, my phone is out of credit you see…. I seem to have lost my way, and I need to get home. Mum will be very worried about me.’ ‘Sure deary, why not have a cup of coffee while you wait as well, it is a long way to your house.’ ‘Yes, that sounds nice, but I must call home first.’ ‘You are a bright girl, Sara.’ ‘Yes…. Yes mum…. I should not be so sensitive I know….. Yes mum, I am a pretty girl mum…. Look I will see you in a while….. Yes mum…… Ok see you in a while.’ As Sara hung the phone up the lady came through with the two steaming cups of coffee and laid them on the table by the side of two chairs. ‘Come on Sara, take a seat.’ Sara walked over and sat in the nearest seat to the door. and picked up one of the coffee. ‘Now then,’ the lady started. ‘You were saying to your mother that you are upset about your height?’ ‘Yes.’ Sara said, it was strange that this lady was prying, but she had been so nice a generous, she could not exactly be rude to her now. ‘I hate my height. But I had not realised others did too.’ ‘Sara, do you mind if I tell you a story – While you wait for your mother that is?’ ‘Sure.’ Sara agreed, settling in to listen. ‘But first let me put some sweeteners in your coffee for you. The lady delved into her handbag and pulled out a small metal box, Sara could not see the label. The lady pulled out a small white pill, and dropped it into Sara’s coffee. ‘Now then Sara, have you ever heard of a boy called Midge?’ Sara shook her head. The lady laughed to herself. ‘I’m not surprised, but this is his tale. He hated his size too.’ Henry Joseph Malcolm MacDonald had always been called Midge by his school friends because he was short. He was about a foot shorter than all the other boys, and almost two feet shorter than the girls. He hated being short. He had tried a number of things to make himself grow, ignoring his parents telling him that he was just a late bloomer. He had asked two of his class mates to pull him, one holding his legs, the other his arms. Unfortunately this did not work, all it accomplished was making his arms and legs hurt for weeks afterwards. He then realised relying on other people was foolish. His next plan involved his father’s weights; unluckily his father would not allow him to borrow them. So he snuck and stole some of them while his father was asleep. He creeped out into the back garden. where the only tree in the neighbourhood stood. He dumped the weights at the foot of the tree and retrieved some rope from the garage. Returning to the tree he climbed to about half way up where a branch extended out further than the others, he tied the rope to the middle of the branch, climbing down to fetch the weights he paused for a moment, somebody had awoken inside, he could hear someone clattering around. It was his father going to the toilet. He grabbed the weights and climbed the tree again. Attaching the weights to his wrists and the rope to his legs he jumped off the branch. He hung there over night, surprisingly he did fall asleep. He awoke to find his father looking at him upside down. A severe look on his face. He was grounded for a week after that. He had given up when this story really starts. He was walking home when he bumped into someone. ‘Oh, I’m really sorry.’ Midge blurted out. ‘That’s fine Midge, it was you I was coming to find.’ Midge looked at the lady he was talking to, but he did not recognize her, but he was fascinated by her, she must have been a few years older then he was, about mid twenties, and had never seen her before. So why was she looking for him, a fourteen year old boy? Her bony fingers curled around his wrist. ‘We cannot talk here Midge. Come with me.’ with that she started running, pulling Midge with her, his legs flew above the pavement, almost like in the cartoons. They got to an entrance to the local park and she slowed down. ‘I know a place in here. Quickly now Midge.’ they walked around the park a bit, and then stopped by a hedge. ‘At once.’ She whispered. ‘In here.’ at which she pulled him into the hedge. Once through he found himself inside a little clearing, the woman crouched down and beckoned Midge to do the same. At which point she produced a small tin from her shoulder bag. ‘I here through the grapevine. Midge.” It was very strange the way she said his name. But Midge liked it. ‘That you are unhappy about your height.’ Midge nodded, just thinking about what the guys will say when they hear about him being in a hedge with an older woman. ‘Get those filthy thoughts out of your head at once.’ She snapped. ‘I am here to help you.’ she opened the tin and produced a small pill; she grabbed Midge’s hand and placed the pill on his open palm. ‘Take this with a cup of coffee, just before you go to bed. But do not go to bed. Instead go outside and sleep standing up. You will find you will be taller than you could ever imagine.’ Midge snorted at this, that anybody could make him taller with a pill was too unbelievable. ‘Don’t laugh at me boy!’ the woman snapped. ‘Or I might take this back. Now go, go straight home, and don’t tell anybody about me or the pill.’ She then, pushed Midge out of the hedge and he found himself running back home. Midge placed the pill in his secret shoebox, which nobody knew about, though he was not going to take it, he thought he would keep it, to remember the woman by. But he did not need that as a reminder of her, because she was waiting for him when he finished school the next day ‘You did not take it?’ she asked ‘No.’ ‘And why not?’ ‘I don’t know. I just didn’t.’ ‘Look Midge, I am trying to help you, all you need to do is help yourself.’ this conversation, and others like it happened everyday, Midge’s fellow students started to tease him about his ‘girlfriend’ that met him outside school everyday. By the time this had been going on everyday for two months Midge had enough. That night Midge delved into his shoebox and retrieved the pill. He made himself a cup of coffee and pretended to go to sleep. Once his parents had gone to bed he snuck outside and waited. He fell asleep, but about midnight things started to happen. He awoke with a sharp stabbing pain in his left arm and foot. Very quickly the pain drifted to his right side, while still remaining where it was. He tried to move one of his arms, but though it moved, it moved extremely stiffly, almost as if it were wooden. when Midge was able to get his arm in sight he almost started crying, as his skin had turned brown, and his fingernails were slowly turning green, he moved his other arm, also very stiffly and touched his arm, it was rough and starting to turn hard, his hand drifting down his other arm towards his fingers, which had become slimy and wet. But he could not be sure as the touch in his arm had all but gone; the thickness of his skin was stopping the nerves in his fingers getting the message. He tried running back inside. He wanted to grow, and whatever was happening, that was not it. But his feet were not moving, this was not like his arms, they actually were not moving. Midge looked down and saw that his feet were rooted to the ground. Literally, as there were tiny root protruding from his shoes and digging themselves into the ground. Early next morning Midges Mother woke early. She drew back the curtains, and because of the sleep that remained in her eyes didn’t notice that the room did not get any lighter. She went about her normal business, knocking on Midges door, getting no reply as usual. She went down stairs and made herself a cup of coffee. Went into the sitting room and drew the curtains, to come face to face with a Squirrel who was clambering up a tree that had not been there when she had gone to bed. She ran back upstairs and dragged Midges father out of bed and dragged him downstairs. Her hand was on the door when her husband yelled. ‘What is the matter with you woman! Can’t a man get dressed before he goes to work!’ ‘A Man can go to work dressed, but when a tree has sprouted from nowhere, then he must go outside in his pyjamas’ At which point she pushed her husband outside. They were so preoccupied with the new tree in their front garden that it wasn’t until noon that they realised Midge had gone. Midge’s parents carried on living their until they died, while Midge carried on living, families moved in, grew up and moved out, People built tree houses in Midges branches, and let them rot. One family buried their pet dog at the foot of Midge. Midge was delighted as it gave him company. Midge grew and grew and became a landmark of the town, every now and again he would see the woman who gave him the pills walk past, and with a little smile would greet him with a hello. She would age, but not in the same way others did around her. Years Later the woman came to visit Midge. But he was no longer there. She asked somebody what had happened to the tree. They said that it had been cut down to make the chipping for the new school that was being built a few streets away ‘So, you see Sara. It is wrong to get preoccupied with the ways you look.’ Said the lady as Sara gulped down the last slurp of her coffee. ‘That’s right my dear, Your Mum will be here soon.’ Sara’s mother arrived an hour or two after she was supposed to, things had just got on top of her. So she approached the house in a hurry. The lady took a while coming to the door, but when she finally did it was apprehensive and with the latch on. ‘Yes?’ the lady asked. ‘Hi, I believe my daughter is here.’ ‘No, I’m sorry; there have been no girls here.’ ‘But I’m sure she said it was this address.’ ‘I’m really sorry my dear, but I have not seen her. But would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?’ ‘That does sound nice, and will I be able to use your phone as well.’ ‘Sure my dear.’ Sara’s mum entered the house and immediately went to the phone. As she dialled her daughters mobile number she saw a spider crawling across the phone table, She hated spiders, so she got a piece of paper and whacked it down on the table, squashing the spider underneath. ‘What was that?’ asked the lady, who came to Sara’s mum with a cup of coffee. ‘I’ve put some sweeteners in it for you.’ ‘Oh thank you, but I do have my own.’ Sara’s Mum continued dialling the number, and then took her first sip of coffee. The lady commented on the colour of her hair. ‘It’s dyed I’m afraid.’ ‘I thought so.’ The phone clicked into action, Sara’s phone was in a strong signal area. in fact it started ringing from within the lady’s sitting room.