184 Doubling Down: a Kafkaesque Fable Where the Sky's the Limit

One morning, Mr. Brobdingnag woke from troubled dreams, finding himself transformed in his bed into twice his size. Sitting up, his head hit the sloping dormer ceiling. He realized he'd best escape this room if still growing. He couldn't stand tall, instead crawling to his bedroom door.

At the stairway, again, he could't stand tall, so he crawled down the steps like an insect. Although his girth easily fit between the bannister sideposts when beginning his descent, at the stairs' landing it was tight. He could only force himself to clear it. He continued crawling until free of his house. Outside, he could finally stand up to full height.

But he had again doubled in size!

He became hungry; so he eyed the apple tree in his front yard and began picking. The apples on their stems began receding away as he once again doubled in size. By this time, the townsfolk had gathered, shocked at his amazing metamorphosis. They began throwing the apples.

"Say, Brobdingnag!" shouted Mrs. Gallivant, "What's this curious matter of your size? A curse? A plague? Will we, too, grow to your ridiculous size?"

By the time she finished, he again had doubled in size. His clothes had already been shredded by his unbridled expansion, rendering him naked, so adults shielded their children's eyes from his menacing genitalia above.

Thirteen iterations later, he had reached a height of two miles. He fretted over the havoc he must be causing down below--the destruction and the stomping on villagers like bugs.

Ten doublings later, 2,000 miles above New England, his colossal weight caused his feet to sink into the Earth's mantle. Ocean water quickly filled the depressions, flooding the continent. He knew that things would not end well for him, either.

Eight spurts later, he could reach the Moon with his large hand and heave himself off his Earth.

He knew he'd be lonely, but he also knew he'd finally be comfortable, free to grow forever in an infinite expanse. He looked forward to meeting God but feared his heavenly father would be disappointed in him--as his Earthly Kafkaesque father always had--having always treated him like filthy vermin.

But finally, he could stand tall.

__________

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Duplicity in Submission:

1) My entry in Novel Allen's Kafkaesque Challenge at https://vocal.media/writers/savages

and

2) For Tuesday, July 2, Day 184 of the Story-a-Day Challenge

About this story:

Now that I've completed half of the challenge (half a year), I thought I'd double down to begin the second half. (How could I not?)

366 WORDS (without A/N)

Title-accompaniment photo was AI-generated but the rest of the year is not!

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There are currently three surviving Vocal writers still participating in the insane 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge and approaching only its halfway mark:

• L.C. Schäfer, challenge originator

• Rachel Deeming

• Gerard DiLeo (some other guy)

Read them. Support them. Pray for them. Double the pleasure and double the fun. Or is it triple with these three?