Just a Few Inches

5' 5"

I was barefoot and standing as straight as possible against a blank stretch of wall in my bedroom. Since she was the tallest in the room, especially in her cute pair of wedges, Trish marked my height. After moving the pencil away from the top of my head, she guided me aside while Lauren unspooled my stepfather's tape measure against the wall.

The longer the metallic scraping lasts, the better, I told myself. "What's the damage?" Though I had asked the question somewhat calmly and jokingly, my insides were all knotted. When the sound ended, I held my breath.

"Five feet, five inches," announced Lauren. "How tall are you supposed to be?"

"Five-eight." I could feel my stomach heaving as I stumbled forward and collapsed onto my bed, where I buried my face in my pillow.

Trish said, "I heard that people are shorter at night than they are when they wake up. Maybe-"

"Not three inches shorter." The pillow probably muffled my faint voice.

I sensed a depression in the mattress beside me and then felt a comforting hand on my back. From above and behind me, Trish said, "It'll be okay, Carrie. Young people don't lose their height, and even with old people, it doesn't happen that suddenly."

"I doubt it was sudden." said Lauren, and then I heard her retract the tape measure. "It probably happened gradually, but none of us noticed the difference until today."

My eyes popped open as I turned my head to the side. Lauren's conclusion made perfect sense, and it certainly explained a few odd occurrences that I had nonchalantly tossed aside. My weight loss had been gradual, so I could only assume that while I was losing weight, I was also losing height. Then I wondered if it had actually happened the other way around. What if the real reason I had lost weight was because I had slowly gotten shorter? Then the red dress didn't suddenly fit me because of the weight I had lost; it fit me because all of my body measurements had gotten smaller.

Trish took the tape measure from Lauren and made a mark three inches higher on the wall to indicate my normal height. The first attempt to make it look like I was still there involved the highest pair of heels I owned. When I easily slipped my feet into the shoes, I was horrified to discover they were slightly loose. "My feet too?!"

My mother had a slightly smaller shoe size than I did, so I went into her room and found a pair that fit me fine. When I stood against the wall, I almost reached the five-eight mark, but the difference wouldn't be noticeable to the casual observer. "What do you think?" I asked.

Trish took off her shoes and stood in front of me. Looking slightly upward at my eyes, she smiled and said, "Looks good to me."

"You should tell your mom," said Lauren, folding her arms in front of her. "Whatever happened to you isn't normal. It could still be happening to you. The sooner you see a doctor-"

Clasping my hands together, I leaned forward and pleaded. I hoped my wide, glassy eyes would convince her that I wanted as few people as possible to know what had happened to me. They would wonder or stare or ask questions. As much as I enjoyed people talking about how great I looked at the dance, I didn't want anyone talking about how different I looked since. I wanted to live my life as normally as possible, and the only way I could imagine doing so was to make everybody think nothing had changed.

"Please promise me you two won't tell anyone."

Lauren groaned. "You know we won't, but I still think-"

"Our lips are sealed." Trish covered Lauren's mouth and then pantomimed zipping her own mouth closed and throwing away the key.

* * *

The first thing I did the next morning was measure myself. Though the mark was slightly below the one Trish had made, I quickly came up with rationalizations. Without Lauren and Trish's assistance, it was harder to get an accurate measurement, or my feet sunk into the carpet. Being in a state of denial, the discrepancy didn't seem like a problem.

I had to dig through the drawers of my dresser to find a clothing combination that worked. Since the cuffs of all my jeans hung to the floor, I put on a pair of Capri pants. The pink short-sleeved top I finally settled on was a little baggy on me but still acceptable. It was also a little long, but that was simply solved by tucking it in-a maneuver that helped keep my pants snug. Completing the ensemble were Mom's pink three-inch pumps, which I doubted she'd wear while staying at home or running errands.

Right before practice, I found Lauren and Trish outside the gym. "How was your day?" Lauren asked.

"Pretty good," I replied. My secret plan was to behave as if there was nothing different about me. "No stares or anything."

"They should be staring," said Trish. "You look awesome."

"Thanks, but these are pretty much the only clothes I own that came close to fitting me." I turned to Lauren, who appeared a little shorter than I was because she never wore shoes as high as the heels I was wearing. "We're the same height right now, so do you have any clothes I can borrow until this is over?"

"You're asking me?" Lauren furrowed her brow and took a step back. "My clothes might be a too...roomy on you."

Lauren's tone of voice had shifted, and I felt guilty for making her uncomfortable. She was a little heavier than me, and I was honestly only thinking about my height and not my overall size. I apologized, but Trish interrupted to describe some tight skirts and yoga pants that she'd happily lend me.

Todd approached us, and I prepared myself for the true test. Stretching all my muscles, I straightened myself out as much as possible and waited for him to kiss my forehead and rest his chin on the top of my head. Perfect fit! My charade had worked.

"What are you doing after Friday's game?" he asked. "My parents will be away for their anniversary, and I'll be home alone. You wanna come over?"

"Sure!" Of course I wanted to be alone with him, maybe to do more of what we had started in the back seat of his car. It would continue the illusion that everything was still normal in my life.

Todd kissed me goodbye and ran into the gym for practice. Once he was out of sight, I released a deep breath and let my shoulders slump. Standing up so straightly was difficult. "I should never have doubted you," said Lauren. "Can you show me how to be taller?"

"The only drawback about this scheme is these shoes," I said as we headed to the locker room. "My feet are killing me."

I sat down, removed my shoes, and rubbed my aching feet. When I stood back up, I was instantly reminded that I wasn't my normal height. I was looking directly into Lauren's eyes...no, I was looking slightly up at them! Only the previous evening, we were the same height. I quickly looked down and saw that Lauren was already in her sneakers for practice. Sure enough, when I put mine on, we appeared to be the same height again, so I sighed in relief. I didn't want to entertain the possibility of being any smaller. Five-foot-five was considered near average height for a woman, and at that time, being average was good enough for me.

- - - - -

Will Carrie regain her height? Or will she keep getting smaller?

To find out, buy Just a Few Inches in paperback or eBook formats at

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XX8HGUS

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/just-a-few-inches/id997071232

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/just-a-few-inches-tara-st-pierre/1121971906

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/just-a-few-inches

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/544130