Short Story

The Incredible Growing Man or The Circle of Life

by Dennis Weingart

Eight o'clock in the morning. A lot on his mind. Should he or not? His decision wasn't a decision at all. He was going to do it. He needed to finish his breakfast. One of his favorite things was to fish out the last Cheerio. The sun was shining in the kitchen. As a young boy in school, his teacher would tell him to keep his head on his shoulders, instead of in the clouds, otherwise he would simply float away. She gave him a pill and told him that one day he might want to find out the truth. He cherished those times. Then years later he decided, he was going to take the pill, not knowing what exactly was going to happen. First he grew to seven feet tall. From there, he went on to be the largest man ever. He kept growing. Now, his head started to reach the clouds. He started to stare into space. He also started to adapt, to be able to survive without breathing and eating. Every hour, he doubled in size.

Soon, he was unable to stand on Earth. After one day, he was 1/4 of the way to the moon. After the second day, he was a billion and a half miles from Earth. That is about the distance from Earth to Uranus. At this point he was actually larger than the Earth. Within a week’s time, he was so far outside of our solar system he could not see Earth or the sun anymore. As time went on, he wondered just how far he would travel. The James Webb orbiting telescope was supposed to see further into the universe than man has ever seen before. However, when looking for this man, they could only see the bottom of his feet. The rest of him was far beyond its vision. As he continued to grow, he thought he noticed the stars becoming more separated from each other, and the background starting to look just a little brighter. He can't remember how many solar systems and galaxies he grew past, but the numbers were astronomical. Another day passed. The last stars were far beneath him now. All he saw was emptiness. No stars. No solar systems. No galaxies. The emptiness became brighter by the day. Two more days passed and the emptiness and darkness were traded for an almost blinding white light.

No matter where he looked, all he could see was white. On the last day, he saw what he thought was a life preserver. He grabbed at it a few times, and finally—on his last attempt—he securely wrapped his arms around it. Within seconds of securing himself, he felt a sensation he hadn't felt in quite some time. He felt like he was floating and at the same time being lifted.

All of a sudden, the white that was surrounding him turned into a vision of a kitchen. He looked around as quickly and thoroughly as he could. What did he see? Where was he? There was a young boy in front of him, eating a bowl of Cheerios. And he soon realized everything. The universe, the galaxies, the solar system, and the Earth where he began his journey all existed in a bowl of cereal, in a kitchen, where a little boy was eating his breakfast.