Rodney and the Pause of Time

I've lived in this town for all of my life. I've seen the changes that have made it a better place to live, and I've seen the unforgiving darkness that can befall us too. It's a lot of things to a lot of people. To me, it's just home.

I'd been taking on odd jobs to make some extra money, but back when I was in high school, I had gotten into a bit of trouble with the law. I knew well enough not to get caught doing anything stupid again, so I tried to find something respectable to do with myself. That's when I got my oddest job yet - babysitting.

The kid was 7 years old and the absolute definition of insane. He had a talent for making whatever he touched either grow or shrink at will, and he had seemingly endless energy. His parents were away on business for the next two weeks, so they were looking for someone reliable to take care of him during that time. The only catch was that he couldn't leave the house at all until his parents returned. They were even worried about him getting bored, so they gave him permission to order as much stuff as he wanted from Amazon Prime. A nice little bonus for me there, if you ask me!

After finally meeting up with the kid, we decided to go ahead and order our first round of toys from Amazon Prime before we ate dinner together. We'd ordered some toys, snacks, games and other odds and ends while waiting for our food to arrive at the local pizza place down the street. Everything seemed pretty normal up until we left; everything moved slowly like it always did... except for me.

When we walked out of the restaurant, everything froze once more - only this time it wasn't normal slow motion like usual outside of movies or video games; it was *really* slow motion! Even my thoughts felt like they were moving millions of times slower than they should have been! I could hear everyone in the restaurant talking in the kitchen before they even turned around to face us; even sound seemed sluggish and unresponsive now!

I looked over at my young charge who was happily chattering away about whatever he was excited about this week (I'll never understand how someone can be constantly excited about anything), then back at myself... I realized that I could move however I wanted now! If this kid could make objects grow or shrink at will... could I stop them from moving?

That's when an idea struck me! Something that would allow me to do what I really wanted without having to worry about getting caught by those damn cops again!

"Hey kid!" I said loudly, "Can you make something still?!"