THE SMALL MANCHRONICLES (Part I) How to begin? Wellduring my childhood no one had known about me and my sizeexcept for a few people. I'm Mike Tompkins. Thesmallest man in the world. I was born May 1, 1966. I was bornunder strange circumstances. My mom, Karen, was veryrich. She never worked a day in her life.
She was married tomy father who mysteriously died just before I was born.
She hardly knew she was pregnant. When she had me I wasonly 3 inches tall. She almost didn't realize she had meand didn't tell anyone for fear they might take me away.
I grew up like anynormal child except I was very small. I was brought up asbest as could be under the circumstances. Mymom had a room built with miniature furniture, TV,stereo, and even books were miniaturized so that I could learn.
I was never lacking for anything. I knew very littleabout the outside world except what I saw on TV, read inbooks, or was taught by my mom. Mom told me the outside worldwas big and scary and no place for a very little boy likeme. She told me stories of what would happen. I believedher because I had no contact with anyone else. I wasalso a child. What child doesn't believe theirmother? Life was grand; momtook great care of me. Once in a while I would see a maid,butler, or her bodyguard, but I was very frightened ofthem. Then, when I was 6, my mom adopted twin girls.
They were about 1 year old at the time. They werenormal sized, suddenly she had little time for me. Their nameswere Heather and Lisa. I still wonder to this day why sheadopted them. She never told me why.
They were kept awayfrom me until they were 7, then mom introduced them tome. They were about 4 feet tall and I had only grown to 5inches. I was only 12 at the time we were introduced.
Their size had scared me because I really only saw my mom whowas about 5' 11†in person, besides she had filled myhead about how dangerous the outside world was.
I remember the firsttime I had met them like it was yesterday. They wereidentical twins about 4 feet tall with long red hairin pony tails and blue eyes. I was frightened out of mywits. I was in mom's hand and they were staring at meintently. Then the twins had smiles show on their faces.
Mom reassured me they would not hurt me. Then one of themspoke, I think it was Heather, and asked mom if theycould play with me. Mom said not today, she had only wantedus to meet. She said she was going to slowly introduce meinto their lives. I asked her why and she replied thatsomeone had to take care of me after she was gone. After shewas gone, now that's a thought that had never entered mymind. What would happen to me if she were gone? Shereassured me that she would be living for a long time. Then sheput me back in my room.
My room, the onlyworld I knew. I felt safe and secure there. My room wasabout 8†high, which is roughly equal to 8' for youregular sized people. It was about 40†long and 24†wide and wasdivided into a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom,and a bathroom. Mom had it enlarged after I was 10 nowthat I could handle appliances. I don't know how she had allthe appliances, TV, stereo, lighting, and electrical stuffminiaturized without anyone knowing.
As I said earliermom was very rich, also, the whole town catered to her everywhim. I watched on the news and saw how she practicallyran the town. What Karen Thompkins wanted KarenThompkins got, no questions asked. She owned a manufacturingcompany and did lots of charity work in the town. As amatter of fact that day I saw her start a new line of what wasa new product at the time personal computers.
(Remember, this is a story so bear with me.) Finally after abouta year of getting aquainted with my sisters she decidedto let us spend more time together, mom called itplaytime. My sisters and me would spend about an hour a daytogether. The first thing my sisters wanted to do wasplay dolly with me. I thought it was fun until I saw theymade a dress for me. Even though I had no contact with theoutside world I somehow knew a 13 year old boy wearing adress wasn't right. Mom said I looked cute in the outfitand laughed, that was the first of many times in my life Iwould feel inadequate. Then Lisa picked me up and put me ina dollhouse. She asked if I like the dollies in thehouse. The dollies were bigger than I was, I felt so inadequatebut I didn't want to disappoint them, so I said they werefine. This was the first real contact with other peopleother than my mother and I didn't want it to end. We playeddolly for about an hour, and then mom said it was time forme to go back to my “houseâ€. The girls didn't want mymom to take them away. She told them I was so small thatI needed to rest, so my mom took me back to my room. Iwent back to my room and fell immediately asleep,man was I exhausted.
Well things wentalong fine for years, then my sisters started high school.
I was about 19 at the time. Mom wanted me to have abetter education so she asked my sisters to take myto school with them. In order to do this correctly shefirst decided to let the world know about me. Momrealized that at 19, I could be considered an adult. To do thatwe went to her personal lawyer her name was LauraPeterson. Laura was unbelievably attractive; ofcourse it could be me because I was not used to seeingnormal sized people. I would say she was about 5' 9†tall,130 lbs., and wore a woman's business suit. Her nails weremoderate lengths, impeccably manicured, andunpainted. When we first met she couldn't believe her eyes.
Her first word were my god he's so small, can I pickhim up. Mom consented, I don't know why she had to after allI was 19 and if I wanted a woman to pick me up I thinkit should be my business. Funny thing for some reason thefirst thing anyone wanted to do when they met me was topick me up.
We got down tobusiness quickly, actually mom and Laura got down tobusiness, when your 5†tall, I was to find out, your input didnot matter. It was like I wasn't even there, here are twopowerful women discussing what would be best for me andmy opinion didn't matter. They thought it would be best forme to be brought in front of a judge to be declaredcompetent, then I would be enrolled in high school. That was ashock after all I'm 19 for Christ's sake why go to highschool now. Mom explained that it would be a good wayto get introduced to the real world. I would need to dothat if I were going to inherit the business and thefortune. We went home that night and I felt scared. I hadnever felt so scared in my life I slowly drifted offto sleep.
Suddenly I wasawaked by a loud thud. There were giant sneakers in front ofme. I looked up and saw a giant teenage boy. Oh mygot I thought what happened. He looked down at me and said,“ look at the shrimp. I'm gonna crush you.†I started torun but I couldn't get away, my god what do I do? I randown the corridor and tripped over a candy wrapper. Shithere he comes I thought. I tried to get up and hegrabbed me. I squirmed to get away but it was no use. Hebrought me close to his face and said “ I think it's the endfor you!†With that he started squeezing me, oh mygod why did I have to go to school. I pleaded with mom andshe swore I would be safe. Now I'm going to be crushedto death by a 13-year-old boy.
Suddenly the alarmwent off and I awoke in my room. I grabbed myself andsaw it was just a dream. Then I began to cry. I weptuncontrollably, like a baby crying for his bottle. Well what doI tell mom? There is no way I want to let the world knowwho I am, then I why did I want this to happen in the firstplace. How can I be normal my god I cant even lift afoot long ruler or a pencil, there so big and heavy. How willthe world take me seriously, I thought. Well Iwould find out soon enough, today was the day I would go tocourt.
