Free The Trimoni Twins and the Shrunken Treasure by Pam Smallcomb Page B

something so small you can no longer see it. No smaller than about the size of a pinhead.”
    Beezel hit her forehead with her hand. “Of course! That’s how you’ve been making all the details for your models!”
    â€œGuilty,” Hoogaboom said, smiling. “But I didn’t shrink the houses themselves. I made the models to fit the scale of my ‘details.’”
    â€œWhy didn’t you just shrink some real houses?”Hector asked. “It would be easier than building them.” He rubbed his chin. “Although I guess you’d get into some pretty big trouble if you shrank something like Notre Dame cathedral.”
    â€œYes,” Hoogaboom agreed. “I don’t think the French would be too happy with me.”
    â€œBut
could
you if you wanted to?” Beezel asked.
    â€œNo,” Hoogaboom said. “When you want to shrink something, or someone, imagine you are standing in the middle of a ‘shrinking circle.’ You can shrink anything that falls within a hundred arms’ lengths from the center of your circle. The circle radiates out from where you stand. That’s about three hundred feet.”
    â€œSo you can’t stand somewhere and point to a faraway house on a mountain and shrink it,” Beezel said.
    â€œThat’s right,” Hoogaboom said. “And you can’t shrink anything that is wider than one hundred arms’ lengths as well. So you
can
stand a few feet away from a country cottage and shrink it, but you can’t shrink a large building like a museum.” He glanced at the twins. “The other rules are the same. When I want to unshrink someone or something, I think the words in reverse order,point and zuuft so the person or thing will return to its original size.”
    Uncle Hoogaboom stood up, walked over to where Hector was sitting and put his hand on his shoulder. “Nephew, you know I have no children of my own. You are my next of kin. So just as soon as Wiliken and I find the shrunken treasure, the Shrinking Coin is going to be yours. It is your legacy.”
    â€œMine?” Hector stared up at his uncle, a shocked look on his face. “Are you sure?”
    â€œWow! That’s great!” Mimi said as she patted a stunned Hector on the back. “You can be in our magic act!”
    â€œThis is why I wanted you to come to Amsterdam, Hector,” Uncle Hoogaboom said. “The Shrinking Coin and its magic is the gift I told you I had for you. I knew I had to tell you what it was in person, to
show
you its magic for you to believe me. I had been waiting for a private moment with you and Wiliken.” Uncle Hoogaboom smiled at the girls. “But now I know these two have their own magic coin, and from my old friend Simon as well! So we can talk about this out in the open among us!”
    He looked at Beezel, raised one eyebrow and smiled at her. “And I bet right now, you are wondering why Wiliken already knew about my coin, and why I wanted him to be with me when I told Hector, aren’t you?”
    Beezel smiled back. “Well, yes.”
    â€œThen I will tell you.” Uncle Hoogaboom sat back down on the sofa across from them and leaned forward. “You see, the Hoogabooms and the Riebeecks have known each other for a very long time. We Hoogabooms have always been an argumentative lot, and it caused problems when the time came to pass down the magic. Who was most worthy? The eldest child? The smartest? The most honorable?
    â€œEven after an heir was chosen, the remaining Hoogabooms managed to bicker over the coin itself. Once a distant relative of mine even stole the coin from his own sister and tried to hold it hostage for the magic. Luckily, it was returned to her, and she kept the magic, but after that incident, my ancestors decided something had to be done.
    â€œSo, the Hoogabooms charged the Riebeecks with the safekeeping of the Shrinking Coin. At the appropriate time,