Craig stared numbly at the screen. He couldn't believe it! All that tweaking with his Image Editor program to no effect, and FINALLY he had gotten it to work! His fingers ached and twitched from all the programming and re-writing, but he had finally gotten the program to work as he wanted it to. At least, he thought he had. He needed to run more tests with more complex images...namely, images of people, which was his ultimate goal anyway. He chuckled to himself as it occurred to him that he was skipping directly to the human testing, so to speak.
He decided that he should dedicate this momentous occasion-his first successful (hopefully) test of his first original program-to someone. He had no idea who, though. As he sat and thought, an idea finally took shape in his mind-his favorite female celebrity would be perfect for this! He would have worked with her image eventually anyway, so why not go right to it? He began searching his celebrity image archives for an image of her, muttering to himself. "Jennifer Love-Hewitt...where did I save those pictures...?"
SOMEWHERE ELSE IN LOS ANGELES...
Jennifer entered the rear room of the large gym. Tom Brooks, her personal trainer, was waiting for her, as always. Tonight found him leaning on a treadmill. He had her on a regular schedule-Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings-but the routines were anything but predictable. He would work her on different machines for differing lengths of time, often causing her workouts to end at odd times-and never the same time two nights in a row. She sighed deeply. "Well, what are we starting with tonight? Walking? Jogging? Mobile handstands?"
He cracked a slight smile. "Actually I was thinking maybe you could pull yourself along by your hands. Then we'll put you on your elbows. If you do really well, next it'll be your teeth." She glared at him. "Ok, ok. I'm gonna start by having you run 5, walk 5, for about 30."
She looked at him curiously. "Miles or minutes?" The way you're working me you probably expect miles and minutes to be the same from me, she thought.
"Why, miles, of course. So, get on and let's go!" He reached for the switch on the treadmill.
"Yes, master." she grumbled. Oh well, she reminded herself, you ARE paying to keep yourself fit. She stepped up onto the machine as he flipped the switch.
Craig had found his JLH pictures. He had a directory devoted solely to her, but had forgotten what folder he had it in. He uploaded the image he desired into his program and sat down to get to work, talking to himself as he did so. "Ok, I'll make the necessary preparations...now, get ready to reduce!" He began working with the image, trying to set it up and see if his programming worked correctly. Finally, he got to the desired setup and chose the "Reduction" effect. He set it to not reduce her clothes, because he had always thought of it as more fun that way.
"Ok, she's 5'2'' right now.I'll start by making her an even 5' tall." He typed it in. "Now THAT'S odd." Whereas most programs would have had an `OK' button, he had an `Apply' button. "I don't remember programming that...oh, well. As long as it works." He clicked the `Apply' button.
Jennifer slapped her hand down on the console. She felt a sudden jolt. "Ouch!" She drew her hand back. "I think that damned thing shocked me! Must have been a powerful one-it felt like my whole body was jolted!" (AUTHOR'S NOTE: Insert ominous evil laugh here.)
"Really?" Her trainer looked over with mild disinterest. "Have you done your 30? I'm not letting you stop until you've done the whole 30."
"Yes, Tom, I've done my 30. I was just hitting the console to stop it." She stepped off the treadmill. She stopped suddenly-for a brief second, she had felt like her shoe didn't fit quite right. She looked up at her trainer and had another moment of disorientation; at 5'2'' she was used to looking slightly up at his face, situated atop his 6'3'' frame. But it had seemed as though she'd looked a bit higher up.
He suddenly snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Jen? Hello?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Just lost in thought for a second."
"Well, find your way back. I think you should head for the sauna...maybe I can let you off easy tonight."
"Oh, have a date, huh?" She grinned impishly at him. "That's the only time you EVER send me home early." Her grin widened as she saw him turn red. "That's what I thought. Well, don't worry, I'm suddenly not feeling so well anyway. I think I WILL go hit the sauna, then go on home. Have a good night, Tom...enjoy your evening with whoever-she-is."
"You know me too well. Maybe you should get another trainer." He held up his hand to silence her. "I know, I know...my program is too good for you to just let me leave." It was his turn to grin. "I know you pretty well too, don't forget. Anyway, goodnight, Jen. I hope you're in the mood for a little extra work tomorrow night!" He turned and headed for the lockers. Jennifer headed for the women's lockers to grab her towel, and from there, the sauna...
