Parking, unlimited

In Short

This science fiction short story follows two young men who discover a way to shrink automobiles to the size of toys, allowing them to pack thousands of cars into a single, modest garage. As they rake in a fortune in downtown parking fees, they navigate the pressures of extortion, building inspections, and the mounting suspicion of local business rivals. It is a cautionary, fast-paced tale of technological hubris, capturing the mid-century obsession with urban growth and the inevitable friction between innovative genius and the practical, messy realities of a city.

The Story

The narrator, a young man who has spent his summer performing back-breaking labor in wheat fields to save for college, is pulled into a questionable business venture by his charismatic and persuasive friend, Slim Coleman. Slim claims to have the solution to the city’s crushing parking shortage: a device that uses a magnetic field to slow electrons, shrinking cars down to mere inches in height. With the narrator’s meager three hundred dollars in savings, the pair secures an old, dilapidated garage on the edge of the Loop, a prime location near the city’s largest department store.

Their operation is an immediate, overwhelming success. While the public believes they are merely efficient, the pair is secretly running a high-stakes, exhausting assembly line. They guide cars into a "reducing stall," shrink them, and use specialized tools to maneuver the heavy, miniature vehicles into tidy, compact rows in the basement. As the days pass, the work becomes a brutal physical grind, but the profits are immense. Within a month, they have accumulated thousands of dollars, far exceeding their initial investment and bringing them closer to their dream of financial independence.

However, their rapid success draws unwanted attention. A local parking magnate, Richard LaBombard, whose own business interests are threatened by the garage’s popularity, begins applying pressure. When a suspicious building inspector arrives to audit the structure, the partners are forced to invent frantic lies to hide the technology. The tension culminates on a Saturday night, their final shift before fleeing for the West Coast. The mayor’s wife wanders into the restricted basement, distracting Slim just as he attempts to restore a car to its original size. The process goes wrong, the car expands prematurely and violently, destroying the equipment.

Panic ensues as the building inspector, police, and LaBombard descend on the basement to find a massive, seven-foot-tall car where a normal vehicle should be. A mob of angry customers, realizing something is amiss, begins tearing the operation apart. Abandoning their fortune in the safe, the narrator and Slim barely manage to escape the building. The story concludes with the two men, defeated and broke, riding atop a train car out of the city, contemplating a return to the simple, quiet life of the farm.

How It Unfolds

The proposal Slim convinces the reluctant narrator to pool his hard-earned savings into a secret business venture. By leveraging blackmail against a powerful local businessman, Slim secures a garage that promises to yield millions.

The invention The partners construct a clandestine "reducer" in the basement, testing it on saw-horses before moving to customer vehicles. They establish an exhausting, repetitive system of shrinking cars to maximize space and revenue.

The rising tide Profits soar as the city's parking crisis drives thousands of desperate commuters to their door. The duo quickly becomes overwhelmed by the physical labor of moving thousands of miniature cars each day.

The intrusion The suspicious building inspector and the mayor's wife both infiltrate the basement, threatening to expose the operation. Slim’s attempt to manage these figures fails when a technical malfunction causes a car to expand uncontrollably.

The collapse An angry mob of customers destroys the machinery, forcing the partners to abandon their hard-earned cash. They flee the city as destitute fugitives, reflecting on the failure of their get-rich-quick scheme.

The People

Slim Coleman is the architect of the operation, a man of "far-away fanaticism" who views the world in terms of angles and potential wealth. He is a master of persuasion, possessing a magnetic personality that keeps his partner tethered to the scheme even when the narrator’s instincts signal danger. Slim’s ambition is his defining trait, yet he is ultimately unable to control the unpredictable nature of his own invention.

The narrator, by contrast, is a weary, pragmatic youth driven by the simple goal of saving enough money for a college education. Though he is initially skeptical of Slim’s schemes, his desperation for tuition money makes him a willing, if anxious, accomplice. He provides the necessary labor and the financial seed money, acting as the grounded counterbalance to Slim’s volatile idealism. By the end, his desire for a simple haircut and a life away from the stress of the city highlights his fundamental need for stability over the high-stakes risk Slim craves.

Richard LaBombard represents the established order of the city—a corrupt businessman who views the world as a commodity to be hoarded. His presence serves as the antagonist who forces the partners into a corner, proving that even a miraculous invention cannot easily overcome the entrenched power of a city’s established interests.

In Its Own Voice

"I had three hundred and one dollars, and I had no intention of parting with a nickel of it--except a dollar for a haircut."

The narrator reflects on his modest savings and his neglected appearance at the start of his journey with Slim.

"A car will shrink to about four inches long."

Slim explains the core of his invention, revealing the mechanism that will allow them to dominate the urban parking market.

"The metal in its smaller size seemed as tough as it had been normally, but the parts were pretty small to get hold of with anything strong enough to handle them."

The narrator describes the unforeseen physical challenges of manipulating vehicles reduced to the size of toys.

What It's Really About

At its heart, the story explores the tension between human ingenuity and the limitations of civilization. The parking garage serves as a metaphor for the rapid, often unmanageable growth of mid-century urban environments. The invention—a miracle of science—is not used to improve humanity, but rather to exploit the inefficiencies of city life for profit. The narrative argues that technological shortcuts rarely solve systemic problems; instead, they often create new, more dangerous complications. The partners’ descent from the brink of wealth to riding a freight train suggests that any success built upon a foundation of secrecy and exploitation is inherently unstable, ultimately favoring the quiet dignity of manual labor over the chaotic pursuit of a million-dollar breakthrough.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the brisk, no-nonsense style of 1950s pulp science fiction will find this story particularly engaging. It is an honest, unvarnished look at a "what-if" scenario that feels grounded in the grit of a real city, despite its fantastic premise. The writing is punchy and direct, focusing on the immediate physical toll of the characters' work rather than the technical minutiae of the science.

However, contemporary readers should be prepared for the mid-century tone, which includes casual references to common behaviors of the era, such as smoking, and a distinct lack of complexity in the supporting characters, who function primarily as obstacles to the protagonists. The prose is utilitarian and moves at a breathless pace, reflecting the desperate energy of the two leads. It is a compelling, short read for anyone interested in the history of science fiction, capturing a specific mid-century anxiety about urban congestion and the corrupting influence of easy money. What stays with you is the final image of the narrator on the lettuce train—a quiet, poignant contrast to the frantic, metallic world of the garage, offering a classic reminder that the most ambitious plans often end up right where they started.