Fresh Start

Chapter 24
Forever and Ever

Tejay was not having a good evening. First had come the painful process of playing with Jamie. The larger boy was very energetic, insisting they climb all over the couch as though it were a mountain, then jumping around on the pillows laid across the floor at the base of it. As soon as Tejay landed Jamie would wrap his arms around him and roll him over and over on the floor in a sort of wrestling match. When Tejay balked at some activity Jamie didn’t hesitate to get physical, dragging him over to it or pushing him down again. He couldn’t complain to Debbie of course because that would give away his ruse.

Then it got worse, much, much worse. Debbie clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention then announced, “Okay boys and girls, we’ve got a special treat tonight! We’re all going to see a magic show!”

There were little cheers and clapping hands all around.

“So we all need to get up and into line so we can go to the main hall,” she directed.

As the kids began lining up, taking plastic loops along the rope one by one Tejay felt frozen with fear. If they all went to the hall his old friends from Kea would see him like this. They’d see him hanging around with babies, and much worse, without clothes on. It was like his worst nightmare. He couldn’t ask Debbie for clothes or she’d suggest he get his old pull-up on and then she’d know. So instead he turned to Jamie and said, “Hey, don’t you wanna get some clothes on for the show?”

Jamie seemed to think about this a moment, then nodded. He grabbed Tejay’s hand but headed not for the changing table, but for the play clothes piled by the closet. He rooted around them until he came out with a purple bowler hat, sticking it on his head with a giggle. “Lookit how pweety I am!” Jamie told him.

“Aww, how cute,” Debbie remarked. “I’m sure you want a hat like your mate, right Tejay.”

“Yeah,” he agreed looking around and pulling on a pilot’s hat.

“There, now you’re all dressed up,” she remarked with a giggle.

Tejay grunted as Jamie dragged him back to the line, forcing a plastic ring into his hand. And then off they went. Tejay trudged into the darkness feeling more embarrassed and exposed than ever before. How could he ever be a big boy again after this? They were the last group to arrive too. All the other kids were already seated on the floor of the hall and the spot reserved for the little tots was right up the front of course. Tejay was sure he was blushing red from head to toe as he marched along the side of the crowd. He didn’t even want to look, but he had to know, so he glanced over at the Kea kids.

None of them even seemed to notice the Buzzy Bee tykes marching along. To his utter relief they either didn’t see him or didn’t recognise him all shrunk like this. They just saw another little nudist toddler with a stupid dress-up hat. Wedged between Jamie and Chris in the line he just blended in.

He was almost clear when one of the Kea boys did catch his eye. It was Jason, the only one who knew what he looked like now of course. As soon as they made eye-contact he saw Jason’s mouth drop open. His hand raised, as though in slow motion and Tejay shivered as he saw other heads turning. Robby and Timmy and others were looking now too as Jason informed them all who the little boy with the pilot hat on was. He couldn’t tell if they were giggling or jeering, he didn’t want to see. He just wanted to disappear. He’d never be able to live it down. Salty tears streaked down his cheeks as the line turned and filed into the gap in front of the Penguin Cabin kids. All Tejay wanted now was his mum.

**

Back at the cabin after the show Tejay finally got what he’d been praying for. The kids were having a final period of playtime while Debbie and a helper gave each child a bath before bed. Tejay had put up with it only because he expected he’d be given a new pull-up to finally cover his shame once he was nice and clean. Unfortunately it seemed Debbie was going to wait till she’d cleaned everyone before she switched to dressing mode. So Tejay simply sat on the floor and played idly with some big Duplo blocks while he waited for her to be done. It was then that the cabin door swung open and Tejay froze in shock at the sight. It was his mum!

Claire was being led into the cabin by Dr Howe himself. Tejay could see they were both smiling and he was slightly upset to see his mum so happy to be looking for him amongst these toddlers but that didn’t matter. He’d forgive her anything once she got him out of here and back in his proper place in the Kea Cabin. He stood up and waved wildly, calling out, “Mum! It’s me!” temporarily forgetting his nudity.

Claire beamed at the sight of her little boy hopping up and down in his birthday suit with a big Duplo block in his hand. He really did look like the sweet little toddler she recalled from a decade earlier. “Oh, there’s my sweetie!” she exclaimed, hurrying to his side and dropping to her knees to pull the little boy into her arms for a well-deserved cuddle.

Tejay was so relieved to be in his mum’s arms again. Now that she was here nothing could possibly hurt him. She would protect him from the nasty camp people who were making him a dumb baby. She would make sure he was made a big boy again and given proper clothes. “Mum, they put me in here by mistake. I’m supposed to be a big boy! Please, you have to tell them,” he urged even as she cuddled him.

Claire ran her hand through his hair, feeling how incredibly soft and silky it had become. His skin was so smooth too! He was a like a warm little doll and snuggling him made her feel so motherly, so happy. She heard him complaining about being so little, but she knew the real problem wasn’t that he was little, it was that he still thought like a big boy. She had had a lovely long chat with Dr Howe and then he’d given her a special presentation in this comfy reclining chair. She didn’t really recall the show actually, how silly of her. But she’d awoken feeling more certain than ever that this was the right thing to do.

“It’s okay sweetie, mummy will fix everything,” she crooned to him.

Tejay was so happy to hear her say this. A small part of him had been afraid that she would just leave him to be treated like a baby. Now he knew she would fix everything that was wrong.

As they cuddled Debbie emerged from the bathroom leading a little red-head boy by the hand. “Ah, you must be Tejay’s mummy,” she declared, seeing the woman hugging her newest charge. “I’m Debbie, I take care of the children in this cabin,” she greeted, extending her free hand while keeping a firm hold on the little boy’s tiny hand with the other.

Claire ended the hug and turned to shake Debbie’s hand.

“Yes, I’m Claire, Tejay’s mummy.”

“He’s a real cutie, you’re a lucky woman.”

“Oh thank you. Has he been behaving?”

“Oh he’s a perfect angel and he’s been adjusting quite well. He’s made a couple friends already.”

“That’s great!” Claire looked down at Tejay with an indulgent, condescending smile and said “Mummy is very proud of her little boy for being so well behaved.”

Tejay liked it when mum praised him, but this was different. He didn’t want to see her happy that he was a little boy. She was supposed to be telling these people off for their mistake. She was supposed to be fixing this. Had she forgotten this was all wrong?

“Mum, I’m supposed to be a big boy!” Tejay huffed, reminding her just in case.

She nodded. “Yes dear, and you are a big boy. You certainly don’t look like a little baby to me. Why you can walk and run and play with blocks and everything. You’re a very big boy indeed.”

Tejay shook his head angrily. That wasn’t what he meant at all! Was his mum really that forgetful or was she being intentionally stupid? How could she act like all this was normal, was okay?

Claire ignored the deep frown on her boy’s face and looked instead at the red-head holding Debbie’s hand. The little freckle-faced imp was hopping up and down, twisting back and forth, lifting his feet to dangle from Debbie’s hand, giggling and smiling away. Now he looked like a proper little boy, so smiley and happy. She knelt down to face the boy and said, “Hi there, I’m Claire. What’s your name?”

The boy giggled and picked at his nose as he yelled, “Dabie!”

“Well hi there Davey,” Claire greeted. “And how old are you?”

Davey didn’t reply, just started twisting around playfully again.

“He’s two and a half,” Debbie answered for him. “I’m afraid things like numbers are a bit beyond the little guy now.”

“He certainly seems happy though,” Claire mused.

Tejay didn’t like where this was heading. His mum was complimenting this stupid little kid for picking his nose and not understanding numbers! She couldn’t possibly want to see him behaving that way, could she? Tejay grabbed onto her leg and looked imploringly up at her. “Mum, tell them I’m supposed to be in the Kea Cabin with the big kids!” he urged.

“Oh sweetie, you don’t want to play with big kids, they’ll be too rough for you. You’d hurt yourself.”

“No mum, they can make me bigger ‘gain, they promised. You just gotta tell ‘em! Make ‘em do it!”

Debbie shook her head and frowned. “I don’t think you’ll be very happy back in Kea Tejay. Remember all your friends have seen you now. They all saw what a happy, silly little boy you’ve become, they saw you even decided you didn’t want to get dressed to go to the magic show. Don’t you think they might be mean to you now?”

Tejay shook his head, he was so angry at himself for letting that happen. But his mum seemed quite pleased by this news.

“Really, did he go to the show all nekkid? I thought he was unclothed because he’d just had a bath.”

“Oh no, he’s been fitting right in with Jamie and Chris, our resident nudists. They’ve become the three little bares,” Debbie joked.

Tejay shook his head violently, rejecting this slander. “No, no, no! I want clothes mum! Big kid clothes!” he raged.

Debbie shook her head and shrugged. “Little ones, always changing their minds. Now he’s demanding his clothes but next thing you know he’ll be yanking them all off in the most inappropriate places.”

Claire chuckled and nodded, ignoring Tejay completely. “Isn’t that the truth! One time when he was about two or three he somehow got loose from the church nursery, stripped down and went streaking right through the middle of communion!”

Debbie laughed heartily. “What can you do? Little kids have no sense of decency. All they think about is what feels most comfy.”

Tejay was dying of embarrassment as the two women discussed him as though he wasn’t there. Only the approach of Dr Howe ended their conversation. “Sorry ladies, but I’m afraid we need to proceed right now. I have another appointment to get to.”

“Oh yes of course. Sorry doctor,” Debbie apologised.

“That’s fine. Claire, could you hold Tejay still for me please,” he directed.

Claire nodded and Tejay found himself being swept up in his mum’s arms. She lifted him up off the ground and cuddled him close to her bosom again. Tejay didn’t like how tightly she was holding him. He also didn’t enjoy being held up for all to see his lack of clothing. “Mum, please, put me down, I don’t like this,” he whined.

“Good, now just hold him still for me and this will be over in a jiffy,” Howe told Claire.

Confused by what the man meant Tejay craned his head around and saw that the doctor was taking the safety top off a hypodermic needle already filled with a clear solution. Tejay jerked in fear but his mum just strengthened her grip. “What’s that!?” he yelped.

“Just something to make you my perfect little angel again honey,” Claire explained. “You’re never going to have to worry about nasty big kids again. No more rough play, no more icky rugby. Just nice play-dates with little friends and cuddle-time with mummy.”

“What do you mean?”

“This little jab is going to keep you from growing a single day older dear. You’ll be staying my three-year old boy for good!”

Tejay started to really squirm now. That was the absolute last thing he wanted. Now he felt real terror, his mum had betrayed him and he could see no way to escape. They’d promised the whole point of the programme was to grow back up better than the first time, stronger and smarter. They’d promised only a few naughty kids got frozen in age. Now Tejay could see that was all a lie. But unfortunately it was too late for him to do anything about it. Dr Howe put a cold hand on his back and aimed the needle at his exposed bottom. “Okay buddy, don’t you worry this’ll only hurt for a second,” he assured.

Tejay winced as he felt the sharp hot jab of the needle piercing his skin, stabbing through the soft flesh of his butt. The pressure only increased as Howe rammed the plunger home. Then as suddenly as it began it was over and the doctor was dabbing at the puncture wound with a cotton swab. “There we go, all done. That wasn’t so bad was it?” he said.

Tejay couldn’t help but start to cry. He knew it was a babyish thing to do but there was no avoiding it. He was never going to grow up, never going to be a big boy. As the tears turned his cheeks red the virus injected into him was already going quickly to work. It was designed to alter his genes, turning some off and others on. The primary result was it literally stopped the aging process. The other effect was on the brain cells. It essentially stopped the development of the mind as well. Tejay would never be able to learn new skills, memorise new information. But at the moment the most important effect of the virus’s work was undoing the development of his brain, reducing it to the complexity, or rather simplicity, of a three-year old’s.

His tears were thus short-lived. As his brain’s structure began to change, to simplify, Tejay lost track of why he was feeling so upset. He simply continued to cry because he still felt the emotion of anger and fear overwhelming him. His tears and sniffles began to abate as his mum crooned to him that she loved him and would take care of him forever. He loved his mummy of course. And that felt really nice. Slowly his tears dried up and he was able to look at her with confusion on his face rather than anger.

Tejay was a very lost little boy. He’d lost track of where he was and why he was here. He was supposed to be a big boy, mummy was going to help him right? But what did that mean? What was a big boy? Hadn’t mummy just said he was a big boy? He blinked and shook his head in confusion. Suddenly everything seemed really complex.

“You okay honey?” Claire asked.

“I’m sure he’s fine Claire,” Howe told her. “He’s just getting used to being a toddler again. His mind is a lot emptier now. Don’t worry he’ll feel right as rain in a sec.”

Tejay heard the doctor talking and for a fleeting second he felt panic. He was getting dumber! That was why he felt lost and confused. Before he could even determine to fight it though, the process moved forward and he lost his train of thought. Mummy and the doctor man were still talking but Tejay wasn’t interested in listening anymore. He was just thinking about how nice and warm mummy was and how he liked cuddling in her arms. He snuggled closer and luxuriated in her smell and the pleasant tone of her voice.

“Oh, doctor, something’s changed,” Claire told Howe.

“What is it?”

“His body, it just relaxed. It feels like he’s practically melting in my arms. And he’s hugging me back now, cuddling in closer.”

Howe smiled. “Good,” he told her, “that means the injection has done its work.”

He leant closer and gently placed a hand on the little boy’s back. “Tejay, how you feelin’ buddy?” he asked in a sing-song.

Tejay leant back and looked at the doctor with a dazed smile. “Me awll cuddwy,” he babbled.

“Yes, it’s nice to cuddle with mummy isn’t it?”

Tejay nodded slipping a thumb into his mouth.

“Yes, he’s definitely adjusted now,” Howe told Claire. “Why don’t you set him down so he can play while we set up a place for you to spend the night? You can take him home tomorrow.”

Tejay felt mummy lowering him to the floor by his armpits. As soon as the carpet slipped beneath his bare soles he was off running. It was fun to cuddle but he felt this overwhelming need to run and be active as well. Playing was so much more fun than whatever it was he’d been doing before. And luckily for Tejay playtime was never going to end for him.