Have A Bounce

Chapter 1
Have A Bounce

---

Chapter Description: What if jumping on the bed could make you younger?

---

Bounce

Bounce for the fun

Bounce for the years past

Bounce for the return

Bounce:

In the past it was believed that watching too much TV could result in a decrease in intellect. Considering the mindless reality TV junk that clogs the channels now then they were proven right.

Channel after channel flashes by, each one showing one reality TV show after another. Anything more interesting was either cancelled or moved to a rating killer of a time slot.

A sigh of boredom can be heard and the TV snaps off.

“Junk, that’s what all of it is, mindless brain melting junk. I would prefer to keep my brain from dribbling out of my ears, thank you very much” Groaning painfully as she lifts herself from her recliner, Francine Rose, or Franny as she used to be called in her youth by her friends back when she had been much smoother skinned, more trim and considerably younger than she was now in the mid 70s, heads through to the kitchen to make some tea.

The years have not been kind to her. When she had been younger she had been very nimble and graceful in life. But an accident when she was in her 40s took away much of that graceful movement after her legs had been broken.

Although they had healed as expected, she had never fully regained the strength in her legs that she used to have.

Now five years widowed after her husband had been attacked by a gang of youths when he had been outside enjoying a warm day, Francine has gradually become a recluse who awaits her eventual death with the hope of seeing her beloved husband once again in the afterlife.

All of her friends have already passed on and she is very much alone, her children and grandchildren having given up on trying to help her be more cheerful.

“No wonder the youth of today make eggs look smarter” Francine grumbles as she pours water into the kettle and sets it to the boil. “Murderous creatures” As the kettle boils, she looks for the biscuit tin in a cupboard and takes out a couple of biscuits.

As she waits for the water to boil, a sound like knocking can be heard at the front door. Grumbling to herself as she makes for the door, she opens it to find no one standing there. She looks down to see a small package on the doorstep.

“Probably some practical trick by the vile little monsters” She grumbles as she gives it a light kick. It doesn’t explode as she expected, it just sits there.

Using a foot to move it inside, she closes the door and grabs the walking stick that used to belong to her husband. Poking the package with the walking stick carefully, she waits to see if it will do anything, but still nothing happens.

Deciding to risk picking it up, she bends down slowly and picks the package up. It feels light. Giving it a shake and expecting to hear something within, she instead hears nothing.

“Probably some joke” Francine grumbles and she takes the package into the living room to open it.

The package now on the coffee table, Francine returns to her kitchen and pours herself a cup of tea. Once done she returns to the living room, cup of tea and two rich teas in her hands, and sets her tea and biscuits down on the coffee table next to the package.

Now curious on what could be in the package, she picks it up from the table and sets it on her lap. The tape is ripped away and she opens the box. Just as she does that however, a sudden puff of some kind of sparkling powder shoots out over her and she drops the package in surprise.

Blinking for a moment, she looks down at the package and sees a piece of paper has fallen out. Picking it up, she flips it over and reads the words that are so well written on it –

‘A bounce a day takes the years away. Let go of your sorrow and play, bring a smile back to your heart and let youth reclaim you’

She scoffs, picking the package up and stuffing the piece of paper back into it.

“Nonsense” And the package is thrown on the coffee table.

~

That night as she gets ready for bed, the message on the piece of paper plays in her thoughts and distracts her.

Wondering what the message could mean, Francine thinks back to the days when she and her own childhood friends would bounce on their beds just for the fun of it. The laughter and joy they had in such a simple action.

She doesn’t realise that as she is thinking this, she is climbing up onto her bed. Without even meaning to she starts to bounce, once, twice, three times. Ten bounces, then twenty, then thirty and finally forty before she collapses happily, her body a little sore but not by much from her bouncing and laughing while doing so.

The urge to bounce had just come over her for the first time in many years and she had loved it.

The urge returns and she does another ten bounces for the sheer fun of it, her body complaining from the action yet enjoying it at the same time and the bed holding strong.

The bouncing stops and feeling light in her heart for the first time in years, Francine falls into a content sleep, her mind filled with long ago memories.

~~

Bird song can be heard outside the next morning, the merry song of birds doing their usual thing as nature demands of them. An arm stretches followed by the groan of a woman waking from a restful sleep.

Silence for a moment followed by a high pitched scream. Bedcovers are thrown to the side and the sound of a woman running to the nearest mirror are followed by another scream, this time with words.

“This can’t be real!” Francine screams as she stares in shock at her reflection in the mirror. Only the reflection does not show a woman in her mid 70s with all the signs of aging, but instead a woman in her mid twenties with youthful skin and hair.

“No, this has to be some dream, it has to be!” She pinches herself, expecting to wake up. However she is very much awake. She continues to stare at herself before she looks down at her body underneath the now somewhat short nightgown which has changed as she slept.

She had fallen asleep with a piece of nightwear on that her daughter had called ‘Granny gown’. It had come down to her ankles and was a faded pink. This one however was a more vibrant pink and came down to barely under her rear end.

And that wasn’t the only change, her skin looks healthy like it used to years ago. Her bust is firm and has the bounce to it that it used to have.

Moving her hands down she gives a yelp of surprise, her legs and skin between her legs feel as tender and as sensitive to touch as they used to.

“I’m…I’m young, I’m really young…But this is impossible!” Quickly undressing to examine herself better, she notes how young she has become. The age she was when she had married her husband so many years ago.

“This can’t be true, it’s impossible to become younger! But I’m really young, and beautiful again. What year is it?” Quickly dressing and finding that she likes her new nightwear, Francine rushes through to her kitchen and checks the calendar. It was still the same year it had been yesterday.

A voice startles her suddenly.

“Good morning, how is your restored youth then?” Turning quickly in shock, she sees a woman no older than herself at her current restored age leaning against the stove.

“Who are you and how did you get in my house?” Francine demands while she notes that she doesn’t feel fearful of this unknown woman, instead she feels more like the woman is not going to harm her.

“You let me in yesterday when you took my gift in. Once you opened it I was able to enter while you slept and became the twenty something beauty you are now, I am here to help you and if needs must, care for you should you wish to continue using the gift. My name is Tiao” The woman extends a hand out and Francine stares at it, unsure on if she should take it or not.

“That package? What was in it and how did it make me like this?” Taio retracts her hand. Her hair is a gentle brown with eyes that seems to be slightly yellow with a hint of blue, she is taller than Francine by a couple of inches and she is wearing an outfit that makes Francine feel younger than she currently is, as if she was being made to feel like a child towards someone who seem motherly.

“It was a gift from someone who was very concerned about you, they didn’t want you to be so unhappy. I was called and the gift was made just for you, it is up to you if you wish to continue using it” Francine looks down at her now youthful hands, no signs of the elderly woman she had been a day ago. It was either a dream or a miracle.

“What do you mean by continuing to use it?” She asks. Taio smiles, a kind smile that makes Francine feel safe, secure.

“Well if you wish to be even younger, then you can bounce several more times. With each bounce you will lose a year of adulthood. For example if you bounce ten more times then you will return to being a teenager, if you bounce more than that then you will become a child and if you bounce another, ooo, 24 times or so then you will return to infancy. You can have a completely new life, a second chance in full if you wish too. I am here to help you and care for you should you become younger, after all I can hardly leave you defenceless and alone when you need to be cared for should you wish to be younger. The choice is yours, Francine. The person who was concerned for you wishes you happiness. I will be in the living room awaiting whatever choice you make, but note that if you bounce past the age of 18 then your reality will shape to adjust your new life. Just as it has now, but not as much as it will should you wish to become even younger. The old you will continue to exist and she will die alone, but you are a branching point of her and the instant your new life begins then she will return and face the end of her life while you will begin your new one. As I said, the choice is yours” Taio heads through to the living room, leaving Francine to think about what she has been handed.

~

Still in her nightwear an hour later, Francine sits on her bed looking through a photo album. The pictures show her life from childhood to recent years, her marriage to her husband, her children who she loved, her grandchildren who she adored.

“Could they have arranged this? Do they truly love me and care enough about me to give me this chance of a new life while my old one reaches it’s end?” The urge to bounce returns as strong as it had last night, a powerful urge. Setting the album aside, Francine looks over to the framed photo of her husband on the nightstand.

“What would you suggest? Would I be selfish in having a new start? Would I meet someone as wonderful as you in the new life? I know you would not want me to be unhappy and I do find the thought of being a child again to be very tempting, I so miss those simple days when laughter and joy was something so pure. Even being an infant again sounds wonderful, to be cared for and raised all over again, to be loved. What should I do?” The picture doesn’t answer her. Looking down at her young hands and legs again, Francine thinks back to the days when the future was some far away horizon. The urge to bounce grows stronger.

An urge that is hard to resist.

~

Taio counts the bounces as she watches from the doorway, Francine not seeing her. As Francine bounces, the years fall away from her. She enters the age of 18 and the nightgown changes with each year regained.

Then to 17, 16. The years run in reverse with each bounce and laugh of delight as she bounces. 15, 14, 13. Francine’s voice becomes that of a happy child, her bounces bring farther laughter from her as she returns to childhood.

“I’ll take excellent care of you, Francine, my beautiful new daughter, I promise” Taio whispers as Francine returns to six years of age, then five years, four. The nightgown has changed to a design than a young child would wear and Taio can see flashes of training underwear that is becoming thicker as Francine becomes three years old, then two. A half bounce later and a smiling, giggling toddler of around 18 months old plops down on the bed covers, falling on her back and waving her arms and legs with sheer delight, her thick nappy showing and rustling loudly from her movements.

“Ma Ma!” Francine calls out, her vocabulary now that of a very young child.

“Mummy’s here, my angel” Taio calls out as she enters the bedroom and plucks her new daughter up from the bed, the house changing to match the new life that Francine has began and the old house returning to it’s frame of time, the older Francine also returning there.

Cradling her daughter gently, one hand patting her daughter’s thickly padded bottom, Taio kisses the younger Francine’s head and smiles happily.

“This I what your children wanted for you, sweetie, a new life and a second chance. They saw how unhappy you were and how anything they tried wasn’t helping you. So I was called to help you, since I was longing to be a mother again, and I was happy to do this for you. The older you will die soon, as is meant to be. But you, my adorable, precious nappy bum, you will have the thank you from your children that they wished you to have. A chance of happiness once again” A hand in her mouth, Francine suckles contently on her tiny hand and cuddles against her new mother.

As the final glimmers of the adult she was fades away, a final adult thought enters her mind as she hears Taio’s words:

“Thank you”

~~

A week later, after the older Francine has been laid to rest next to the remains of her husband, Taio lays down a rose at the grave site. In the baby stroller next to her, the younger Francine, who she has renamed Pamela, watches the birds flying in the sky. Her tiny hands reach out in wonder and awe, baby drool on her chin and her nappy a little damp.

At her age she doesn’t understand, but she is learning at a quick pace. Where the older Francine had lost her sense of wonder for the world many years ago, Pamela is filled with a deep wonder of the innocent towards the world around her.

“She’s at peace now” Taio says quietly. “One now beyond the world of the living and another beginning her new life, death and rebirth in it’s endless cycle. Well let’s get you back home, cutie, it’s almost nap time and nappy change time I believe” Pamela coos happily to her mother, still watching the birds above.

“Ma ma” Pamela babbles happily as Taio pushes the stroller home.

*Have a bounce, it might take some years off*

 

---