The Return to Innocence

Chapter 1
Chapter 1

The Return to Innocence

By BBoy

Part 1

“I’m not sure what to expect.” Jeff sat on the side of the bed, being consoled by his wife Margaret. All Jeff could do was think back to the other day at the lab and how he could have been exposed to the device...

Jeff was an assistant in Prof. Leahey’s lab, a PhD student almost finished his degree in Biochemistry. Dr. Leahey, a world-renowned researcher, was on the verge of a major discovery in DNA recovery and modification. His future employment options were endless, he could get a job at any university or scientific institute as soon as he finished his thesis. Now Jeff wasn’t sure what would happen with his life.

Life is funny one day you’re the pigeon the next the statue. It was an accident, no one was at fault but the damage was done. Jeff with the help of Tim, the other lab assistant, were replacing a burned out light bulb above the door. Jeff was on top of the ladder when Dr. Leahey walked into the lab bumping the ladder causing it to collapse. Jeff fell onto the lab’s most important experiment the DNA modifier. A suit case size device with cables running into the box, with three lens focused towards a wall.

The DNA Modifier was sent spinning off the table crashing to the floor. “Oh crap! The device it is alright!” Tim yelled as they ran to the device and inspected the box and computer. Aside from a few scratches and a small dent everything was okay. “Wow that was lucky for us.” Tim yelled in relief.

Unfortunately the experiment that was running would have to be restarted as the computer restarted loosing the unsaved data, however it was a minor delay in their schedule compared to loosing the prototype. The DNA Modifier was presently going through an overload phase to register how much energy could be produced in one burst. A meter was set-up in the DNAM target area against the wall.

“Sorry Professor but the experiment will have to be restarted, the recording stopped just before the DNAM was hit and the data was corrupted. It shows the feedback beginning and the meter had just spiked but no results after that point. The data is useless!” as Jeff reviewed the data in the laptop. “No problem guys, it will only take an hour to rerun the experiment, fortunately the device seems to be okay. But next time please take greater care in the lab.” Leahey said with an air of frustration.

The day progressed normally and nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. The following morning Jeff was shaving when he noticed the few gray hairs were gone and his hairline was returning. Thinking nothing of it he finished getting ready for work. Today he had a little more spring in his step and a renewed interest in the female students on campus. Especially Karen, an athletic 25 year old Masters student in the department, when he passed by her at lunch she smiled at him.

During the afternoon the three scientists were in the lab busy planning their fall schedule, when Jeff was hit a wave of heat and dizziness. Just as it started it stopped. “Jeff you alright?” The Professor looked over at his workmate, a flushed Jeff responded. “Yeah I was feeling a little weak all of a sudden, but I’m felling better now.”

“Good to hear, we have a busy schedule starting next month so we need to be ready.” The Professor noted. “Anyways, everything seems to be in order. I’ll be gone for a week or two on vacation with the family. When I return we will get started. With that the Professor packed his briefcase and made his way to the door. “See you all in a couple of weeks!”

That night Jeff returned home to find his wife Margaret had prepared dinner. He had time to open a beer before sitting down to dinner. His three kids came running into the dinning room and sat down waiting for dinner to be served. Fridays were always ?pork chop night’.

Susan, the oldest daughter at 14 sat down at the table and hurried through dinner to prepare for her date. Jeff immediately noticed she was wearing a denim mini-skirt and a an almost see through blouse. “Don’t you think that outfit is a little revealing?” Jeff inquired of his daughter. “Nah, all the girls are wearing them these days.” Susan replied.

“Well I don’t like it. You are showing too much and boys will get the wrong idea if you wear that.” the overly protective father replied. “Maybe I want the boys to look at me! Your just too old to understand.” Susan sneered and quickly left the house. Jeff then settled back in his chair and relaxed with a beer. Rolling his eyes at the attitude of kids, he would never understand how kids think the way they do. Watching his two younger children Michael and Mary play in the yard wondered Jeff wondered if his other kids would be as insolent when they reached teenage hood. Michael the middle child was 10 and stubborn just like his dad. Michael came running into the house. “I didn’t do it!” charging through the living room and into the bedroom.

Mary then walked through the door crying at the top of her lungs. Mary had just turned 7 and the youngest in the family. The little girl walked straight up to her Daddy, looking for an instant cure that heals everything. Jeff looked at the bump on her head and gave the boo-boo a kiss, then consoled her until the wails quieted and the tears dried up.

“Are you okay honey? What happened?” Jeff asked as the little girl spoke between her whimpers, “Bob bob Michael pushed me” she blurted out. “And why did he push you?” asked the sympathetic father.

“I wanted to play with the ball and he took it from me.” Jeff sat there and consoled his daughter stopped crying and the original issue of the ball had been forgotten. Little kids never have a long attention span, so within 5 minutes Mary noticed the family dog in the corner and ran off to play with it. “Another job well done.” Jeff smiled to himself as he took a long haul on his beer.

Suddenly another wave of nausea hit Jeff, almost causing him to fall off his chair. Again the feeling of being sick passed as quickly as it came. Jeff got up and walked to the bathroom, washed his face in cold water and looked into the mirror. The wrinkles in his face seemed to disappear and his shoulders seemed a little broader. Again Jeff figured nothing was wrong and continued on with the evening.

11:00 pm came and went. Susan had returned from her date and all the kids were in bed. Jeff feeling especially frisky tonight wasted no time getting into bed with Margaret. Two fooled around all night not getting a wink of sleep. By 6:00 am Margaret had all the sex she could handle and had to push her lover away. Jeff was still ready to go, he hadn’t felt like that since university! Musing at his accomplishment, Jeff fell deep asleep.

When Margaret and Jeff awoke it was 11:00 am, they had both overslept. Jeff groggy rubbed the sleep from his eyes, got up and walked into the bathroom. He showered, dried off, moved to the sink and looked in the mirror. Looking back at him was a man no older than 25, Jeff stood there mouth wide open in total shock. “Margaret!” he shouted as he ran back into the bedroom. Margaret took one look at him and almost screamed believing he was an intruder, however she noticed Jeff’s birthmark and recognized the man she originally fell in love with.

“Jeff is that you?” she asked apprehensively. “Of course it’s me, what is going on!” the hysterical 25 year old retorted. Jeff frantically searched his memory for any reason this could have happened, then it came to him. “The DNAM accident on Friday! I must have been exposed somehow.” With the revelation, Jeff called his work mate Tim and asking to meet him at the lab at noon.

Margaret and Jeff left Susan in charge and drove straight to the lab. “Jeff what is going to happen? How do you plan to reverse this process?” Margaret asked her younger husband. “I don’t know, this is all very new to me. There isn’t a reversal process developed yet. The Professor has been working on one but hasn’t told us about it’s progress..”

“Well that is just great! What are we going to do in the mean time?” Margaret barked at Jeff. “I don’t know hopefully Tim and I will come up with a solution.” Jeff replied.

--- to be continued.

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