Boomerang, Author unknown

Chapter 1
Boomerang, Part I

Chapter Description: Author Unknow. Please let me know if you have any idea who the author was.

[This story was a rewrite by the author of his previous story, which is already on the Archive under the title "Boomerang Virus"]

An attempt at a story. We’ll see how it goes.

I just penned the second part down. I hope you still enjoy it. Feel free to comment away, I could use the feedback.

I will do my best to write a Prologue at some point, but right now, I’m more interested in seeing how Jason’s life plays out. But thanks for the suggestion and the encouragement.

Part I

On December 7th, 1994, North America suffered one of the most unprecedented events ever recorded. At precisely 9:17 in the morning, every single male youth between the age of 14 and 18 unexpectedly regressed in age.

Regardless of where they presently were at the time, all young men on the continent lost years of their physical size and shape as they tumbled down the scale to early childhood. Most were in the middle of classes when the event occurred, and could only watch with horror as their clothing came tumbling off their oversized frames.

Fellow female classmates howled with laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. In large school districts, parents had to wait for hours in traffic and congestion to retrieve their suddenly incapacitated charges. In smaller communities, they simply picked their boys off from school and drove to the nearest pediatrician. In all, some 17 million boys were affected. They would later find at the doctor’s offices that their bodies had been rendered almost infantile.

80 percent of the afflicted regressed to a preschool state of about 4 years in age. 15 percent went still farther and ended up about 3. And the smallest group, the remaining 5 percent of the young men, went all the way back to toddler hood, becoming barely 2 years old. Interestingly, whenever siblings were affected, the older brother regressed to the oldest part of the spectrum while the younger, without fail, went back to toddler hood.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, one such young man faced a rude awakening when his Mother drove him home. Like many boys across America, families would have some harsh realities to face and some difficult decisions to make in the coming days ahead.

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"I want to go to school," Jason whined! Pam Carlson looked down, way down, at her young son and shook her head somewhat resignedly.

"We’ve been over this, Jason. You can’t go to school for the rest of the week. The School Board has to meet to decide what’s going to happen to. . .well, you know." It felt so odd to be having this quite rationale conversation with a kid who barely came up to her knee cap. Jason had been one of the 17 million kids who had gone to school today ready to face the world, and come home unable to face the mirror. Physically, Pam had to stop herself from picking Jason up off the floor and sitting him on her lap. But he looked like a 2 year old! He even had the baby blond hair he’d lost at the age of 8, seven years ago.

"I don’t care!" Jason proclaimed and proceeded his pacing around the living room. He was still dressed in the small but still oversized shorts that the school had found for all the young men who had shed their adult sized clothing earlier in the day. Although it wasn’t much, at least the shorts had nylon ties to keep them from slipping down and leaving the poor boys naked as the day they were born.

"I’m not going to sit here all day and watch television," Jason continued. "There has to be something I can do," Jason whined petulantly.

"I have some coloring books, if you’re bored," Pam suggested. Jason grimaced at her.

"Coloring’s for babies. I want to join the class discussion on Romeo and Juliet. I’ve been following along all week and reading up with the class, now I’m going to miss out!"

"Sweety, I’m sorry you’re upset but there’s nothing I can do. The School Board has some big decisions to make and in the meanwhile. I’ve got to get you some clothes that fit you. Let’s go to Wal-Mart and do some shopping." Pam began making a quick list in her head then suddenly bang her palm against her head when she realized just how much she had to buy.

Her boy would need a car seat and probably a booster chair for eating; he was WAY too small to reach the dinner table now. He also needed new clothes and shoes. Food in the pantry was pretty bare and she’d have to stop at Publix on the way back. What else? Then it hit her. Jason was barely 2, if that. She hadn’t potty trained him until he was almost 3. Could he even go to the potty anymore? Maybe she’d have to buy some other things while they were out at the store, and Jason would most certainly NOT be pleased.

On the trip to Wal-Mart, she tried to keep the car buzzing with small talk, but the only sound Jason responded with was a pretty sullen mutter, so after a little while, she gave up. In the big store, she automatically took Jason’s hand. He tried to shake it off, but Pam persisted. "Jason, there’s no way I’m losing you in this store. Keep your hand with mine, please." Jason still looked upset but angrily relented to her request.

The Carlsons made their way to the young children’s section. Pam looked around in surprise and recognized some of the women from the P.T.A. club and even a few of the men. She saw that each had a small boy they were attempting to measure for clothes. Smiling in recognition, she waved to Carlie Miller. "Carlie, how are you doing?" she asked.

Carlie shook her head and waved her arms in frustration. "I brought Michael here because I figured it’d be faster than driving all the way to the mall, but I guess some other parents had similar ideas." She smiled down at Jason. "Isn’t he just adorable? Is that Jason?! He doesn’t look much more than 2!"

Pam simply shrugged. "And where is Michael? I don’t see him anywhere," she looked around.

"Oh, he’s in the changing room. He asked for a little modesty. As if he has anything that I haven’t seen before. After all, I changed his diapers!" Carlie just shook her head in bemusement. "Are you here to pick up some things for Jason?"

"Isn’t it obvious?" Pam looked down at her son and couldn’t contain a laugh. "I can’t say I kept any of his old baby clothes, ’cause I didn’t think I’d be needing them again." Pam dragged Jason over to a rack of toddler and small child sized outfits. Expertly, she measured Jason against a pair of pants to get a feel for his size and then began to pick things off the rack.

"Mooommmm, I can pick for myself!" he whined. His whining made him look even younger than he was, and Pam hardly paid him any attention.

"OK, let’s get in the stall and see how these things fit," Pam said directing her son to one of the open changing rooms.

"You’re not coming in with me, are you?" Jason asked in horror.

"Of course, silly. You didn’t think I’d let you go somewhere by yourself, did you? It’s much too dangerous for little kids to be left unattended." Pam looked around the shop to prove her point.

"But I don’t want you to see me naked! I’ve been putting on my own clothes just fine without you for years!" Jason exclaimed. He couldn’t fathom his Mother actually being in the same room with him when he had no clothes on. It couldn’t possibly be any worse than that.

"Jason, you have nothing to be ashamed of," Pam scolded. "Do you see Michael complaining? That’s because he knows you have nothing to hide, he’s a big boy about it. You’re acting like a child."

"I don’t care; I don’t want you following me into a room to see how my clothes fit. I can just tell you!" Jason couldn’t believe this! Just when things seemed to be bad enough, his Mom went and made them worse.

"It’s not up for discussion," Pam said with a tone of finality in her voice." Now you can walk into that room on your own or I can drag you in by the hand. Which would you prefer?" Jason realized that he had no choice in this conversation. His Mother was laying down the law, and in his present condition, he had no choice. After all, how could he stop her? She towered over him!

Fuming, Jason led the three into the small closet sized changing room. Pam positioned herself to Back to the doorway so Jason could have some room to move around. She set all the clothes down on the small rack set on the floor, and waited for Jason to undo his shorts. Guiltily, Jason looked down at his shorts, the only real maturity he had left. If he took off his shorts, there’d be nothing to remember the teenager he used to be. He’d be practically admitting he now was only a little boy. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get his fingers to unlace the drawstrings.

With a mutter of frustration, Pam grabbed the knot and undid it with a sharp tug, dropping Jason’s pants down to pool at his ankles revealing his naked body to his Mother’s gaze. With a yelp, Jason automatically covered his private parts with a blush across his face.

"Jason, stop being so ridiculous," Pam scolded him. "You’re a child, now, regardless of how you used to be. We don’t know if this thing, whatever it is, will wear off in a little while or if you’ll be this way for a while, but until it does, there’s going to be some changes in our house." Without missing a beat, Pam grabbed a smart navy blue shirt off the top of the pile one with Big Bird prominently displayed on the front, and paired it with pair of darker blue sweat pants. Then she realized what article of clothing she’d forgotten. "Jason, stay here. I mean it, don’t leave this room while I’m gone. . .or you won’t like the consequences."

Without a choice, Jason waited in the Changing room while his Mother ran out for a couple of minutes. She returned shortly with a pack in her hand. . .of Pull Ups disposable Training Pants! Pam opened the pack up and pulled out a folded Pull Up, holding it out to Jason.

"Here you go, I forgot to get you some underwear," she said.

"No, uh-uh, there’s no way I’m wearing those," he whimpered. How old did his Mom think he was? "I’m not a baby, Mom. Get me some underpants." Pam only shook her head.

"Sweety, be reasonable here," Pam condescended. "You’re maybe 2 years old, do you think Wal-mart has underpants for 2 year olds? Most of ’em are still wearing Pampers. If you’d rather wear those instead, that’s fine with me." Apparently, Jason just didn’t get the situation he was in. As little as he liked it, he would have to adjust to the fact he wasn’t a teenager anymore.

Jason felt like crying. It wasn’t fair! It just wasn’t. He’d gone to school looking and feeling just fine, but here he was now dressing up like he was headed for pre-school and his Mom wanted him to put on a Pull Up.

"Jason, it’s only a Pull Up," Pam said, trying to comfort her son. "You don’t have to use it like it’s a diaper, I just needed to get you some underwear that’d fit. Now, do you need some help with it or can you get it by yourself?"

"I can do it" Jason snarled. With a groan, he slid the Pull Up on. It crinkled a little, but overall, it didn’t hamper his moments too much. In fact, it felt almost like regular underwear. Just much thicker underwear.

"Now, put those clothes on, kiddo, and we’ll get out of here. I need to drop by the store on the way home." Jason dutifully pulled the sweat pants on over his Pull Up (he was glad to see they almost completely concealed the bulge created by the Training Pant) and then dropped the shirt over his head. "Good job, sweety," Pam said approvingly, while she picked up the rest of the clothes from the pile in her hands. "Now, can you give Mommy a big hand and carry the Pull Up’s by yourself?"

Although he didn’t want the other parents - and especially the other kids - to see him with potty training pants, Jason didn’t have any other choice so he grabbed the pack and hefted it after his Mom. As they stepped out of the room, the first people they ran into were Carlie and Michael. "Aren’t you Mommy’s little helper?" she grinned as she saw the Pull Up’s in his hands. "Are those for Jason? Is he big enough for them? Michael still wore diapers when he was that size."

"I think we’ll give the Pull Up’s a try and see how things go," Pam said, causing Jason to swing around with fear. Michael, quite a bit larger than Jason, leered at his former friend’s predicament.

"Noooo!! No diapers, Mom, I’m not wearing any baby diapers, no way." This was the last straw. Bad enough he had to look this small, there wasn’t any way on Earth his Mom was going to treat him like it. He’d be damned if anybody was going to put a diaper on his body.

Almost as if she could read his mind and felt like mocking him for it, Carlie only gave him a shrug. "If you were my kid, I’d have you in a Pamper before you took another step." She patted his bottom, affectionately. "That Pull Up is a nice start, but you look like you’d fall in the Potty chair, let alone use it. Anyway, be happy your Mom’s a bit more daring than I am." With that, Carlie dragged Michael along to the check out line and Pam took Jason another direction.

He continued to fume the rest of the way through the store, and it only got worse when his Mom also bought a car seat and a Booster seat. It was a loooonnng car ride home.

And it would only get worse for Jason.