The Booth, by Libra

Chapter 1
The Booth

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Chapter Description: By Libra

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The Booth

By Libra

In the very near future.

Adam Parker looked at his 45-year-old wife Katie Parker as she moved another box out of the way.

"I swear Adam Parker you will never get this basement cleaned out till I’m old and gray." Mrs. Parker fussed at him.

"I know, Honey. I know it’s something I always promised to do, but I just never got around to it. Besides we had Katrina and well I kinda forgot when we first moved in." Mr. Parker said to excuse himself.

"Hard to believe our little girl is in college now and almost a woman. Few more months she will be legally an adult." Mrs. Parker said and hold back a tear in her eye.

"Don’t start crying now. She will be with us for a few more years I reckon. " Mr. Parker said checking to see what was inside some of the boxes.

"How long till she is married or has a child of her own? Time flies." Mrs. Parker said, checking the box in her hands.

"Hopefully not too long. I’m eager to become a young grandpa." Mr. Parker said with a grin.

"Be nice to have a baby to hold once again." Mrs. Parker apparently deep in her own fond memories.

"Well, we have these to kept us company till that happens." Mr. Parker showing what was in a large brown box he pulled off a stack.

"I was wondering where you had put that old video camera and tapes. " sais Mrs. Parker, now noticing what was inside.

"Bet it stills works." Mr. Parker said, pulling out the video camera and setting up a tripod. Then he setup the camera against a free corner and plugged it in. Grabbing a blank tape he started recording.

"Adam, I look terrible." Mrs. Parker said turning away.

"No such thing." Mr. Parker said now coming from behind the camera.

"Here we have a record of my promise now kept. Besides if we misplace something we can watch the tape to find out where we put it." Mr. Parker said turning his back to the camera by the wall and checking more boxes.

An hour passed before they sorted out the boxes into two stacks. Idle chit-chat went on during their cleaning.

"I almost forgot that old thing was there." Mrs. Parker said looking at the far corner just in view of the camera lens.

"The old man’s booth." Mrs. Parker said remembering well the first time she saw it. It was white and covered in dust.

"Why anyone would want a metal detector in his house is beyond me." Mrs. Parker said looking at it with a mixed feeling of unease.

"Too big to be a metal detector, Hun. Almost looks like a shower except for these coils of wires on each side." Mr. Parker said as his scientific mind went at work.

"He was a bit crazy according to the neighbors when we bought the house. Former physics professor wasn’t he?" Katie Parker asked her husband.

"Expert on energy waves and such is what I heard before he died suddenly. Always claiming he was about to make the next great discovery. Mrs. Jenkins from next door said none of his machines ever worked right after a while and caused more blackouts than anything." Adam Parker said studying the booth bolted to the floor.

"Well, you can get around to taking that thing apart later. First lets get these boxes to the garage." Mrs. Parker said after picking up one from the 2nd stack.

"Shame the old man didn’t have any family left. Would have saved us from all this work of throwing out all his stuff." Adam said, thinking back to when they first moved it, before grabbing a box from the same stack.

Most of his stuff had been sold to pay for the olds man’s bills by the bill collectors, but what was left over was put away in the basement by himself and Katie years ago.

"It’s been over 20 years and don’t think anyone is going to show up now to take this junk off our hands." Mrs. Parker said looking at the burned out computer boards and scrap parts connected to different machines.

"Back in the day some of this stuff was state of the art." Mr. Parker said taking the stairs first and hearing the light starching at the door.

"Old Chester wants us to open the door." Mr. Parker said calling back down to his wife.

"Well, its junk now so you can let that old dog down here. I don’t think he will get in the way now." Mrs. Parker called back from the bottom of the stairs.

Few more trips up and down the stairs and they had one side of the garage stacked with boxes. Old clothes, broken items, and junk was in most of boxes.

"Rest those old things we just kept just in case some grandchildren come along." Mrs. Parker said making up her mind.

"I will grab my tools and take apart that old booth machine." Mrs. Parker said, grabbing his toolbox.

"I think I will take a nap before starting dinner." Mrs. Parker replied and headed off toward the main bedroom. Morning’s work had taken a lot out of her.

When Mr. Parker did get down the stairs with the family dog by his side, he proceeded to get a closer look at the machine.

"You know, Chester, It will be a real shame to tear the old man’s booth down without knowing if it works or not. There isn’t too many computer circuits in it. Just this simple three button control on the front under this crude display." Adam Parker was saying to the dog.

Chester had taken to laying down in a corner listening with his ears perked.

"Lets see if I can get it working again." Mr. Parker said then began to fix the strange booth-like machine.

Some parts were easy to fix while other parts of the machine appeared to be incomplete. Mr. Parker could only guess the old man never got a chance to finish it. Mr. Parker only made one change to the machine. He decided to make a control box extend away from the booth by adding several feet of wires. Now he had a old style type of remote with a small bundle of wires from the control box with an updated display to the booth.

"Honey, Got that thing taken part yet." Mrs. Parker voice called down as she walked down the steps.

"Haven’t gotten around to it." answered Mr. Parker while stepping in front of the booth as his wife came into view.

"Adam, You’ve been down here fixing it haven’t you?" Mrs. Parker said addressing her husband with an amused look.

"Well, yeah. I wanted to see if it works." Mr. Parker said now stepping aside and starting to pack his tools.

"Does it?" Mrs. Parker asked now very curious.

"Don’t know. Let me first plug in this outlet." Mr. Parker said and then with caution finished to plug the machine in.

It started up so quietly and hummed so low in sound it was almost scary to hear.

Chester the family dog suddenly became interested in the booth. He got up and went around the machine once then sat inside the doorway of the booth.

"Funny, Never seen Chester do that before." Mrs. Parker said watching the machine closely for signs of smoking.

"Lets see here." Mr. Adam Parker said the adjusting control box in his hand. He decided on pushing the bottom button once. The negative number one appeared in the box. He pushed a few times more till he was at negative number 5.

Mr. Parker looked up to see if there was any change. The machine looked the same and went on humming.

"What’s that middle button do?" Katie Parker asked her husband.

"Let’s see." Mr. Parker said pushing. Display showed a countdown from negative five to zero.

"Adam!, Look." Mrs. Parker said staring with wide eyes. Chester the family dog was glowing as if someone had covered him with green fireflies.

Mr. Parker saw through the light glowing that Chester looked like he was getting smaller and his fur changed color.

The countdown had stopped and Chester, looking confused, got up. With extra spring in his steps he ran over to them.

"Honey, He looks a little smaller than before and his fur looks like a dye job." Mrs. Katie Parker said amazed.

"I think he just got a little younger." Mr. Parker said looking in awe at the machine.

"Can’t be honey." Mrs. Parker said only half believing her denial.

"Chester was about 14 years old. So if we take away eight more years he will be an 1-year-old puppy." Mr. Parker said getting a idea to confirm his theory.

"Hope your right." Mrs. Parker said a little concernfor the dog in her voice .

After calling the dog to him and getting him to lay down inside the booth with the command to stay Mr. Parker was ready.

Stepping back to stand beside his wife he hit the bottom button a few times then the middle to start the booth.

The same green glow came over the dog and as the glowing got brighter Chester got smaller and smaller as he got younger in age.

Soon a confused looking little puppy was sitting there, his little tail banging on the concrete floor.

"Such a cute puppy." Mrs. Parker said calling him to her.

"You know we could try this next." Mr. Parker looking suddenly eager to step in himself.

"Who would push the buttons. There’s no telling what would happen if the control box was inside the booth while it was on." Mrs. Parker said, a worried tone in her voice.

"We get Katrina to do it. If something goes wrong I think it will be best if we put a message on a video tape." Mr. Parker nodded toward the camera still on and running.

Grabbing a new tape he decided on leaving a message of what happened in the first experiment.. Next was his plan for what they were going to do next with hopes their daughter would help. They also used the booth a few more times to insure the machine was safe, with Chester being the test subject.

A short time later Katrina got back from her college classes feeling mentally tired. Katrina first thoughts were to see if her mom and dad needed her help with the basement clean-up.

When Katrina did come down the steps she saw her dad preparing a tape for playback and her mom opening a few boxes of their old stuff from the good old days. Mostly teen clothing and old clothes that were too small for them.

"Katrina! Come over here." Her dad called excitedly.

Her mom came behind her with a amused look on her face and a puppy at her feet running around.

"When did we get a new dog and where is Chester?" Katrina asked.

"Chester is fine dear. Just watch the tape your father is about to play."

Katrina could tell they had something in store for her. Her birthday was months away so she had no idea what was going on.

"Watch." Her dad said as he finished popping in the first video tape back into the old camcorder.

Katrina saw and then felt her face go into an expression of awe. There was Chester on the little screen of camcorder getting younger.

Next part was Chester turning into a puppy.

After a few minutes of questions to her father then to her mother Katrina was convinced they were not pulling a joke on her. She had to watch the tape twice afterwards.

"This is amazing." Katrina said looking at the machine in a different light.

"This next video is for you. Sort of a record just in case something unexpected happens." Her dad said putting a 2nd tape in and playing it back.

Katrina watched as her mother and father appeared on screen and basically told whoever was viewing this they were about the try the machine themselves.

"Remember honey, If anything goes wrong pull the plug from the wall and pull us out if it’s still going." Her dad explained after he told her how to work it.

"This is crazy, but if you’re sure this machine is safe, dad. I will do it." Katrina said putting the box in her left hand.

"Start small. Take us back to our late 20s." Mrs. Parker said quietly then getting ready and standing beside her husband in the booth.

"Sure." Katrina said and pushed the button for her age which was early twenties. What could it hurt to make them her age. She thought carefully not to let them see her smile and she pushed the button.

Katrina saw the same green glow that covered Chester now covering both her parents. At first they appeared to shrink a little. Then their faces changed as Katrina looked through the soft green glowing effect now on her parents.

It was strange for her to see her parents become younger and younger. Soon their were in their late 30s then late 20s over a few seconds time. Finally the intense green glow now faded a little. She could see them as late teens and still going.

Sparks and cracking sound came next. Surprised and worried Katrina saw the machine was shorting out. Katrina was thankful the machine stopped after it shut off on its own accord.

Unplugging it she looked to see her parents now teens much like herself looking around in wonder.

"Adam, Where are we?" Teen Katie asked and looking confused.

"I don’t know. Who are you?" Teen Adam asked now spotting Katrina.

"Katrina, your daughter. You don’t you remember me?" Katrina asked looking from one to the other.

"Daughter?!" Both her teenage parents said in unison.

"Oh, boy. ’Guess I will have to show you the tape to explain all this." Katrina said.

Katrina showed the tape of Chester. Then the tape of her helping her parents and all the way up to the point where they became teens. Katrina was glad the camera was too far away to pick up her mother’s voice request just before the change. She then explained everything about the booth.

"Wouldn’t believe if I didn’t see it for myself. To me it feels like I jumped into the future." Adam said rubbing his chin in thoughtful way thinking it all over.

"Just look at her Adam. She must be telling the truth. She could pass for my sister if I had one." Katie said looking amazed.

"Yeah, I guess our minds were just affected by the booth. Our minds must match whatever age we are." Adam said thinking out the mental side effect.

"Don’t know about you Adam, but I feel sleepy all of a sudden." Katie said and nearly fell over.

"Must be another side effect. I’m feeling it too." Adam said now steadying himself.

"To bed." Katrina said, feeling odd to offer her parent’s bed to these teen versions of her parents.

Katrina had to help her once adult mother more than her former father. Both seemed to be extremely tired and very sleepy.

Katrina stayed in the doorway just long enough to see them pull some covers over their bodies.

"Till Morning." Katrina said in a whisper and thought how glad she was it was Friday.

Katrina slept in the best she could. Last night’s events had almost been too unreal to believe.

When her teen parents did wake up they looked lost and unsure of themselves as Katrina met them coming out of her room. Katrina decided to start slow by giving a tour of the house. The most interesting part was hearing her parents comment on items they bought to decorate the house. Not all comments were good.

Katrina thought their choice of outfits was little funny. Her teen mother was now dressed in an oversized sleep shirt and her dad was now wearing a bathrobe a few sizes too big. Both outfits covered them well and allowed for enough modesty.

Katrina also had a strange distance feeling now from her parents. She treated them more like guests than family. Adam and Katie felt out of place and very unsure of this teen girl in front of them.

"So this is the kitchen and there is the door to the basement." Katrina said ending her odd tour of the house.

"I wish we could remember something from our adult life, Adam. " Katie said while looking a little scared.

"Don’t worry. We may have lost out adult memories, but we are safe here. This is our home after all." Adam said now giving the DVD player and cable box a funny look.

Katrina, seeing her father looking at the machines, decided the next step was to teach them how to use them.

"Here, let me show you how they work." Katrina said gesturing for them to follow.

After explaining how to play a disc and use the universal remote it was all downhill from there. Her father even in his younger days understood how things worked better then anyone. Her mother had to hear it twice before she caught on.

"Ugh Dad, Your need to take a look at the booth after breakfast. I really don’t know how it works and you’re the only one that fixed it before." Katrina said now walking toward the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure." Adam said looking a little funny by being addressed as Dad.

Katrina was a decent cook and made everyone some eggs and toast.

After some time playing around the DVD player and discs Adam and Katie came into the kitchen with the smell of the food to lure them.

"Nice to see some things never changed." Katie said seeing the eggs and toast on her plate.

"The way you like them. Since you were the one who taught me how to cook." Katrina said, smiling in an amused way.

"I will try to fix that booth, but you have to remember my mind is still thinking a few decades back when it comes to machines. " Adam said, scratching his chin while thinking it over.

"The camera was still recording when you fixed it. You can use that to see what you did. " Katrina thought it over herself. She felt strangely odd about her feelings. It was different to have one’s parents the same age and having a equal say in things.

"Do they still have drive-in theater?" Katie said apparently thinking about all changes that took place. Her mind still thinking back over twenty years ago. For her and Adam it was like they time traveled to the future rather than being regressed in body and mind.

"Yeah, there is one left. It’s a little run down, but people still go there." Katrina answered.

"Excuse me, ladies." Adam said after eating his meal and walking down the steps to the basement.

Katrina spent the entire morning just chatting with her teen mother over styles of clothes, how people talk, and various changes to the town. Her mother had some years to catch up on. Next they poured over photo albums, flipping through the pictures while Katrina narrated the story behind every so picture.

Adam meanwhile had spent his entire time reading old manuals and learning what does what in the machines while in the basement. Careful not to break anything he took things apart and learned what they did before putting them back together. He had hardly glanced at the booth during the first hour.

It was a hour before noon when he started on the booth and little past noon by the time he got it to power on. He had to turned it off a second later. The booth was threatening to overheat and short-out again.

It was clear to Adam the booth needed some fans to kept it cool long enough to use again. Some of the wires needed to be replaced as well. Burn marks could be seen around the plug and some ends of the wires in the machine.

Putting in the fans was easy, but deciding to hold off on the rewiring for now Adam went back upstairs.

"I had to take a few things apart, but I figured out how most of that stuff works. The booth needs a fan and some new wires before it’s safe to use again." Adam said then helped himself to his old glass of tea.

"Hey, baby. Think we have time to see a movie before we change back." Katie said looking at Adam in a innocent way.

"Guess so." Adam said looking a little unsure of them to stay in their teen bodies. Having no memory of his adult life added onto his worries.

"Good. Katrina as your mother I want you to drive us to the drive-in since neither of us can drive using our adult ids." Katie said as her own amused expression crossed her face.

"Sure. For once I don’t think I mind hanging out with my parents." Katrina said now amused herself as she looked at the two teens.

Hardest part was getting ready. Katie simply borrowed a few clothes from her daughter while Adam had to search through nearly all his old clothes before he finally found something to wear.

"If anyone asks you’re my cousins from out of town." Katrina said to the pair just before they left.

Sometime later after the movie was over. They were all coming through the front door.

"Good movie, but a long one." Katie said coming back inside.

"I’m surprised you saw any of it." Katrina said joking.

"What girl can’t give her man a kiss or two." Katie said with a grin back at Adam.

"I’m amazed you two could breath." Katrina said and went into the kitchen.

"She does have a point. We must have locked lips so long I thought we draw a crowd for sure." Adam said with an amused tone.

"She must have felt like a third wheel. We should make it up to her somehow." Katie said quietly to Adam.

"Better give her some time to get used to the idea her parents are teens again. Lets go upstairs." Adam said while leading Katie upstairs.

"Katrina, we are going to bed now." Katie called as she was halfway up the stairs.

"Ok." Katrina answered back and was glad they were now out of sight. Awkward couldn’t even begin what she felt when saw them starting to make-out. She was glad it only went as far as kissing.

She had only been gone for a minute for some drinks. Then she saw them making out like wild teens a second later.

"Mom, tells me not to let things get too far with a guy." Katrina said voicing her opinion out loud to herself.

Katrina then thought more on it while watching TV. ’Katie knows Adam is her husband even if she doesn’t remember. I Guess in Katie’s mind that makes it okay.’

Deciding to talk with her mother before going to bed. Katrina slipped upstairs to see if they were asleep yet. With the intention to say she was aright with them tonight and that she felt only a little bit odd around them.

"Mom, I think its cool you and..." Katrina started to say in a low voice as she entered the bedroom. She hadn’t bothered to knock, unsure if that would wake them. What she saw made her words get stuck in her throat. There was her teenage mother naked on top of her teenage dad also nude.

"Oh!" Katie said, grabbing up a blanket to cover herself. Adam grabbed the sheet for himself and bundle it up around his waist.

Katrina turned away quickly and walked out. They were having sex no less than thirty minutes from the time they got home. Katrina thought and felt her face go hot. She imagined her cheeks were as red as possible.

Minutes later Katie came down the steps now dressed in a night shirt and shorts. Katrina felt too ashamed to stay upstairs so she was laying on the couch.

"That must have been awkward." Katie said coming to sit by her in a chair beside the couch.

"A little." Katrina said as the pair of teen girl’s eyes didn’t quite meet each other.

"Honey, we will do better to keep ourselves under control. Adam is just a little wild sometimes." Katie started to explain.

"Mom!" Katrina said not wanting to hear how wild her father is no matter what age he is.

"Sorry, it just is all new to me." Katie said, her voice trailing off.

"It’s okay and everything, just do it in private when I’m not around so I don’t know." said Katrina, wishing she never went upstairs in the first place.

"Deal. I’m going up to bed for real this time so it’s safe to come up when you’re ready." Katie said getting up from her seat.

"I think I will just sleep here tonight. I’m pretty comfortable here." Katrina gave her mother a excuse.

"I guess you have one up on your mother when I return to normal." Katie said going up the steps.

Katrina smiled a little then let her attention go back to the TV.

When morning came it was nearly noon. Katrina had to scramble to get out of the house and to her classes. She had little time to think of the embarrassing events of last night until she was in her first class of the day.

Adam and Katie spent most of their day cleaning and straighten the house up. They felt a little guilty, almost as bad as if one of their parents had caught them making love.

Katie noticed Katrina was supposed to be home a hour ago while she also took note in her mind that it was about this time yesterday when she had found themselves here.

Adam looked toward the front door when he heard a car door open and close.

Katie started to look then was distracted by the green glowing on her skin.

"Adam!?" Katie asked as she looked at Adam. Adam was too busy gawking at his own body which now started to glow green as well.

Katrina was halfway inside the door when she noticed the green light. Her mind had been busy thinking on why she signed up for Sunday classes.

"Mom!, Dad!." Katrina called running inside to the kitchen. She came in view just in time to see a pair of nineteen year old teen girl and boy shrink in size to a pair of early teens.

"Katie and Adam are you two feeling alight?" Katrina asked looking to the shorts and underwear now pooled around their feet. Then seeing their oversized shirts just giving enough cover and up finally to their pale very young faces. The green glowing now stopped completely.

"Who are you? And where are my clothes?" Adam asked looking very confused and a little red from being half naked.

Katie face went red and she looked too scared to speak as she tried to pull her shirt lower to cover her thighs better.

Both teens then stumble a little were they stood on the spot.

Katrina thought over fast as they fought the dizziness and decided to make up something.

"You two really shouldn’t be up moving around so soon. That fever just doesn’t go away just like that you know. Your parents wouldn’t think of me as a very good baby-sitter if they knew you were walking around so soon." Katrina said putting on her best scolding tone.

"I do feel a little woozy." Adam said almost falling sideways. Dizziness wasn’t bad, but he did felt like he had gotten off a fast merry-go-around.

"To the couch for the both of you." Katrina said helping them to the couch. The now almost preteen Katie took the couch while Adam now sat on the floor by the couch both of them looking very confused.

"Ugh, What’s your name?" Katie said finally speaking as Katrina was bringing some tea into the room for them a minute later.

"Katrina, silly. Guess you really are sick if you’re forgetting things." Katrina said, still amazed just how much shorter they both were now. Katrina could guess they both would have growth spurts in a year or two about the same time she did when she was their age.

"I’m feeling much better, but I still don’t remember coming here, or you." Adam said looking at Katrina in a strange way.

"That’s good to hear. Now your parents will be here tomorrow night at this time to pick you up. Till then I want you to be good and stay in bed. " Katrina said referring to their makeshift beds in the living room.

"I like your name a lot. Are we at your house?" Katie said looking at the mature teenage girl in front of her.

"No, this house is my parent’s one, but they’re away on vacation at the moment." Katrina said after she thought it would take too long to explain everything all over again.

"Look, I got to go downstairs to the basement and work on a project of mine. Can I trust you two to look after each other for a while?" Katrina said and though she must have a look at the booth.

"We’re old enough too." Adam said taking some offense in being treated like a baby.

"I known Adam since a long time. He lives down the street from my house. I can watch him for you." Katie said giggling a little.

"Good, I will be back real soon to check on you two." Katrina said and almost rushed to the basement door.

Once down the steps she did a walk around the booth. Her Dad when he was an older teen did some work on it, but it wasn’t quite good as new, not yet. Katrina’s own knowledge on machines and wiring was fair at best.

"Okay, If my parents do keep getting younger I may only have three days before they disappear." Katrina said looking inside the frame of the booth. There were a lot more wires than she thought.

Katrina jumped when Chester the puppy jumped on her leg. Her mother had put him down here to stay while they cleaned earlier.

Katrina let the puppy follow her around while she worked on the machine. Easy thing to do now was to pull the burnt wires out and replace them. There was plenty of extra copper wires in the basement to do this job.

Meanwhile upstairs.

"Funny, I don’t remember any of these shows on TV before." Katie said flipping through channels and trying to get her mind to think of her current memories.

"Her parents must be rich or something. There are a lot funny looking things here." Adam said from his makeshift bed on the floor and looking around the room. There was stuff in here he had never seen before. Strange and odd items he didn’t understand.

"I wonder if my clothes are in the wash." Katie said, a little embarrassed of being almost naked with only a blanket and shirt to cover her.

"Girls are so funny about being naked I swear." Adam said looking at Katie with an amused look. She had been his friend for a long time and felt something little more than friendship between them.

"Boys look pretty silly with that between their legs." Katie said while thinking about how shy she was with her own underdeveloped body.

"Oh yeah. I bet you’ve never seen one in person or even touched one." Adam said standing up.

"Have too." Katie lied. She had sneaked a look on pictures of National Geographic magazines and such.

"I bet you’re such a chicken you wouldn’t take off your shirt if I dared you to." Adam said, getting an idea. His long time boyhood curiosity about what girls exactly looks like when they are naked fresh in his mind.

"Oh yeah." Katie said, getting tired of the taunt from her long term friend.

In a flash Katie had sat up and stripped off her shirt then tossed her own blanket aside. Adam sat there shell shocked looking up at her breasts barely sticking out, to her wisp of very fine hair between her legs with a slit visible through the hair.

Katie started to giggled at something that was happening to Adam’s crotch area. Something underneath now was poking upward from under his blanket.

"Adam is very happy to see me like this." Katie teased.

Adam stood up to see that he had a little boner going. A few hairs were just above his young manhood.

As fast it came it went away. His member going limp in a second.

"Boys are so funny." Katie said pulling the blanket back over her body.

"Wait, Can I..." Adam said then his voice died away.

"Touch me?" Katie said guessing his question.

"I never..." Adam said going red in the face, stammering in mid sentence.

"Ok, Just this time and no other." Katie said her mind completely that of a young girl with a small interest in boys, but she though Adam was cute.

Katrina came up some time later. She found both the young teens now asleep. Their teen shirts the only thing they were wearing. Adam on the floor asleep and Katie snoring a little from her bed on the couch.

Katrina decided to wake Katie up and put her in the master bedroom. Katrina didn’t thought it wise to let the young teens sleep so close to each other. Sleepy Katie followed Katrina upstairs and crawled into the master bed as Katrina went to her own bed.

Having no clothes for the young teens, they stayed inside the next day. Katrina took the day off from classes to look after them. After giving them some gym shorts with adjustable strings, they were now at least halfway decent looking.

Katrina popped up from the basement ever so often to check on them. Katie seemed to have fun trying on different dresses of Katrina’s dresser. Katrina let her make a mess of her room just to keep her out of the way. Adam stayed in the living room watching movies on DVD which he had never seen before in his life. Katrina had to explain to him how to use the DVD player for the second time now in the past two days.

Katrina’s main desire was to have her dad back to normal. He could have fixed the booth by now. Katrina had to re-read manuals on wiring to make sure she was getting it right. Thankfully, her dad had books on the subject.

Katrina only stopped her repairs to fix meals. Only when she was finishing cooking dinner did she notice the time. It was about this time yesterday that her parents had changed. If the change was to happen again it would happen soon.

Katrina wondered with fear if it would happen again.

Calling Katie downstairs and making Adam give her full attention she told them to wait side by side on the couch under the pretense their parents were coming.

"Any moment now." Katrina said to the teens while pretending to be waiting and checking her wrist watch.

Adam looked toward the front window then the clock on the wall.

The green glowing came. First Katie was affected then half a second later Adam was engulfed.

Katrina gently bite her lower lip as the green glowing grew in intensity and she watched her parents get even younger and smaller in size.

Now they were both preteens. They were de-aging side by side like some strange home movie in reverse.

Katrina figured them both around seven or eight and thought they were losing five years for every twenty-four hours. The green glowing stopped and a very confused looking boy and girl sat there looking completely dumb stuck.

"Ok, kids. I’m your baby-sitter Katrina and you’ll be staying with me for one night." Katrina said not waiting for one of them to speak first.

"Did I just wake up?" Adam said on a childish tone looking around. His face looked up at Katrina and she thought how cute he looked now.

"I think I did." Katie piped in a voice much like Adam, but with a girlish pitch to it.

"Best way to get rid of that sleepy feeling is a bath. So come on now." Katrina said trying to usher both of them upstairs.

"I can’t take a bath with him. He is a boy." Katie said letting her shorts fall away, her shirt now hanging past her knees. Katrina noticed neither seemed to be effected by the dizzy side effect from the changes now. Perhaps their bodies had gotten used to it. Katrina was sure that the shortout was the cause for the unstable changing effect on their bodies.

"These clothes are too big for me." Adam said, also letting his own gym shorts fall away. His shirt’s bottom fell to his knees. He was just a little taller than Katie. Both of them were hardly a head taller than Katrina’s belly button.

"Fine, but you two are taking a bath tonight, both of you upstairs with me. Adam you first." Katrina said taking Adam with her by the hand and seeing Katie follow behind.

Katie waited in Katrina’s room to wait till she was called while Adam went with Katrina.

Adam seemed a little shy stripping his shirt which was the only clothing he was wearing in front of Katrina, but did so once they were in the bathroom alone together.

"Got thirty minutes, kid. Then I want you dressed in these." Katrina said referring to the smallest clothing in the house she had been able to find. A slightly older gym shorts of her dads and a small adult T-shirt that was more of a night shirt for the little boy.

Katrina allowed herself a small smile as she came back and helped the little boy get dressed. She peaked down at his little penis and balls for a second, so small and innocent looking. It was strange seeing it so bald and just hanging there so innocent looking as well.

"You get to sleep in my parent’s room tonight." Katrina said putting Adam in the master bedroom.

"Your turn, Katie." Katrina said calling to the little girl waiting in her room.

"You know, Katie. Since we’re both girls, I think I’ll just shower with you. You can be my sister just for tonight" Katrina said offering to join her.

Katrina just wanted some hot water before it was gone and figured this was the best way to get it. While Katie agreed, she secretly wanted to get a peak at what a girl looks like when she is grown up. Katie’s mother never did explain it when she asked before.

While Katrina was busy washing her own hair she had to answer Katie’s questions. Innocent enough at first, like what happens when you start to become a woman and such. Katrina left out the sex part and focused on telling how a woman matures.

Katrina used almost the same words her mother used when she had asked herself.

As Katrina was helping Katie wash her wispy hair, she looked down on this little girl in front of her. Her mother looked nothing like the woman she knew. This child in front of her had some features that looked a little like her, but they were childish and years away from maturity.

Minutes later, they were both out and getting ready for bed. Katie would sleep with Katrina in her room. Katie had only one of Katrina’s old shirt to wear, but it dropped past her knees much like the adult shirt she wore earlier that day.

Katrina liked sharing her room with Katie. She really was like a little sister Katrina never had.

Morning came and Katrina awoke to find Katie gone. Checking the other bed room she saw that Adam was gone as well.

The sounds of a TV with cartoon sounds came from downstairs.

She found them almost sitting side by side to each other watching cartoons. Katie with her legs curled up against her chest under her shirt and Adam sitting back and enjoying the animation on the TV.

Katrina made everyone’s breakfast then let them eat in the living room. The cartoons were keeping their full attention and Katrina was content to let the TV do her job.

"I can’t afford to miss any more classes in school today. So I’m going to call a friend of mine Karen and she is going to baby-sit you while I’m out. I want you to be extra good for her." Katrina said to the kids after putting the plates on the coffee table.

Katrina had to deal with them bugging each other. They acted more like brother and sister than friends.

Katrina called in a favor from Karen and made plans to return before they changed again. Her worries were growing even stronger now. She had less time now to figure out how to fix the last parts of the booth. She had put off all her homework from college to study old computer books.

Karen came around noon and Katrina left for her classes. She paid little attention in the classes and focused on getting assignments written down to do later. Katrina came over just an hour before her parents were due to get even younger than they were now.

Katrina arrived to a messy house and Karen doing her best to clean it all up. Looking around, Katrina could guess the kids had stayed in the living room playing all sorts of games.

"Next time your cousins come to stay. Don’t call me to baby-sit." Karen joked while putting away some dishes.

"Thanks for looking after them. With my parents on vacation, I had no one else to count on." Katrina said helping Karen clean the living room.

Katrina gave Karen some money for the baby-sitting and saw her off. Karen waved goodbye and said she’d call later as she went out the front door.

Katrina found the kids upstairs playing hide and seek now. Better dressed now in fact. Perhaps Karen had dressed them better or they had found some more clothes that fit them.

The game ended soon after Katrina was home. Katie excused herself to take a bath and Adam followed Katrina like a puppy. Katrina thought perhaps Adam had a puppy love crush on her.

Adam was bored of TV shows and Katrina, who was reading some book with funny pictures of lines and weird looking numbers, left to go see if Katie was out of her bath and free to play again.

Katie had started a shower at first to wash her hair then flipped the lever to prevent the water from draining away and decided on a bath. Baths were so much more fun. The water started to fill when Katie noticed a slight green glow on her hand.

Adam just noticed his own body glowing green as he was just feet away from the doorway of the slightly opened bathroom door.

Katrina’s watch beeped loudly as the alarm went off. Checking it, she looked around for Adam. He wasn’t there in the room with her anymore. Putting down the old computer parts book, she went to look for them. She picked up a bag of things she bought from the store before coming home.

Katrina found Adam’s old clothes in the hallway and his old shirt in the doorway to the bathroom.

Hearing the squeals of toddlers and running water, Katrina went into the bathroom. In the tub was a pudgy little girl about two years old and just outside the tub standing naked on his tiptoes was a toddler boy about the same age having fun splashing water at each other.

Both of them apparently loved playing in the water. Katrina put her bag down and went over to the toddlers.

Picking up the toddler boy, she put him in the tub with the girl. Katrina waited for the water to fill a bit more before stopping it and washing both the toddlers. Katrina herself had gotten wet due to the toddlers still playing their splashing game with each other before she decided that she should join in the splashing.

Drying each of them one at a time she opened the plastic bag she bought with her. A small overpriced package of diapers was in there as well as a few odds and ends a toddler might need over the next few hours.

The diapers were a bit big for them but they did fit all the same. Picking up the boy in her arms and taking the little girl’s hand she led them all the way downstairs. They were briefly held up at the stairs, having to take them one step at a time for Katie’s sake. Using the boxes left over from the cleaning, she made a play pen for the toddlers in the basement.

Katrina then brought some blankets and pillows for them. If she had to, she’d be here all night fixing the burnt parts of the booth and have it ready before her parents would disappear.

Katrina went back to work nearly all night. The toddlers seemed to be happy with each other. They played a little then fell asleep just a foot away from each other on pillows and blankets Katrina had laid down.

Katrina looked over every once in a while to see their cute little faces like little chubby cherubs. If she didn’t do something soon they would be gone forever. Letting out a deep breath she went back to fixing the booth.

Finally fixing the last part, she knew she had done a good job. Katrina had double checked every part and made sure every wire was in place. Wasn’t easy for her to figure it all out, but she had done it.

Taking a break she sat on the carpet stairs and she accidentally fell asleep. Katrina awoke with a start a few hours later. Two hungry toddlers were crying now. Their little faces screwed up wailing away.

"It’s Ok. I’m here." Katrina said gently and caressing each of their faces. The crying went on, but less in volume.

Pulling herself away from the toddlers she rushed upstairs to the bathroom and grabbed the plastic bag. Pulling out some baby bottles she went to the kitchen and started heating up some milk on the stove.

Katrina went back downstairs and dragged up her old high chair. Her mother must have cleaned it before discovering the booth, because it looked clean and almost new.

Going back she led her toddler mother by the hand and carried her dad in her other arm up the stairs to the kitchen.

Putting her toddler mother in the high chair she let her toddler dad stay in her arms. Giving them each a warm bottle they took it and feed themselves. After their bottle breakfast, Katrina took them back downstairs and changed their diapers. She put them back in their make shift play pen.

Chester the puppy was now awake and wagged his tail playfully at her and the toddlers.

"Come here, boy." Katrina called.

The toddlers squealed and pointed openly at the dog.

"Dog-gee!" They both shouted excitedly.

"Stay." Katrina said to Chester and put him in the booth.

She picked up the control and plugged in the booth. She then started the machine.

Carefully she pushed the top button and hit the middle button.

Chester the puppy then became Chester the young adult dog.

"It works." Katrina said happily and very proud of her work.

The toddlers looked on in confused amazement.

"Ok, mom. Your turn." Katrina said looking at the girl. Grabbing a blanket then her toddler mother, she put her in the booth after removing her diaper and wrapped her lightly in just a blanket. Katrina started the booth up again. She set the booth for an extra five years to counter act the previous side effect.

The green glow came and the toddler soon became a little girl. She kept the blanket around her body as she re-entered her early teen years. She went into her late teens and then adulthood. The blanket looked more like a large towel on her adult body.

Katrina watched as the machine changed her mother to reach her old age.

"Katrina, you did it." Her mother said adjusting her blanket to fit her better. The blanket wasn’t much cover.

"You remember me?" Katrina said overjoyed.

"Yes, I remember everything. Like you were part of my past. Things get a little blurry of when I was a little girl..." Her mother said rubbing her head for memories.

"I got to change Dad next." Katrina turned to see the toddler boy as he was patting the head of Chester. Chester licked his hand then face, making the toddler boy laugh.

"Was I that young!?" Katie asked her daughter as she looked amazed at the little toddler boy in the pen made of boxes.

"Yeah." Katrina said then walked over to stand beside her mother as she stood over the make shift play pen.

Katrina then went into explaining everything of what had happened in the past few days.

"Well." Katie said picking up the toddler boy and setting him down in the booth. She then took the control and set it herself.

Katrina watched the toddler that was her father. The green glow came then left and he looked unchanged. He was still a toddler.

"Mom?" Katrina asked looking at her mother’s face. She was smiling in a funny way.

"There we go. The side effect is now gone." Her Mother said before picking up the baby toddler in a motherly way.

"Mom, we can’t leave dad like that." Katrina said now concerned.

"We can for a week or two, dear. He’s such a cute little baby boy." Katie winked and tickled the toddler’s belly.

"Guess so." Katrina said unsure. The stress of putting off school work, the little sleep, and all the worrying about her parents was starting to break her will power a little more.

"Well, Guess there is nothing left to do but clean up. Maybe we should age your father a little and explain the device to him every few years." Katie said looking at the infant that was her husband.

"Yeah, maybe then me and dad should do the same to you and then me last. Kind of a fail safe measure so we don’t end up in this mess again." Katrina said feeling very worn down.

"Katrina, grab that old diaper and we’ll go upstairs." Her mother said in a casual way and pointed over to her diaper she had on before Katrina had removed it.

Katrina walked over to it and started to bend over for it while standing in the booth when she heard the booth turn on. Her last teen memory was her mother pushing the middle button.

"I think you need a little vacation, honey. With the money we are going to make, you don’t have to worry about college studies for a while." Her mother said as the green glow kept Katrina from moving a muscle.

Next a very confused looking little girl in oversized teen clothes was looking up at her. Her mother looked much older than she remembered and she was holding a baby boy whose name she didn’t knew.

"Katrina, honey. Come upstairs, Mommy’s got something very important to tell you." Katie said to her six year old daughter.

"Whose baby is that Mummy?" Katrina asked in her high pitch girlish voice.

"That’s part of the important thing I have to tell you. Come on." Katie asked again and started up the steps.

"Okay, mummy. Then can I take a nap? I’m very slweepy." Katrina asked and felt funny about asking for a nap.

"Yes, you can baby." Her mother answered as a smile was fixed on her face.

Katrina stepped out of the oversized pants and panties that were pooled around her feet, then followed her mother. She wondered for a second why she was in the basement only wearing a night T-shirt. Katrina tried her best to remember if she had been playing pretend or not.

Katie climbed the stairs and wondered exactly how she was going to explain the booth to her little girl just in case something went wrong in the future. She would change her back some time later, but first she wanted to have her little girl back even if it was just for a little while.

As for her husband she changed him back as soon as she started to miss his company in bed and around the house.

The end.

 

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