Poolside

Chapter 4
Chapter 4

Gretchen took off running for her mother’s house. Bobby started to follow her but was quickly stopped by his father. "I think you’ve done enough for one day young man! You just wait here and explain to me just ’what’ you were thinking!". "But Dad...." whined Bobby as he turned around. He could tell by the look on his father’s face that no amount of pleading was going to change his father’s mind. Samantha took little Jenny into the house. "I’ll take her to the bathroom and then see if we can find her some of Sally’s old clothes in your attic, Jim. Hopefully there’ll be something there to fit her."

"So, Bobby, does your mother remember anything?" his dad asked. Bobby shook his head ’no’ and then added "But, dad, maybe when she uses the oil tonight she’ll be back to normal!" His dad looked at him sternly and replied "I just don’t think that’s the point, son! You should have told me about your ’plans’. And why ’doesn’t’ your mother remember anything about her life, anyway?" "Well, I’m not sure exactly. The stuff I read only said that as the potion worked it’s magic the ’subject’ would be ’confused’ and that you could use their confusion to your advantage. I really didn’t get into it that much ’cause I didn’t want to do any of that evil stuff." Bobby answered. "Well, don’t be using any more of that stuff on your mother until I look into it a bit! Understand?! I said ’Do you understand, son?!!". Bobby shook his head ’yes’ and didn’t argue with his dad.

"Jack, get in the car and come with me. Son, tell Samantha that we had to run an errand AND no more oil! OK?!" Jim and Jack got into the car and drove off. Bobby went inside to find his mother and Samantha. Soon he saw his ’mother’ wearing one of Sally’s old Easter dresses. He recognized it from a picture in the family photo album. He hadn’t even been born yet when his sister had worn the dress. "Doesn’t Jenny look pretty in her new dress, Bobby?" Samantha asked, shaking her head ’yes’ to prod Bobby to answer likewise. "Yeah, you look really nice ummm Jenny...." stammered Bobby. Bobby then told Samantha about Jack and his dad ’going on an errand’. She seemed a bit disturbed that they would leave with things like they were but then used the opportunity to ask Bo bby some questions "Now Bobby, outside you said this could be reversed and you could restore Jenny to her proper age, didn’t you?". Bobby explained "Yeah, maybe. The oil has to be from the same batch to restore someone. But dad accidentally spilled the last of the original batch of oil down the drain. What we were hoping was maybe she could use the oil from the new batch and get younger, but then she could use it again to restore herself. We weren’t sure if it would just make her 19 again or maybe more since she was really older than that. She agreed it was worth a try. We never dreamed she would be this young though! It looks like whenever someone uses the oil their personality slowly gets ’younger’ too. I guess that’s what happened to her now. With her being so little it just happened a lot quicker." Samantha thought for a bit "So your dad ’accidentally’ spilled the oil? Are you sure it was an ’accident’?" Bobby shrugged "I don’t know. Mom accused him of doing it on purpose." Bobby told Samantha that he was going to Gretchen’s to "see if he could help her". Samantha took little Jenny outside to play with some dolls she had found in the attic. She took a seat in one of the deck chairs so that she could watch Jenny as she waited for the men to return.

Meanwhile, Jim had driven into town so that Jack could pay him for his wife’s transformation. They hurried to the bank before its Saturday noon closing time. "....22, 23, 24, 25....2500, that should do it Jim. At least ’your’ story has a happy ending. If my wife uses that stuff and ends up old again I bet I’ll NEVER get her to use it again. And I gotta let her use it now...I mean I can’t have a 4 year old running around. Maybe I’ll think of something.... You know..... I wonder.... hear me out for a second Jim. I think I’ve got a deal for you. I should have thought of this earlier. We know this stuff is reversible. Why don’t ’we’ use it?! I mean if I make my self younger, she won’t want her ’young stud’ husband coming home to some middle-aged woman would she? Especially IF she could be young too! She should know that she can’t compete with some 20 year old babe. And I’d let you use it too. Same thing with your wife. I’m sure by now Bobby has explained to her how it is reversible. We could think of it as our little ’insurance policy’. Whaddya say?"

"Free? Younger? Sure! I wanted to try it myself all along, but I’m not made of money!" Jack quickly answered. Jim told him "We’ve got plenty here, so I say we head somewhere and do it. We should take turns so that the ’confusion’ is not a problem." The two men got into the car and drove to the nearest filling station. Jim grabbed a jar of the oil and they took it into the restroom with them. Jim stripped to his underwear and applied the oil. His friend Jack watched him for the changes to take effect, but nothing happened. "I don’t feel anything. Maybe this stuff doesn’t work on men? DAMN!" After a few minutes of waiting Jim put his clothes back on and dejectedly said "Let’s go...". As he walked toward his car he noticed his body tingle a bit. He shrugged it off and got into the car. The tingling continued as he drove off. As the sun shined in the glass of the car the tingling became even more intense. He pulled over "It’s the sun.... It needs the sun to work.....I .... gotta stop....mmmmmmm" Jack stared at Jim as he could see him getting younger. His hairline was starting to look fuller. He looked more like he was in his late 30’s. 38, 37, 36... Even fuller hair. Maybe loosing a little of his ’paunch’. 35, 34, 33.... Looking more youthful now. Hair maybe even a shade longer. 32, 33, 31.... The ’Paunch’ disappearing rapidly now. 30, 29, 28- Much more youthful. Hairline almost totally restored. Pants are very loose around his waist now. His perpetual 5 O’clock shadow has become almost invisible. Jim starts to come around "What happened.... wow...." Jack explains to him what just happened. He even has to take a look at his drivers license before he can accept it! Finally, it all starts coming back. They head to another spot so that Jack can use the oil.

Back at Gretchen’s house she frantically looks in the back yard for her mother. ’Maybe she hasn’t used it yet’ she thought. She didn’t see any sign of the oil or anything that would lead her to believe her mother had been out there. ’Thank goodness! I got here in time’ she thinks to herself. She heads into the house to ’warn’ her mother about the higher potency of the oil. Her mother had been a science teacher at the high school. She had always been very interested in science and so she was very interested in the ’oil’ if nothing else but on a scientific level. She had quit teaching because she thought she wasn’t reaching the students. They never seemed as interested in science studies as she thought they should. She decided a younger teacher might be better able to relate to the students and so one day she simply quit teaching. Gretchen looked in the living room first but didn’t see her mother. Then she heard a rustling in the kitchen. ’Of course, Lunchtime! She’s fixing lunch!’ she thought to herself. She rounded the corner into the kitchen and about passed out at what she saw! The robe was familiar, but instead of her 46 year old mother in it, she saw her now 16 year old mother! She looked more like a high school science student than a retired science teacher! Her hair was long and blonde like Gretchen’s. She was obviously more developed than Gretchen, at least the 13 year old Gretchen! She couldn’t believe how ’young’ her mother had gotten. "Mom?" she asked. "Yeah, I guess so" came the reply. "You ’guess’ so?". Her now teenaged mother handed her a notepad with some writing on it and told her "I wrote some things down. I guess it all makes sense as I read it. I don’t really remember being your mother but it says I have a daughter. I’m Katie....I guess you’re Gretchen?". Gretchen answered "....Yes..." and began reading the notepad.

’Katie, 9:00AM Saturday morning. Will apply oil type substance that has the effect of making subject younger. Daughter Gretchen used the oil and was regressed approx. 10yrs. Says to expect some confusion during regression but that memory should come back with some type of trigger mechanism. This note is to be that trigger. Now applying oil. Current age 46yrs. Should expect to be approx 36 after first treatment. Oil tingles. Seems to be absorbed into skin. Feels very good. Feelings intensify.... (At this point Gretchen sees a line as if her mother was writing something and then must have succumbed to the oil’s effects.)

9:06AM Reading earlier writing. Really confused. Hard to believe but obviously true. Very pleasurable experience. Feel better than I remember at 36 yrs old. Hands look smoother. Body appears to be more youthful. Actually looks very good for a 36 year old. Will try oil for second time. Target age 26.

9:10AM applying 2nd dosage. Tingling again noticed. Very intense. Harder to concentrate. Skin... (again the note trails off. When it picks back up the writing doesn’t seem to document the process as much as before and the writing looks more juvenile with the i’s dotted with hearts)

9:15AM Can’t believe what I am reading. This could be a joke but I don’t see anyone around. Target age 26? I KNOW I’m 16. I don’t remember any of what this silly paper says. I’m only writing here in case this is for real. If it is for real I guess this must be my house. It looks like a place an old person would stay. Too conservative for me. Surely, I never liked this place!

Gretchen finished reading the notes and then asked "Mom, you don’t remember any of this.... or me?". "No, I don’t. And I really don’t like you calling me Mom. Call me Katie. Pleeeeease!" Just then Bobby enters the house. He yells out "Gretchen? Is everything OK?". He then walks into the kitchen and sees the two teenaged girls together. He can tell the older girl must be Gretchen’s mother because of how much she now resembles Gretchen. He then thinks to himself ’she’s actually HOTTER than Gretchen!’. He catches himself staring at her more developed figure and then quickly turns to Gretchen hoping she hadn’t noticed! "Don’t worry. We can restore her to her proper age." Bobby says. "WHAT?! I still don’t know whether to believe any of this or not, BUT you are NOT going to make me 46 years old.... ’proper age’ or not!" Katie states. Gretchen goes into her room and gets some shorts and a conservative blouse from her ’old’ wardrobe "Here mom.....errrrr Katie, put these on and we’ll go over to Bobby’s and try to straighten things out!" Katie takes the clothes into the bathroom and changes. The blouse doesn’t look so ’conservative’ after she tied the bottom exposing her trim stomach. Gretchen hands her a pair of her shoes from before her transformation "Here, these don’t fit me now, but they should be close to your size."

Bobby couldn’t believe how ’HOT’ Gretchen’s mother looks. He hadn’t really noticed just how shapely she was. Now wearing shorts, and with her bare midriff exposed, she was the most beautiful thing he could ever imagine. Bobby kept falling back as they walked so that he could catch a glimpse of Gretchen’s now teenaged mother’s shapely hips swaying as she walked.

Back at Jim’s car, Jack was now going through the same transformation as the others who had used the oil. Jack was 39 years old when he woke up that morning. Soon he would be in his 20’s. He felt the tingling intensify. Years began to be erased from his body. 35....33...30...Obviously more slender. 29, 28, 27.... More youthful now. His facial hair appeared to lighten somewhat. 26, 25, 24...The changes coming slower now. Very youthful looking. No lines on his face. Hair is very full. The transformation stops leaving him looking like a fresh faced college boy. ’23 years old’ Jim guessed. Jim helped Jack get his memories back and re-told him of their plan. They started driving back to Jim’s house but couldn’t help but notice the beautiful crop of college girls who were now in town for college. Jim even made a point of yelling at some and getting in a bit of flirting. He was impressed that they seemed to flirt back! ’That hadn’t happened in years!’ he thought.

Samantha had fallen asleep in the deck chair. She slowly started to awaken as she felt someone trying to wake her. She slowly opened her eyes to see little Jenny rubbing her arm. "What do you want sweetie?" Samantha asked. "I gonna help." she said. All of a sudden Samantha felt a tingle! Little Jenny had rubbed more of the oil on her! "Oh NO!" she exclaimed. Her first thought was to get the oil off of Jenny’s hands before she got even younger! Samantha grabbed a towel and rubbed all of the oil off of Jenny’s hands. She didn’t look any younger. Samantha hoped she had gotten to it in time. She then thought of herself. The tingling was more intense. She had ignored it in trying to help little Jenny, but she couldn’t ignore it now. She tried to wipe it off her body but the tingling just intensified. She ran to the door so that she could see her reflection. As she ran she stepped out of her sandals because they had became to big for her shrinking body. She dropped to her knees, overcome by the waves of pleasure she felt from the oil. Little Jenny ran over and watched as the young woman had now been transformed into a young teen. ....And still getting younger. 14, 13, 12.... She had now totally lost her curvy figure. 11, 10, 9.... Now completely a child. Wide eyes. Round nose. 8, 7, 6- Samantha was now reduced to a 6 year old. As she woke up she saw another child even younger than herself. Little Jenny smiled and pointed at her saying "You wittle now!". Samantha felt very confused. She knew ’she’ wasn’t little...she was 6 years old! She looked at the other child and said "’You’re’ the one who’s little!" Little Jenny answered "Am not!".....

As Bobby, Gretchen, and Katie walked around to the back of Bobby’s house they could hear two little girl’s voices "Am Not!" "Are too!" "Am not!" "Are too!".....

Bobby slowly turned to Gretchen and said "OH NO!"