Fresh Start

Chapter 5
The Buzzy Bee and the Doctor

Chapter Description: Chris sees his future and the treatment begins.

The Buzzy Bee Cabin was different from the others in several ways. Half the beds had rails and the other half were actually big cribs. There weren’t as many of them, only a dozen or so teens. Their counsellor was named Debbie. She was a cute red-head with pretty green eyes and a freckled face. Being that the numbers were smaller Chris also got a good look at all his fellow cabin-mates. There were four girls among them ranging from about age fourteen to fully grown. The eight boys were an older group with the exception of one young boy who looked only twelve or so. The oldest was a gruff young man who was built like a rugby player. He looked tough, muscle-bound. He also looked very unhappy to be there. Not that any of them were.

Chris was glad to be assigned a bed with rails rather than a crib. His neighbours were the older boy and a brown-haired and tubby kid about his age. He decided this would be a good time to make an ally in the strongest kid in the room, so he extended his hand to the neighbour.

“I’m Chris,” he said nervously, afraid the jock might punch him and soon as look at him.

“Name’s Joe,” he replied, gripping his hand with an iron hold that actually hurt.

“Looks like they only just got you huh?”

“Nah, I escaped from one of these places a couple years ago when I was seventeen. They decided I needed to be made a lot smaller to keep me doing that again.”

“Really?! You escaped! How?”

“I ran off right at the morning assembly the first day when I heard I was headed to the pre-schooler cabin. This time they posted more guards. A lot more.”

“Wow!” Chris breathed, awed by his daring.

Just as in the other cabins Chris had to change into new clothing. It pained him to remove his school uniform because he knew that what was coming would be awful. He opened the trunk and sure enough it was very discouraging. There were only a couple t-shirts to choose from. They were plain red or blue. Then there were two piles of undergarments, one was disposable diapers, the other pull-ups with swirly designs. There were no pants, nothing to cover the diaper or pull-up. He had no choice in what he wore.

Debbie went around checking everyone. “Okay guys I’m sure you’ve noticed there are no pants available. That’s because you need to adjust to not having any privacy from now on. People will need to check your diapers or pull-ups regularly so they need to be easily accessible.”

Once all their other clothing and footwear was disposed of they too were sat down for a video. The images, meant to be comforting of course, were anything but. “You are all becoming little toddlers,” said the narrator. “You will learn to enjoy your freedom from responsibilities, your endless playtimes.”

The images showed young teens playing in the cabin in nothing but diapers and several clearly bare-bottomed as they knelt playing with their toys. They were shown napping in cribs, sitting in circles clapping their hands together and even as a group of five year olds sitting on potty chairs all together.

“In a week’s time you will all be cheerful innocent babes, free of worries, free to be loved and cared for by your mummy and daddy,” it concluded.

Debbie gave them the speech about the programming they would now receive and how it would work faster on some than others. Then, filled with trepidation, it was off to the infirmary.

**

Chris felt so naked walking along the dirt path through the grounds to the infirmary building. It was by far the biggest in the camp that was for sure. Debbie made the toddlers walk in a line holding plastic loops attached to a rope so none got lost. At least all of them were wearing shirts now, even if their pull-ups and legs were showing.

The oldest kids, from Beaver Cabin, were emerging from the infirmary as they arrived. They were dressed in an assortment of baggy t-shirt and shorts, some in school uniform polo shirts and grey school shorts. Most wore roman sandals or jandals but a few were barefoot. They didn’t have to walk in a line, they just followed along behind their counsellor in a horde. Chris was already jealous of the big kids.

They lined up to go into the infirmary and Debbie waved them in after a moment. The tile floor was cool under Chris’ feet, the place had a clinical feeling to it alright. Mr Belton was standing there in the lobby smiling at them all. “Well hello there to our littlest campers,” he sang.

“Hi,” a couple kids mumbled.

“Well don’t look so glum, this will be very exciting for you. A whole new experience!”

A man in a white lab coat stepped out from the back room and looked them over. “I’m ready to start the toddlers now,” he told Debbie.

“Okay, go ahead sweetie,” she directed the first boy in line, the youngest kid. He followed the doctor into the room.

One by one they were called in, never seeing anyone come back out. Chris wondered what happened in there. He wanted to know but at the same time was afraid to find out.

“Chris dear, your turn,” Debbie called, waving him in.

Chris released the plastic ring and walked in tentatively, the doctor looking at a file and glancing at him. He entered the office and heard the door close behind him. It looked like a normal doctor’s office actually. Dr Howe directed him to sit on the raised bench on the white protective paper and looked him over.

“So Chris, your file says you’re going to be 2 years and 6 months old at the end of this week,” he read from the folder.

“Does it have to be that young?” he asked.

Dr Howe smiled sympathetically. “I know it seems terrible now, but I’ve been doing this for years and I’ve yet to see an unhappy patient in the end.”

Chris just nodded while the doctor prepared a syringe full of some drug. He got out an alcohol wipe and began to clean an area of Chris’ arm.

“What’s that?” he asked, nervous.

“This is the first step to making you nice and little again. You should lose about two years a day. It should begin tonight and accelerate tomorrow.”

With that he jabbed the needle in Chris’ arm. The boy winced but didn’t make a sound. Howe depressed the plunger and then removed the needle. “There we go, all done,” he announced cheerily.

“How does it work?” Chris asked, curious.

“It reverses cell aging. The exact process is too complex for you to understand. And that in fact gets me to what we need to talk about next.”

“What’s that?”

“Your mentality. I think you would agree that being stuck in a two-year old body with an adult mind would be quite unpleasant, right?”

Chris nodded, thinking the idea of being two at all was unpleasant.

“Well my job is to help you adjust. A two year old has very few things he needs to do on his own. Therefore you need very few mental faculties to do them. Life is much simpler and happier for you as a tot if you don’t have much higher thinking abilities. So we’re going to be taking them away.”

That idea really frightened Chris but he sat still. After all this was what happened to lots of kids before him, so why should he be the one to get away? “How fast will it happen?” he asked, recalling what Debbie said earlier about some people waking up thinking like 2-year olds as early as tomorrow morning.

“Well that is a tricky one to answer. Some people’s minds are just very susceptible to our treatment. They soak our suggestions right up, let them override everything else. So yes I can guarantee there will at least be one person in your cabin who will wake up tomorrow morning and want nothing more than to suck their thumb and play with their toes,” he confirmed.

“But you don’t know who?” Chris asked, hopefully.

“Nope, sorry mate,” Howe apologised, looking truly sorry. “But don’t worry, if it is you you’ll never even know it. It’ll be over in a flash and you’ll be happy as a clam.”

Chris frowned. “But it isn’t just our intelligence you change is it?” he asked accusingly.

Dr Howe seemed to think about his answer carefully before replying. “You’re not wrong Chris. Often parents simply want to correct problems that plagued their child the first time around and this is where we can do that best. We aren’t changing who you are, just how you behave.”

Chris nodded as though agreeing but really he’d made a decision in his head. He’d play along but he’d fight this every step of the way. If it was just programming he could withstand it. He knew he didn’t want to be a dumb little streaker like his brother. He wouldn’t let his mind give in.