Poolside

Chapter 3
Chapter 3

Bobby couldn’t believe the turn of events. Just when it looked like everything was going to work out for the better, his dad had dropped and broke the jar containing the last bit of the oil! Although his sister was able to have her age restored, and Gretchen had decided she was happy the way she was, his mother was left with no way to restore her own age.

She pleaded "Bobby, there’s got to be a way! I don’t want to be THIS young!"

Bobby could only shake his head and tell his mother that "I’m sorry, it said it HAD to be from the same batch that makes someone younger for it to restore their proper age."

As they all walked back into the house she turned to her husband and said "Jim, I KNOW you did this to me on purpose. Maybe I am partially to blame for the way I acted last week, but this is MY life and you had no right....".

Jim stopped and interrupted "What’s done is done. You don’t have it so bad! Look at it this way, you’ll be restored to your proper age in about 21 years! Is that so terrible?"

She looked at him and replied "In 21 years I’ll be 40 again and YOU will be 64! As a matter of fact, when you turn 50 I’ll just be 26!"

Jim smiled and in his best sarcastic voice answered "THAT would be ’awful’!"

With that she told him "You’ll be on the couch tonight!" and turned down the hall for bed.

Jim just stared at her swaying hips as she walked away and thought to himself ’THAT is worth every bit of this trouble I’m in! She’ll get over it.’

Gretchen finally spoke up "You know ’that’s’ not the only problem we have. My lease runs out next week and I don’t know of any place paying 13 year olds enough to afford rent!"

"You can stay here! Bobby said.

Bobby’s dad quickly jumped in "No, No, No.... I don’t think so Bobby. What would our neighbors think? I can’t have a 14 year old boy and his girlfriend living together under one roof!"

Gretchen then added "He’s right Bobby.... Pretty soon people would get suspicious. I’m going to have to tell my mother what happened. Actually, I’d better show her ’cause otherwise she’ll never believe me!"

Sally turned to Bobby and said "I hope you’re happy! You discovered the Fountain of Youth and yet managed to only make everyone’s life more complicated!"

Bobby shook his head yes and said "I know...."

Gretchen put her arm around him and told him "I’m happy. Everything will work out. You’ll think of something." And kissed him on the cheek.

They all headed off to their bedrooms. Gretchen stayed with Sally in her room, while Mr. Scott folded the couch out into a bed. As he tried to fall asleep he kept thinking about what Sally had said ’You’ve discovered the Fountain of Youth....Fountain of Youth....Fountain of Youth" ’That boy of mine has found a gold mine!’ he thought ’I wonder what woman wouldn’t want to be 10 years younger?....Or what husband wouldn’t want his wife to shed a few years!’ As he tossed and turned he began to form a plan. He decided he would ’test’ the ’market’ the next day.

He woke up bright and early, quickly getting a shower. He called his best friend, Jack, and told him to "get over here as soon as you can. I wanna talk to you about a ’deal’."

Jack said he "had to run a couple of errands and would be there in an hour or so."

Jenny got up without speaking to Jim. She went to the kitchen and got a glass of juice from the fridge and took a seat at the table. Jim looked in at her and thought how sexy she looked wearing nothing but an oversized T-Shirt. He shook his head and looked away because he knew she was in no mood for him this morning.

A ’Knock’ came at the door. Jenny jumped up and whispered "Who could that be?!"

Jim told her "It’s Jack. I asked him over this morning. I didn’t think you’d be much company."

"Damn! I’m going to the pool! Don’t you dare let him see me. And whatever you do you don’t tell him about this!".

Jim ’agreed’ and went to open the door.

"What took so long to open the door Ol’ buddy?" Jack asked.

"Oh nothing. C’mon and have a seat here in the living room." Jim said, motioning him on into the house.

"So what is it that you couldn’t tell me on the phone that is such a great deal?" he asked.

"Well.....Ummmmm. Jack, how old is your wife?"

Jack smiled and said "What’s that got to do with anything? You know she’d kill me if I told you that!"

Jim persisted so Jack finally said "OK, But you don’t EVER tell! She’d kill me! I always tell her she looks 21 to me" he smirked "but she’s 37 really. Why?"

"How much would you pay if she could be younger, Jack?"

"Ha, Lots! Quite a bit actually, but we know that’ll never happen!".

Jim put his finger to his lips and motioned for Jack to follow him "Shhhhhhh Over here. Take a look over there."

"WHOA! Who is THAT?" Jack asked? "Look closer. You don’t recognize her? The hair? The height? Look ’real’ close. Think.....It’s Jennifer! See?...."

"Oh ’right’ Jim! How old is that girl 20?....maybe....18? You think I’m stupid or something? This is a joke right? C’mon give it up! Who is that, a niece?"

"No, Jack. It’s really her. And she’s more like 19. You see my son is a genius, basically. He found a way to make people younger. Now he never intended for his mother to use it, but I’m not complaining!"

Jack somehow began to believe that at least Jim ’thought’ he was telling the truth. Jim told him how Bobby had made it into a tanning oil so no one would suspect and would use it. The more Jim explained it, the more Jack believed.

"Wow! That ’girl’ really is Jennifer! You lucky dog! That is incredible! Yeah, Of course I’m interested in some of the stuff for Samantha." Jack said.

"Well, what I thought is that I sell enough for two treatments and a reversal. Each treatment takes off 10 or so years. Now IF you want to restore her to her proper age, you have to save the third and final treatment. She HAS to use the oil from the same batch for it to work. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it works! Now this restoration treatment can be your own little secret. You just HAVE to save that last treatment because for it to work it HAS to be from the same batch as she used to make her young. Now I’m thinking $2500.00 for it. Of course this is just ’your’ price. You know I could charge a lot more. I think it’s best to handle this like a ’Black Market’ type thing. I don’t want the Government involved....all those ’letters’ FDA, IRS, you know!" Jim explained.

Jack thought for a moment and then said "Let’s see if I got this straight. I pay you 25 big ones and then I get my wife to use this ’tanning oil’ and she gets 10 ’OR SO’ years younger. OK, right there I have a problem. She’s 37 now, so if she gets 10 years younger she’s gonna be 27....but if it’s your ’or so’ maybe she gets 11 years younger and ends up 26. Now if she even goes for another ’treatment’ she might end up 17 or 16....maybe even 15. You see where I’m going? She’ll be getting time erased and I’ll just be getting ’time’....in jail!"

Jim listened intently and then replied "So you just give it to her once. She ends up 27, maybe even 26. What’s wrong with that?"

Jack turns toward the pool and says "I want her to be like THAT! I know what she was like when she was 27. I wanna see what she was like when she was younger. Like before we met. Like when she was a cheerleader in college."

Jim told Jack how his wife hadn’t really wanted to be ’that’ young and how she was feeling ’pretty angry’ right now, but added "I’ll deal with it! Actually, that is one of the reasons why I came to you first. Since Samantha and Jennifer were such good friends before this, IF Samantha was to be young too, maybe it would help Jenny ummmm Jennifer to get over her anger. Jenny just doesn’t feel right trying to explain this to her friends and she won’t try and make any new friends with anyone her own age...at least yet!"

"Hmmmm Jim, can we maybe make it so the treatment is stronger? Say where it would take 15 or so years off? I’d be willing to pay 2500 bucks if she ended up in her early 20’s."

Jack rubbed his chin in thought before saying "Well, I don’t know. That would be Bobby’s department. I still have to figure out a way to get him to do this again. He’s probably a little gun-shy about messing with the stuff again. I thought up a couple of little safe guards that maybe he never thought about before. Maybe it’ll help him not worry about something happening like what happened to his mother. I figure we mix enough so that we sell only half out of each batch. We’ll mark the batches and that way IF somebody really did want to restore themselves we would have a backup here- IF something was to happen to their supply. But..... I don’t know if he can make it stronger. I tell you what, how about this? IF he can do it, and your wife gets down to 23 or younger you pay 2500 dollars. IF he can only do it like before and it only makes her about 10 years younger you pay half. Deal?"

"Deal!" Jack answers.

Jim spent the next few days trying to talk his son into mixing up another batch. He offered him a new bike if he’d do it. He offered a trip to Disneyland. Bobby was tempted but didn’t think he should.

Bobby told Gretchen about his father’s plans and she immediately said "No Way! You just keep trying to find a way to restore your mother back to her proper age, or whatever age she wants! She just keeps acting less mature all the time and I know she realizes it, and it is worrying her. I know I feel more and more like a real 13 year old every day, BUT I want a second chance! She doesn’t."

Bobby promised her he would keep looking for an antidote. His dad kept trying to get him to mix another batch. Finally, Bobby thought of something. What if his mother used a new batch of oil? Sure, she would get even younger, but when she uses the oil to ’restore’ her to her proper age, maybe it’ll take her back to 40. At worst it would only take her back to 19, and she would be in the same boat she’s in now. He decides to tell her his plan also figuring this will make his dad happy to get a new batch of the ’oil’.

Gretchen mentions maybe he shouldn’t tell his dad about his real plans "I think he kinda likes her this way!".

Jenny listened to the plan. She didn’t like the thought of getting even younger. A quick run through in her mind and she realized she be about 9 years old when the oil got through with her. Still, what Bobby said had made sense. She got herself a Coke from the fridge and went out by the pool to think about it. A few hours spent as a 9 year old and then ’maybe’ she gets to be her old self again. ’Why not?’ She’s got nothing to lose. She told Bobby her decision. Bobby was happy to hear that she was willing to try it. He then told his dad he would make another batch.

No one told Jim about their plans for Jenny and he told Bobby "You probably shouldn’t tell your mother about this. I don’t think she’d like us doing this." Jim also took the opportunity to ask Bobby about making it ’stronger’ this time "maybe so it could take 15 years off?".

Bobby told him "I’ll check, but I don’t think so."

His dad told him "It was important to try and if he could, there was a $50 bill in it for him!"

Bobby promised to check into it, even though he knew he wasn’t going to make it stronger even if he could.

The next day Jenny went to the mall to shop for clothes and Jim decided it was a great time for Bobby to mix the new batch. Bobby set up all the ingredients on the counter. He separated the items that were for the actual potion from the unimportant items that gave the potion it’s fragrance and color.

"So can you make it stronger son???" asked his dad.

"Nope, 10 years is all I know how to do." Bobby replied. Bobby showed his dad all the ingredients and explained which ones did what. "Apparently, this stuff has been around a long time. Supposedly, the recipe just got slowly lost over the years and people just forgot about it. Most of it was legends and myths and stuff. But with all the people on the internet connected up, a bunch of people could figure out different parts until this ’recipe’ came out of it. I guess it’s easier to get someone to use a little cocoa butter tanning oil now than to be dipped in a vat of icky oil or something !".

Bobby left the two pans to simmer as he went to watch TV. His dad, thinking of the 1250.00 he would lose IF the oil didn’t erase at least 14 or so years, decided to take matters in his own hands. He grabbed a couple of the bottles of what Bobby had said were "important ingredients" and dumped a little more of each into the main pan. ’If a little is good ....’ he thought. The powders sparkled as they entered the mixture. After about an hour the timer went off and Bobby came back into the kitchen and mixed the two pans together.

"Here, we’ll let ’em cool and they’ll be ready." he said.

Jenny’s going to mall this time had a been a part of Bobby’s plan. He knew his dad would want to use the opportunity to mix the new batch. He had timed the making of the oil until a new full moon was about to happen. The next morning he would put his plan into action. His dad would also put HIS plan into action the next day.

Jim contacted Jack and told him "all is go". His plan was to go over to Jack’s the next morning to ’talk’ about a ’deal’ and they would somehow get Samantha to try the oil. Bobby’s plan was simpler. When his dad leaves the next morning they’ll apply the oil to Jenny and then wait on darkness to try to restore her to her proper age. At that point, it will be too late for Bobby’s father to stop them. Bobby and Gretchen were anxious to get started. By this time Jenny was every bit a teenager. She would chew bubble gum. She would wear whatever the latest teenage fashion was. She had even gotten her belly button pierced. She would even go to the mall just to ’look’ at boys....and of course make sure THEY looked at her!

The next morning Jim took off with a jar of the ’oil’ for Jack and his wife. They were waiting on him when he got there.

"So, Jim, I hear you’ve got a new deal for us to invest in?" Samantha quizzed.

"Ummm yeah I...." Jim stammered until Jack cut in to help him

"Yeah, I already told Samantha about the tanning oil you were wanting to try and market. She doesn’t think it’s a good thing to be getting into with all the bad press sun-bathing has gotten recently....Really, I think with all the good things you say it can do for your skin, it might be EXACTLY what people need to combat sun damage!"

Jim laughed at the obvious pun and then asked "Soooo, Samantha are you going to be our tester?"

"Sure, I’ll try it."

Samantha was wearing shorts and a halter top. She also had on an unbuttoned shirt so as to draw attention away from a few of her perceived flaws. She felt that she was a bit overweight. She knew her muscle tone wasn’t what it should be. Her legs weren’t as smooth as they had once been, and she was noticing varicose veins showing up. She took the jar and went over to one of the deck chairs.

She took the open shirt off and said "Here we go!" She began applying the oil and immediately commented on how great the aroma was. "Ooh, it kinda tingles.....Wow. Ummmmm"

Soon she had covered herself in the oil and was looking like she was drifting away. Very distant. The two men both got closer to see what was happening.

"Sam? Sam? How is it?" Jack asked.

"Ummmmm keep rubbing....that feels soooooo ummmmm" was her reply.

Jim looked at Jack and shrugged his shoulders. She now was totally immersed in pleasure as the oil began to take effect. Jim had only imagined what the transformation would look like. The first thing was the varicose veins fading away. 33-32-31....Then they saw her body begin to tone up. Her arms looked more defined. Then her legs. Her hair looked thicker all of a sudden. She was looking more like a 30 year old. 29-28-27....More changes as her skin seemed to glow now. Her face showing very few lines at all, just some slight crows-feet by her eyes. Her legs now smooth. The skin no longer creeping over the waistband of her shorts. 26-25-24.... Much more youthful now. Her hair even thicker and maybe even longer. The crows-feet now gone. Her shorts are looser around the waist. Her thighs are thin.

"She looks so firm. Everything just kinda lifted up!" Jack noticed happily.

23.... They could tell the effects were slowing. Another year flows off her face and it now appears very youthful. No lines at all. Her skin very soft. 22....

"I can’t believe how good she looks! She could be a model!"

All of a sudden Samantha starts to awaken from her ’trance’.

".....Boy, that was something! What are you two looking at?"

Jack holds out his hand to help her up and walk her over to the door. He can’t help but notice how much softer it feels.

"Thanks Jim!" he says as he and Samantha walk to the door.

At that moment she sees a glimpse of her reflection in the door. It didn’t look right but she wasn’t sure what was different. She adjusted her shorts and looked at her hands. She runs her hand through her hair but doesn’t know what is wrong exactly.

Jack asks her "What’s wrong? Do you feel any different?"

"Yeah, kinda. Kinda good. Like maybe I....uhhh just real energetic!"

Jack stops her and hands her a picture taken of them last summer. She looks at it and then back at her reflection in the door glass. Then she looks at her body. Soon, it all slowly starts to come back. The lady in the picture is her! But it can’t be, she’s too old in the picture. ’I’m 22!’ she thought. But then she remembers all her birthdays....things keep getting clearer until she realizes that she really is 37 BUT somehow she is now 22!!!

"The oil!!!!, the oil did this! This is great! I’m young! Thank You, Thank You!" She yelled dancing and jumping with her new-found energy.

"You mean you don’t mind?" Jim said.

"Mind? WHY? I’m YOUNG! This will last won’t it? Please tell me it’s not temporary!!!!"

Jim shakes his head and tell her about his wife "Yes, as far as I know. You’ll be 22 until a year passes and then you’ll be 23....and so on. But, you see, Jennifer used it too. And she doesn’t like it. But, she actually ended up a little younger than you. More like 19. I kinda thought if you were younger that you and her could share your experiences. She really doesn’t want her ’old’ friends to see her like she is now. She says it’s ’too much’!

Samantha said she would do what she could and asked "How could anyone not want to be young. 19 is a great age!?"

While Jim and Jack had been implementing their plan, Gretchen, Bobby, and his mother had started theirs.

"I just know this’ll work mom! It will!" Bobby exclaimed.

His mother acted a little like she might have changed her mind and asks "Do you think I’ve changed that much? I mean my personality, not my looks."

"Well, yes. You really kinda act like just like a teenager now. You don’t act like a mom at all! You’re much different" Bobby says.

"So you really think that if I was older I wouldn’t like me?" She then asks.

"Hmmmm.... You seem so different. Always worrying about clothes. And your hair. Your looks. And you’ve spent so much money just on clothes and shoes. When you were older you thought that stuff was a waste of money. And you never let Sally wear things like you bought either!"

She seemed like Bobby’s answer helped her to decide "Let’s do it!"

Gretchen handed Jenny the oil and she began rubbing it in. "Now, NO spankings, cause when I grow up I’ll get even!" Jenny joked and continued massaging the oil all over her body. "Oh, it’s starting to tingle!..... Much more now..... Ooh different.... different this ti...mmmmmm...."

Bobby and Gretchen watch as they can tell Jenny is now lost in the feelings that the oil produces. 18-17-16....

"Look how young...." Gretchen says to Bobby, while watching Jenny’s body get even younger.

Her body appears to slide up as she obviously is getting shorter. Her T-Shirt looks to be getting flatter on her chest. Her hands and feet look smaller. 15-14-13....and then even smaller. Her body no longer appears in full bloom but like a girl whose body is just starting to bloom. Her T shirt is now almost totally flat. 12-11-10....Her arms and legs seem to draw up into the T-Shirt. Her hair is shorter. Her face looking more a like a child’s with every passing moment. Very round features. 10-9-8.... Her hair is even shorter now. Her T-shirt looks even larger as it seems to be swallowing her.

"My God, Bobby! It should have stopped! What’s wrong?!" Gretchen yells , noticing that the potion’s effects aren’t even slowing yet.

7-6...

"I don’t know! I did it exactly the same! Try and wipe it off of her! Quick!" Bobby pleads as he grabs for a towel.

Her hair gets even shorter and is of a finer texture now. Her hands and feet are much smaller, while her arms and legs still seem to be slowly drawn into her T-Shirt. ....5...Finally, the effect seems to be slowing....4, and it stops. Bobby and Gretchen are both speechless. Bobby tried to explain "Mom, I did it the same.... I’m sure..."

The small child starts to awaken as she hears the to older kids pleading with her to ’wake up’. Finally, she opens her eyes and is obviously very confused. Her hands only barely stick out of the sleeves of the now huge T-shirt. Her feet are all that is showing at the bottom of the T-Shirt, her legs now totally covered.

Gretchen takes her small hand and asks "Jenny, are you OK?"

The little girl shakes her head ’yes’ and says "uh huh".

"Do you know us?" she asks.

The little girl while shakes her head ’no’.

"Think, sweetie. Do you remember being big? Do you remember us? Do you?"

Once again the small child shakes her head ’no’ only this time she starts to cry. Bobby just watches not knowing what to do.

Gretchen continues trying to calm little Jenny "Let’s see how old you are. Can you tell me how old you are?"

Little Jenny stops crying and holds up 4 fingers.

"That’s good... you’re 4 years old. You sure are a cutie. You don’t have to cry. You can be a big girl and not cry can’t you? Do you wanna be a big girl? Do you remember wanting to be a big girl before your......nap?"

Again the small child just shakes her head ’no’.

As Bobby and Gretchen are discussing what to do a car drives up. It’s Bobby’s dad along with his friend Jack and some girl. As Bobby trys to think up what he is going to tell his dad about what has just happened, he notices that the ’girl’ looks a lot like Jack’s wife Samantha. Except, this girl looks about 21, not Samantha’s age. Bobby realized his dad and Jack must’ve used the potion on Samantha BUT she had gotten more than 10 years younger. But she didn’t look 20 years younger, like she should’ve if she would have used it twice!. For some reason it one ’dose’ was more potent this time!

"Kids, where’s Jenny? I’ve got someone she’ll want to meet?" Jim asks.

"Dad, I’ve got to tell you....we....I....had a plan so that maybe we could get mom back to normal before it was too late....We thought maybe if we used the oil on her again, she’d get younger, but then when she was restored, maybe it would restore her to her ummm real age. She thought it might work too...Anyway...."

Bobbys dad cuts him off before he can finish "You didn’t do that did you? Give it to her? Did you?"

Bobby nods his head indicating that he did.

Samantha looks and sees Little Jenny still in her chair. "Oh my, Is that ’her’!?"

"Yeah....I don’t know how it could happen. I made the stuff exactly the same!"

Bobby’s dad interrupts him "’I’ know....I wanted you to make the stuff stronger and you said it couldn’t be done. Since it was MY batch....or so I thought, I added to the recipe! You never told me you were going to do this!"

As they spoke, Little Jenny made her way down the sidewalk and tugged on the leg of Samantha’s shorts. "I gotta go potty"

Just then Gretchen yells out "Oh No!"

"What?" Bobby asks. "I took MY mother some of the oil this morning. She’s 46 years old and I figured it was the least I could do since I was going to be living there again. I told her it took off 10 years at a time and she said she ’could stand to lose about 20 years’"!

 

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