Fresh Start

Chapter 20
The Biggest Penguin

It was sensation of motion that woke Matt up. His eyes were closed but he could feel that he was moving. He could also feel the warmth of the sun on his back and an arm under his bottom. Opening his eyes he had to squint at first, letting them adjust to the daylight. He was being carried by someone facing over their shoulder. He could see they were on a path leading away from the infirmary. He couldn’t recall a thing since his vision blurred and the goggles slipped over his eyes.

“What? Where am I?” he called out.

“Shh, shhh little guy, it’s okay,” a gentle female voice assured him, a large hand patting his back, his bare back.

Pulling back from the shoulder Matt saw that he was no longer wearing his rugby jersey, or his boardies for that matter. All he now wore was a pair of white cotton underoos with yellow piping and koala bear designs.

“Where are my clothes?” he demanded.

“We took them off so you’ll fit in better with the rest of the Penguin kids,” the woman explained.

Matt’s eyes widened and he looked back at his body to see if he’d been shrunk again. No, he didn’t seem any smaller, still four feet tall with only a little baby fat. He was definitely still six, in fact from memory he was this size only as he got closer to seven. So why was he being carried to the cabin for kindy kids, little boys and girls not even in school yet?

“This is a mistake!” he yelled, “I’m supposed to be six. I’m in Kea.”

“Sorry sweetie, but there has been a mistake and we’re trying to fix it right now by taking you to Penguin.”

“What?!”

“You see I’m afraid you had the wrong programming this morning. Dr Howe was very sorry about the mix-up. But I’m afraid you got a very powerful dose of four-year old training. I know you still feel like a big boy right now, but very soon you’ll fit right in with the other Penguin boys sweetie.”

Matt shook his head at her as though that could undo what she’d said had been done. This couldn’t be happening!

“But... but I’m still six! Look at me,” he urged her.

“I can see that dear. Don’t worry, nobody will be taking away your big boy body. But your mind is another matter. I promise you won’t care one little bit once it happens though. You’ll feel right as rain, I promise.”

He’d get to keep his body, she said. But that was even worse, he’d look like a retard or something. That wasn’t what he wanted at all.

“Please, take me back. He can fix it, he’s got to!”

But the woman shook her head. “Sorry, but there’s nothing to be done about it now. I’m Gwen by the way and I’ll be looking after you today and tomorrow.”

“My parents! You have to call them, they won’t like this at all,” Matt insisted.

“They’ve already been called dear, they’re on their way now. Mr Belton will have a nice talk with them about your situation.”

With that he felt the upward motion of her climbing the steps to the porch. A moment later they entered Penguin Cabin, finding it abuzz with activity. The kids all looked like preschoolers now, short and chubby with dirty fingers and stained cheeks. One little boy came racing up to Gwen, naked but for the towel tied around his neck and worn like a superhero cape.

“Lookit Miss Gwen, I a supah-hero!” he exclaimed, spinning around to show off his cape.

“That’s very good Owen,” she assured him. “And what’s your name?”

“Captain No Undah-pants!” he roared, giggling riotously.

“What a silly superhero you are!” she chuckled, making the boy giggle and hop about all the more. “What do you think Matty? Isn’t he a silly superhero?” she asked the disgusted older boy in her arms.

Not having been up close to any of the unclothed little tykes before Matt could only blush in shame and whisper, “Well he’s got no underpants.”

“No he doesn’t,” she agreed. “He’s not the only one like that,” she added, gesturing to two little boys, one tubby and the other skinny but for baby fat, playing doctor and patient. One wore a bandage tied badly around his head so all his hair stuck straight up, the other was squatting at his side with a plastic stethoscope in his ears and was feeling the patient’s chest and tummy with it. The toy and the bandage were all they wore.

“Many of my boys are little jaybirds. Are you a jaybird too Matty? Would you like your underoos off?” she asked suggestively.

Matt shook his head and gave her a disgusted look. “Not a chance lady,” he said.

Gwen shrugged and lowered him to the floor. “We’ll get you a bed and some new clothes after dinner,” she told him. “Run along and play for now.”

Matt headed across the cabin, noting how small all the kids were next to him. He was a full head and shoulders taller than most of these ankle-biters. It seemed here too the treatments had been completely successful. All the kids were playing happily. A boy wearing a hoodie but no pants over his pull-ups was fighting over a doll with a boy wearing corduroy overalls. Two little girls in frilly pink play dresses sat at a tiny plastic table drinking from empty plastic tea cups, teddy bears and Raggedy Anne dolls sitting on other seats with cups of their own.

“You’re not like them.”

The voice started Matt. It sounded high-pitched but intelligent, the words pronounced correctly. He turned to find a little boy with deep, searching eyes staring up at him. The kid was little more than half his size, wearing blue-jean shortalls over a pale yellow shirt featuring a rainbow graphic. His dirty blonde hair was messy but his face had no food stains and he appeared somehow neater than the rest.

“What do you mean?” Matt asked the little boy.

“I mean you still have a brain,” the kid squeaked.

“Yeah, for the moment,” Matt sighed.

“I’m Ryan,” the kid told him. “I used to be fifteen.”

“Hi Ryan, I’m Matt. I was seventeen.”

“That sucks, you almost made it,” Ryan said.

“Yeah, so I’ve heard.”

“Why’d they move you here now? You shrinking too much?”

“No, worse than that. They say they gave me too powerful a dose of treatment and my mind is gonna be like theirs soon,” Matt explained, gesturing to the other kids.

Ryan seemed horrified by the very thought. “I’m so sorry mate.”

“Yeah, well it hasn’t happened yet right.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“My mum and dad are on their way now. They might fix things,” he added hopefully.

Ryan didn’t reply though, he just averted his eyes, frowning.

“What?” Matt asked.

Ryan looked back up at him, eyes filled with pity. “See that girl over there,” he said, gesturing to a little brunette wearing a pair of pink knee-length capris but no shirt and doing poorly coordinated cartwheels and somersaults.

“Yeah,” Matt nodded.

“She only got here today. They brought her in early this morning from Beaver Cabin because she shrunk way too far. She thought she was eleven and her mum and dad would come to sort things out soon. Well they came alright, but when they got here something had been done to them. They acted like they’d always wanted her to be four years old. I dunno if it was the shock or something they said but next thing I knew she’d pulled her t-shirt off and was running around looking for a dolly to play with.”

“Oh my God!” Matt gasped, realising his parents might not be able to save him after all.

Leaving Ryan where he was, Matt hurried to the window, watching the entry to the camp. He stayed there, nose glued to the window for an hour before he saw what he was waiting for. Sure enough it was his mum and dad, rushing from the car park onto the grounds, looking highly concerned and upset. He wanted to run out and meet them, to warn them, but they were moving too fast and there was no time to act. He could only watch, forlorn, as they hurried through the door of the main office and disappeared from view.