CHAPTER ONE
Ann Marie Thomas walked slowly down the meandering sidewalk that led to the front entrance of McMicken Hall, the home of the psychology department at Ashland-Wayne County College, a small midwestern college located in North Central, Ohio 50 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio. She was lost in thought and barely noticed the well manicured lawn and stately oak trees that lined the walkway.
It was a bright sunny day without a cloud in the sky. For early June, it was an exceptionally prettty day and since she was dressed in her best dress outfit, Ann Marie was particularly grateful that the high temperature today was only going to be 75 degrees. At least she wouldn't be so uncomfortable during her interview with Doctor Ronald Damron, the current dean of the psychology department.
At 43, Ann Marie was probably the oldest grad student candidate at the college. Her graying hair certainly didn't make her look any younger and neither did her weight, 162 pounds, which contributed to her matronly look. Newly divorced after almost 20 years of marriage, she had decided to go back to school for her masters in psychology. The degree would advance her career and enable her to become head counselor for the Mapleton school district where she was currently employed as an elementary school guidance counselor.
The advanced degree was requird for the position she desired. The present head counselor, Robert Howe, would be retiring in two years and with luck, she would be able to succeed him in this position. He had recommended she see Dr. Damron, a personal friend of his, to gain admittance into the college's masters program.
Like most students, she was on a very tight budget and when she had learned that the department was granting full scholarships to a few selected grad students, she had been only too anxious to apply. Dr. Damron had asked to see her personally, because of Mr. Howe's recommendations, and so on this pretty June day Ann Marie found herself at the front entrance of McMicken Hall.
The old oak door of the building opened rather easily and in only moments, Ann Marie found herself in Dr. Damron's office. The receptionist showed her to a stiff backed leather chair and told her that Dr. Damron had called and would be about 15 minutes late. Ann Marie refused the coffee that was offered, truth was she hated the stuff, and said she didn't mind waiting. With that, the receptionist, Carol, left. Once again Ann Marie was alone with her thoughts.
It had been a hard year for Ann Marie, the divorce had been a bitter one and she had been left virtually penniless. She had managed to keep the house but had to borrow money to buy out her ex-husband's equity interest. She also got custody of her three kids, Lisa age 16, Bryan age 14, and Lois age 10. With three children to raise on her own, she simply had no money for extras.
Her children were a mixed bunch. Bryan was an angry young man who had been in some minor trouble with the authorities. Ann Marie hoped that he would overcome his anger, particularly since Robert had been trying to fill in as a surrogate father figure. The next year would certainly be a decisive one in Bryan's life. As for Lisa and Lois, they were exact opposites. Lois was a child genius, exceptionally mature for her age, and an excellent student while Lisa was an academic nightmare. Sadly, Ann Marie had only recently learned that Lisa was dyslexic. If she was lucky, she would graduate from highschool. Unfortunately, the needed intervention she should have received when she was a little girl had never happened as her problem had gone undiagnosed for so long. More often than not, it was Lois who did her big sister's homework. To Anne, it seemed that a child was trapped in a grownup's body and vice versa.
As was typical of her ex-husband, he was totally delinquent on child support but that didn't stop him from harassing her about visitation. With his new wife he had acquired a new house on Lake Erie and ffor the summer, the kids were going to stay with him. They had left two days earlier and for the next three months, Ann Marie was living alone.
Since she couldn't rely on her ex for any help the responsibility for the continueing education of her children was left to her. A promotion to head school district counselor would go a long way towards securing both her children's and her own future.
In her mind, Ann Marie reviewed what she knew about Dr. Damron. Robert had warned her that he was rather eccentric, capricious and demanding. "Remember" Robert had said, "no matter how strange the methodology, Dr. Damron was still one of the top people in his field. He gets a perverse pleasure from humiliating his students so be prepared as he may require you to perform some rather bizarre acts. It's his way of guaranteeing your loyalty. His recommendation would virtually guarantee her the promotion she desired. Just do as he asks and you will get the scholarship."
As Robert's words echoed in her mind, Ann Marie's musings were interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Damron. A brief introduction by Carol the receptionist and Ann Marie found herself staring across an oak desk at Ronald Damron. He was a little bald fat man and reminded her of the pillsbury dough boy in a suit. With the heels she was wearing, Ann Marie was almost 5'7" tall and when she had stood to shake his hand, she had noticed that Dr. Damron was the same height.
"I don't usually take candidates who are so old" he said "and frankly if it hadn't been for Robert's persistence, I wouldn't be talking to you now. So tell me, why should I consider you for the psychology department's masters program."
Ann Marie was ready for this and the two people talked for nearly an hour, when Dr. Damron said "I suppose you know that I am quite demanding and expect absolute confidentiality and obedience from my grad assistants."
"So Robert has warned me" Ann Marie replied. "Does this mean that I have the position?"
"I have the contract here in front of me" he said "but are you truly willing to follow my directions without question?"
Robert's warning echoed in Ann Marie's head and she said "yes doctor, I am prepared to do whatever is asked of me."
"Fine, then let me run down our summer research program." he said. "We are conducting studies on the most effective and positive methods of promoting early childhood development in a daycare setting. To do this we have set up a daycare facility at the college and are actively recruiting applicants for the program. Although we have excellent observational data we have been limited in our ability to evaluate the effectiveness of our methods from the viewpoint of the subjects."
"Excuse me doctor, but your subjects are babies" Ann said "they can't talk.
"I know that" he replied "what we need are subjects who can tell us about the effectiveness of our methods and that is where you come into the picture."
"Me?" said Ann "What do you want me to do -- turn into a baby for the duration of the experiment?"
"Exactly" said Dr. Damron.
Ann Marie's mouth fell open. The shock registered on her face would have been comical if it hadn't been so real. For the next hour she and Dr. Damron reviewed the research program in detail. It seemed that Dr. Damron had developed a time compression machine that would literally regress an exposed person into an infant. It seemed the device was capable of creating a black hole which could be contained within a magnetic field. Per Einstein's theories, the process created eddies or ripples in the space time continuem and by controlling the subjects exposure to the field rays generated by same, a subject would rapidly regress or age depending on the frequency and polarity of the rays and electro-magnetic field. As such, the entire regression/aging process was completely controllable. Dr. Damron showed her video tapes of the process. All the lab animals that had been tested had completely recovered without any side effects. She, along with several other selected grad students, would be part of the first group of human subjects. The data was quite impressive, and at the conclusion of their nearly three hour meeting she once again found herself back in the doctor's office.
"Well Ann Marie" he said "are you still interested in the program? I can guarantee you your masters degree and a full scholarship if you say yes. All that is required is your signature on the line marked X."
Dr. Damron held out the contract and Ann Marie found herself signing her name at the bottom.
"Now" he said as he looked at her with a steady eye and a bit of a grin "go potty in your pants BABY."
Ann Marie was about to ask if this was really necessary when Robert's advice once again came back to her. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. In only moments a warm trickle of urine began to flow out of her. It rapidly became a hot stream and soaked into her clothing at first and then as her garments became overwhelmed, it dripped and fell on the floor at her feet. Soon a small stream was running down her pant leg adding to the rapidly growing puddle she was now standing in. Her shoes were soon soaked and blushing a very bright red she leaned forward slightly, put her hands on the desk top and forcing herself to relax even further, she only had to grunt but two times. Within moments the rear of her pants became ever so lumpy as, for the first time in her adult life, she pooed her pants.
When she finished, Ann Marie straightened up and looked at what she had done to her best dress outfit. There was a full length mirror in the corner of Dr. Damron's office and in it she could see the reflection of her now very wet and messy bottom and ruined clothes. She noted that Dr. Damron was staring at her and she said "Did I pass?"
Dr. Damron responded "With flying colors." and then he leaned forward and spoke into his intercom "Carol, would you please escort Ann Marie to the lab."
Later, as she walked back to her car, Ann Marie reflected on the events of the past morning and early afternoon. Dr. Damron had sent her dress outfit to a cleaners. She was now wearing a white lab coat over a set of blue hospital sweats. The bulky diapers and plastic pants she was wearing under the sweats felt strange. So did the diaper bag stuffed with clean diapers and plastic pants that she was now carrying. The sun was still out and a gentle breeze brought the scent of baby powder to her nose.
As she walked to her car, she mused that for all of its buildup, the regression chamber had been rather unimpressive to look at. It resembled a large phone booth more than anything else. Ann Marie had been required to stand naked in same while a bright light briefly came on and off. The entire process took less than 30 seconds. She still wasn't sure if the whole thing wasn't just some elaborate hoax. She had been told that she would be receiving daily doses of regression rays until she had reached the target age of between 1 and two yars old. Because the process was so new, she was receiving limited dosages so that her regression could be monitored. The last thing anyone wanted was for her to become too young which quite obviously would prove fatal. "Get used to the diapers" Dr. Damron had said "they're going to be a part of your wardrobe for some time to come." Only after she had signed her contract and had been exposed to her first treatment in the regression booth was Ann Marie told that a slight side effect of the process was the almost immediate onset of total incontinence.
Reaching her car, Ann Marie wondered how long it would take for the regression process to take effect. According to the good doctor, she would be about 6 years younger by the following day. Halfway home she got her answer as for the second time that day she wet her pants. How ironic she thought, I was worried that the children particularly little Lois, were too young to be away from me for the entire summer. I wonder what they would think if they could see me now.
Continued in Part 2