Imagine Part 2
She sprinted off toward her home. A couple of young high school guys honked and whistled at her. That made her feel pretty! She waved and smiled wide for them. They gave each other a high five. “Awright! An older woman!” one of them said unsure of what to do next. Nobody had ever responded positively like that before!
Suzy didn’t stop, though, and was soon farther down the street.
Once she was out of town and in a residential area she started leisurely skipping again. Suddenly, she stopped. She remembered something. She looked around as if to see if anyone was watching... and then she darted down a shortcut through an elderly lady’s yard. The grass had long been beaten down by the children’s constant trampling and it was just a dirt path that they’d worn into her yard.
“HEY! Get out of this yard!” an elderly voice said as she raised her window and squinted through her poor vision trying to recognize which neighborhood child it was this time. “Stay on the sidewalk you heathen!”
Suzy, barely breaking stride, turned and stuck out her tongue and continued running “Nah Nah NaNa Nah!” she sang mockingly.
She ran a little farther until she was sure the old lady had lost sight of her and then she stopped. She was getting winded. The skipping and running were catching up with her. She heard something up ahead. She looked ahead and saw Tami doing somersaults in the air. She got her second wind and ran toward her. Once there she stopped and watched in amazement as Tami bounced up and down... up and down... on her new trampoline. Suzy grinned and her eyes followed Tami’s every bound.
Tami stopped when she saw Taylor’s mom watching her. She took in the sight of her friend’s mom not looking like she’d ever saw her before. Her hair was looking windblown and mussed. Her blouse was loose and buttoned wrong. She was barefoot and her feet were dirty. She was winded and looked like she’d been running.
“Hello, Ms Jackson” Tami said politely.
“HI!” Suzy answered “Whatcha doin?”
“Just playin’”
“Wow... That looks like FUN!”
“Yeah... I asked Taylor if she wanted to come over but she didn’t wanna”
“She didn’t???? Hows come???”
“I dunno.... she was acting funny”
“Hmmmmmpf She don’t know what she’s missin’ I bet!”
“Uhhhh do you wanna try it??”
“DO I!” she shouted and immediately made a run for the trampoline and started jumping up and down and trying to do the tricks Tami was doing. Unfortunately, Suzy’s 27 year old body, even though it was in great shape... wasn’t quite ready for the flexing that Tami was capable of.
-------
Taylor paced back and forth. She was worried about her mother. She should have been home and hour ago! She’d called the office and they told her that she’d left early. Taylor sensed they were concerned when they heard that she hadn’t made it home already although they tried to hide it.
Taylor turned on the TV trying to distract herself from watching the clock. She normally watched Nik at this time every day but it was very juvenile today. She turned on the news. Abductions... Abductions... it seemed like that was all they talked about. It only worried her more. She paced some more. Stared out the window. Checked the clock. She grew more worried...and more angry... with every passing moment. She decided she needed to go on a search.
------------
Suzy and Tami continued playing on the trampoline. Suzy was really enjoying herself and yelling “Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” as she tried and tried to manage a somersault like Tami could do.
She suddenly stopped when she saw Tami’s mother approach. “Umm Hello Sue..???” she said sounding more like a question. You could see the confusion in her eyes. There was the mother of her daughter’s best friend looking like an overgrown raggamuffin playing in her front yard.
“Hi.... Mrs... errrrrrr Kate” Suzy answered. She started to call her Mrs Thomas but remembered she used to call her by her first name even though it seemed odd.
“Mommy, Taylor didn’t wanna play so Su....errrr Ms Jackson is playin’ with me instead.
Kate decided that obviously the girls must’ve had an argument and Suzy was just trying to smooth it over by acting like a kid. Probably some kind of thing she’d read about in one of her parenting magazines. Silly, but harmless she figured. The girls would get over any little tiffs on their own if just left alone Kate figured. Kate was slightly older than Suzy and that is how Kate’s parents would have handled any situations like that. To each their own she figured.
“Ummm Mrs ....errrr Kate... Have you got any rubberbands?” Suzy asked.
“I’m sure I do.... What for?”
“My hair keeps getting in my eyes when I try and do somersaults like Tami. She’s goooooood!” Suzy answered.
Kate shook her head in confusion and went to get a couple of rubber bands for Suzy.
She returned with the rubber bands and Suzy went to work on her hair.... with Tami’s help. Soon her hair was in loose pigtails.
Suzy caught a glimpse of herself in reflection of the car’s mirror. She really liked her hair in pigtails. Suzy wished she’d done her hair like that in the morning to begin with. Now she was ready to try somersaults again.
“Thank you Mrs Thomas” Suzy said politely “You wann play too?? I bet I can jump higher than you!”
“No thank you... I like solid ground and being 32 years old just fine!” Kate replied.
She couldn’t believe her friend would go to these lengths trying to follow all those silly parenting guides. She took one more long look at 27 year old Suzy... skirt flying up very un-ladylike, bare feet.... hair in pigtails.... bouncing up and down on the trampoline and squealing in delight.
“I gotta give you credit Sue... If you’re gotta role play you got being 6 years old down pat!” And with that comment, Kate left Suzy to her new-age parenting methods. She figured it must have something to do with jealousy. May when Taylor sees her mother taking her role with her best friend it is supposed to make her jealous... and somehow it will make them want to patch things up? At least the was the only angle she could think of to make sense of it all.
Suzy just giggled at Kate’s comment and went about playing.
Seeing the sun getting lower in the sky she stopped bouncing... “I better get home before I get in trouble!” she said.
“How can YOU get in trouble??? You’re a grownup so you can do what you want!” Tami said.
Suzy giggled... “I’m not a gwownup... silly! I’m 6 years old!”
“Huh? You’re teasin’ me!”
Suzy giggled more. Just then Taylor walked up. She put her hands on her hips and her face turned red.
“Where have you been young lady?!!! I have been worried SICK about you! Don’t you know I’ve walked this whole neighborhood looking for you!?” Taylor scolded.
“I’m sorry... I was gettin’ ready to come home....”
“Getting ready??? Do you know how late you are? You are SO grounded!” Taylor said.
Tami’s eyes widened. How could Taylor talk to her mother this way?
“I don’t wanna be grounded! I’ll come home right after school tomorrow! I proooooomise! ‘K?” Suzy said breaking into a whine.
“You better believe you will! You will come directly home from...... Uhhh.... What did you say?” Taylor asked, changing her comment in mid sentence.
“I said I’d come home right after school!”
Taylor looked at Tami who was watching the exchange in amazement. “Tami... do I seem... different to you...act differently?”
“Yeah...kinda... you do....And..... How come your mom has to go to school?”
Suzy was becoming giggly again. “Cuz I’m in first grade silly! ...” she said and then looked down.. “Wow.... I bet I got the biggest boobs of anybody in first grade... maybe even bigger than the teacher’s!” she said in amazement as she put her hands under her breasts.
“I’m a little confused myself, Tami. I’m sorry. I’ll have to explain later!” Taylor said and then looked at her mother.
Suzy looked and acted like an overgrown 6 year old. It was too good of an act to not be real. But the only explanation would be Taylor’s invention. It was just a bunch of junk... how could it work she wondered? It seemed like sooooooo long ago when she had made it. She realized it must be affecting her too. She was thinking more like an adult. No wonder school had been so easy!
She even felt a little pity for her mother. A 27 year old woman acting like a child! Yesterday she was a functioning adult and today her mind has been regressed to that of a first grader! She felt something else as well... she felt protective of her. Taylor was sure it was all somehow related to her invention. At least she now had a rational adult mind and thought process now that she could utilize to understand how this could’ve happened and how to reverse it. She noticed her mother wasn’t on the trampoline any longer.
Her mother was now happily trying to grab a firefly and chasing it through the yard.
“Put your shoes on and let’s get you home and cleaned up” Taylor said handing her mother her sandals.
“I can’t wear ‘em.... they’re too talllllllll!” Suzy whined.
“Oh.... OK....It doesn’t matter... You’re 6 years old.... I guess.... C’mon...take my hand, hon. We’ll figure this all out. I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I’ll get things turned around... somehow.”.
----
Taylor led her mother down the street and finally to their home. They did get some looks from a few neighbors. The sight was very odd.... 6 year old Taylor, very concerned, leading her laughing carefree mother through the neighborhood.
Once inside, Taylor asked her mother to take a seat. Suzy plopped down on the floor ‘Indian style’ with her legs crossed. “Am I in trouble???”
“I think we’re both in trouble, hon” Taylor replied.
Suzy frowned.
“Do you remember my invention?” Taylor asked as she adjust he pants.
“Uh huh.... that was coooooooool!” Suzy replied.
“Well, hon, I’m afraid it actually worked. We’ve reversed roles” Taylor explained as she worked to remove her shoes. “All this walking has made my feet swell” she grumbled.
Suzy didn’t say anything but began to grin once she realized she wasn’t going to get in trouble.
“Somehow, that bunch of junk.... worked. I don’t get it. I knew as soon as I woke up this morning that it was childish.. How could it work? It was string... cardboard.... aluminum foil...???”
“And a salad bowl!” Suzy excitedly chimed in.
Taylor let out a small laugh “Yes... even a salad bowl! I’m glad you remember it. I’m going to need your help to remember just exactly what I did to make it work”
Suzy was losing interest “Can we have ice cream for dinner?? Huh? ‘K?”
“Oh! Dinner! I forgot... I’ll order a pizza! I’m sorry, sweetie”
“That’s OK, mommy. I like pizza!”
Taylor froze. She’d just been called ‘mommy’. It both felt weird and right at the same time. Are they both still changing? Was that just a slip? Will they forget their past lives? Then Taylor realized that she’d been calling her mother ‘hon’ and ‘sweetie’.
Taylor adjusted her pants again. She was wearing capri pants. Something seemed odd. It was hard to tell but were they just a little shorter than before? Then she remember her tight-fitting shoes. She wondered..... Was something else happening? Did her mother -look- younger? Taylor wondered if she herself could be growing? Were they not only reversing roles mentally but physically too?!
Taylor looked carefully at her mother. It was hard to tell because her mother is normally youthful, and having the personality of a 6 year old certainly made her look even younger... But maybe that isn’t all she thought. Maybe she really IS getting younger? And if mom is getting younger... I must be getting... OLDER!
Taylor felt her heart sink. She didn’t want to be OLD! Maybe 17 but certainly not 27 like her mother! That’s almost 30! She needed a few moments alone to think. She didn’t have time to devote to a child right now... not right at this minute.... even if that -child- is in the body of a young woman and is biologically her mother! And she didn’t want to worry her.
“Sweetie, do me a favor and go draw yourself a bath and get cleaned up. You need a bath.”
“’K” she answered and bounced up the stairs.
As soon as Suzy was out of the room, Taylor put her face in her hands and began to sob. She just wanted to be 6 years old again!
-To Be Continued?
-----------------------------------------