Introduction
Another group of kids ran past Mark, Fredrick, Amanda and Linda, trick or treat bags flapping in the wind. The four were in their late teens, and were considered a group of "do-gooders". They were out on Halloween night just hoping to keep the kids safe from the sickos who seemed to be showing up in the news more and more often. They were certainly too old to be trick or treating, but they had made a little attempt as dressing up, in the spirit of the night. Fredrick had a plastic pirate's sword swinging at his hip, Linda had a black cat's tail poking out over her jeans. Mark and Amanda had gone a little more all out. Amanda was wearing a brown sweat-suit decorated like an otter, and Mark was wearing a grey sweatsuit decorated to look like a raccoon.
"Man..." Mark sighed as he kicked a rock, "I sure do miss being a kid. I'd rather be trick-or-treating tonight."
Amanda smiled sweetly back at him, then tugged his "tail", "Honestly, Raccoon-Boy, this was your idea. And really, it's very noble to make sure the kids don't get hurt."
Mark sighed again, "I know...I'd just rather spend the night worrying about how good the candy at the next house is going to be, then whether one of these kids is going to be taken off and hurt or killed."
Then another group of kids ran by...and these didn't look so innocent. Four middle-school boys...and if they were in costume then they were all dressed like robbers.
It took a nod of Mark's head and all four were following them quietly. A few blocks up the street the stopped at an old house that had been for sale for years. Then one of them took a package of eggs out of his sweatshirt. Mark wandered quietly up behind the middle schoolers,who were snickering loudly enough that they missed his steps. Then, when Mark was right behind one of them, he said, practically yelling, "WHAT HAVE YOU GOT THERE?" and snatched the egg out of the surprised kid's hand. By the time they recovered from the shock, Mark's friends had moved to both sides of the kids. The middle schoolers assessed their situation.
Even if they hit the house, the older students were much bigger, and probably faster. Standing and fighting wasn't an option, but running was probably a losing bet too. Which left negotiation: one of them, presumably the leader, since he'd been the one with the carton of eggs, spoke up.
"What do you want? Leave us alone."
"Like you were going to leave this house along?" Amanda snapped. "I don't think so."
"Butt out. This isn't your business. You don't live here," one of the other kids retorted.
"You don't either. Hand over the eggs."
By this time, each of the middle schoolers had an older kid close enough to grab them. Even so, none of them responded until Fred grabbed the carton of eggs. Amanda grabbed the last egg any of the kids was holding, and, without any way to respond, the middle schoolers walked away, grumbling to each other and shooting dirty looks towards the foursome.
"Well, I suppose that was worthwhile. With luck, they'll call it quits tonight."
"Yeah, now aren't you glad we did this, Mark?"
Before Mark could respond, the house's nearest window flew open, and an elderly woman stuck her head out.
"I heard a commotion. What are you kids up to?" she asked in a suspicious tone. Then, spying the carton of eggs Fred was holding, "You weren't going to egg my house were you? That happened to me last year, and if it happens again, you bet your booties whoever does it will wish they hadn't."
"No, we, er..." Mark stammered through a reply, "we didn't know anyone still lived here. We-"
"-Were just going to egg an abandoned house, eh? You should know not to do that. I've half a mind to call the police right now."
"No, no. There was a group of kids that were going to egg your house, but we grabbed the eggs from them."
The woman looked at them one by one and then, to their surprise, said, "I think I believe you. There are too many bad kids out there these days, and it's liable to make a woman suspicious. I owe you my thanks. Are you kids trick-or-treating? I don't usually give out candy, but I'm sure I can find something for you."
"No, we're a little old to trick-or-treat." Mark answered. "Besides, you don't owe us anything."
"Too old to trick-or-treat? Nonsense. In fact, I have just the thing."
She pulled her head inside, and for the next few minutes, the students could hear sounds of rummaging. Unsure of whether she could hear them, they simply exchanged looks. Finally, she stuck her head out the window again. "I knew I had these around somewhere. One for each of you."
One by one, they walked up to the window to take one from her. When it was Mark's turn, she added, "Too old to trick or treat? What foolishness. You had better have two. And don't save them. I know you're not too old for candy."
The four politely thanked her, and then turned around. The woman continued to watch them. "Well? I meant it when I said you should have them now."
Convinced that the woman was completely senile, they carefully unwrapped the pieces of candy. It turned out to be some brand they'd never heard of before, but wanting to keep the woman happy, they all ate what proved to be small pieces of chocolate with different colored stripes of ice cream inside. Only once they'd all finished their piece (and Mark finished both of his) did the woman say, "Have a nice evening!" and shut the window.
The First Treat
"Well, I suppose that was about the best result we could have hoped for, eh?" Mask asked.
"I should say so," Amanda muttered, "anyhow, the candy wasn't that bad. It does make me wish we could go trick or treating!"
"Well, why shouldn't we?" Linda inquired
"We're too..." Mark stopped short. "Fred? Where did you get that costume?"
Fred looked down. All he remembered putting on was the sword, but some he now had on a full outfit. Sash, leggings, tunic...even clip on earrings! "I...I...don't know..."
He touched the earrings in disbelief.
"I still say we go treat or treating!" Amanda stomped her foot to emphasize her point.
"We don't have any bags, Mandy!" It was Mark, again. He could be something of a wet blanket, she thought.
"But we...We do to have bags!"
It was true. All four of them were holding bags...what's more, bags that had candy in them!
They all stopped...something about all this seemed wrong.
"Laura...I know you didn't have a costume earlier..."
"No I didn't."
"But you do now..."
"Of course, I do. It's Halloween and I'm a black cat. We planned this a month ago!"
"Guys...something strange is going on. We need to go talk to that old woman...", everyone but Mark turned, and Mark took off towards the next house laughing. "I tricked you!"
They looked back, because no one expected Mark to run off, or to act like a little kid, for that matter. Amanda sighed, "Did you have to have to bring the twerp along, Freddie?"
"Yes. Mom made me...I'm sorry, but it was this or not at all!"
The three of them took off after Mark.
Though they couldn't see it, and old woman looked out of her window and smiled. That boy would certainly be young enough to trick or treat now, she thought. She muttered, and prepared Mark's sweat suit to be replaced by a jumpsuit style costume, complete with mask and ears.
It was Amanda who finally caught up with Mark. She literally had to tackle him to stop him from running further.
"Markie!", she panted, "You can't run off like that! We're gonna get in big trouble if you get lost!"
"I tricked you!", Mark was smiling, and really didn't seem to grasp the problem Amanda was having.
"Markie!", Freddie, this time. "Mandy's right. If you don't stick close then I..." Fred's voice cracked.
The other three in the group watched in surprise as Fred began to shrink. Not just shrink, either, Fred's stubble vanished and his face took on a decidedly innocent look. A few freckles showed up on his nose. His pirate costume shrunk with him, (except the sword) and soon he looked like the 10 year old he was in everyone's mind.
The sudden stature change didn't seem to bother him. And he kept right on scolding Mark who was now quite a bit taller than Fred. "...I'll be in big trouble!"
"Why?", Mark asked, looking quite serious, and rather puzzled.
"Because I'm responsible for you! You hafta stay safe!"
"Yeah, and..." Linda stopped short because she was suddenly shrinking too. And she didn't grow just a few freckles...they were all over her face. With each shake of her hand, she had to crane her neck more to see Mark's face. "Ya hafta be good!"
That made a 10 year old boy and a 9 year old girl telling a boy twice their age and size that he wasn't being a good boy. Even though this should have seemed wrong, Mark couldn't help thinking of them as 'the big kids' and that he really should listen.
Amanda looked him in the eyes and started talking to him. "Markie. Listen. I really do want you to have fun, but you have to be careful. I don't want you to get lost, or hit by a car or anythin'. Just stay close to us, OK?"
Mark smiled. He liked Mandy lots. He could even remember how he'd asked her to marry him once (She was 10, himself 5 at the time). "OK Mandy!", the he looked at her, thinking hard. "Why isn't your costume like mine anymore?"
Amanda looked down. Her sweats were gone, replaced with a 'real' jumpsuit-type costume, made of fake fur. It was warmer than a sweatsuit, but she liked it. Otters were the best animal in the world! Then she realized she wasn't looking at Mark's face, but his chest. "I'm 5 years older than him," she thought, "he can't be that big."
But somehow, he was. It was only getting worse, too. She looked around and realized that she only came up to his stomach. "How'd you get so tall?"
Then, Mark's costume changed too. No longer a pair of sweats, it was like Amanda's. It was big grey jumpsuit as well as a mask, and raccoon ears on a headband. Then, Mark started to shrink. First he was eye to eye with Mandy, then Fred, then Linda...and he kept going till he was shorter then any of them. They were the 'big kids' now, he thought. And he was so cool, because he got to go trick or treating with them! He gave Mandy a big hug. "Thanks for letting me come, Mandy!"
Amanda smiled. Sure, Mark could be a real twerp sometimes, but most of the time, he was a great kid to have around, or baby sit. She almost thought of him as the little brother she didn't have.
There wasn't much to tell after that. As soon as Mark shrunk the more or less forgot being teenagers. Or, at least, they forgot how to act like teenagers. Mark knew, sort of, that he was 19, but that didn't stop him from saying "Trick or Treat! Smell my Feet!" and laughing uproariously afterwards. It didn't stop him from crying, just a little, when he tripped on the grass. And it definitely made him shorter! He had to take two steps for each one the big kids took. But he had a ton of energy, and he was loving every minute of it.
The First Trick
The middle schoolers, Jake, Jared, Carl, and Zack, were back for more. After being certain that those dumb older kids were gone, Jake and his cohorts snuck back to the house. The intended to do a lot more damage, and this time inside. It was late, and few trick or treaters were still out so Jake snuck up to the front door. He turned the knob and....was met by the old woman. She was furious, but didn't let it show. Knowing now that the older kids had been telling the truth, she smiled sweetly to the three boys behind the bushes.
"Come on out, little guys! Granny won't hurt you. And I've got caaannnnnddddyyyyy..."
That did it. The spell grabbed all four boys who then eagerly accepted candy similar to chocolates the high schoolers had gotten. These had white chocolate instead of dark, and the boys, still caught by the old woman's charm devoured them. Then she whispered to them, "Go home boys, bigger treats wait for you tomorrow."
All four ran off home.
Zack was the first to wake up, with a stomach ache. He rubbed his eyes and jumped out of bed. He wandered sleepily down the hall, to the bathroom. As he looked in the mirror he saw that he hadn't even bothered to change out of his clothes from yesterday night. He shrugged them off, and though he would normally have changed into new clothes without bothering to shower, he really felt like he needed to this morning. So his shucked the black sweatshirt, t-shirt, camo pants, and his black "Bad Boy" boxers. He started the water and reached to turn on the shower, but instead, he slid into the water, and just started to relax. He hadn't been this comfortable in a bath for ages. He just let the water cover him, and almost fell asleep. Too soon, he heard a pounding on the door. "Zackie! Get out and get ready for school!"
Reluctantly he climbed out, put to put a towel around him and went back to his room. The towel seemed strangely large and heavy. His mom was waiting for him in his room. "Are you ready for you first day in Kindergarten, Zackie?"
"Ummm...mom, you're really starting to weird me out! I'm in seventh grade, remember?"
"Don't worry sweetie, there's nothing to be scared of. It'll be just like Preschool."
"But mom, I'm 13. I'm not going to kindergarten."
"You have to go, Zackie. You're a big boy now, and you're going to love being in kindergarten."
And with that she walked out. Zack quickly pulled on the blue boxer shorts, the jeans, and the "Nirvana" t shirt, and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Looking in the mirror, he was shocked to see a five year old with a Winnie the Pooh t-shirt staring back at him. Zack looked down at himself. He looked normal, and was still wearing his Nirvana t-shirt. But his reflection looked like a kid. Stunned into silence, he didn't even protest when his mother drove him to kindergarten.
She escorted him in, where an excited teacher knelt down to greet him. "Hi! You must be Zack. I'm sure you're going to have a great time here in kindergarten. Why don't you come over here and play with the blocks!" And she took his hand from his mother and lead him over to the blocks. Not wanting to look suspicious, he began playing with them. A girl wandered over and said, "Hi. I'm Claire." And stuck out her hand. Zack ignored her. After a moment she grabbed his hand and shook it. "You're 'posed to say your name." Zack continued to ignore her, but, to his annoyance, the girl interpreted this as meaning she needed to be more outgoing, and she began playing with him.
Needless to say, the day was awful. The teacher interpreted his attempts to avoid people as shyness because it was his first day, and kept coming over to try and get him to play with other kids. Finally, during nap time, Zack had the chance to try and sort things out. It was obvious that something had happened to him, and his best guess was that it had something to do with that strange old woman the night before. Which meant he had to get her to turn him back. And, given that, he had better be on his best behavior.
After nap time was over, he set out to be as helpful as possible. He helped Claire build a tower with the blocks, and showed Ryan how to make a person shape with the playdough. Then he comforted Johnnie when he skinned his knee at recess.
Later in the day, when he got permission to take a trip to the bathroom, things got better. When he looked at the mirror when he began washing his hands, he saw the five year old he had seen earlier.
But when he looked again, his reflection was clearly taller, and the Winnie the Pooh shirt had been replaced by a striped one. After he left the bathroom, he guessed at which his new classroom was, and discovered that he was now a second grader.
Hoping that he could earn his way back to seventh grade, he kept on being on his best behavior. He paid close attention, and raised his hand. When they did a math worksheet, he explained the answers to the person sitting next to him. But, after his mother drove him home, he looked in the mirror and saw no difference.
After dinner, he made sure to offer to clean the dishes, and once that was done he took a risk and snuck out. The woman's house was only a few blocks away, so if he was quick he could get back before anyone noticed. He ran all the way to her house and knocked on her door. The woman opened it a crack and peeked out. She smiled. "I thought you might be coming back."
"Look, I'm really sorry about last night. I was wrong, I realize that, but I'll be better. But please, please, give me back my old life."
"I don't take well to being harassed by children, but as you've already discovered, you get time back for good behavior. If you stay good, you'll get back to one year younger then you originally were, but you'd better stick to it, or you can go right back." And with that she shut the door.
He ran back home, and breathed a sigh of relief once he determined that his absence hadn't been noticed. The next major surprise came when his mother told him to go to bed at 8:30. Of course, he could have remembered that that's when he used to go to bed, but he hadn't thought about it. At first he was going to try to fight it, but remembering that he was trying to get older, he went along without protest.
The next morning he was more excited to get up than he could remember. He looked at himself, but to his own eyes he looked like a thirteen year old wearing boxer shorts. He ran to the bathroom, but was disappointed to see the same seven year old staring back at him, wearing a red pajama set. He changed for school and was driven back to the same classroom he'd been in the day before.
Zack gave up. He'd spent all of the day before trying to be good, and he was still in second grade. He slouched in the back of the room, bored out of his mind by the basic material the class was covering. This lasted all of an hour, until (while writing down answers he knew were wrong on a worksheet) he happened to see his faint reflection in the window. Winnie the Pooh had appeared on his shirt again. Scared back to good behavior, he started working hard, and at recess it finally paid off. He went outside with the rest of the second graders, but once everyone scattered around the playground, he quickly ended up with a bunch of fourth graders, who seemed to recognize him from class. They still looked like a bunch of kids, but it was another step up. Class was almost interesting now, and, he actually had to work a little to make sure he understood what was going on. He went to the bathroom as many times as he could, reasonably, and still got weird looks from his teacher. Nothing changed though. His shirt read "Soccer is life; The rest is just details" every time he went in. He rode home not as dejected as before, and childishly excited as he told his mom what he'd learned. This time his mom made him take out the trash. "Any ten year old can handle that, Zack.' She said.
His bedtime was 9:00 now, so he watched an old cartoon movie. It really was funny, and he drifted off to sleep quite content.
The next morning he was determined to get into sixth grade. He put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, looked in the mirror and promised himself that the soccer shirt would be gone by the end of the day.
Fourth grade was a real challenge. The math was trickier, but Zack paid careful attention and got an A+ on his test. He asked to be excused and saw a familiar face staring back at him from the bathroom mirror. A year younger, but he'd made it!
People noticed a change in Zack from then on. He wasn't a perfect student, but he always tried, and everyone knew he'd try and help you if he could.
The Second Trick
After they split up, Jared, the boy who'd snapped at Amanda, returned home and went to bed. He didn't even notice that his thumb had found its way into his mouth.
The next morning, he got up, took a shower, and went back to his room to get dressed. When he pulled out a pair of underwear, he was surprised to see that they were Winnie the Pooh briefs. He looked in his drawer, and saw that every pair of underwear he owned had some childish character on it. He went rummaging through his laundry, but there was no sign of even the boxers he'd work yesterday. In fact, there were dirty pairs of briefs in the laundry, as though he'd been wearing them all the time. Given no choice, and worried about being late for school, he was forced to wear the Winnie the Pooh briefs.
The school day was awful. Jared wasn't a top student during the best of times, but today it seemed like he couldn't do anything. In math class, he was asked to solve a problem involving percentages in front of the class, but couldn't get past the multiplication. As he walked back to his seat he heard students muttering that he should have been kept back, and he was beginning to agree. English class was even worse. They had a vocabulary quiz, and he didn't know a single word. He couldn't even figure out how to pronounce most of them.
And then, to his horror, he realized that he had gym class. He would have to change in front of everyone. He decided that he had to find a way to sneak out, but, as he reached the door out of the school, he had the misfortune to run into the gym teacher. She personally escorted him to the locker room. Given no recourse, he simply changed as quickly as possible, hoping no one would notice. It was clear, from the looks on their faces, that a few had.
Gym class began without a problem, but then they started a game of soccer. Early on, one of the other boys 'tripped' him and pulled off his shorts. The entire class started laughing as Jared tried to pull his shorts back up.
"Look at little Jerry in his Pooh undies!"
"What're doing in the seventh grade anyway?"
"You're just a baby!"
With each insult, Jared felt more and more out of place. He wanted to melt into the floor.
Suddenly he looked up. He was no longer in the gym, but on the playground of the elementary school, surrounded by second graders.
But he still had his pants down, and he was still wearing Winnie the Pooh underwear. And, somehow, he knew that he was going to spend the next ten years with the kids who were laughing at him now, and he had a feeling he was going to wear Winnie the Pooh underwear for most of that time.
He began to cry.
The Third Trick
Carl wandered back home slowly, and by the time he got back, his nine year old brother Mike was asleep. Carl slept in the next room over, so he tiptoed around trying not to wake him. It was late, so he just threw his pants and shirt on the floor and went to sleep.
He was woken up by his alarm going off, and then, to his surprise, a loud thumping noise. He sat up in bed, and saw Mike through the bars of a bunk bed. Looking around quickly revealed him to be in his brother's room, although it looked slightly different, and lying in a bunk bed. Somehow his boxer shorts had been replaced by green and white checkered pajamas, similar to ones his brother owned.
Carl jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, despite his brother calling out, "Hey, it's my turn to use the bathroom first." When he saw a boy almost identical to Mike reflected back, his jaw dropped open.
Mike banged on the bathroom door. "Carl, it's not fair! I get to use the bathroom first today!" Carl let him in, and while Mike was showering, hunted around trying to figure out what had happened. His own bedroom appeared to have been converted into a study, while Mike's now had a bunk bed and otherwise appeared prepared for two boys. A quick glance at pictures around the house revealed that the two had somehow become twins.
When Mike came out of the shower, Carl asked, "How long have we been twins?" Mike looked at him oddly. "Um, nine years. Since we were born, dumb ass."
Figuring that once he got to school, he might be able to figure things out, he showered and dressed. The clothes were a little childish, the sort of thing Mike wore, but he couldn't find any of his own clothes. On the hand, he did seem to remember exactly where all of his new clothes were.
They were driven to school, and Carl followed Mike to his (their, now) classroom. The room looked familiar, and he recognized the teacher, and even remembered where the desk was. Looking around the room, he recognized the other kids as well. He realized that he somehow knew which ones were his friends, which weren't....he began to worry, and tried to recall being eleven. No, thirteen. He had been thirteen before, and had been friends will Joey, who was sitting next to him...no, that was a new friend...
By the time class had started, he got everything sorted out. He was nine, he was in his classroom, sitting right behind his twin brother.
The Fourth Trick
After the boys split up, Jake began walking home. It was late, and dark, but most nights this wasn't a problem. Perhaps that strange old woman had spooked him, but this time his imagination began running wild. Every tree became a swaying giant, and a hideous creature lurked in every shadow. He kept control until, near his house, he saw something moving. He froze. Even once he saw that it was a stray cat, he was too scared to move. Finally it looked right at him, and, terrified, he ran the rest of the way home. It wasn't until he locked the door behind him that he realized he'd been crying. Too his horror, his nine year old brother Ryan was still up, sitting at the kitchen table counting his candy. "Why are you crying Jake?"
"Um, nothing." he answered, wiping tears from his eyes.
"Were you scared?" his brother gloated, eager to have the upper hand.
"No, I wasn't (sob) scared!"
For some reason Jake couldn't stop crying, which was only making the situation worse.
"I bet you were scared! I bet you thought the monsters were real!"
At that Jake grabbed his brother, planning to wrestle him into silence. With a substantial size advantage, it wasn't hard for him to pin his brother at first, but right before his brother was going to yield, he suddenly felt a strange tingling in his arms. Before he knew what had happened, his brother had pinned him, and, no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't seem to break out.
"I guess you are a baby! Say it! Say you're a baby!"
"I'm not...ow!"
For some reason his brother, who had never been strong enough to hurt him much before, was inflicting a surprising amount of pain.
"Ow, ow, yes! I'm a baby! I'm a baby!"
"And I'm the big brother!"
"Yes, you're the big brother!"
And with that Ryan let him up, and Jake ran upstairs to avoid further humiliation.
Jake was suddenly struck by how tired he was, and quickly changed for bed and turned out the light in their shared bedroom. He couldn't sleep, however. He kept tossing and turning, but couldn't manage to relax. About half an hour later, Ryan came up and changed into pajamas, and then left the room. When he came back, he was holding a pacifier. Jake was about to make fun of him, until Ryan gave it to him. Before Jake could say anything, he found himself taking it from Ryan and sucking on it. He quickly drifted off to sleep.
At some point in the night, he had a nightmare, the first he'd had in years. He woke up and began crying uncontrollably. He wanted to stop, he wanted to get up, but he couldn't make himself do anything but lie there sobbing. Finally Ryan came over, tucked him in, and gave him a stuffed teddy bear. Jake calmed down and quickly fell back to sleep.
The next morning, things continued to get worse. After he showered, he went to his closet to pick out clothing. The first thing he grabbed was a pair of boxer shorts, but, as he stood naked looking at them, he realized he couldn't remember how to put them on.
He wasn't all that surprised when Ryan came over and said, "Time to get dressed Jake."
Jake was then treated to the experience of looking down at his little brother while he dressed him. First Ryan took the boxer shorts out of his hand and pulled out a set of briefs with little trains on them, and then helped Jake into them one leg at a time. Meanwhile, Jake just stood there, going along with it. Then Ryan found shorts and a t-shirt, both (Jake was relieved to see) reasonably plain, and finally socks and Velcro sneakers. Jake couldn't help but wonder where all of these clothes had come from.
Their father drove both of them to school, and Jake hoped that once he entered, things would return to normal. The first thing he did was go to the bathroom and check himself out in the mirror. The clothes weren't too bad, and the underwear wasn't visible. He looked a little odd, but not so much that people were likely to notice.
With relief, he finally went to his first period class. His first two periods were math and history, which he always hated anyway, but these were worse than usual. It wasn't just that he couldn't pay attention, it was that he kept feeling like people were laughing at him. It wasn't until the middle of third period that he realized he'd been sucking his thumb all morning.
Lunch was even worse. He could see people whispering and giving him odd looks. A seventh grader sucking his thumb made great gossip, and gossip travels quickly in a middle school. By fourth period English, his day had become a disaster.
English was actually Jake's favorite class, for two reasons. First, Michelle, the girl he'd had a crush on for a month was in it. Second, it was taught by Miss. Basil, the youngest, most attractive teacher in the school. The sort of teacher who could keep a room full of thirteen year old boys on the edge of their seat, even when talking about Shakespeare.
When Jake walked into the class, everyone started snickering to their neighbor. Everyone knew. Even Michelle. He planned to just stay in his seat and lay low, but it was not to be. Miss. Basil called him up to the blackboard to present a point about Twelfth Night.
And, of course, it was at that moment, in front of everyone: his class, Michelle, and Miss. Basil, that he wet his pants. He didn't even notice at first. He felt nervous, heard laughter, and then looked down to see a dark spot growing on his shorts, and urine dripping out his leg onto the floor. He froze, having no idea how to deal with what was, for all practical purposes, the end of his social life at middle school.
And then Miss. Basil said, "Well Jake, you should be more careful in the future. Lie down on my desk. "And, not knowing what else to do, he complied, not sure what she intended. Which is why he was taken by surprise when she pulled off his pants and underpants. Of course, he'd imagined her pulling off his pants, but not like this. Then she said, "Lift your butt," and he did, at which point she slipped a diaper underneath him and fastened it together.
"I'm afraid your pants are soaked, so you'll have to just wear the diaper for the rest of the day, Jake. Why don't you finish your presentation?"
And, against his will, he found himself returning to the front of the class and talking about Twelfth Night, wearing only a t-shirt and a diaper.
More than anything else, he wanted to leave, to run back home, to do anything, but for some reason he couldn't act as if anything was amiss. Even during science class, when, again, he was asked to stand in front of the class, and again felt himself using the diaper, he couldn't do anything but stand there and continue talking as if it were normal.
On most days Jake hung out with his friends after school to shoot hoops, and, despite his desire to go home, he found out that today would be no exception. By this time it didn't even matter when he ended up on the skins team. He could tell that cars were slowing down to point (and, worse, sometimes honk at) a thirteen year old wearing only a diaper. His friends were no better: the afternoon was filled with "gee, all your boxers in the laundry Jake?" and "so Miss. Basil finally undressed you!"
Finally, he returned home and ran upstairs. Ryan was in their room playing a video game, and welcomed him with a "Hey Jakey."
Jake gathered up all his strength to ask his brother what was going on. "Ry'n, can you change me?"
And so it was that ended up on a changing table (since when was there a changing table in their room?), with his younger brother pulling off his diaper and put on a pair of training pants. Then, without any difficulty, Ryan picked him up and carried him to his bed. Somehow Ryan had become much bigger.
Jake looked around, and saw that the room had changed. Ryan's side was the same, but Jake's sports posters were all gone. His plain sheets had been replaced with Barney ones, and his entire half of the room looked more suited to a five year old. He could remember being thirteen, and he knew this wasn't right, but he couldn't seem to make his body respond except as the five year old he knew he was.
"You know, Jakey, you need to learn how to use the toilet. You can't go to kindergarten until you can use the toilet."
Jake wanted to answer, but he realized his thumb was in his mouth, so he just nodded.
The Second Treat
All too soon it was over...houses turned off their lights, and Mark, Amanda, Linda, and Fred trudged back to the old woman's house.
"Well, hello there, my little friends...did you enjoy your evening?"
"YEAH!"
She smiled, it was so rare she got a chance to return a good deed. "I'm glad, because the fun doesn't end tonight, if you don't want it to."
"What do you mean?" Amanda asked
"First, the costumes. They're yours to keep, and wear, as long as you want. You can't 'outgrow' these, I promise. The other part is this," she held out four pieces of candy. "The fun doesn't have to end tonight. These are you ticket back, if you want them."
"You mean..."
"Eat one of these, and you stay a kid: have to grow up all over again."
"Do I hafta stay six? I wanna big a big kid!" Mark asked.
"Then don't eat one," said the woman, a little annoyed.
"NO! I want to be a bigger kid, but still a kid!"
The woman smiled at Mark. "I suppose that's fair." And she pulled from a pocket yet another candy. Mark grabbed the new one and one of the others and quickly gobbled them down. After some thought Amanda took one of them as well.
The woman looked at Fred and Linda. Linda smiled and shook her head. "I don't know what these two are thinking, but I already grew up once, and I'm not doing it again."
"Come on, Linda. It'll be fine. Getting to have all those innocent thrills again. We'll have a great time! Besides, how can we stay friends unless you join me and Mark?"
At this the old woman interjected, "Obviously nothing I can do will ensure you stay friends, but whatever you do, you'll be able to stay in touch."
Fred nodded. "Then I'm with Linda. We can stay friends, but I want to keep my age."
Mark shrugged. "Your loss."
The four of them walked back home, first taking Linda two her house, and then Fred took his younger siblings back to their house. Amanda went right in to show her collected candy to her mother, while Fred and Mark went upstairs to change out of their costumes. Fred changed first, carefully removing the tunic and leggings, and folding them neatly, figuring he'd be needing it again the next year. Then he dug out his own clothes and put them on. At first they looked ridiculous on him, being vastly oversized, but after a moment he felt his body beginning to grow into them. Mark saw him fill them out until they fit perfectly.
Fred then helped Mark get out of his raccoon costume, and discovered that Mark apparently shared his room now. He went over to Mark's dresser and found clothes for him. Mark didn't look quite as out of place as Fred had, and once he was dressed he soon grew into them.
Mark then ran downstairs to search through his candy collection, and Fred's as well, for the best pieces. He spoke for all of them when he informed his mother that "This was the best Halloween ever!"