How Do You Spell Baby?
If nothing else, my experience made a believer out of me. I'll never again scoff - much less laugh - when someone tells me there really is magic in the world. If witches are real - and I can testify they, are, then why not other forms of magic, too?
In November, Elyssa told me we needed to return to her home in northern Maine, and get her mother's blessing before we announced our engagement. She told me that her mother was part of a group of wise women", and Elyssa would not marry me without her mother's and the group?s - the Coven's - permission. I was an amused, rational skeptic, when Elyssa sincerely informed me that the group practiced "white magic" ceremonies.
I didn't mean to laugh out loud, but I did. Elyssa fixed me with that intense stare that meant she was not amused, "I'd advise you to keep that attitude to yourself, Dennis. Having the Coven's blessing is very important to me. I can't marry you if the Coven foresees a bad ending to our union, or a barren marriage. Children are very important to me, Dennis."
"Hey, I want kids, too," I said, with more enthusiasm than I really felt, "But, putting our whole future in the hands of some group of modern-day witches, just doesn't seem all that 'wise' to me, Elyssa. I mean, if any one of these wise women takes a personal dislike to me, for whatever reason, you're really going to give her a veto over our marriage?"
"It won't be like that, Dennis, you'll see," Elyssa said firmly.
In mid-December, we packed for a three-week visit to Maine, planning to stay for most of the winter semester break. We flew into Bangor, arriving as the sun was setting in mid-afternoon, and a cutting northern wind whipped through and under our clothes.
Lilith Merrin was a slender woman, though it was hard to tell under the layers of clothing she wore. After feeling the wind, I wished for a few more layers, myself. I knew she was forty- one from Elyssa's description, but she appeared no more than ten years older than Elyssa's age of nineteen. Tiny laugh lines and a small "v" crease at mid-brow were the only age lines I noticed. She wore only eye make-up, and not much of that. The family resemblance was very strong; Elyssa seemed more like a younger twin than Lilith's adult daughter.
Elyssa's mother drove us north on the interstate for nearly two hours. There was no real town - just a couple of convenience store / gas stations near the exit. We took several turns, on roads that were crowned, potholed, and rippled with years of frosts setting and heaving the roadway. Finally, we turned onto a gravel road that was barely two lanes wide through the thick pine and spruce woods. We drove a mile or more through the dark forest to the clearing that held the house, and several small outbuildings.
The house and its outbuildings were modern, stained cedar shingle structures, in a "shed" style architecture. All of them had steeply pitched rooflines, and lots of south-facing energy efficient glass. Lilith led us to a second-story bedroom. From the decor, and souvenirs, I guessed it was Elyssa?s bedroom when she'd lived at home. Gesturing to the bedroom and the opposite side of the bedroom loft, Lilith said I would be sleeping there for the duration of our visit.
"?Lyssa? Didn't you tell your mother we'd be sharing a room?" I asked, winking at Lilith to show I was just joking.
"Only married couples, and mothers with young babies share a bedroom under my roof, young man,? Lilith's tone held no humor. Her stare was even more grim, "Since I know my daughter would not marry you without my blessing, Dennis, are you telling me you want to sleep in the crib we keep in Elyssa?s room?"
I peeked at the antique wooden crib in one corner of the bedroom. A somewhat more modern changing table with drawers stood beside the crib. For some reason, I noted that the shelves above the changing table were well stocked with piles of diapers, diaper changing supplies, and infant clothing. Lilith was certainly prepared to have a baby staying in the room.
"I don't think I'd fit in the crib, Mrs. Merrin," I said, as seriously as I could manage, "Besides, it's been years since I needed to sleep in diapers."
"Just because you?ve mastered potty-training, Dennis, doesn't mean you?re mature enough to marry my daughter,? Lilith responded, still showing no sign of amusement, "Her room has been warded by protective spells, young man. I strongly advise you to stay out of there, or you may find you're not too big, or too old, for cribs and diapers, after all."
"Dennis knows the house rules, Momma. Really," Elyssa said, quickly, and pinched me on the leg to keep me quiet, "He won't be anywhere he shouldn't be. He wants your blessing and the coven's as much as I do. Don't you, sweetie?"
"Of course I do, Mrs. Merrin,? I said with all the sincerity I could muster, "I know how much this means to Elyssa, and I'll do whatever I can to convince you and your friends that I'll be a very good husband to her.
"I'm sure you're being as sincere as you can be, young man," Lilith responded coldly, "But, the Testing will prove whether or not your love for Elyssa is true, and mature enough to last. When the coven gathers on Saturday, we?ll decide whether your union with Elyssa will happen, or not."
She left us alone in the hall, and I spoke softly to Elyssa, "I'm just guessing, but your mother isn't a 'fun' person, is she? So, what time do you want me to sneak into your room tonight?"
"Dennis! Don't joke about that anymore - especially around my Momma," Elyssa said sharply, "She wasn't kidding about those warding spells, you know. I'm not marrying you if I have to change your diapers, instead of our baby's.
"Oh, right, like I'd really turn into a baby," I chuckled, looking carefully to see that Elyssa really was serious.
"Don't scoff at things you know nothing about, Dennis," Elyssa warned earnestly, "And, don't be breaking my mother's house rules, even if you don't believe in the consequence to be paid.
"All right, Elyssa," I said, giving her quick kiss, "I'll be a good boy, and stay in my room.
I slept poorly, twice being jolted out of dreams in which Elyssa seemed to have become gigantic, or I had been reduced in size to that of an infant, and she was chasing me through the house.
At breakfast, I tried to exorcise those nightmares by telling Elyssa about them. When I'd finished what I thought was a comic description of gigantic Elyssa chasing me through a haunted house, she gave me a frightened stare in reply, and said, "The room you're using is warded against bad dreams, Dennis. If you had this dream in that room, it means this is a 'true' dream. In one way, or another, your dream will come true."
"What?" I looked at her in surprise, "Elyssa, you can't really believe I'm going to be magically changed into a baby, and chased all over this house by you?"
"Just be sure you stay out of my room, Dennis," Elyssa replied seriously, "if you do that, maybe your dream will only have a figurative meaning for us."
"Whatever you say, Elyssa," I answered, humoring her. Later that morning, I was alone in the house, reading in my room. Elyssa and her mother had gone to visit an elderly aunt, and would not be back until lunchtime. I thought I heard noises coming from Elyssa?s room. Rising, I went out to the hall to investigate.
From the hall, I could clearly see the corner of her roomed that was furnished as a nursery. Nothing stirred that I could see in that corner, or the other areas I could see. I stopped at the doorway.
I chided myself for believing that Elyssa?s room might really be protected by a magic spell. No matter how much I pretended to take Elyssa?s beliefs seriously, there was no way I would believe them to be true. There was no one else here. Why not do a little snooping into Elyssa?s past while I had the chance?
Stopping again, I reminded myself of my promise to Elyssa. Even if I didn't credit magic spells protecting the room, shouldn't I keep my promise to her anyway?
She would never know I hadn't, I told myself. Besides, I rationalized, she'd want me to maker sure a mouse - or some other intruder - hadn't invaded her room.
I stepped across the threshold into Elyssa?s room, knowing I probably shouldn't do it. But, I truly, really, never expected that a genuine magic spell protected that room.
I was almost immediately surrounded by a swirling whirlwind of dark streaks, and intense colors, mixing wildly. I felt like Dorothy inside the tornado carrying her to Oz, except I wasn't inside a house, or moving. I reached out a hand to touch the seeming whirlwind, and it collapsed around me. I felt myself spinning wildly, and sensations - touch, sight, hearing, taste, - all blended together or crossed impossibly, so that I "tasted" sounds, and "heard" images.
When the intense sensations finally stopped, it took me a few moments to recover my senses. When I opened my eyes, I found myself looking at Elyssa?s room through a set of bars - the barred side rail of the antique crib was only a few inches in front of me.
As I reached out tentatively to touch one of the wooden bars, I stared in disbelief at the stubby fingers and the plump, pink, hairless hand at the end of my plump arm. A large mirror had been mounted on the wall opposite the one occupied by the antique crib. In the reflection, I saw a baby girl of no more than one year old, staring directly back at me in the glass.
I raised the pudgy hand that gripped the crib rail, watching the baby girl's reflection do the same. Reluctantly dropping my eyes to look down at myself, I saw two plump legs emerging under the skirt of the ruffled pink baby dress I was wearing. I looked again at my reflection, having to accept - however reluctant I might be - that I was that adorable blonde baby girl in the mirror.
I had a brief feeling of fullness from my bladder, and suddenly, realized that warm pee was streaming out between my legs. I could feel the soft, bulky cloth of the diaper I wore growing wet between my legs, and under my buttocks. It felt so strange to have pee come out there, but I had no doubts anymore that I really was a girl. Peeing as a man, or boy, never felt like that.
I had the ridiculous thought that I needed to get out of Elyssa?s bedroom, or she was going to know I'd violated her privacy, in spite of her warnings. Then, I looked at my reflection, and realized how silly the thought was. One look at me would tell everything, of course.
After a moment, however, I wondered if my first thought might have some sense, after all. Maybe, if I could get out of this crib, and out of Elyssa?s room, the spell wouldn't effect me after I was out of there. Maybe. It was some hope, however, and I pulled myself to a standing position inside the crib.
I had trouble just holding myself in an upright position, even with the crib side to steady me. My knees kept wanting to buckle, and I had to pull the leg into a locked position again. I was pretty small. My head didn't even reach the level of the upper railing of the crib side.
I decided to see if I could get the side lowered, and dropped to my knees. Reaching through the lower portion of the side, I felt about for the spring release mechanism. After several attempts, I realized my arm was too short to reach the release bar. Despite all my attempts and no matter what position I tired, the crib side stubbornly remained locked in its position. It wouldn't be a very good crib', if babies could let themselves out that easily, I reflected, in frustrated despair. How much longer did I have until Elyssa and Lilith returned to find me like this?
The answer to that came much sooner than I'd hoped. I heard a car pull into the yard, and doors shutting loudly in the cold, crisp winter afternoon. I tired desperately to pull myself over the crib rail again, but my arms just weren't strong enough for the task. With a loud "thump", I fell back into the crib, and struck my head against the crib bumper on the other side. Though the bumper pad had protected me from major damage, I had landed against a crib bar, and it hurt. Hardly aware what I was doing, I found myself crying as loudly as my baby voice and lungs could manage.
Footsteps sounded loudly from the hallway as someone hurried upstairs. Lilith Merrin's eyes widened, and her face broke into a wide smile when she looked down on me, crying on my back inside the crib. She easily released the crib side, and bent over to lift me into her arms. She patted my back gently until my sobbing began to subside, then called loudly downstairs, "Elyssa, you'd better come see this. Looks like someone was trespassing, and she got caught by the Baby Spell."
Elyssa gave me a disappointed look as she saw me being held in her mother's arms. Reaching out to take me into her arms, Elyssa said softly, "Oh, Dennis, why didn't you listen to me? Even if you didn't believe this could happen to you, you promised me that you wouldn't go into my room.
"Gagag badoo babee daboo dadee," or similar nonsense sounds, was all I could say in reply to Elyssa?s questions. I had only four teeth, and my tongue seemed much too large. I couldn't get my lips or tongue to obey my efforts to form intelligible words.
"Well, it hardly matters why he disobeyed, now, does it, dear?" Lilith observed reasonably, "Right now, she probably needs a dry diaper, and a warm bottle of formula more than anything else. Why don't you see to changing her, and I'll go warm a bottle for her? "
Elyssa carried me across her bedroom to the changing table, and placed me on the padded top. Lifting the skirt of my pink baby dress, she drew off the plastic-lined "rhumba" panties covering my wet diaper. Removing the diaper pins, Elyssa put the wet diaper into a pink diaper pail beside the changing table. I squirmed at the chilly touch of the baby wipes she used to clean me. When she held my tiny ankle in one hand to lift me from the table, and clean my buttocks, I got a good view of the infantile slit between my legs. When she carefully cleaned around, and between the lips of my new sex, I could not contain a high-pitched squeal of pleasure at the sensations I felt from the area.
"Feels good, does it?" Elyssa asked, teasingly, "If you like it so much, I can arrange for you to stay like this, you know.
"Nanana, " I said, shaking my head. It did feel good, but I didn't want to remain a baby girl.
"Well, I may not have anything to say about whether you stay like this, or not, sweetie. Now that you've violated a warding spell, it becomes a matter for the whole coven. There are thirteen wise women who will have to agree to restoring you to the man you were,? Elyssa said, dusting me with silky baby powder, and gently rubbing it over my smooth skin.
Lifting me off the padded top again by holding both of my ankles in one hand, she slid a dry diaper under me. She lowered me back onto the thick diaper, and drew the front between my plump thighs. Tugging the corners snugly together, Elyssa secured them with diaper pins. Slipping my tiny feet through the leg openings of the 'rhumba, panties, she pulled them back in place over my thick diaper.
The bulky, soft diaper seemed to me the most comfortable item of clothing I had ever worm. Swaddled in the soft, cottony caress of the diaper, I felt a wonderfully security and comfort in wearing it. Even wearing a wet diaper had felt better than anything else I could recall wearing had, I realized. Was this why it was so hard to toilet-train toddlers? Because wearing diapers felt so good, none of us wanted to give them up?
Elyssa?s mother returned carrying an infant nurser filled with baby formula. Elyssa took the nurser, and sat with me in the rocking chair before the window. I was not happy about having to drink formula from a baby bottle, but I was ravenously hungry, as well as thirsty. I took the rubber nipple eagerly, as Elyssa pressed it between my lips.
The warm formula was delicious, satisfying in a way I could not recall from anything else. I swallowed the formula happily. I could not seem to get enough of it, and soon emptied the nurser. Elyssa then lifted me to her shoulder, and patted my back gently until I belched out the air swallowed while nursing. As I burped, I felt a small squirt of pee spurt between my legs and dampen my diaper there.
"Can you call Aunt Helen, Momma, and ask if Jenny has a highchair and a playpen we might borrow for a while?" Elyssa asked, rising from the rocking chair, holding me firmly, "I'm going to drive over to Millinocket and stock up on formula, baby food, and a few other things we're going to need for little Miss Denise."
"Let me call Aunt Helen first, and see if Jenny also has an infant car seat you can use, dear. The police will give you a ticket these days if you don't have your baby in an infant seat," Lilith answered. She smiled at me, and gave my smooth cheek a soft caress, "I must tell you, dear, I really prefer Denise here to Dennis. You're going to have to do a lot of convincing if you want my vote to reverse the warding spell. Right now, I have to say being a baby seems to suit Denise far more than being a man suited your Dennis.
Elyssa?s cousin, Jennie, was a short, slightly chubby young woman. She arrived with her three-year-old daughter, Sara, in tow, and a well-padded infant's car safety seat on her hip.
"So, this is the curious former boyfriend, huh?" Jenny asked, grinning as she gave my tiny foot a shake.
"Ooh, a baby I" Sara said, seeing me in Elyssa?s arms, "Can I play wif the baby, Mommy?"
"Sure you can, Sara. But, play nice. This is Denise, and she's just a little baby, you know," Elyssa said, crouching beside Sara, and holding me to face the little girl, "You two can play in the living room while your Mommy shows me how to put the seat in my car."
Elyssa carried me into the living room, and placed me on the carpet in front of the television. Turning it on, she switched stations to the local public television outlet. Sesame Street was playing, and Jennie clapped her hands excitedly on seeing Big Bird. Elyssa patted the carpet beside her, "Here, Sara, you can tell Denise all about Sesame Street. Keep an eye on her, so she doesn't crawl away. OK?"
"Otay, Aunnie 'Lytha," Sara lisped happily, sitting beside me on the carpet. She was only three years old, but Sara was far larger than I was. She loomed over me, "I'm big girl. You?re just a baby, Denithe. You gots to do what I thay, I cauth I the big girl.
I sat watching the children's show, and trying to ignore Sara. I could not even get up to walk away from her childish prattling, and Sara had been charged with preventing me from crawling away. The last thing I wanted was to be wrestled to the floor by an excited three-year-old.
Jenny returned carrying a highchair, and took it into the kitchen. Elyssa entered the living room with a folded mesh playpen. She set it up quickly to one side of the central seating arrangement. Bending down, she lifted me into the playpen, "C'mon, Sara, you can help me bring in some of the baby toys your Mommy picked for baby Denise to play with.
I was as effectively caged in the playpen, as Dennis would have been in a jail cell. Getting to my hands and knees took a concentrated effort. Pulling myself to a standing position took all the strength and coordination I could find in my tiny body. I clung to the top rail of the playpen, and watched big Sara, and the gigantic adults carry in boxes of baby toys, and clothes.
Sara dumped a small box of brightly colored infant toys into the playpen with me, "Here, Denithe, you tan pway wif dese toys. Otay?"
"She'll play with them later, Sara. OK?" Elyssa said, lifting me out of the playpen, "Right now, I need to put Denise into her snowsuit, so we can go shopping. Want to help me change her?"
I was carried back upstairs to Elyssa?s room. She put me on the changing table to remove my pink baby dress and white cotton slip. Sara stood by the changing table, watching intently as Elyssa laid me on the padded table to remove my damp diaper, and rhumba panties. Sara fetched the clothes that Elyssa requested, while she washed my diaper area, and dusted me with baby powder.
"Denithe gots a wittle nonnie wikes mine," Sara observed, pointing proudly at the line of my infantile vaginal lips.
"Yes, Sara, that's because Denise is a little girl, just like you," Elyssa grinned down at me, and winked. She quickly adjusted the folds of the diaper between my legs, and secured the corners with diaper pins. Taking another pair of plastic panties from the shelf above, Elyssa adjusted their fit to cover my bulky diaper.
She placed me in a seated position, and pushed my arms and head into a short-sleeve undershirt, and a pastel green jersey. She dressed me in a pair of pale yellow bib-front overalls. After putting two pairs of stockings on my tiny feet, she put me into a pink and gray one-piece snowsuit, and added tiny plastic boats for my feet. I could hardly move, much less walk, and had to be carried by Elyssa out to the car.
They'd decided to do the shopping together, and had put the infant seat on the rear seat of Jenny?s minivan beside Sara's toddler safety seat. Jennie fastened Sara's harness around her, while Elyssa was placing me in the infant seat. The infant seat faced the rear. All I could see was the upper half of the window beside me, and Sara in her seat on the other side.
"You have a diaper bag for her?" Jennie asked, when she was done securing Sara, "I didn't think so. Here, use this old one of Sara's. Little babies need lots of diapers, and bottles wherever you take them. Your Mom still has some of Sara's old nursers here, doesn't she?"
"Yes, I fed her with them earlier," Elyssa said, "Let me go get some diapers and a nurser. Shouldn't take me too long."
Sara spent the time as we waited by playing with me. She had a set of brightly colored plastic keys, which she jiggled above my face while she cooed to me. I tried to reach the keys, and giggled each time Sara pulled them away. I told myself I had to pretend to be a real baby, but there was more to it. I felt happier, and more comfortable with my tiny baby girl's body the more I acted like I rally was a baby girl.
Elyssa finally returned, and we set off for the shopping mall. It was a fairly long trip, nearly an hour. With my tummy full of warm formula, and the gentle rhythmic motion of the van, I fell asleep.
I awoke as Elyssa was releasing the safety harness, and lifting me out of the infant seat. From the dampness between my legs, and the heaviness of my diaper, I knew I must have wet several times while I was sleeping. I began to make fussy noises, and to squirm uncomfortably as Elyssa tried to put me into a stroller. Finally, I had to start really crying to get her to stop, and see what was wrong with me.
"What's the matter, sweetie," Elyssa asked softly, "You hungry again? Need those dydees changed again?"
I managed to stop crying for a few moments, and nodded my head as well as I could manage. Elyssa finished securing the stroller harness around me, "Ok, then. C'mon, we need to get to the women's rest room. They have a nice changing station there we can use.
Elyssa pushed me through the mall, as Jennie and Sara walked along beside us. I stared around at the enormous space of the mall, and all the gigantic adults moving quickly through it. I was happy to ride safely inside the stroller. Elyssa pushed the stroller into the women's restroom, and quickly removed me from the stroller.
Elyssa had to remove my snowsuit and boots before laying me on the diaper changing station. She unfastened the snaps lining the inner seams and crotch of my yellow overalls, and pushed them up around my chest. pulling my plastic panties down to my ankles, she quickly removed my wet diaper, and dropped it into a plastic bag.
It was chilly lying on the changing station with my lower body exposed, while Elyssa gave my diaper area a thorough cleaning with baby wipes. It had been embarrassing enough to have a three-year- old girl watching my last diaper change, but this was much worse. Women and children entered the women Is room constantly while Elyssa was changing me. It was humiliating to realize that no one thought their presence might embarrass the little baby girl having her diapers changed in front of them. Why would they? Finally, Elyssa had the dry diaper on me, and quickly put my plastic panties and overalls back in place, too.
"You'll be more comfortable without this heavy snowsuit, while we're shopping, Denise," Elyssa said, placing me back in the stroller. She grinned at me, and gave me a quick kiss, "You look just adorable in that outfit, sweetie. I may decide to just keep dressing you like this. It suits you much better than the way Dennis always dressed.
Jennie and Elyssa took us into one of the big department stores at the end of the mallway. Finding the infants clothing section, Elyssa took me out of the stroller, "I want to find Denise some pretty little dresses, and diaper sets. I've always wanted my own baby girl to dress in pretty, feminine clothes, and now I have her. Ooh, Let's see how you look in this one.
She dressed me in a fancy pink and white dress. It had white lace at the hem, sleeves, and neck, and a big, pink bow, which tied in the back. I really did look adorably cute in that fancy dress, I reflected reluctantly. She set that dress aside, and dressed me in a couple of diaper sets. These were short dresses, with matching diaper covers. Sara was eager to help Elyssa dress and undress me to try on the various outfits, and articles they selected.
After selecting several dresses, and diaper sets, Elyssa also chose an Assortment of diapers, plastic panties, under clothing, stockings, and nighties for me, as well. She also got a new set of infant nursers, a couple of sectioned baby dishes, bibs, diaper pins, and an assortment of diaper changing supplies. I wanted to ask why she was getting so much new baby stuff, if I was really going to be transformed back into Dennis by the coven. However, such questions were far beyond my very limited communications skills at that moment.
Jenny bought a couple of dresses and some other items for Sara. She obviously enjoyed trying on new clothes, and all the attention she received from Elyssa and her mother.
After we went through the department store's checkout, Jennie noticed that a photographer was set up taking child and family portraits near the store entrance. She insisted that Elyssa needed to get a whole set of pictures of me, Sara, and the two of them with us, adding, "I'm sure that your fiancée, Dennis, will want pictures of little Denise in some of those adorable little outfits.
Elyssa and Jennie had a grand time, dressing Sara and me in several new outfits, and having the photographer take a series of group and single poses for each outfit. I tried once to cut short the session by crying, but Elyssa lifted me into her arms, and whispered in my ear, "You will do anything and everything I ask of you, unless you want to guarantee yourself several more years as baby Denise. Now, stop your fussing."
When we finally arrived back at the house, I was feeling genuinely cranky, and doing my best not to show it. I was hungry and tired. My diaper was both wet and messy, and I began to whimper softly when Elyssa removed my snowsuit. Her sensitive nose caught the odor immediately, "Phew! Smells like someone needs a diaper change. Let's get you changed, and then you can have a bottle before your nap.?
I nodded my head repeatedly in reply. I could barely keep my head upright, I felt so tired. Elyssa got Sara to help carry the bags of baby purchases to her room. Once again, I was completely undressed. I'd never realized how many clothing changes a baby went through in a day. Not even counting the gratuitous "costume" changes I'd endured for the photographer, this was my third clothing change since I'd awakened as Denise this morning.
I was beginning to really enjoy the regular ritual of my diaper changes. Every step was done in a predictable order, and I found the whole process immensely relaxing.
First came the cleansing, with extra attention and wipes if I'd had a BM. Second was the lifting of my lower body from the changing table, both of my tiny ankles gripped easily by Elyssa?s huge hand, to slide the dry diaper or diapers under me. For my nap, Elyssa apparently planned to double-diaper me again. Third was the gentle rubbing of Elyssa?s soft hands all over my diaper area with soothing, sweetly scented baby lotion; sometimes including another massaging of a diaper rash ointment. Fourth was the baby powder, which felt like silky dust being tenderly rubbed across my smooth, sensitive skin. I'd had no idea skin could be so sensitive. Fifth was the drawing of the bulky diapers between my legs, tucking the folds of the soft cotton to fit neatly between my plump thighs. Sixth was the securing of my diapers with plastic-capped diaper pins; she had purchased, and was now using a set of pins with pink "bunny" shaped caps. Seventh, and finally, the changing was finished when she placed a pair of plastic panties over my diapers, and carefully adjusted the fit of the leg openings and the waist to be sure the panties completely enclosed and covered my diapers.
After the diaper change, Elyssa dressed me for my nap in a pastel pink one-piece, footed sleeper. It was chilly in her bedroom, and the sleeper was wonderfully warm. I felt a last shiver from the chill and a small spurt of pee dampened my dry diaper. Even that felt wonderfully relaxing. Wearing diapers was like being naked and protected at the same time; it gave me a delightful sense of freedom and reassurance.
Sara returned from the kitchen with my nurser of warm baby formula, and Elyssa carried me to the rocker beside the window. She began to hum a soft lullaby, as she placed the nipple between my lips, and started the chair gently rocking. The delicious warm formula, the rocking motion, and Elyssa?s soft humming combined to quickly send me deeply asleep.
I was wetting my diapers as I awoke in that crib for the second time that day. The warm wet bulk of my diapers was marvelously comforting and comfortable. When I'd finished wetting, I rolled languidly onto my stomach, and pushed up to my hands and knees.
I was getting used to crawling, and preferred it to trying to walk. I was much more stable, and moved faster on all fours. Sitting in one corner of the crib, I studied my reflection in the wall mirror. I was already beginning to accept internally that the baby girl I saw in the reflection was actually me. When I thought about myself, the image I saw was no longer Dennis, the young man.
Now, I found I was "seeing" my self-image, my "self", as the baby girl, Denise. I was now actually resisting the image of my former "self" as being me any longer.
I sat contentedly in my crib, holding a plush, pink teddy bear, and sucking on the pacifier I'd found. The remnants of my "Dennis self" told me I was crazy to welcome the comfort and dependency of being a baby over being my own adult. No matter how much that remnant tried to convince me that being an adult was better than being a baby, the wondrous feelings of actually being a baby refuted every argument. There was no logic to it for me; I simply knew that being a baby again, (and a baby girl, especially) was much better than anything about being a grown man had ever been.
Elyssa entered the room, smiling widely at finding me awake, and sucking happily on my pacifier. Taking me from my crib, we repeated the comforting rituals of undressing, and the diaper changing. My fourth outfit of the day was one of my new, pastel blue diaper sets. This one had flounces around the leg openings of the diaper cover that matched the flounced hem of the long-sleeve top. A matching bonnet and booties completed the adorably feminine outfit.
Jennie and Sara had gone home, and I was alone with Elyssa and Lilith in the big house. As Elyssa carried me into the warm kitchen, Lilith was spooning strained baby food into a sectioned plastic dish. Elyssa placed me in the borrowed highchair, fastening the seat belt, and sliding the tray in place before me. She tied the strings of a big plastic bib around my neck. It provided full coverage of my front.
I'd had only two bottles of formula all day, and found I was very hungry. I swallowed the creamy strained baby foods eagerly, though spurts of the gooey stuff escaped from my toothless mouth and ran down my cheek to fall upon my bib. I didn't care how I looked, and blithely rubbed my hands and face with a mixture of the strained foods as Elyssa fed me steadily. Finally, I felt full, and pushed her hand away as she directed another spoonful at my mouth. She ignored my effort, and ladled in the last spoonful.
"Now that you've had your supper, you can have your nurser in your playpen while Momma and I have our supper," Elyssa told me, lowering me into the mesh playpen. She handed me the plastic nurser, and added, "Be a good baby, and drink all your formula."
I spent most of that evening in the playpen, while Elyssa and her mother talked softly before the living room fireplace. I seemed to have trouble following a conversation of more than two sentences, and found it easier to amuse myself playing with the brightly colored toys, and the soft stuffed animals in my playpen.
I tried for a while to spell words with the alphabet blocks, but soon found myself confused and unable to recall which symbols represented which sounds. I soon gave up spelling efforts altogether when I couldn't tell the difference between an "A? and a "V". Then I realized I couldn't recall the word I'd been trying to spell. The more I tired to focus on the letters, the less I could seem to recall about letters, words, and the whole concept of language.
The same thing occurred, when I tried to concentrate on time, and numbers. An antique clock chimed the hours and half-hours in the living room. When its sound attracted my attention, I tried to determine what time it was. Though the concept that clocks "told" time was fairly clear to me, I found myself unable to tell the "6" from the "9", or the "8" from either of them. I couldn't recall how to read the numbers, the proper order, or how exactly to "tell" time from the numbers.
Again, the more I tired to focus on these concepts, the less I remembered or understood about anything relating to mathematics and numbers. Soon, I was unable to count the fingers on one hand, since I no longer recalled the proper sequence even to five.
It was much more satisfying to play with my toys, and these presented concepts my newly infantile mind could grasp. The set of brightly colored rings, which fit over a conical-shaped post, made it easier to understand "bigger" and "smaller". The bigger rings went on the post first, fitting the bigger diameter of the lowest part. The smaller rings went on last, fitting the smaller diameter.
I understood "bigger" and "smaller" pretty well - Elyssa was now much bigger, and I was now much smaller. This also seemed right and proper to me now.
Three more days passed between that of my transformation into baby Denise, and the meeting of the coven. Three days of the comforting rituals and regular schedule of an infant's life, and I was finding it difficult to even recall being an adult. Being a baby was much easier if I didn't try to think; just feeling and reacting like a baby would came more naturally with each passing hour.
I had little understanding of the purpose of being before all these strange women, or what was at stake, until incredibly, I found myself restored to being Dennis. It took me a moment longer to realize I hadn't been quite completely restored. I was still wearing diapers. I was still unable to control my bladder or bowels any better than I had as an infant. I was still female.
Kathleen Donally, the coven's senior member, spoke for the circle of wise women. Solemnly, she intoned, "Dennis Conners, you have been adjudged guilty for breech of promise, and violating the protective wards of your fiancée?s room. The coven has agreed, one and all, to the sentence we will impose. For the sin of breaching your promises to Elyssa and Lilith, you will keep the sex and the diapers you acquired in that breech for a period of at least one year from this date. You will remain a baby girl in this respect until both Elyssa and Lilith decide you have earned the privilege of having your manhood restored.
"For the crime of trespassing on the wards of a coven member, you are sentenced to face a testing by each coven member. Each of us will devise and impose a test upon you, which presents you with a choice between one wise, mature choice, and one foolish, immature choice.
?For each test you fail, you will become smaller and younger. You will also regain one physical aspect, and one infantile behavior of the baby girl you have been these last four days. That physical aspect and infantile behavior will remain imposed upon you for the duration of the year, or more, during which Elyssa and Lilith will determine how long you need to remain a girl in diapers.
?If you can manage to pass all thirteen of the coven's testings, your sentence for trespassing will be only that already imposed upon you for your breech of promises. Do you have anything to say before this sentence is imposed?"
I had a dozen stupid things I wanted to say, but wisely decided to shake my head silently as a reply. A year having a baby girl's genitals, and diaper dependency seemed a drastic over-punishment to me, but I didn't dare say that. I felt myself suddenly tingling all over with an odd "pin-and-needles" sensation, as the members of the coven each cast an individual spell upon me.
1st Testing
I was subdued, and a little depressed as I rode home in the rear of Elyssa's car. Seated beside the infant safety seat I had occupied on the trip to the meeting, I was vividly aware that I still remained a baby girl in some ways. I was also pessimistically certain I was probably going to fit inside that infant seat again when I failed my testings.
Back at Lilith's house, Elyssa kindly inquired whether I needed my diapers changed. I started to proudly decline, but found myself nodding instead. I let her lead me by the hand to her bedroom.
Elyssa smiled down at me as we entered the room, "Now that you're no longer a boy, you won?t be setting off the wards in here again. But, you still need to be careful because of all the spells binding you, Dennis.
?To make caring for you easier, one spell will cause any baby article used on you to become large enough to fit you, or be in the proper scale to your size. But, to make using the baby furniture easier, you will become temporarily baby size when you are in contact with those furnishings.
She demonstrated these spells by holding a baby dress up to me, and having it enlarge until it was easily big enough to fit my adult size. Then, she pushed me gently in contact with the changing table, and held me closely as I became once more the size of a nine-month-old baby, fitting easily atop the padded table.
Keeping me on the table, Elyssa quickly undressed me, and began the ritual of my diaper change. It felt as reassuring and comfortable to be diapered again as it had when I was baby Denise.
Elyssa dressed me in one of the feminine diaper sets, and easily lifted me down from the table. She steadied me as I grew swiftly back to adult size, and my baby clothing grew with me.
"I know I still have to wear diapers and plastic panties,
Elyssa," I said hesitantly, "But, do I really have to wear baby clothes, as well as diapers?"
"Yes, sweetie, you do," Elyssa answered firmly, "Adult clothing isn't made to accommodate those bulky diapers you need to wear now, sweetie. Adult clothing doesn't have snap closures in the crotch or along the inseams to make diaper changes convenient. Baby clothes are made to fit over baby?s diapers, and have snaps to make your diaper changes easier for me, baby. So, tell me, baby, what kind of clothing does a so-called ?man', who has a baby girl's wee-wee, and wears diapers, need to wear?"
"Um, baby clothes, I guess," I answered softly, looking down at the bulging outlines of my thick diapers through the soft cotton of my pink diaper set, and the matching pink booties on my feet.
"That's right, baby. Good answer," Elyssa said, patting the front of my bulky diaper's bulge, "Besides, if I decide to take you for a ride in the stroller, or put you in your baby seat in the car, I want you to be dressed like a normal baby girl. Understand?"
"Yes, Elyssa," I replied, nodding my head. I understood that she was reminding me that she could turn me back into an infant, or at least back to infant size, anytime she chose to do so.
"All right then, sweetie. No more arguments about how I choose to dress you," Elyssa said, smiling in satisfaction at my meekness, "Now let's go downstairs, and have some lunch with Momma.?
Lilith was setting the table as we returned to the kitchen. She held up a toddler's "sippy" cup, its top having a spout to drink from without spilling the contents, "Denise, do you want to use this sippy cup, or can you drink your milk without spilling it."
"I can drink without spilling," I said, sharply. I felt resentful of Lilith for using the toddler cup to remind me of my status once again. I sat heavily on one of the kitchen chairs, and lifted the glass to my lips. In spite of my efforts to use extra care, milk ran out around my mouth, and onto the front of my clean diaper set top. I looked down at the wet spot guiltily.
"Wrong Choice", a melodic woman's voice seemed to speak out of thin air beside me.
A swirling whirlwind, like the one that had surrounded me on entering Elyssa?s warded room, enveloped me suddenly. I shivered and tingled with intense sensations, finding myself still seated at the kitchen table when it cleared.
"A wise and mature person would have known she might still be a little unsteady. She would have used the sippy-cup, just in case," Lilith said quietly, sitting in the chair opposite me at the table, "That was my testing, and I thought it would be an easy one for you to see the wiser choice.
?I chose the least price I could impose for your first failing. I liked your appearance much better with baby Denise?s lovely blue eyes, and silky blonde curls, now, they are yours once again."
Rising as quickly as I could from the table, I waddled down the hall to the bathroom to see how I now appeared. Even though I remained at adult size - or only a little smaller than full adult size, my large blue eyes, and silky blonde curls looked much the same as they had when I wore them as a baby. My facial features were now slightly feminized, and I could see only traces of the man I had been in my reflection.
2nd Testing
Of course, I reflected sadly, I wasn't any kind of man or boy now. I was intensely aware that I was female, the soft brushing of my diaper against my sensitive labia never let me forget my new sex for a moment. I waddled back to the kitchen, and sat down heavily at the table again.
Elyssa had placed the sippy cup beside a plate of food already cut into small pieces for me. When she asked if I wanted a bib, I quickly agreed to her suggestion.
Though she smiled when she tied the bib's strings, Elyssa said, "Not every choice will be a testing, sweetie, though that was the right choice for you to make. You won't know any choice is a testing until you hear a voice tell you that you made the right or wrong choice. So, if you want to pass your testings, treat every choice just like you did that one."
"I'm taking Denise over to visit Jennie and Sara," Elyssa announced, after we'd finished eating lunch, "C'mon, sweetie, let's go use the playpen to get you dressed. It's a lot easier to dress you in your snowsuit when you're little."
As soon as my hand touched the top railing of the playpen, I found myself shrinking rapidly to baby size again. Elyssa bent over the side of the playpen to dress me in the snowsuit, and plastic boots. When she'd finished dressing me, she lifted me easily out of the playpen, and held me steady as I spurted back to adult size.
The shrinking and growing experience left me feeling a bit dizzy and weak. I leaned on the arm Elyssa offered as she walked me out to her car. She opened the rear door, and said, "Get on your safety seat. I'll feel much better knowing my little baby is safe in her baby seat while I drive.
My head was spinning again, as I recovered from my second shrinking to baby size in the last few minutes. Elyssa?s big hands maneuvered me into the seat facing the rear of the car, and quickly fastened the harness around me.
After a brief ride, she pulled into the driveway of Jenny?s house, and, parked. Opening the rear door, Elyssa released the seatbelt holding the infant seat in place. The crossbar served as a handle when the safety seat was used as an infant carrier.
I remained baby size, as Elyssa carried me easily into Jennie Is large Victorian house.
Sara came to greet us, opening the door for Elyssa to carry me into the warm house. We followed her through the house to the kitchen, where Jennie was making preparations for a late lunch.
Elyssa placed me on a kitchen counter. She removed my boots, and the snowsuit, but left me sitting in the infant seat. Jennie smiled down at me, and spoke softly to me, "Sara wants to play Mommy for baby Denise. Shall I take you out of your carrier, so she can play with you, sweetie?"
I realized I would become an adult size baby if I let Jennie take me out of the infant seat, but I nodded a positive answer, anyway. I was tired of being treated like a doll by Sara.
"Wrong Choice" the melodic voice spoke from thin air again. For the second time that afternoon, the swirling whirlwind of sensation surrounded me, and set my head spinning. I returned to normal awareness fairly quickly, since I found myself still reclining in the infant carrier.
"The mature and wise choice would have been to delay satisfaction of your own desires, and think first of the child in this matter. Sara is too young to see real magic, and understand an explanation of it. We protect our children from knowledge they're not ready to handle yet.
?The mature choice would have been to volunteer to remain in your carrier, to remain the baby Denise that Sara knows, and already loves. Perhaps if you speak in a child's voice, you will be reminded to be less childish in the rest of your testings. When you revert to your 'adult' state, you will retain the sweet baby's voice you have now."
"This is just a temporary spell," Jennie said, gesturing rapidly over me, and speaking softly in that arcane language these witches used. Jennie lifted me into her arms, but I didn't become adult sized again, "Now, for as long as you're in my house, the coven's spell recognizes this place as being the equivalent of a large playpen. You remain the baby you seem to want to become permanently, and Sara has no reason to think you're anything else."
Jennie carried me into Sara's room, where the three-year-old was busy arranging a toy tea set on her play table. She held up her plastic teapot, "Wook, Mommy, I made tea for Denithe an' me.
"That's very nice of you, Sara," Elyssa spoke from behind us, "But, Denithe is still too little to be able to sit up in a chair, even little chairs like yours. Your Mommy says she has a box of your old baby toys in your closet. Since you're such a big girl now, maybe you'd like to give some of them to Denise? You can go through the box with Denise, and help her pick good toys for a little baby like her, can't you, Sara?"
"Otay, Aunnie 'Lytha," Sara replied, nodding vigorously. She helped Elyssa locate the storage box of outgrown toys, and they pulled it onto the area rug beside Sara's overflowing toy box.
Jennie placed me in a seated position on the soft rug. She winked as she extended and shook a rattle in the shape of a large diaper pin, "Here you go, Denise. Play with the pretty rattle?"
I wanted to slap it out of her hand, but knew better. If she could make me look like a baby, she could certainly make me act like one, too. Better to do it voluntarily. I took the big plastic rattle, waved it back and forth, then put in into my mouth. Oddly, that felt wonderful!
"Well, she likes that one, Sara," Elyssa observed, grinning, "Let's see what else you have that a little baby would like.?
There were push toys that made noises and bounced blocks inside their casings as they were pushed over the floor. There was an activity mat, with panels to open, spinners and dials to turn that made sounds, a section of colored squares that sounded the notes of the musical scale, mirrors to peer into, and rings to pull that sounded chimes.
There was a similar activity board, which was designed to be mounted on the side rail of a crib, and keep baby occupied in her crib. There was a twelve-sided ball with cutout shapes in each face, through which baby could insert the plastic blocks of the same shape.
I played dutifully with each of the toys Jennie or Elyssa selected for me. I was determined to be a "good baby".
After I'd played with my hand-me-down toys, and Sara for some time, Elyssa announced, "We're going to have to pack up these toys, and get moving. Denise and I still have a couple more visits we have to make before dinner time."
Jennie carried me back to the kitchen while Elyssa brought the box of baby toys. Before she began dressing me in my snowsuit, she checked my diaper, "Feels like Denise could use a dry diaper before you go, Elyssa. Let me do it. I haven't changed a diaper in ages."
"Be my guest," Elyssa replied, passing the diaper bag to Jennie. Sara insisted on helping her mother change the baby, of course.
Jennie allowed Sara to help clean me with a baby wipe (after Jennie had already washed the area), and to sprinkle baby powder on me, while Jennie rubbed me with the powder. I endured the changing silently, helped by the presence of a pacifier filling my mouth.
Back in the car, Elyssa said, "We have a couple more members of the coven to visit this afternoon. I'm not sure either of them will be testing you, but I suspect they both will. Try to think like a grown-up, even if you don't feel like one, or look like one.
The first place we stopped was a small, rustic, brown house on the edge of a dark forest of pine and spruce trees. Elyssa removed me in the infant carrier, and carried me inside the cozy, warm house.
3rd Testing
Grace Haley was a small, slender woman in her middle forties. She wore her brunette hair braided into a long braid that reached nearly to her buttocks.
Grace led us into her kitchen at the rear of the house, and suggested to Elyssa, "Why don?t you take her out of the carrier. I'd like to see how big she remains now, before I decide on her next testing, dear."
Elyssa set me on my feet beside her, and steadied me as I went through the whirlwind process, and grew larger. As I stood beside Elyssa, it was obvious that I was already considerably smaller than my original six-foot, three-inch height. Elyssa was only five feet eight inches tall, and she was at least six inches taller than I now was.
Grace came closer, and smiled slightly as she gave me a quick examination, nodding, "Well, I see you've already failed your first two testings, Dennis. Have you learned anything from those two failures, dearie?"
"I learned I should have kept my mouth shut," I answered, the words sounding oddly sweet in my baby's voice.
"Wrong Choice" spoke the response in the now familiar voice. The swirling sensations spun me around again, and I found myself shivering with the potency of the spell changing me once again. I recovered to find I was now several inches shorter, and smaller than before. Now, I needed to look up even more to meet Elyssa?s disappointed gaze.
"If you were learning from your mistakes, you'd have said you had learned to think before you opened your mouth," Grace said, shaking her head gently, "You can't pass your testings by not answering our questions, Dennis. The price of your third failing will be your ability to talk like an adult, except for your replies during testing by other coven members. You will be unable to say anything that a nine-month-old baby cannot say. Except during your answers in the rest of your testings, you will have the vocabulary, and speech patterns of a nine-month-old baby."
"haba badoo baybee dada, " I heard myself say when I tried to talk to Elyssa, and explain my foolish, but unavoidable, choice.
Elyssa ignored my infantile babbling, and touched me with the infant carrier to make me shrink back to baby size again. I approve of the penalty you chose, however. At least, now, I won't have to listen to him lying anymore."
Elyssa knelt beside me, and touched me with the infant carrier to make me shrink once more to baby size. Fastening the seat's harness around me again, she said, "One more stop to go, Denise. Grace and Frances promised me an easy testing, but it doesn't seem to be helping you pass them.
C'mon, sweetie, we may as well get this done as quickly as we can.?
She carried me back to the car, and secured my infant seat through the seatbelt of the rear seat. We drove for about fifteen minutes, further away from town. She turned into the drive of another large Victorian-style house, and parked in the rear. Carrying me inside in my infant seat, Elyssa and I entered the house through the kitchen door.
4th Testing
Frances Garlen was an older woman with snow-white hair hanging well down her back. She was as tall as Elyssa, but much larger. She smiled down at me, as she took the carrier from Elyssa, and set it on the floor before the huge cast-iron antique kitchen stove. Taking me from the carrier, Frances placed me on the floor. She knelt beside me as I quickly grew to my much-reduced ?adult? size.
"The potion simmering on the rear of my stove will restore you to the man you were, Dennis," Frances said, indicating a small cast-iron pot. I could only see its top edge from my seated position.
She smiled again, "I offer you the chance to drink this potion. But, the price you will pay is the loss of your love for Elyssa, and hers for you. You must speak truthfully in reply to this question. Will you give up love to have your precious manhood restored?"
I almost cried, as I tried to say "no". I knew that was the right choice, the choice I should want to make. The spell she used to make me answer truthfully would not allow me to lie to her, however. Tears ran down my cheeks, as I sobbed softly, and said, "Yes. Yes, please let me be myself again. I want to be a man again."
"Wrong Choice" the musical voice told me what I already knew. For the fourth time that day, the spinning whirlwind of sensations swallow me into its vortex, and I tingled with the transformation imposed by her spell.
"You knew your choice was wrong even before you chose it," Frances said, shaking her head gently, "I am tasked with imposing a price for choosing wrong by intention, and it must be greater than the prices already imposed for your lesser wrong choices.
?Until your penance is paid, you will henceforth be unable to walk, or even to stand upright. You will retain the baby plump legs and arms of your infancy. Your only method of locomotion will be to crawl on hands and knees."
Even as Frances finished speaking her pronouncement of my penalty for failing her testing, my knees buckled. I had to drop to my hands and knees immediately. My legs and knees would not support me standing. Elyssa knelt beside me to touch me with the baby carrier, and I felt myself shrinking to baby size again.
Securing the harness around me, she stood, and spoke to Frances, "Thank you, Frances. I can't say I'm glad to know that Dennis loves his precious penis more than he loves me, but I guess it's better to know the truth now, than to learn the hard way later.
She carried me back to the car, and once again secured the infant seat with the seat belt. Driving back to her mother's house, Elyssa spoke angrily over her shoulder at me, "I arranged the four easiest testings for you to face first. You couldn't pass even one of them. Well, I'm through trying to help you. If you had one iota of wisdom and maturity, you'd have known that I was your best bet to get your precious manhood restored - even if you had to wait a year for it. If, you'd passed the first four testings, you'd have been in a good position to pass the rest, too. These things are cumulative; pass the first, and the second pass is easier.
?However, if you fail the first, then failing the next is more likely. After failing the first four in a row, I don't think there's much hope you're likely to pass any of the next nine, either. If that's the case, we may as well get it over with as soon as possible. Tomorrow, I'm taking you to see the other nine members of the coven for their testings. By tomorrow night, I think it's pretty much guaranteed that you'll be spending at least the next year as a baby girl."
Elyssa parked her car beside her mother's house, and opened the rear door to release the infant carrier. Lifting me closer, she said, "Actually, since it's going to be up to Momma and I to decide whether it's just a year, or much longer than that, I wouldn't be too hopeful about getting to grow up again any time soon, Denise.
I didn't bother trying to say anything in reply. What was the use, when I couldn't say even the simplest of words? Instead, I began to cry softly to let her know I had a wet, messy diaper, and wanted to be changed.
Inside, Elyssa opened my snowsuit, and reached inside my plastic panties to feel my diaper, "Well, I guess I can't complain about you fussing for a diaper change, can I? You have to let me know these things just the way other babies do. Let's get you upstairs, and change those diapers, then."
She carried me up to her room. She put the seat on the changing table. Moving me from the seat to the changing table, I remained baby size.
Elyssa removed my snowsuit, and set it aside on the infant carrier. She hummed that lullaby again as she began to change my diapers. If I had to stay a baby, I reflected, I might as well act like one. It was rationalization enough to comfort me, just as sucking my thumb comforted me physically.
Elyssa noticed what I was doing, and smiled, "Here, sweetie, if you need to suck something, suck a pacifier. We wouldn't want to make your baby teeth crooked."
She completed the quick version of my diaper changing ritual, and pulled the diaper cover over my plastic panties again. Leaving me strapped to the changing table, she performed a dance above me with her hands, as she chanted softly in that strange language.
"Jennie was right about keeping you a baby. Until the other sisters can do their testing, I've placed the same sort of spell on my mother's house. Your primary enchantment now recognizes the whole house as baby furniture, and you'll stay baby Denise all the time you're in it.
Elyssa lifted me from the changing table, and held me facing her, "You may as well get used to it, sweetie. At the rate you?re failing the testings, you?re probably going to stay like this for quite a while.?
To be continued