The Calculator
by Tazz
School was going to begin just a week from now and as usual I was buying school supplies at the last minute. I had new clothes, notebooks, and pencils. All I needed now was a new calculator.
I went to Staples to get one and I couldn’t find one.
I found a clerk and asked him where I could find calculators.
"I’m sorry, but we sold the last the one an hour ago. Maybe it will teach you not to do last minute school shopping."
I guess he was right, I mean usually people would do their shopping a month in advance. I went to
every store that would sell calculators but they were all the same.
I was about to give up when a package came in the mail for me. It was from my grandparents. I opened it up and inside was a brand new high-tech looking calculator with buttons I never seen on
a calculator before. There was a note also:
Dear Taylor,
I know you are excited for your junior year in High school and probably will have tough problems and need a new high tech calculator and also since all stores are probably sold out by now. So we thought to give you one that we found at a new store. Well, good luck.
Love,
Grandma and Grandpa
"Great, now I got everything ready for school"
I took the calculator to my room to get a better understanding of the calculator. On the calculator there were the simple +,-.x, etc. symbols on it but there were some I had never seen before like one that had an “a” but with a “g” in the middle.
I decided to try the one with the a and the g. When I pressed it and showed the number 16. Then I pressed the - key to see more and pressed 5. I pressed enter and I felt a shock hit me.
Just then I realized the world was getting bigger.
When I stopped shrinking, my room had changed. For one thing, it was bigger and second, instead of sports and music stuff it had stuff that a pre-teen would have. I looked at the calculator and it showed 11.
"Did this calculator change my age to an 11 year old?"
I had to find out. I went to the mirror in the bathroom and staring back at me was an 11 year old.
”It did, but am I like this to everyone since my room and clothes changed as well,” I thought to myself.
I went down stairs and saw my mom cooking dinner.
"Mom, how old am I?"
"You’re 11 years old, you know that! Why did you ask a dumb question like that?"
"No reason…"
I went into my room to do some fun things as an 11 year old. I went onto my computer to play games, instead of games like Warcraft, there was the Sims and backyard baseball. I spent maybe an hour playing, and I actually enjoyed playing the games, maybe the calculator changed my perspective on certain things?
Later it was time for dinner and I ate like normal except for the part of eating a little smaller portions. After that, I went downstairs to watch TV, but instead of watching MTV or Spike TV, I had the urge to watch Nickelodeon. I watched it for 2 more hours until I felt a little tired and went to bed.
I woke up and I briefly forgot that I was 11 until I realized the room and big and different.
I decided to use the calculator to have some more fun. First I pressed the age button and turned
back. Then I took the calculator to the park. There were young parents who brought their children.
As a practical joke I turned the parents into a bunch of toddlers and the kids into middle-aged adults. They didn’t seem confused though, in fact it seems as if they think that’s the way they were always like that.
I sat down on a bench watching it was funny at first to see kids who are now adults on a slide confused while the adults who are now kids sitting on the bench. I would change them back eventually after am hour. I didn’t want their lives to be messed up because of me.
I went home and went to my bedroom. It’s time to have some fun. I took out the calculator and made myself 3 years older. Again, like last time my room had changed however this time everything but my bed and dresser where in boxes.
"Ok, why is everything in boxes? Am I moving?"
Just then I heard my mom call me.
"Honey, get some sleep so you can get up early to drive to college."
"I’m going to college? Great, I am not ready to go to college. Well at least at this moment I’m not."
I set the calculator to my current age, which is 19.
"HHMM should I be older or younger? Being younger might be cooler since the things I did at 11 was actually fun."
I hit the - key and thinking being younger than 11 might be cool, I subtracted 12 from my current age. This time the room changed a lot first the boxes became unpack then everything went from 16 year old stuff to stuff a preschooler would like.
In my room there were now toys, Barney posters and a racecar bed.
Just then my mom came up.
"Sweetie it’s time for bed."
Surprisingly, for the first time in a long time since I can remember my mom then helped me put my PJ’s on, and read me a story, then turned off the lights.
About 3 in the morning, I woke up to a cold, wet feeling in my clothes. Embarrassed, I realized I had wet the bed. Child instinct comes in and for some reason I go to my parent’s room and tell them I had wet my bed. After a quick change of clothes and new sheets I went back to bed.
A week later, I changed myself back to normal and school had started. I had gotten myself a new calculator since the one I was using only calculated ages but I still brought that one with in case I wanted to have some fun.
After school had ended, I decided to let my friend Jaccb in on the secret.
"No way. You are telling me that you have a calculator that actually calculates ages!?!"
"Yes, I couldn’t believe it myself. First I thought it was a dream."
"How young have you made yourself?"
"The oldest has been 19 and youngest was 4."
"What did you mom think when she saw you?"
"That’s the best thing. The people around you think you are that age."
"Can I try?"
"Sure, but lets go to my house to do it"
We went to my house and up into Mr. room. I took out the calculator from my backpack to show him.
"Wow, so what do you want to do with it."
"Let’s become little kids again and go to your house."
"Ok, but how young?
"Let’s become 8 so we can walk to your house since its only up the street."
"Ok"
I set the calculator and tried a new button, which seemed to give Jacob memory of the calculator and in an instant we were a couple of 8 year olds.
"Wow, we are actually 8 year olds. This is so cool"
"I know, isn’t it?"
5 minutes later we decided to leave to Jacob’s house and brought the calculator with us.
"Mom, I’m going to Jacob’s house for a few hours and maybe eat dinner there."
"Alright, but be sure his parents take you home at 8"
We left and it took us 5 minutes to get to his house. We went upstairs into his room.
"Wow, I don’t remember my room ever being this childish"
We spent an hour playing games that haven’t used since, well, since we were 8 the last time.
"This calculator is so cool, we can be any ages we want and get revenge on those who have been
mean to us."
"Be quiet someone might hear you"
"Who?"
"I don’t know, your little sister could overhear us talking, her room is right next to yours. If she found out, she might turn you into the younger sibling"
We didn’t know at the moment, but Jacob's 6 year old sister Emily WAS listening on our conversation about the calculator.
"So Jake, you have magic calculator that can change people's ages? When the time is right I will take the calculator and use it for myself.
At 6, Jacob's mom called us down for dinner but Jacob's sister Emily was down here because her mom said she wasn’t feeling good at the moment. The dinner was good then both me and Jacob felt a strange feeling, the same feeling you get when you use the calculator.
First we got smaller, then our clothes changed, our food changed into smaller portions. But the strangest change was the chair I was sitting all of sudden had a booster seat.
"Taylor, finish your dinner before your mommy and daddy come and pick you up."
I turned to look at Jacob and you best friend was now what seemed to be a 2 yr old
"Mrs. Jones, how old am I"
"Why you are 5 years old silly"
Just then, a beautiful girl that looked around my original age that I have never seen before came into the kitchen.
"Who is that?" I said to myself
"Emily, clean up before you leave"
"Emily, she must have gotten the calculator and used it on us to make us younger and her older, but why did she only make me 5 and not 2 like Jacob."
"Oh, Emily please put your younger brother in his bed and Taylor keep an eye on Jacob.
"Ok, Mom"
Emily then took us upstairs, put Jacob in a crib and took me into her room and locked the door.
"So, you thought you could keep that calculator a secret from me, huh.
"Why did you make 5 and not 2 years old like you did to Jacob?"
"Because, I thought you were cute and I didn’t want to make you too young so I just made you 5."
"But why did you turn Jacob into a Toddler?"
"You know the answer to that. I didn’t want to be the youngest anymore."
"If you turn me back, I’ll go out with you.
"Ok, but I want you to be older than before."
She took the calculator and surprisingly turned me back into a 16 year old.
"I know you are now older than you used to be but I would look strange for a 16 yr old girl to date an 8 year old."
I just realized that she thought I was along a 8 year old instead of a 16 year old.
"Wait here while I get ready and we can go out."
When she left, I searched everywhere in the room for the calculator and finally I found it. It was in a box near her bed and to my shock there was pictures of me inside the box.
"Man, has she been obsessed with me"
To make sure she didn’t notice I found the calculator, I put my regular one in the box. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice the difference between the two.
"Back, I hope I didn’t make you wait long.
She went to the box and took out the calculator.
"Hey where did you take the calculator.
"I took it and now its payback."
Just then you realize that wasn’t the calculator.
"I thought you might do something like that so I made a switch before you did and I think you are being a naughty boy and naughty boys need to be punished"
She took the calculator and pressed -13 and I was turned into a 3 yr old.
"Right now I don’t care if you are a lot younger than me but now its time to punish you"
She put down the calculator on the floor and started spanking me in the butt. I couldn’t control it and started to cry.
Just then I felt the weight of Emily get lighter and lighter. I looked up and see that she was getting smaller and not just smaller but younger. I got off of her as she went past the age of 6.
She is still getting younger.
By the time she stopped getting younger, she was 6 months old. I hadn’t notice right away but her room had changed in front of my eyes. Then I noticed that Jacob, still a 2 year old, had gotten the
calculator after Emily had put him down on the floor.
Jacob handed me the calculator and Emily, now a baby, was crying.
"We should fix this so she wouldn’t try to get the calculator again."
I set the calculator to erase her memory of the calculator and being older. We then picked her up and placed her in the crib.
"Should we change back to normal or stay like this?"
"We should stay like this for a little bit, for at least a day or so and when we are both ready either at my or your house we will change back.
"Ok!"
We then heard Jacob's mom talking to who seemed to be my mom's voice.
"Oh, little Taylor is upstairs fast asleep with little Jacob."
"Ok, Ill just go upstairs to get him."
We then rushed into Jacob’s room and climbed into the crib and pretended to be sleeping. My mom came and picked me up and took me home. In my new room, there was a bed for a toddler just starting to sleep in beds and other stuff that I did see when I was 4, like the toys and such.
A few days later, I spent the day with Jacob again as a playmate this time and maybe like last was to the world. We were in Jacob’s room.
"You got it?"
"Yes"
"Good, I cannot last another day wearing training pants and eating small cut foods."
"I know what you mean, the bed I sleep in is uncomfortable"
I took out the calculator and decided to use it on Jacob since he is younger and has a bigger pain to deal with. When he got to my age of 3, the transformation for some reason stopped.
"What happened?"
"I don’t know, I set it to 16 but I stopped at 3. I wonder why?"
I looked at the calculator and I saw what the problem was.
"The stupid thing ran out of batteries."
"No, way! What kind of batteries does it take? Maybe we can fix it."
"Hm, lets see. Uh oh."
"What is the matter?"
"I never seen these batteries before. It takes ZZZ batteries."
"I never heard of those either…"
"Maybe will can find where the calculator came from and with we ever go there, take the batteries it needs."
I looked at the back and the company's logo was on it and it read:
"Spells R US"
"I never heard of that store either"
"Same here."
"Hey, look on the bright side, we are still the same ages and we can restart school again with no problems."
"Yeah, I guess you are right"
Well me and Jacob did redid school with flying colors. From the second grade, we went to the fifth grade, and from there we went to the 11th grade at age 9. But there everything was the same from where we had left off.
Before my senior year I received a package from my grandparents. There was a note that said:
Dear Taylor,
I know you and your friend are excited for your senior year in High school at age 10 and probably
both have tough problems and need a new high tech calculator and also since all stores are
probably sold out by now. So we thought to give you one that we found at a new store. Well, good luck!
Love,
Grandma and Grandpa
I brought the package to Jacob’s house and we opened it. Inside was the same calculator from before but this time there was two, one for each of us.
We both had a big grin on our face.
The end??????????