Allie's adventure in the land of wonder.

Chapter 7
Aftermath

Chapter Description: Playing with strange spells can have consequences.

Another sunny day, one of many in an endless summer, slightly windy with light stratonimbus clouds overhead. It was good weather for playing in the sandbox.

Two little girls, age six, played in the sand. They gathered the moist, sticky soil in little plastic buckets with little plastic shovels and then packed it down before turning it over and leaving behind a crumbly sand brick for building.

“Well, I still think it sucks!” groused Allie, “What does he mean by ‘technical difficulties – please stand by’?”

Betty upended her bucket. She had forgotten the lost art of playing with sand but was relearning what she’d forgotten with great speed. She carefully moved the crumbly brick with her shovel and with great care to her stack of equally crumbly bricks.

“Cheer up, Allie! When was the last time you played in the sandbox?” She said as she shored up her disintegrating stack of sand bricks before it collapsed under its own weight.

“Sandboxes are for babies! The last time I can remember being in one, I was maybe seven.”

“And you’re six, now! Does that make you a baby?” Betty’s stack fell over. She started building it up again with her shovel and fresh sand.

“No, I guess not,” said Allie.

They were playing in the sandbox because it was hard for little girls their height to get on the swings. The swings were 3 feet above the ground and while a 9-year-old Allie could have pulled herself up easily, 6-year-old Allie at 3 foot 6 struggled with it.

Nearby in the portable playpen, 1-year-old Edie was bored out of her mind playing with her baby toys.

She had asked and experienced what it was like to be a 9-year-old in a baby’s body. Now she was experiencing what it was like to be a 21-year-old in an infant’s body. She hated it.

She was virtually helpless! Her bladder let loose when it wanted to and when she had to poop, her body just tightened up her bowels and pushed. She had no control over it.

She could only stand for short periods of time before her balance went out and she squatted falling back on her rump.

The bright colored plastic of the baby toys invited exploration to an inquisitive baby’s mind.

Edie had been there and done that.

The girls had at first let her play in the sand, but her fine motor skills weren’t developed yet. She would go to pick up a clump of sand and the shovel would fling it everywhere instead of in the bucket. She’d covered Allie and Betty several times in sand with her lack of coordination and ended up in her playpen.

Then there were the naps! She would fight sleep as much as she could, but after a few hours her body would shut down and she would wake up a little later only then realizing then that she’d fallen asleep again.

She had loved wearing diapers at age nine, but after being in them 24/7, she was getting fussy about how wet it always felt down there and there were several times when she felt the burn of diaper rash.

It couldn’t be helped. The cheap generics that were picked up at the store didn’t let her body moisture wick away fast enough. Betty had let her “run around” naked on several occasions to let nature dry her bottom.

She crawled up to the edge of the playpen and pulled herself up with some difficulty. Looking over at Allie and Betty playing happily in the sand, she felt an emotion that demanded that she join them.

The feelings of a baby’s body were something that surprised her at first. When she cried, her whole body tightened up and she could feel it. When she laughed, the feelings of joy rippled from her head to her toes. Now that her body was telling her to go join the girls, she was jumping up and down with impatience. She lost her balance and fell on her butt.

She stifled the strong urge to cry at her helplessness and pulled herself back up to the playpen's edge.

“Hey, Allie! Can I join you in the sandbox? I’ll be good, I promise!”

Allie just gave her a look that said she was sad that Edie was in her playpen jail, but she had been bad and she needed to learn her lesson.

Betty just said, “No, but I’ll bring you in a little later.”

A little later, Edie's level of boredom felt like an eternity of waiting. After a few more requests laced with “please” and “pretty please”, Betty relented and pulled her out of her playpen.

“You’re free to roam around the yard, prisoner! But I’ll be watching you!” she admonished the baby.

“Thanks, boss!” she said as she started to crawl with purpose towards the mushroom.

“She’s headed for the mushroom, again!” said Allie as she got up to go over and grab her.

“Let her! The caterpillar can’t help her and we’ve both tried using both sides of the mushroom. until he comes up with a solution, we’re stuck at our current ages,” said Betty.

“Ah! Hello baby!” said the caterpillar from his perch atop the mushroom. He was blowing his technicolor bubbles into the light breeze and watching them float away. Some popped, and some disappeared from sight.

Edie pulled herself up to a sitting position in front of the mushroom. “Hello, Mr. Caterpillar, have you come up with any ideas, yet?”

“No, baby, don’t rush me! It interferes with my thinking,” said the caterpillar as he blew some more bubbles out into the breeze.

“Huh! You just sit on your ass and blow bubbles! How is that thinking?” asked Edie with a tinge of impatience.

The caterpillar made a double-take at her swear and then remembered that she was a 21-year-old trapped in an infant’s body. He blew a bubble at her.

As the bubble hit Edie with an audible “POP!”, She felt her body grow up a little bit. She stood up and her diaper tabs strained to hold against her 3-year-old body before one gave out and caused her diaper to fall to the ground.

“Whoa, man! That’s some good shit right there!” said Edie as a feeling of euphoria washed over her entire being, “Give me another hit, my man!”

The caterpillar obliged and Edie grew up to her original age of 9. Unfortunately, her mind didn’t stay at age 21. She forgot how to stand, fell down hard on her butt, and began to cry at the pain she felt there.

Allie and Betty immediately ran over to her. They had to soothe her and give her a hug before she stopped crying.

“Edie falled down!” she said to Allie.

“What happened to her, Mr. Caterpillar? Her body’s back to normal, but I don’t think she's 9 in her head.”

“My bubbles hit her and she grew up, baby! That’s some powerful magic right there! I think I need to refine my process a little, though!”

“You think?” said Allie, “C’mon Edie, let’s get you some clothes! You wanna get dressed, right?”

“Uh-huh!” said Edie.

Allie took her hand and led Edie back into the house for a clothing change and a fresh diaper while Betty stayed with the caterpillar and gave him the third degree.

As Allie came back with Edie, now dressed in a diaper and a t-shirt, Betty was finishing up her questioning.

It looked a little strange to Betty to see a 3 foot 6 child leading a 4 foot 6 girl sucking her thumb around, but she'd seen plenty of strange things over the last week!

“So, you think you’ve got it then? We can return to our normal ages? What about Edie?”

“Yeah, baby, I think I can manage it!” assured the caterpillar. Truth was, he didn’t fully know, but he welcomed the possibility of a little mischief to brighten his day.

Edie fidgeted and looked around for something to play with. Allie held firm to her cousin’s hand and didn’t let her wander off.

“Wanna go swing-swing!” complained the girl.

“We’ll do that later. Stay here!” said Allie firmly.

“Wanna go now!” she argued and tried to pull away. Allie held firm, got dragged a few inches, and said “NO! Stay put!”

Edie pouted and stopped struggling. She put her thumb back in her mouth and sucked on it.

The caterpillar turned to Edie and blew a bubble her way. This one wasn’t technicolor, it glowed a bright pink and hit her square in her chest.

The effect was immediate. Edie blinked and looked around as if seeing everything for the first time.

“Oh! hello Allie! Hello Betty! You girls are looking mighty fine, today!” she said as she recognized them.

Allie let go of Edie's hand and asked “Edie, how old are you today?”

“Land sakes, girl! Don’t you know? I turned 71 just the other day!”

She pulled at the bottom of her t-shirt and inspected it.

“What in tarnation am I wearing? Where's my pants, for goodness sake? What am I doing outside wearing a diaper?”

After a few moments of confusion on Allie and Betty’s part, Edie made a grunting sound and then announced, “Oh, yeah! Never mind about the diaper! I need to get some pants!” She headed for the house to find some.

Allie followed her to make certain she could find everything.

“Whoops!” said the caterpillar, “I might need to tone a few variables back a bit. Just a minute!”

“There are variables in magic? Like in math?”

“Yeah, baby! Magic is full of numbers. I was never all that good at ‘em, though!”

Edie came back in a huff. She was wearing a pair of denim jeans and complaining to Allie.

“I don’t need you to be my attendant, girl! I’m not senile, yet!”

The caterpillar blew another bubble at her. This one was also pink. It was so pink, it hurt to look at it. The bubble hit Edie and popped.

“Wow! That cleared my head! Hi Allie, hi Betty!”

She was asked how old she was again. “Why I’m 8 years old! I thought you knew that?”

“Close enough!” said Betty, Edie being eight meant that they wouldn’t have to worry about her going on a power trip. “Now do me!”

The caterpillar blew a purple bubble at Betty. She grew up to be a woman in her thirties with her clothing changing to a more modest dress that matched her age.

“Phew! Not quite the right age, but it’ll do!” she said. She couldn’t wait to go check herself out in the mirror.

“Aw, granny! Do you have to?” Allie was saddened at losing her playmate.

“Betty will be back before long, Allie. Right now what we need is a grownup who’s in charge.”

“Okay, granny! I guess I’m next, Mr. Caterpillar!”

The caterpillar wheezed for a moment, “Hang on! Let me catch my breath!”

“It’s okay, take your time!”

he blew a purple bubble at Allie. It hit and she grew up to become a teenager. Her hair was dyed black, she wore lots of makeup, black eye-shadow, and white face paint. The piercings that her body sported were numerous.

“Wow! This is so cool! Hey caterpillar, you gonna Bogart that hookah? Share some with me, man!”

Edie was witnessing the magic for the first time. She hadn’t been introduced to it until she was nine, after all.

“What’s going on? How are you doing that? Can I try? Me, next! Make me into a teen like Allie!”

“Sorry, girl! You had your shot. You need to cool it on the magic for a while!” said the caterpillar as a stray bubble hit Allie and reverted her back to age nine. This one didn’t modify her clothing, however.

She felt and made a little tug at one of her piercings. Her hair was still dyed black and would have looked better on a scarecrow. The black leather jacket that hung off her frame dwarfed her with its bulk.

Her black spiderweb stockings slipped down off her waist and puddled at her knees. The black spike-heeled boots that now came up to her calves were hard to balance on.

“Why am I dressed like this?” she asked grandma.

“I think it was just a rebellious phase, my dear!” reassured grandma.

“Geez! If I ever dress like this, make certain I don’t!”

Another stray bubble came in on the wind. This one was from when the caterpillar had been blowing them previously. It hit Allie and restored her clothing to a denim jumpsuit with a pastel sunflower on it. Her dyed hair, piercings, and heavy makeup vanished with the change of clothing.

“That’s better!” she said with relief.

Grandma moved to go back inside and the two little girls followed her. All was nearly right in the world!

“Hey, Grammy! Why am I wearing a diaper? Eww! It's all soggy!” said Edie as the caterpillar watched them depart.

“Later days, babies!” he said and reclined back under the shade of an umbrella. A cool drink appeared next to him and he sucked some of its contents through a brightly colored straw.