Caper of a Lifetime

Chapter 1
Get out of town

Chapter Description: The cops are hot on their trail, now Nola and Fabricio make a bid to get across the border unrecognized

The sound of the idling motor seemed incredibly loud and ominous to Fabricio in his new smaller form as his girlfriend and partner in crime as she finally climbed the awkward stairs of the bus. He leaned his forehead to her heavily powdered cheek as he bounced along Nola’s arm as she threaded her new cumbersome and heavyset form through the nighttime crowds at the city’s major bus station. He tried to appear non concerned as they passed the newsstand that was filled newspapers touting the brazen theft of the famous Brannigan diamond necklace. The police were everywhere, making their presence known. Security at all the venues out of town had been tightened up since the theft had been discovered. Fabricio concentrated on looking as innocent as possible as his partner approached the policeman stationed at a security scanner situated at the gate to the buses.

“Good evening, Mam.” The imposing looking policeman greeted the apparent woman and child. “May I see your tickets and ID, please.”

“Oh, yes. Just a minute.” Nola replied, as she shifted the child in her arms to reach into her purse to pull out the ticket. After a few seconds of rummaging, she pulled out the ticket and the fake ID she had obtained that morning. “Here you are.”

“Is there just the one?” The man raised his eyebrows as his eyes traveled over to Fabricio.

“Yes, the baby falls under the lap infant category, so he won’t need a ticket.” Nola responded with a smile at Fabricio who was acting unaware of the conversation.

Keeping his eyes averted, Fabricio concentrated on the rattle in his hand which he held upside down. He had been putting the handle in his mouth which felt oddly good on the sections of bare gums. He didn’t look at the officer but made sure that he seemed entranced by the activity of the station behind them. Nola reached around and patted his back in what looked like an affectionate gesture but was really congratulatory in its intent.

Fabricio was glad he had the handle of the all important toy in his mouth at that moment. It distorted any sound or unintentional laughter that might have escaped him. Nola was always surprising him. It was her idea to use the potions that adjusted their ages when they were planning the robbery of the necklace. Stealing the necklace was going to be a pretty risky venture, the city would shut down as soon as the missing necklace was reported. In the gossipy world of crime, it wouldn’t be farfetched that before long the police would be on the lookout for them. Their pictures would be given out to all branches of the authorities making moving around undetected very difficult.

In their years together, Fabricio had come to rely on his partner Nola. They were a pair of the best cat burglers in this hemisphere. Like it or not, he admitted that she was the brains in their operation, while he was the skill. Nola had a brainstorm on how to handle this exact situation when the authorities were clamping down on the city. She was insistent that this would be the easiest way to avoid being caught. It seemed that Nola had a godmother that lived in New Orleans that was a practicing voodoo priestess. She had contacted the woman to see if she could help them disguise their identities. When the small cardboard box arrived, Nola had happily told him that she was going to temporarily adjust their ages so they looked like a mother and a prepubescent child on the bus. They would easily evade the police and once they were in Buffalo, it would be just a matter of walking across the bridge over into Canada. Unfortunately, it had been years since Nola’s godmother had last made the potions, as they found out that morning that she had made them a little too potent.

It was the morning after the robbery. Everything had gone swimmingly and they were now back in their seedy hideaway with the prized and famous necklace laying on the dresser. To celebrate their success, they were naked in bed after one last victory romp before downing the potion that would allow them their escape. Their new clothes were waiting for them over the chair. Nola had bought matronly pantsuit and some worn looking skater clothes for Fabricio from a nearby resale shop. Nola gave her lover a lingering kiss before she got up and walked over to the dresser, she returned two small bottles in her hands. Handing one to her partner, she held up the other in a toast.

“To success!” she said with a smile.

Leaning back against the headboard, Fabricio held up his bottle before downing the fluid in the small bottle. At first, he didn’t feel anything. He looked up with a question on his face, thinking that the potion was a failure. Had Nola’s godmother betrayed them? As he looked at this girlfriend, he saw that she became blurry and the room began to swim. In the next instant, he passed out. When he woke up, he found that he was still lying on the pillows of the bed. His head was no longer leaning against the headboard, but was supported by the pillow that had been under his shoulder. That same pillow did not just support his shoulder but it seemed to extend from his head down beyond his ass. He blinked rapidly as he tried to gauge his new smaller body.

He seemed like he was a lot smaller than what he had been expecting. He looked down at his body to see an expanse of a plump chubby tummy covered with pale velvety skin. He made a sound of shock only to be stunned by the high pitched gurgling of an infant. He looked around for Nola to see her back sitting on the edge of the bed. He reached out a hand to touch her but found that it was much more difficult to have his body obey his commands. He tried to roll over but the softness of the pillow allowed him little traction, so any momentum he would gain would be easily overcome in the next moment. He would just fall back to where he started out, lying on the pillow. He called out to Nola which sounded like a baby’s wail.

At that sound, he saw Nola turn with a relieved look on her newly saggy and wrinkled features, her lustrous shiny hair now grayed and slightly frizzy. Fabricio realized that something had gone very wrong with the potions. He had reverted back to a body of an infant while Nola had surpassed her target age of forty by twenty five years.

“Thank God! You’re awake. I was worried that you were going to regress back…Never mind. I am just so glad to see it stopped.” Nola leaned over and smoothed her hand on the side of Fabricio’s new smaller face. “My godmother made the potions too strong. You’ve regressed back to an infant and I am a retiree. Are you okay? Do you still have your adult mind?”

Fabricio tried to answer but only a small sound escaped him. With an internal grumble, he nodded to communicate to his partner that his adult mind was still intact.

“You are not going to be able to talk, so just listen. We’re going to have to make some minor adjustments our plans, but I think it will still work. Instead of mother and child, we’ll be grandma and grandbaby.” Nola stated and then looked over at the chair with the clothes. “I think I can still use the women’s clothes, but I need to go get you some clothes and supplies for you. Will you be okay, while I run out for a while to get them?”

The infant nodded, as he tried to control the storm of emotions raging inside him. To distill his panic, he concentrated on controlling the waving limbs that seemed to be aimlessly moving. From the bed, he watched Nola walk over and get dressed in the polyester pantsuit. Her lush curves were replaced by a widened and rotund body that appeared like it was made out of old feather pillows. With the additional weight, she appeared shorter than she normally was.

They both knew that due to the time limitation to get the necklace to the contracted buyer, they would just have to muddle through with the current state of their bodies. The objective was to get out of town with the necklace. Leaving Fabricio on the bed in the hideaway, Nola went out and got the necessary items from some nearby stores. She even stopped at a local grocery to pick up the few necessary items to fill out their new identities.

While Nola was out, Fabricio used the time to examine his own body. His coordination was out the window as he struggled to sit forward with no success. He looked down at what used to be his lean torso to see a plump pot belly sticking out. It barred him from see anything directly below it. He thought that might be a blessing; it would be a disturbing memory to see the current state of his equipment now. He pulled up his hands in front of his face. He studied them, opening and closing his hands watching his knuckles disappear into the dimples on the back of his hands. With a grunt, he kicked his legs in frustration with his current situation.

Nola returned within the hour and pulled him over to the side of the bed. As she reached under him, she suddenly made a face as the back of her hand came in contact with wet linen.

“Oh, well. It looks like there is a definite need to start getting use to this stuff.” She stated as she unfolded a disposable diaper to place under Fabricio. As she powdered and dressed him, she continued to tell him the next steps in their escape. “We’re leaving on the eleven thirty PM bus tonight. We got to be solid in our new identities by then. I also have the perfect way to conceal the necklace.”

For the rest of the day, Fabricio was subjected to diaper changes, bottle feedings and baby toys. At seeing his reluctance, Nola encouraged him to participate so he would not look out of place in public. When he attempted to communicate with Nola, all that came out was gibberish even with his most intense concentration, so he begrudgingly acquiesced. Despite finding that his control of his body had declined, he also discovered that he was victim to his own body’s demands, taking a morning and afternoon nap despite his reluctance and using the diaper freely with or without his consent. He also had an intense desire to put things in his mouth. He kept finding a finger or a toy, and even a corner of the pillow in his mouth where he had been chewing on unaware.

Finally, late in the evening, Nola packed up the well used looking diaper bag with diapers, changing supplies, baby clothes, a gel filled teething ring, a can of powdered formula, two prepared baby bottles and most important of all, a faded round rattle containing the necklace inside. She then dressed him in a shirt and maroon corduroy romper, white crocheted sweater with matching booties and finally a heavy coat and hat with a large pompom on top that tied under his chin. She tilted her head with adoration of the cute sight her partner made in his outfit, before picking him up with a blanket wrapped around his legs. Picking up her purse and the diaper bag, she left the hideaway for the bus station.

That night, when they arrived at the bus station, Fabricio looked over Nola’s shoulder to see numerous policemen milling about in the crowds. Seeing that all the passengers were being stopped at the gates, Nola handed the rattle to her partner. She whispered in his ear, not to let go of it. He looked in her eyes for a moment, telling her that he understood and then shoved the handle of the rattle in his mouth.

As the tall broad-chested policeman was studying the tickets, Nola stood there with an air of congenial puzzlement while she waited for instruction from the officer.

“I see you’re headed up to Buffalo. It’s a pretty long trip and you’re on the night bus. Don’t you think that will be hard on the little one?´ The policeman said as he studied the ticket and the fake ID in his hands.

“I took the night bus on purpose. I am counting on him sleeping most of the way. He should pass out when the motors start up.” Nola simpered. Looking over to her partner, she bounced him on her arm and added. “He’s teething which can make him cranky, but he’s a good boy.”

“He seems pretty awake right now.” The policeman briefly looked over at Fabricio, who was looking around at the crowd, doing his best to appear that he was not following the conversation.

“I think he’s excited by all the people and motion. He should calm down and go to sleep once we get underway on the bus.” Nola stated as she pressed Fabricio’s hands on the rattle with apparent affection.

“Well, he’s very cute. Everything looks to be okay. Have a pleasant trip.” The policeman handed Nola the ticket and leaned forward to address Fabricio. “You too, little fella.”

“Say bye-bye to the nice policeman, Johnny!” Nola enthused as she looked with seeming adoration at the small body in her arms and back toward the policeman.

Fabricio looked up and wrinkled his upper lip which bared his few teeth without pulling the handle from his mouth.

“I think that’s as close as we’re going to get.” Nola laughed with a shrug.

Once on the bus, Nola navigated her larger form along with the bags along the narrow aisle in the bus, she managed to get one of the last remaining window seats left on the bus. There were about a large number of people already on the bus. She scooted her newly large frame over to it. She shoved her bags under the seat in front and sat down. She settled Fabricio on her lap, turning him so he could look out the window while she worked on removing his coat and hat.

“Well, it looks like we made it.” She said with a sing song voice, although the meaning to Fabricio was clear. “Another twelve hours and we’ll be home free.”

There was a sudden burst of noise from the front of the bus when a large church group boarded, which took up almost every available seat. A strapping, clean cut looking man appeared at the end of the row of their seats.

“Do you mind, mam?” He asked. Fabricio leaned back to look over his shoulder and then turned back to the window, clenching the rattle in his fists.

“No, not at all.” Nola responded with a prim smile as she shifted in her seat, and resettled Fabricio in her lap, so that he was now facing her, her hands bracing him on each side.

The man was a lanky, tall man who exuded an air of easy authority. He sat down, his long legs bending which made his knees hit the seat in front of him, taking up all the available space, blocking any easy escape for the two criminals.

“That’s a nice looking little one you have there. Where are you two heading?” The man said with a friendly smile.

“Thank you. This is my grandson. We’re just going up to visit some relatives in Buffalo.” Nola simpered, as she leaned against the back of her seat.

Fabricio looked up at Nola with an alarmed look on his face. Nola just smiled knowingly at him and gave him a few pats on his back as a comfort. Seeing that there was little he could do, he stared down at the rattle in his hands, moving the handle back in his mouth from side to side.

“I’m heading that way myself. My name is Carson by the way. How do you do?” The man nodded his head in old fashioned manners.

“I’m fine. My name is Erma and this is Johnny.” Nola smoothly replied as she smoothed the sparse wisps of hair down on her partner’s head.

“Hello Johnny!” The man leaned over and stated with mock enthusiasm reserved for small children.

“Say hello, Johnny.” Nola prompted as she pulled the rattle down from his mouth.

Fabricio hated the condescending tone being addressed to him by the larger people. He just looked over at the man and scowled as a growl emanated from his mouth. He jammed the rattle back in his mouth, to satisfy his need to maintain control of it and because it was unexpectedly soothing on his gums.

Both adults chuckled at the reaction of the apparent infant’s territorial display. They continued in their easy conversation, as the bus started up. It jerked slightly as the bus began to move. As it moved away from the gates of the station, it passed several police cars that had their lights flashing. Fabricio turned to gaze out the window at the flashing lights. He decided to take advantage of his present situation and indulge in a little gloating. With a squeal, he leaned over and patted the glass at the lights as the illuminated the glass.

“Yes. I see. I see the pretty lights. Yes, I see them!” Nola nodded, her voice high and light as one would speak to an infant. “Say bye-bye! Say bye-bye!”