The Change of the Seasons: The Long Sweat

Chapter 8
The Changing of the Guard

Chapter Description: James faces some of the bitter truths of his new life as a preteen boy.

[size=2]James felt besieged in his own bedroom. It was the worst kind of feeling for the college student turned elementary school student. Here he was locked away in this last bastion of his adulthood as the reality of his new life awaited him outside. He sat upright on the side his bed with the tips of his feet just barely capable of touching the ground. It was the first weekend since he and Jonny had switched ages and he still hadn’t gotten used to his new sense of space. The twin size bed that he had used since high school now dwarfed him. He was too overwhelmed the first night to really notice how small he was in the bed at first but upon waking up, he found it to be weirdly comfy. He had way more space to his squirm his legs around now. He had compared it to one of those oversized hotel beds when his mom came in to check in on him the next morning with some cereal.

His whole room felt different to him as well. It wasn’t like it was completely bigger now, but the loss of his former height rendered his perspective of his own room foreign to him. The large desk that held his computer monitor and game console was now much closer to James’ new height than he was with his old height.

James hopped of his bed and went to sit on his office chair. Part of him wanted to go back onto the internet to see how his friends in their chatroom had reacted to the short message he posted saying that he was taking the fall semester off from college. But frankly he was simply too scared to go back to see if they rejected him because of it, he really did not want to know what they thought.

Instead, his legs got jittery and he found himself spinning around in circles in the chair. It felt all the more thrilling to James this time around than all the other times he’d done it as a college student. For a brief moment, he laughed at how fast his little legs could get the chair spinning.

Slowly coming to a halt, James found himself directly facing his mirror and the reflection of the little fat boy looking back at him. He always noticed the fat. That part of him hasn’t changed at least. The beer belly that he kept mostly hidden away in t-shirts was now a fully exposed pot belly. It was fully round and stretched against the tightness of Jonny’s clothes. James had a short chubby phase the last time he was a preteen boy, when he ate pizza and chicken nuggets at school and cheeseburgers from Small Fry’s for dinner as his mom overworked herself in the stress to keep the family afloat in the aftermath of the sudden divorce.

The first time around at least, puberty eventually stretched him up like a stick in middle school. But he looked comparability fatter now and a second puberty felt a whole world away to the 10 year old boy. If he had simply switched ages with Jonny, he wouldn’t be this big. Maybe it was the result of all the excess fat he had when he was a grown up that wasn’t burned off during the transformation process. Or maybe this was just precisely what was intended: An overweight man-child reduced to its core, stripped of any traces of adulthood. It wasn’t fair, he hardly had any chance at all to be a grown up.

At the very least he thought his face looked…cute, if that was a word preteen boys used in their vocabulary. His face was rounder from fat sure, but it didn’t look all that bad. At the very least his rejuvenation granted him some benefits. It was quite clear at this point that he didn’t need his glasses anymore; in fact he couldn’t recall a time when he could see better, with or without glasses. The slow retreat of his hairline was also completely reversed as well. Honest to god bangs, strong and vibrant now covered the majority of his forehead. He remembered that he used to hate how annoying they were brushing up against his forehead but now he felt jubilated to see them back in his peripheral vision, he welcomed it like an old friend. On top of all of this, his hearing seemed better and his skin appeared to be healthier. Trying to show off to no one in particular he struck a muscle builder pose, trying to look as appealing as possible. An afterimage of his adult self posed alongside him.

There was a knock on the door, “James,” a deep voice came meekly through. “Mom’s back and she wants to get started. Can you unlock the door?”

James responded with all the audacity he could muster. “No! I didn’t agree with this!” It came out his mouth a whine.

Jonny’s voice seemed to grow all the more stronger, “Too bad. Mom agrees with that guy and I don’t want to sleep on the couch again.”

Everyone is against me, he bitterly thought, tears forming in his eyes. “Screw you and that guy!” he screeched. The high pitch of it only formed the tears faster. That guy ruined my life.

That guy had called himself Seth. The tow truck lugging James’ car back home hadn’t even been gone a minute when Seth’s black Porsche showed up in their driveway. The man was pale and hid his eyes behind rounded sunglasses. His dark goatee reminded him of the one his dad used to have. The business suit he wore looked completely bizarre, as if it was from both the far future and the distant past at the same time. Nothing looked right about him to James. The man claimed that he had arrived to smooth over the aftermath of their transformation. That included worthless advisory and a check he handed to his mom that left her shell-shocked. To James, the man named Seth was like his dad, the only thing he really brought with him were bitter truths.

James pushed the tears away that were forming up in his eyes. Since his transformation he found himself always on the verge of crying on the drop of a hat. It was exactly like it was the first time around and yet despite all the embarrassment and contempt he held for the crybaby persona that dominated his first childhood, he could barely fight against it now.

A second barrage of knocking quieted the young man turned little boy, “Come on James! You’re going to be punished if you don’t unlock the door. Let’s just get this over with already!” Jonny shouted.

The man named Seth had told them that there was no way to undo the transformation once it occurred on the first day of a new season. He made it quite clear that it was extremely rare for the power of New Springs, the water that changed his life, would ever feel the need to change him ever again. At the very least, he was faced with reliving a boyhood summer with a little brother that was now his big brother. Perhaps if he just somehow pleased this entity that ruled New Springs it would turn him back into a 20 year old college student in the fall. If not, then he faced the prospect of turning back into a 20 year old college student the old fashioned way.

With the knocking intensifying James took one last look around the room that was about to be ransacked by his impulsive brother. All his possessions, his accomplishments, and evidence of his adult life were about to be undone. Giving a sigh, James unlocked the door and opened it for his brother.

He still hadn’t gotten used to the man that had been his little brother less than a week ago. How could sweet and innocent Jonny turn into this giant of a man? Jonny was vastly different from the adult he had been not so long ago. Jonny was taller, fitter, and more handsome than James had ever been. He was vastly better than him in nearly every way imaginable. The dark facial hair denied to James that he had so desperately coveted was all over Jonny’s face as he had yet to shave since their fateful day, despite their mom’s protests. Jonny wore an extra-large shirt that his mom had spirited away from James’ room that first night. It was a shirt of his favorite hip-hop artist; he probably wore it just to get to him despite how baggy it was on him.

Jonny casually strolled into his prospective new room. As he passed by James he placed a hand on James’ blonde hair and ruffled it, messing up his bangs and obscuring his vision.

“So this should be pretty simple. You’re not allowed to have anything “grown-up” in your room anymore,” Jonny stressed, “so I get to keep your computer and posters and shit and you get my iPad.”

He suddenly turned to face James, “Saying “shit” like that meant “stuff” right?” he asked. “I don’t want your real shit, it’s just what you always say to people.”

James sighed. If Jonny was going to take his adulthood away from him than he wasn’t going to help his brother beyond the bare minimal expected of him. “Sure, that’s basically it Jonny,” he said and pointed at Jonny’s shirt, “And make sure you actually listen to his albums before you walk outside with that on or else you’ll make a complete embarrassment out of yourself.”

His brother seemed astounded, “How many times do I have to tell you that it’s not Jonny anymore? Jonathan is way more mature sounding and is like my legit name anyway. Who even started calling me Jonny anyway? I bet it was your idea wasn’t it? You need to show some respect to your big bro now or else I’m going to call you little Jimmy in public for the rest of your life.” he declared before adding, “Also, I’m just wearing this shirt until mom brings my new clothes upstairs, rap music totally sucks anyway.”

Digesting that mouthful of childish chatter from the “grown up” Jonathan left James lamenting his fate even more.

Still a response eventually came out of him, “Mom nicknamed you Jonny as soon as you were born. I called you Jon for a while though when you were a baby.”

Jonny seemed to like that for whatever reason, James was surprised at his uniform response as well. It’s weird he doesn’t know about that story. Mom made me start calling him Jonny as a present to him on his 1st birthday.

“Jon is cool I guess.” his brother said, “You can use that sometimes when you address me from now on, just don’t overdo it.”

“Ok…Jon” he managed to say.

Jonathan roamed about the room, laying out how he wanted to organize everything. “Tell you what, now that I have your computer you can keep your Xbox since I don’t need it. I won’t tell mom that you only own M rated games too.”

James leapt for joy; he had expected to lose everything. He immediately crawled under his desk to unplug the necessary cords, fitting quite easily in the foot space he struggled to deal with as an adult.

With the Xbox carefully in hand, he ran over to Jonny’s room, his new room, without really thinking about it. By the time he placed the Xbox down, he realized that he hardly even looked inside Jonny’s room since he was in high school. The Star Wars and Marvel posters still filled the walls but Minecraft merchandise was now all scattered about the desk and drawers. Being in here again took James back to a time when he’d spend the weekend afternoons playing videogames alongside Jonny. Aiding him in cooperative games and absolutely destroying him in competitive ones. He remembered how he occasionally let Jonny beat him in order to justify wrestling his little brother into submission and tickling him until he begged for mercy. There was always a smile on his mom’s face when he’d bring little Jonny down for dinner in whatever contorted form of resistance Jonny was in that evening.

Now there was a melancholy to the room. James was at a standstill. Was this the whole point of his transformation? To show him what Jonny’s life was like in the two years he’d been at college like what was expected of him? That wasn’t fair, he didn’t deserve to have all signs of puberty stripped from him because he made some bad choices and Jonny didn’t deserve to lose ten tears of his life to equalized James for that. That was what the man named Seth had said when he came to their house that night. He and his mother were regressed ten years so they would both have a second chance. On the other hand, if New Springs had affected Jonny with the same logic than he would be an infant right now. Instead, his cute little brown haired brother became a man lost in time; an image of a man that he’d conjure up in a daydream as the best man at his wedding with Samantha.

James’ thoughts were interrupted when Jonathan shouted into the room from the hallway. “Hey hurry it up James! I don’t want to do this all day!”

James turned to see that Jonathan was now wearing a yellow shirt and brown pants that was were much more compatible with his slim body size while revealing the outline of his firm chest.

He found his mom back in his former room swapping out all his old clothes for the new clothes she had bought for his brother. “I’m almost done here boys. Jonathan, you can start placing any of James’ things you don’t want in the storage bin.”

“Sure mom,” he responded.

Still distraught at the sight of it all James made one last attempt to salvage a bit of his adult identity, “Can I please just take all my stuff into Jonny’s room mom? You can’t just throw all my possessions away. Come on that’s not fair!”

His mom instantly shot him down, “That would ruin everything we’re doing here sweetheart. The man said that this would help trigger the process of Facilitation in both your cases. I’m going to be doing the exact same thing in my bedroom once I’m done with both of your rooms.” she said in her motherly stern tone, “Also Jonny’s room is your room now, and I’m not throwing away your stuff it’s just going into the antic until your teenager again. Besides, you’ll probably like entirely different things by then.” she said, gently laughing to herself.

“This is terrible”, he said powerless to act on in discontent.

“Oh cheer up hotshot. You’re going to absolutely adore the clothes I picked out for you at the store.” She suddenly seemed perplexed by a revelation, as if dumbfounded on why she didn’t think of it earlier, “How about we go over to your room and get you in your awesome new clothes? That’ll do the trick.” she said half inviting, half leading James back into Jonny’s former room.

His mother spoke with a vibrancy he had never heard before. She was a completely renewed woman now with all the doubt, cynicism, and stress related depression exorcised out of her. It was unreal to James. In normal circumstances he would have been very happy to see his single, career oriented mom conquer her decade long depression like this. But it all felt like a robbery to James. It was as if everything that made her who she was to him for the last ten years of his life was sapped out. Her grounded nature, healthy skepticism, and laid back attitude that all heavily contributed to James’ intellectual growth during his formative years was completely gone now; replaced by a chatty soccer mom. It was like watching the downfall of the superhero he had idealized his entire life.

With the door shut behind them, he saw her go into her bags and pulled out her supposed trump card against him.

“Ta-da!” she revealed, “Awesome right?”

Before him was a blue Star Wars t-shirt, perfectly matched with tan cargo shorts. The shirt had the original artwork from the first movie printed on it and despite himself he gave his mother a goofy grin of satisfaction. At least mom has a sense of continuity to her; he thought remembering that he spent his first childhood decked out in Star Wars outfits from the prequel trilogy. She should very well know that the originals are better, he thought.

“Yeah it’s nice, you didn’t go crazy with the kid stuff.” he said.

“Well get dressed”, she said while laying out a pair socks and underwear for him on the bed, “and join us once you get these bad boys on.” revealing a pair of light colored tennis shoes.

“Sure.” he said and got to work as his mom left the room.

He still wasn’t really used to wearing boxer-briefs again but at least these were much more comfortable than Jonny’s tight fitting pairs. He got into his pants and shirt, and then put on his socks and shoes. He looked at the 10 year old kid that was him in the mirror. At any rate, he actually felt that he was really looking at himself for the first time since his regression, missing molar and all.

Once more James went back to his old room and was warmly greeted by his family who were in the midst of assembling a high-rise loft for Jonathan to use. With James running tools back and forth the trio quickly wrapped up their work. They then went back over to his new room where he was very adamant in packing all of Jonny’s Minecraft toys into a storage bin just like Jonny had done to all of his prized possessions. The twinge of longing he saw in his brother’s face made James feel a bit better about all of this. He also found it that he was getting a low-rise loft. He really liked the idea of sleeping in a loft; it reminded him so much of his dorm room that he didn’t make a fuss when his mom placed all of Jonny’s toys in a corner under his bed. When they were done, the room still looked like it belonged to a 10 year old boy, but at least the room felt like it could be his now.

“Nice work team!” Their mom celebrated. “Now I’ve decided that I’m going to work on my room alone later tonight so James, we just need you to surrender your wallet, cellphone, and keys to me and we’ll go to any restaurant you want for dinner. How does that sound?”

He had expected this, the final elements of his adult life now rested in the pockets of his childish shorts. It was a purely symbolic gesture, one that they were told would make the process known as Facilitation easier. The man named Seth wasn’t exactly clear on the details, but supposedly some kind of mental acclimation would begin to set in if they started accepting the ages they were turned into. James saw no reason why he would ever desire to start really thinking like a prepubescent boy again, but apparently resisting Facilitation had detrimental effects on the remaining knowledge and memories a transformed person still retained. If this god of New Springs or whatever was at all benevolent towards him, then totally wiping his mind would seem meaningless, as he would probably just make all the same mistakes and pick up underage drinking again once he got back into college, probably at the behest of his stupid brother. Practically speaking at least, everything that identified James as a functioning adult would be rendered moot when the New Springs Authority officially altered all of their family’s records in the coming days. James admitted that he wouldn’t take a nerdy fat kid seriously if he started rambling about how he used to be an adult, and he just so happened to be a nerdy fat kid. So there was really no point to any of this, even if he intended to find a way to become an adult again by the fall.

While he contemplated making a scene to guilt trip his mom, he decided choosing where they would go to dinner a bigger victory over holding onto useless leather, plastic, and metal. Grimly, he took out the items and handed them to his mom who gracefully plucked them out of his small hands one by one. She carefully extracted the small amount of cash he had in his wallet and handed it back to him before tucking the wallet in her own pocket. She then handed Jonathan his cell phone and hung his car keys over Jonathan’s head.

“Promise me you won’t even think about going near the car without my presence.” she demanded.

Jonathan wasn’t as willing to give in but ultimately did so, clumsily grabbing the keys when she dropped them over his head.

With it all said and done, James didn’t feel like any Facilitation had been accomplished at all. What a waste of time, he concluded.

“So where are we going James? I’m really hungry all of a sudden.” Jonathan asked.

“I see that my little Jonny hasn’t changed all that much,” their mom teased. “What about you James? Are you picking what I think you’re picking?”

James smiled. “Of course.”

The Long Sweat continues in Chapter 9: Messy Boys Make Dirty Tubs[/size]