South of the Boudoir, by ARthur

Chapter 8
South of the Boudoir, Conclusion

Chapter Description: By ARthur

Two months later, Marjorie found herself up early in the morning, preparing a pot of hot wheat cereal.

"Val, get out of that bathroom right now," Marjorie yelled. "You’ve had enough time for a bath. You hurry and get dressed or you’ll be late."

"Grouse, grouse, grouse," the 8-year-old girl said as she emerged from the bathroom in a hurry, letting go of the elastic band on her panties so it snapped tightly to her waist. "You’d think you were my mother or something."

"It’s in my contract, Val," Marjorie noted.

"But only as a form of address outside the apartment. You forget who’s working for whom," Valene replied as she scampered into the large boudoir she reseized from Uxia.

Ten minutes later, Valene came to the breakfast table dressed in a white blouse, green plaid skirt, white knee socks and green-top sneakers. Sitting at the table, Valene turned up her nose at the wheat cereal. "Couldn’t I just have some prosciutto frittata al fonduta some morning?" she plaintively asked.

Marjorie didn’t hear the complaint, as she was too busy trying to get the 2-year-old baby in the high chair to eat some of the concoction. "Come on, Uxia. This is yummy stuff," Marjorie said. Turning her back on the baby for a moment, Uxia pushed the bowl onto the floor.

"Sometimes you deserve a good spanking," Marjorie threatened Uxia, who gave her a raspberry.

Placing a sippy cup before Uxia, Marjorie turned to Valene. "I don’t understand why you insist on going to St. Olaf Elementary School. Technically, you don’t have to. You already graduated in 1981," she said.

"It’s all part of my dream," Valene explained. "The executor of the will suggested that I use my money to become like that little girl that captivated my grandfather. He suggested I do things that please me, while having others provide my necessities. Well, you’re doing the things my mother used to do for me," Valene noted.

"And it pleases me to regain some of the learned knowledge I lost through rejuvenation. I’m doing much better during my current trip through third grade. I’m earning A’s instead of C’s. I’ve always dreamed of being considered brainy."

Pointing to Uxia, Valene added, "It seems that the younger you get, the smaller your cranium gets. There is less room for brain matter. I got off easy at 8, but look at Uxia. About all she remembers from before is that she was a sexy woman with a svelte figure. She needs help with everything else."

Uxia finally put the sippy cup to her lips, pulled a half mouthful through the stem, then spit it out. "No like. This who’ milk," Uxia protested.

"And what’s wrong with whole milk?" Marjorie countered.

"It make me fat, got skim?" Uxia angrily noted.

"No skim milk. That’s not good for growing babies," Marjorie slowly explained, feeling weird having a food debate with an infant.

"Soy?" Uxia asked.

"She thinks soy formula is better than milk," Marjorie told Valene. Turning to Uxia, Marjorie explained. "Big girls drink milk from sippy cups. Only little babies drink formula. If you get formula, you get it in a nipple bottle like an itty bitty baby." Uxia tilted her head and answered, "Bottie."

After guzzling down her glass of milk, Valene slipped on her PowerPuff Girls backpack. "I’m off to school," she said. "Don’t have dinner ready until 6:00. This is the day I visit the nursing home for the Foster Grandparents program. Mr. Walz wants to show me stuff he brought back from the Korean War.

"Oh, and remember! Have all the household accounts ready. I’d like to inspect the books and sign all the checks after I’m done with my homework," Valene concluded.

Marjorie merely looked weary. "It’s a shame the detectives never found the source of that Izumiwakai mineral water. Had Uxia realized how fast her brain would regress after rejuvenation, she would have remembered more than that she got the water through Jeneane Lozano. We got only as far as Jeneane’s contact when both disappeared. Now we’ll never know if there is an antidote, or if drinking water with the ’21’ notation would age you back to womanhood," she said.

"Or if the ’21’ formula was only a prep for giving someone one of the pre-adult mineral mixtures," Valene added.

"Maybe this is for the best," Valene said, as she kissed Marjorie goodbye.

"Bye, Mom," Valene said. She then kissed baby Uxia, who was busy sucking on the nipple of her bottle of formula. "Bye, baby sister," Valene snickered as she raced out the door.

Marjorie continued to bottle feed Uxia, wondering to herself what happened to Jeneane. About two weeks before, she just disappeared, as if off the face of the earth. Marjorie then noticed the bottom of Uxia’s Pampers increasing in warmness.

"So you still won’t tell me when you feel the urge," Marjorie growled. "I think we’re going to have another potty training session this afternoon."

Uxia looked startled, coughed out her last mouthful of formula, and screamed "Nnnnnnooooooo!" before breaking into tears.

"I’ve had enough of this from you," Marjorie said. "For heavens sakes, you used to be an adult. I’m going to potty train you if it’s the last thing I do," she added, as she plopped Uxia on the changing table and began to detach her extremely soaked diaper.

Hearing the bawling from the apartment while waiting for the elevator, Valene merely smiled. ’Poor Uxia just can’t get used to not getting her way on everything’, she thought.

Valene walked the several blocks to St. Olaf. It was a nice early fall day and she loved it. And after being helped across Pacific Avenue by a crossing guard, she met a familiar 7-year-old face.

"Robby! Don’t tell me you’re going to St. Olaf too," Valene excitedly remarked. "I was enrolled yesterday. I’m in the second grade. I hope it’s not too hard. I don’t seem to remember as much as before," he replied.

"You’ll catch on," Valene said, adding, "So where are you living now?"

"My kid sister took me in a week ago," Robby explained. "She tells everyone I’m her son, even though she would have been 16 when I was theoretically born. She’s been nice to me, considering the hell I put her during our earlier childhoods."

Valene couldn’t help notice that all the while they talked, Robby kept looking away from her. "Don’t be so shy," Valene said. "You still don’t have that thing about older women?" the 8-year-old girl added.

"It’s not that. I’m looking for my new little sister. She dawdles a lot. I’ve got to drop her off at St. Olaf’s pre-kindergarten," Robby explained. He then excitedly said, "Here she comes!"

Rounding the corner from behind the scrubs was a 4-year-old girl with short brown hair wearing green shorts and a Blue’s Clues T-shirt. Her thumb was firmly planted in her mouth.

"Hurry up, Jenny, or we’ll all be late for school," Robby urged his sister.

’Jenny?’ Valene thought as a smile crossed her face. A close inspection of the child’s face confirmed that this was Jeneane, reduced into a 4-year-old. Like Uxia, she was paying the ultimate price for her participation and profiting in the Izumiwakai underground. Play with the water, and sooner or later you get soaked!

"She’s still traumatized by the events of two weeks ago," Robby said. "She doesn’t speak and has been very withdrawn. My older mommy/sister has been trying to bring her out of it. She thinks having her meet other kids her own age will help."

Valene smiled more broadly, adding, "I’m sure she’ll enjoy that."

Robby moved closer to Valene and whispered in her ear, "Jenny was mumbling something about the cartel being out to get her hours before this happened. What do you think she meant by that?"

Valene replied, "We’re too young to contemplate such things."

"But I tell you what. Why don’t we arrange to bring Jenny over to my place to meet my baby sister Uxia on a play date," Valene offered.

"I think she’d like that," Robby grinned.

"Come on, Robby, I’ll race you to the school," Valene added. As the kids took off, Valene grinned to herself. She now had Rob - er, Robby - all to herself, and maybe 15 more years to make him love her. She’d finally get her dream man - provided he grew up to be a hunk again.

The End