Back to the Basics

Chapter 1
Part 1

“Come on, Lucy....”It’s my turn”

“No way. .”You’ve already had your turn”

On and on it kept going. Kurt, a senior in college who was studying for his finals, was way behind in his work and this was definitely not helping.

His 13 year old sister, Lucy and her two best friends, Linda and Dorothy, were playing a game in the other room. But it seemed they were doing more arguing than play.

Kurt tried to concentrate. The pressure was on and his head was pounding.

The screen door on the back porch slammed and Kurt was about to explode on the girls when he realized that it was not them, but his girlfriend Karen.

At 18, Karen was 4 years younger than Kurt, and sometimes she acted like it.

Karen knew that Kurt was hard at work, so she grabbed a soda from the fridge and headed for Kurt’s room to read a magazine. On the way, she saw the girls on the Living room floor. They were all 13 years old and all about the same size with their gangly legs and small breasts that bespoke of their adolescence.

It made Karen shudder to think how awkward that stage had been for her.

She made her way to Kurt’s room and plopped down on a sofa and began to read.

It seemed to Karen that Kurt had been born an old man. He was so mature and had never changed in the two years since she had met him. That maturity was sometimes difficult for a hard charging, party-girl like Karen. He always seemed to be in control of every situation and sometimes it frustrated his girlfriend to no end. She wished sometimes that he would just let loose.

The bickering in the other room continued....” Come on, Dorothy, you lost, so you have to take the treatment”

?The treatment?’ thought Karen, ? I wonder what could that possibly mean?’

Things quieted down for awhile, then Karen overheard one of them say “Your turn, Lucy. “you lost. “you have to take the treatment now too”.

What Karen heard next didn’t sound right. Some of the girls voices sounded different....higher, like they weren’t teenagers anymore.

Giving into her curiosity, she got up and walked out of the bedroom towards the source of the noise. Kurt, deep in his work, didn’t notice her leave.

When Karen got to the living room, she was shocked at what she saw. Instead of three 13 year old girls, there was one 13 year old, another girl looked like she was 11 and one child of about 9.

“What’s going on here?” Karen said “You kids shouldn’t be in here by yourselves”. She looked around “And where’s Lucy?”

Surprisingly, the 11 year old raised her hand. “Here I am, Karen”

They must have been trying to play a trick on her. “Come on, Lucy is 13, practically a young lady, and at least a couple of years older than you are”

The 11 year old girl laughed. “You mean two years older than I was”

Karen stared at her, and finally Linda, the only 13 year old, spoke up.

“Don’t freak, Karen. We are still Linda, Dorothy and Lucy, but just not the same age as before. My dad works in a lab and has been experimenting with a device that can make people younger. He left one of the prototypes at home and we started playing with it last week. “There is no harm and the person returns to normal in a few hours.”

Karen thought about this, smiled and finally said “Nah, you guys are pulling my leg...”People can’t get younger”.

Linda laughed. “Well, we just finished the game and as you can tell” she pointed to the 9 year old, “Dorothy there lost the first round”

“Only because you’re a big meanie and also you cheated” Dorothy wined, sounding every bit like a child and not the teen Karen had seen before.

Linda continued. “And Lucy just lost to me, so now she has to take the treatment”.

Lucy looked concerned. “Do I have to, I-I mean I’m already two years younger and you have already won the game”

Linda was not impressed. “You know the rules, Lucy, Come on, pay up”

Lucy sighed. “Oh okay”. She stood up. “Shoot!”

Karen saw Linda point a device at Lucy. It looked a lot like a small compact case, but this one had a single button on the outside.

She pushed the button and said, “not a lot happens at first, but if I hold the button down for awhile.....”

Karen watched in fascination as Lucy began to shrink. Her body lost the few curves that it had left. The little bumps that were her breasts shrank smaller and smaller until finally, they were gone.

“See” Linda said as she continued to press the button, “Lucy has passed below puberty and is now a 10 year old child, and as I continue the process....”

Lucy got smaller...”she is now the same age as Dorothy”

Karen looked at Linda’s hand, but her thumb was not letting up on the button.

“Hey” said Lucy, now a 9 year old. “That’s not fair.... “You’re not supposed to make me younger than Dorothy!”

But she was younger, about 8 now and still getting younger. Her blue jeans that once were skin tight on her young adult body were trying to fall off of her now and she had to hold them up with one hand.

Finally, Linda stopped when Lucy reach the age of 7.

Karen walked over to her and stared down. “Remarkable”, she said. ”Lucy, do you still remember everything like before?”

“Yes” said the little girl “I-I mean sort of. “I know I am ?sposed’ to be 13, but I don’t feel like a big girl no more.

“What she means...” Linda explained “is that Lucy is still the same person mentally, but all of her experiences from age 7 to 13 have been temporarily repressed. “So , she really feels and acts like a little girl”.

Seemingly growing board with the conversation, Linda said, “Come on Children, or should I say “Losers”, let’s go upstairs and get ready for bed”.

As they turned to leave, Karen asked “Linda, do you mind if I keep the device for awhile?

Linda looked at her “No, I don’t mind. The kids here don’t need the device to return to normal. That will happen on it’s own by morning.

She handed the compact to Karen and the three of them trudged upstairs.

Karen got a nasty little gleam in her eye. Maybe she could take Mr. Mature down a peg or two. That would be a really interesting experiment.