An Executive's Decision

Chapter 1
Full story

Rob sat back in the massive leathery throne that was his executive’s chair. In Rob’s mind the posh office was all for show, even though he was an executive he was no where near the top of the corporate ladder at WHAR. His job at the children’s network was simple: get normally child-hating people to put on a fake smile on stage with the very bane of their existence. It was a tough job that had him constantly kissing ass to the stars, and getting kicked in his ass by his bosses. Often it would spill over into his free time, but this weekend was going to be different. Somehow he managed to get himself the weekend off from the emotionally draining hell he called his job, and when his twin sister Paula offered him a getaway weekend, he accepted. For the last hour he sat there, staring at the clock.

Eventually he managed to escape the building and headed directly to the restaurant that his sister had promised to meet him at. His sister and her life-partner had arrived before him at the restaurant and he sulked into the booth, sitting across the two of them. They exchanged pleasantries, his sister chastising him at his “dopey” demeanor. As he had done many times over the phone he complained about the stress of his job and life, his sister calling him childish, a quip she repeated when he ordered a burger without some of the onions. He laughed it on, lamenting on how easy it would be to be an actual child, to which made Paula’s life-partner Alice light up like a happy elf. She offered Rob some pills, promising him that he’d become five by the morning. Thinking it was a prank, but secretly wishing for it to be true, he accepted after the promise of an antidote was made. He downed the pills and paid the check. To him tomorrow was going to be a brand new day.

The night however had other plans. He tossed and turned, his whole body ached, and everything to him felt weird. Several times he got to sleep only to have a sharp jerk in part of his body. The night went on like this, as his body kept shrinking, spiraling backwards through time, on his journey he passed his twenties, he passed puberty and by the time first light was peaking through the window, he was only five. He rolled over in the bed, moaning. He was taken aback by the soprano his voice now had, he swung his legs over the bed, and they dangled rather then touch? the floor. He looked down, and saw the tiny legs, he wiggled them to make sure they were his...and they were! He looked back into the bed and saw he had regressed right out of his clothes. Ecstatic he sprinted into his sister’s room and the naked boy jumped on the bed “Paula! Paula! It worked! It worked!”

After a slight scolding on how a child shouldn’t be running about naked Paula got Rob dressed in a pair of tiny jeans and a t-shirt. Just on Rob’s new five-year-old frame they fit just fine. Rob asked what he could do, but the reply was just “Breakfast” then “Play with friends of course!” The promise of friends made Rob giddy, so he greedily ate the fruit loops presented to him for breakfast. What was odd though, although he knew he wasn’t a child in reality, the more they seemed to baby him, the more real it became. He could feel his mind slip a little when Mommy (Paula insisted, for theatrical purposes) put on his Velcro shoes. As he tried to get used to his smaller arms, and splashed some milk, for a moment all of his mind faded and he just loved playing with the cereal! These pills were doing wonders. As he was smiling gleefully Mommy gave him a cryptic piece of advice. “Careful Robby, the more childish you act, the more childish you become.” He didn’t get it, in his current state, but when the cereal was done, it hit him like a ton of bricks. His mental memory only went into his late twenties! He was about to say something, but mommy already had him distracted with promises of playtime with the girl next door.

The girl next door was someone he had met before: His boss’s daughter. Initially he thought she had cooties, but after she managed to shoot him dead in a game of “Cops and robbers” he decided she was all right. The two five year olds played hard until the sun was low in the sky. She beat him in jacks, but he took her out in hopscotch. All the while his mind kept slipping back to match his five-year-old body. When Mommy called him back inside for dinner, he lamented on playing with her, how could he have enjoyed such un-cool kiddy games? Then he remembered: Don’t act like a kid! His mental mind was now permanently stuck in his teens, and he knew it. He raced inside and demanded the antidote. He explained that while he was having fun, he did want to grow back up. Mommy grinned, kneeling down to his level, brushing a bit of mud from when he was playing “King of the Hill” and explained, using small words, so he’d understand. “Sweetie, there is such thing.” Robby grimaced, disgusted at this trap his sister laid for him. He decided to run, but before he could turn around, Paula’s life partner already had him in a tickle hold. First he cursed while he laughed, but it was fun, and his mind kept slipping, soon the curses went from legitimate four letter words to “stoopie-head” and then stopped all together when he forgot why he was angry. Once they stopped, the tickle beast looked up at Paula. “We finally have a child of our very own!” Paula nodded and Robby extended his arms. “Hug mommy?”