Bothered and Bewildered

Chapter 5
Chapter 5

Josh walked into my room. I stood up in my crib. "Hi!"

"Oh, shut up," he said. "Look at all this stuff. Mom never did that for me when I was a baby. I can’t stand this. She’s staying home all the time now, not for me anymore, so she can take care of you. You, you little brat, have got to go. I wish I had never met you. You were so perfect when you were nineteen."

I held up two fingers. "I’m two. This many."

"You’re going to be nothing when I get finished with you. It’s bad enough I’m stuck as a little kid for the rest of my life and I’m not sharing my wife with you. Bye, Jeremy."

"Bye bye." I said and offered Josh a bear.

Josh held up a large knife and walked over to the crib. "This won’t hurt a bit."

"No, it won’t," Mommy said and snapped her fingers. Josh froze in place. "You’ve never heard of a baby monitor?" she asked and pointed to a white box.

"But you never treated me like that when I was a baby."

"Because you were being punished, you idiot. You knew you weren’t a baby. He doesn’t. He’s my baby now, and you aren’t going to hurt him, either."

"I thought you were going to work. What happened to that?"

"It’s not necessary. Jimmy’s job isn’t worth the effort, and we are going to start watching Jimmy for Kimberly. He’s a little younger than Jeremy now."

"I’d rather be a canary!" Josh shouted out.

"That’s too easy. You are going to be a baby again, a real baby this time and Jeremy’s twin brother. This way the two of you will grow up together, neither one of you will remember anything about this life, and for a couple of years I won’t have to put up with your whining any more. Or maybe...."

"What?" Josh demanded. "You think this is going to stop me? That kid is going. It’s not his fault, but yours. You were my wife, Julie. I am not about to share you with him. You’re my Mom now, not his."

"Wrong again, Josh, dearest. Take a look."

I felt funny. "Mommy? I’m good. I...." Something turned off. I sat down on my backside, and fell over on my back as I shrank out of my clothes, and even my diaper.

Josh was still frozen, but his eyes grew wide as he looked at me.

"How old is he now?"

"Two months old, and you are going to join him in a second, darling. I’ve changed my mind about twin boys, too. Jeremy is going to have a twin sister, after all. Good bye, Joshua. From now on it’s Jeremy and Julia."

"You can’t do that to me. I’m not a girl. I can’t be a girl. Not after all of this."

A moment later, Mommy laid my twin sister down next to me. She snapped her fingers and we were both dressed in diapers and t-shirts. Julia glared at me with such hatred that I had to roll away from her. Her expression changed, slowly as she lost the last of her memories.

This was not going to be a good start for our relationship. I couldn’t talk, but I looked up at Mommy.

"I’m sorry, Evan. I really am. You were a sweetheart, and you would have made a great father for Josh, but it couldn’t work out that way. Close your eyes, sweetheart, and when you wake up you won’t remember anything except being my darling baby boy."

I tried to fight it, but I closed my eyes, and somewhere I heard Mommy’s voice singing ’The Owl and the Pussycat." Being a baby wasn’t too bad, I thought, not bad at all. And I fell asleep.

End