Allie's adventure in the land of wonder.

Chapter 6
You're not the boss of me!

Chapter Description: Edie's ambitions are a little advanced for her age.

Edie sat alone on the swing set. She had become more assertive since she had her little taste of power over Allie and Betty.

She wanted to dominate Allie in all they did. So much so, that she now found herself alone and isolated as Allie wouldn’t have anything to do with her.

Grandma had encouraged Allie to leave Edie to her own devices. She knew that a little self-contemplation would allow Edie to see the error of her ways.

After a while, Edie walked back to the house feeling a little down due to all the negative vibes given off by Allie and grandma. As she passed the mushroom, the caterpillar decided to take advantage of her funk.

“What’sa matter, baby? You look like you lost your best friend,” he said to her with a sympathetic undertone to his voice.

“Oh, I guess I’m just too bossy for Betty and Allie,” said the little girl. She decided to apologize and try to do better. The caterpillar saw through her resolve and took advantage of her indecision.

“C’mon, baby! Is that what you really want? Didn’t it feel good to be the boss and shee... stuff?”

“Well, I liked it, but Allie and Betty didn’t,” said Edie. She didn’t want to give up being a boss, but she realized that she couldn’t be a boss without anyone to boss around.

Also, she was lonely, a bit bored, and wanted to play with Allie.

“C’mere, girl! I got a secret to whisper to you!” said the caterpillar as he motioned for her to come close. He made a few darting glances left and right to make himself seem convincing.

Edie, being all of 9 years of age, ate his little act all up.

After a few quick whispers and a transfer of 3 tiny vials, Edie’s face lit up with newfound joy and she went inside to check on grandma and Allie.

------

“I’m very proud of you, Edie! It takes a very mature person to admit they’re wrong. I know a lot of adults who aren’t as mature as you are right now!” said grandma.

“Way to go, Edie!” added Allie. She didn’t know exactly what was going on, other than Edie was back to play with her, so she took her cues from grandma.

Edie had apologized to both Allie and grandma, personally. She shared a hug with each and attempted to clean the kitchen by herself. After some help from grandma, she was able to finish and it looked spotless.

She insisted that grandma and Allie lay back on the couch, while she took care of their needs. She knew how to microwave popcorn and she knew how to serve water and juice from the refrigerator.

The two were enjoying their movie with Edie occasionally sitting down with them. Whatever they needed, (aside from the bathroom, of course!), Edie provided for them.

Edie refreshed their drinks and the trio had a great movie night.

“Edie, are you going to pamper us from now on? I think you’ve learned your lesson and have done your punishment! You’re more than forgiven!”

“Yeah, Edie! Stop being so nice, it’s creepy!” joked Allie good-naturedly.

Edie smiled, gave her best “You’re so nice and more than worth it” act and they all went to bed.

------

Allie popped off to sleep, tired and happy from her busy day. Edie grinned a not-very wholesome grin at her before she went to sleep.

Grandma was tickled pink that Edie had learned her lesson so quickly. She would make a great lawyer or politician someday, she just knew it! She fell asleep shortly thereafter.

---------

The morning came at a little bit before six. The sun’s light hit the window outside grandma’s bedroom and a small ray of light made its way through an opening between the drapes.

It hit her face, both warming her where it touched and triggering her optic nerves. They sent a signal to her brain to wake up.

She woke up with a start, looked around her room, and bounced out of bed with the boundless energy of a six-year-old.

She felt great this morning! She stretched, scratched an itch, and for the first time in a very long time, didn’t have to wait for other parts of her body to wake up before she could move.

She ran to the toilet and pulled herself up on it. Did her business, hummed a tuneless tune with her legs swinging back and forth, then bounced onto the floor and went to get dressed for the day.

She couldn’t find any clothes that fit her.

“That’s odd!” she said as she looked in her dresser drawers for some underwear and only found large granny panties.

She moved to the closet and slide the door by its handle, which was at her eye height, to the left. Looking up, all she saw were big people’s clothing. None of that would fit!

A full-length mirror next to her clothing closet caught her attention and she went to see the little girl reflected there.

In the mirror at a height of three foot six, the little girl stared back. She had straight raven hair, pudgy dimpled cheeks, and lots of baby fat still hanging around her midriff.

Betty took it all in, made a muscle-man pose, and then realized that there was something wrong with this picture.

She looked around her room and found to her amazement it had become enormous overnight. Her head came to just above the doorknob as she reached up and opened it.

Edie and Allie were still in bed, sleeping.

She pulled herself up onto Edie’s bed, straddled her body, and shook her awake.

Edie yawned, stretched, and looked up at Betty.

“Mornin’ Squirt! What do you want at this hour of the morning?” Asked Edie as she went to wipe some of her remaining sleep from her eyes.

“Edie! Did you do this?” asked Betty, hoping that it wasn’t true.

“Do what, Squirt?” returned Edie with mischief in her eyes and a smile that matched.

“This!” said Betty as she spread out her arms to demonstrate that she was no longer a woman in her seventies but a child of no more than six.

“Oh, that! You’ll get used to it. Now get off me, I gotta pee!”

Edie picked her naked grandmother up by the waist as if she weighed no more than a cotton ball. Putting her aside on the bed, she stood up.

All the way up!

Her pajamas strained at the seams as she stood. She looked to be 21 years of age and had a great-looking body to boot!

She moved off to the bathroom while leaving Betty staring after her, speechless.

Betty gathered her wits and climbed down off Edie’s bed. She moved over to Allie’s bed and climbed up.

She was going to shake Allie awake, but what she found stopped her.

Allie looked like a happy little girl, enjoying her dream time just before waking up. The problem was that while Allie was a little girl of eight, this Allie looked like a little girl of six.

She was a whole foot shorter and just about Betty’s height. The loose-fitting pajamas that she had gone to bed with were now a lot looser. The fingertips on her hands barely came past the sleeve ends.

“Why would she do this?” wondered grandma.

Edie came back from her morning toilet and entered the room.

“You shouldn’t bother Allie, Betty. She’s a growing girl and needs her rest. Heh, heh, heh!”

The sneer in her voice was so palpable, that Betty could have cut it with a knife.

“Why did you do this?” asked Betty, “I thought you had learned your lesson?”

“Well, I didn’t! I liked being the boss and nothing makes me happier!”

Betty just stared at her in disbelief. She was having a hard time figuring out why such a sweet little girl had made herself into...into...into, what, exactly?”

“We’re going to spend the day with me as the boss of you two!”, said Edie with wicked glee, “I’m the oldest now and I’m the boss!”

Betty crossed her arms and gave her a stern look.

“We’ll fight you! You won’t be the boss for long, young lady, I guarantee that!”

Allie began to stir, the two having an argument next to her was waking her from her happy dreams.

“Oh, really? And how do you plan to stop me, granny?”

“There’s the mushroom out back, did you plan for that?”

“Done and done, little girl! You could eat the whole mushroom and it won’t have any effect on you right now!”

With a look of disbelief, Betty uncrossed her arms and leaned in Edie's direction, “And just how did you figure out that angle? I think you’re bluffing!”

“I talked it over with the caterpillar if you must know! He’s off for the day as well, so you won’t get any help from him, either!”

Grandma decided to try a different tack. She was trying to reason with Edie who was now an adult and had an adult’s experience. Maybe…

“So, as a little girl of nine, you wanted to play boss to a pair of girls. How do you feel now that you’re in your twenties?”

“Ah! I’m glad you asked! You might think that a twenty-one-year-old girl might look back at what she wanted at age nine and think it silly, right?”

Grandma shook her head yes as Allie woke up and stretched.

“Hey, good morning Grammy, um, I mean Betty! Are you going to play with us today?” she smiled at her hopefully through a full set of perfect milk teeth.

Edie answered her prior question, “When you woke me up this morning, I looked at your tiny body and felt the need to boss you around even more! Get dressed, you two, there are chores to be done!”

Allie looked over at Edie’s pajamas which seemed to be ready to rip if she moved the wrong way. “You first, Edie!”

“Fine!” said Edie as she stormed off in a huff towards grandma’s room. She’d find something there that fit.

Betty got off Allie’s bed and moved over to the closet. There were a few boxes of various-sized clothes there for her grandkids. She began to pull out something for her and Allie to wear.

Later on, the two were dressed in matching red jumpers with yellow t-shirts and looked nearly like a pair of twins. The only real difference was that Allie was a little taller and had straight blond hair.

“We’re twins! We’re twins!” said Allie as she jumped around the room with child-like enthusiasm.

“I thought you might like that,” said Betty as she admired her handiwork in a mirror. She spoke a poem that came up from the back of her mind:

    Tweedledum and Tweedledee,

    Agreed to have a battle,

    For Tweedledum said Tweedledee,

    Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

“Alice through the looking-glass!” yelled Allie as she recognized one of her favorites. She squealed with glee and held her hands clasped in front of her.

“Allie, why are you acting that way?” grandma was concerned that Allie might have had more than her body regressed.

“What way?” asked Allie innocently.

“Like a giggly young child,”

“Because I was 8 yesterday and practically a grownup! Today, I’m a 6-year-old kid!” gushed Allie.

“Acting your age, eh?” Grandma smiled at her ability to adapt.

“Yup!”

“Hey, you two! Breakfast is ready, come eat it before it gets cold,” yelled Edith from the kitchen.

There was cereal, juice, and milk on the table, and a pair of booster seats were already in place for the girls. Edie picked them up, one by one, and placed them in their boosted chairs.

Edie was wearing a peach-colored polyester jumpsuit that would have looked right at home on Charlie’s Angels, a 1970s action drama.

“I thought I burned that thing a long time ago! Speaking of which, don’t get too close to loose flames, Edie!”

Edie cocked an eye at the little girl, “And why is that, squirt?”

“Because the polyester in that outfit will go up in flames!” laughed Betty. She was half-kidding, but you never know!

“I think you look, you know, um, cool, Edie!” said Allie brightly.

“What did that caterpillar put in your potion? I want some!” muttered Edie at Allie’s sunshiny personality.

After some eating and some giggles between Allie and Betty at Edie’s expense, Edie decided to start laying down the rules.

“Okay, squirts, listen up!” she began.

“We’re all ears, dear!” said Betty hoping that using “dear” would lessen Edie’s authority.

“That’s the first thing! My name is Edith! You will both call me Edith!”

“Yes, Edith!” moaned the two girls in perfect unison with a giggle at how funny each other sounded.

Edith began to pace back and forth while laying down the rules. When her back was turned, Allie mimicked her mouth opening and closing with her hand and making her face scrunch up.

This elicited a chuckle from Betty.

As Edith turned around to see who had made the noise, Allie resumed her breakfast with an angelic expression.

Betty almost blew milk from her nose.

“Whatever you two are doing, stop it!” said Edith through a red face and some anger at having her authority usurped.

“Yes, ma’am!” groaned the two girls in unison. The hilarity was too much and they both broke out laughing.

“You stop that! You stop that immediately or so help me…” began Edith.

“What will you do, Edith?” asked Allie with a mock look of shock on her face, “Are you gonna…”

“Well, I might!” said Edith uncertainly, “Anyway, we’re going shopping! Put your bowls in the sink and get ready to go. Make certain you use the toilet before we do!”

Allie drank down all the remaining juice on the table. Betty caught on to what she was doing and drank a big glass of water when Edith wasn’t looking.

Allie made a quick stop in her room before they went.

“Allie, hurry up! We’re waiting on you! Don’t make us leave without you.” yelled Edith at the door with Betty in tow.

“Okay, okay!” yelled back Allie as she tried to walk and finish fastening the brass buttons on her jumper. It was hard to do with the clumsy fingers of a six-year-old.

“Here, I’ll do it!” said Edith impatiently. She fastened the last button and the trio left the house by the back door.

The mushroom stood as it always did, there was a little sign on it with fresh paint that read “Gone fishin’”

The trio got in grandma’s car. The girls rode in the back seat on the same boosters from the kitchen with their seatbelts fastened.

Betty, with her best Southern belle imitation, said, “Mercy me, miss Edith, where evah are we a goin’?”

Allie chuckled at that.

“Shut up and no back talk from you two. I want you to be as quiet as mice, get me?”

“Yesss, ma’aaam!” groaned the two in perfect unison.

On the way to the store, Allie was able to use her hand mimic trick several times. The joke never got old between the two and Edith’s mood became more fouler.

They stopped at a clothing store, where Edith was able to buy some baggy jeans and several t-shirts. The trio made quite a stir as the two girls made some fun at Edith’s expense with their antics.

An elderly lady came up and greeted Edith.

“Hello, my dear! Are these your children? Oh, they must be! Hello, girls! Aren’t you two just so cute in your matching outfits!”

“Hi!” said the two with a cheery smile while lifting up their hands in greeting simultaneously. Allie raised her right and Betty raised her left.

“Oh, they’re just adorable! Just adorable! Did you know…” continued the lady not letting Edith get a word in edgewise. She finally ran down 15 minutes later.

“Are they twins, by chance?” asked the lady. Edith snapped out of her polite stupor and said “Ye...um, no, they’re cousins!”

“One blond and one with black raven hair, they’ll certainly be a couple of boy magnets when they get older!”

“Ew, yuck, boys!” said the two in unified disgust and then laughter.

“Now, now! I’m certain that you’ll change your mind later,” said the lady as the two shook their heads no with sincerity toward her.

“Well, it was nice to chat with you!” said Edith abruptly, “But we’ve got to get on with our shopping. See you!”

She ushered the two girls towards the long line at the check-out counter.

After the line of people had moved halfway and the line filled up to twice as long, Allie began to jump up and down.

“I gotta potty!” she said as she began to perform the PP dance.

“Can’t you hold it?” asked Edith.

“OH! I gotta potty too! Said Betty as she joined Allie in her dance.

“Oh, for heaven's sake!” said Edith with exasperation, “Come on, we’ll go to the restroom, dangit!”

Edith waited outside the restroom while the two went in.

“Make it snappy, we’ve still got groceries to get!” she grumped at the two.

Inside the restroom, Allie needed help with her fasteners, Betty came over and helped. After the front of her overalls fell down, Betty noticed something was different about Allie’s underwear.

“Allie, are you wearing a pull-up?”

“Yep, I didn’t know if Edie would let me go or if she’d make me pee myself.”

“You’re so smart, I wish I’d thought of that! Speaking of which…”

With the two girls’ bladders drained, they went back outside the restroom to rejoin Edith.

“It’s about time! C’mon, let’s get out of here!”

By the time they’d got to the front of the busy store, several more registers had opened up. They moved through the line and made it back in their car very quickly.

-------

At the grocery store, Allie and Betty pretended to be bratty kids. They begged for sugary cereals and candy, whined when Edith wouldn’t give in and Allie had to go to the bathroom again.

“I can’t help it, Edith! I have a small bladder! But don’t worry, I get a bigger one as I get older!” hinted Allie.

As they approached the adult products section of the supermarket, Edith grabbed a package of adult-sized diapers and put it in the cart.

“Hey, what are those for?” asked Allie.

“They’re for me, of course!” said Edith with no leeway for argument.

“Well, then we’d better get some baby diapers too! Didn’t you say we were out of them?” asked Betty.

“What? Do you wear them too?” Asked Edith sarcastically.

“No, they’re for later. Better get two packages, just in case,” said Betty with a hint of malice in her voice.

Edith ignored her remark.

At the baby aisle, Allie and Betty made a game of guessing which diapers Edith would like best.

“Oh, I think the Cruzers are more her speed!” suggested Allie making her voice loud enough for Edith to hear.

“No, no! Pampers! You can’t go wrong with Big Bird!”

“Hey! They removed all the sesame street characters!” noted Allie, “That sucks!”

“Okay, enough!” said Edith as she grabbed two packages of generic white ones and slammed them into the cart, “Let’s go home and we’ll just see who wears the diapers later, hmm?”

“Well, obviously, that’d be you. You just bought a whole package of adult diapers, after all!” said Betty as Allie looked at her in shock.

This earned her a venomous look from Edith.

The trio finished their shopping and went home in silence. The two could tell that Edith was close to the breaking point and didn’t want to anger her any further.

They arrived home, Edith parked the car and they unloaded the groceries.

On the third trip to the car, Allie was greeted by the caterpillar.

“Hi, baby! I see you having fun! Good times, eh?”

“Not really, when does this spell wear off, anyway? Edith’s about to lose it!”

“Now, now, baby! It’s the reason why I came back so early, see?”

“No, why don’t you tell me?” asked Allie as Edith noticed her absence and started to yell for her to finish unloading the groceries.

“Don’t worry, be hap…never mind! Just keep her cool for about another hour, okay? I think you’ll like it!”

“Okay! Thank you!” she said as she ran over to the car for the last bag.

Allie came back to find that Edith had changed out of her polyester suit and was wearing her new jeans and t-shirt.

She heard a distinct soft crinkle and could smell baby powder as Edith moved.

“You got something to say to me, Squirt?” asked Edith defensively.

“Not a thing, Edith, what’s for supper?”

“Oh, I thought I’d make some chicken tenders and tater tots. I have a craving for them for some reason.”

Allie knew why, but she wasn’t going to tell Edith.

Betty came in and helped Edith with the dinner as best as a 6-year-old can.

The chicken tenders and tater tots were served up and the three ate them with gusto.

Edith having stuffed herself with the childish delicacies sat on the couch as the two girls cleaned up after her “cooking”.

“Hey, one of you squirts bring me a beer!” she bellowed from the couch. The girls just ignored her.

“HEY! I’m talking to you! I said to bring me a beer!” yelled Edith a second time.

“Well, that’s it! I’m mad now!” she continued to yell. She got up from the couch and stormed into the kitchen where the girls were just finishing up.

“I told you to get me a beer and you ignored me!” she yelled at the two, “Now, I’m gonna do it and you little brats deserve everything I’m gonna do to you!”

“Whoa! Whoa! Edie, just calm down!” said Betty as she stepped in front of Edith with both hands up to prevent her from advancing toward Allie.

"And who's gonna stop me, Squirt? You? Maybe I'll start with you first!"

Edith grabbed Betty’s wrist and felt a wave of dizziness wash over her body.

“Jus’ you..wai...I’m gon, gonna…” she said as she began to shrink.

Betty grabbed her other arm to steady her.

“Easy now, I think you might want to sit down.”

Edith broke loose and stood unsteadily on her feet. Her shrinking waist and hips refused to hold up her pants any longer. They fell down as she continued to get younger.

“Noo! I was gonna be da mommy!” she said through her haze of confusion as she continued to shrink to a small toddler. Her legs gave out and she fell on her butt.

As her senses returned, she looked up to see the two six-year-olds towering over her. Allie was amused, Betty had her arms crossed and wasn’t smiling one little bit.

“Um, am I in trouble?” she asked innocently.