Allie's adventure in the land of wonder.

Chapter 9
The Beach Breech Incident

Chapter Description: Betty learns that sometimes it's okay to be nostalgic and sometimes, it's not.

It was a hot summer day. Too hot in the house and too hot outside. The bright sunshine burned down on the backyard where the mushroom sat. The caterpillar had once again erected a portable canopy to shade him and the mushroom.

A large fan blew the hot, still air around making a small breeze for him. He sat back in his chaise lounge on top of the mushroom wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.

He took sips from a cool iced drink that floated next to him. He was a cool caterpillar!

Inside the house, Allie and Edie were modeling their bathing suits for granny. They both had on one-piece bathing suits. Allie's was light blue and Edie's had the two main characters from the movie “Frozen” on it.

Edie was hoping that Allie would be a little jealous of her bikini and was disappointed when Allie complimented her on it. She started to think of other ways to annoy her.

“I’m taller than you!” she teased.

“Am not!” said Allie taking the bait.

The two went back and forth on the matter until grandma had them stand against a door jamb and made pencil marks using their heads as guides.

“Hah!” said Allie, “See! I’m at least a half-inch taller!”

“So, what?” said Edie. She walked off in a huff to the couch and sat down hard with her arms crossed displaying her displeasure in not getting what she wanted with a mean-looking pout.

“Girls, Edie will be going away in a few days and this is the last day we have to be able to go to the beach together!”

The two girls registered her remark, looked at each other momentarily, and then turned their heads away from each other.

“Hmmphf!” muttered Edie

“Do you want your last day together at the beach to be filled with petty fighting or do you want to go and have fun together?”

“I wanna have fun!” said Allie immediately.

“Fun, I guess,” said Edie grudgingly.

“Good! Then you know what to do! Allie, I need to see you in the kitchen.”

“Okay, granny!”

In the kitchen, grandma made certain that Edie was still on the couch and turned to Allie.

“How’d you do that? You were a full inch shorter than Edie when she came for vacation.”

“Um, I had a growth spurt?” asked Allie innocently.

She wasn’t very convincing.

“Spill the beans, Allie!”

“Okay, I guess I can tell you, anyway,” she motioned for grandma to bend down and then whispered her secret in her ear.

“They’re teaching me how to grow up and down in mirror land, I can only do it a little bit, though.”

“What age are you right now?”

“About 9 and a half.”

“Pretty sneaky! Maybe I should go over there for lessons.”

“Oh, anyone that eats the tea and cake can do it eventually. The magic sort of stays in their system.”

Edie was getting over her pout and noticed that Allie and grandma were in the kitchen. She wanted to know what they were whispering about and got off the couch.

She got noticed by Allie.

“Well, that’s all I know about it, anyway!” said Allie aloud as grandma flinched at her loudness.

“That’s good to know, Allie!” said grandma as she straightened up with too much brightness to her voice.

“What are you two talking about?” asked Edie.

“I wanted grandma to go to the beach as Betty. But it looks like that’s a bad idea!” Lied Allie flat out.

She was learning a lot of things over in mirror land.

“Well, yes! As I was explaining, you girls need an adult to watch you on the beach and I’m the only one old enough to drive,” added grandma smoothly.

“Then why were you whispering about it? You could have included me in this, too, you know!”

“Um, we wanted to surprise you?” said Allie.

Edie didn’t catch the question mark at the end of Allie’s statement.

“Oh, I see.”

“Besides, you were in a funk on the couch, I doubt you would have been interested,” slipped in grandma.

She was a very good poker player in her time.

“Oh, right!” said Edie as she looked at grandma with a little more belief in her eyes, “Granny, aren’t you going to wear a bathing suit, too?”

“Well, yes, but I don’t have anything suitable. A tie-dyed swimsuit might fit in with today's fashion, but I don't want to risk it. We’ll stop off at the shopping mall and get one there.”

“Okay! I think we’ve got everything packed. Let’s go to the mall!” said Allie with excitement.

Edie agreed with her enthusiastically. Her enthusiasm was contagious!

The two girls convinced grandma to wear a Bandeau-style bikini. She was a bit uncomfortable about showing off too much skin, but the girls bombarded her with compliments on her 30-year-old figure and she relented.

“We need to pick up one more thing!” said grandma as she moved over to the young miss section with the girls in tow.

She pointed at a matching one-piece swimsuit to Edie’s and said, “Allie, Edie, what do you think about getting Allie something a little flashier?”

Edie was well past her pettiness from earlier and said, “I think that’s a great idea! Go for it, Allie!”

Allie didn’t take a lot of convincing, they purchased the swimsuit and Allie went to the store's restroom to put it on. She put her old one in the bag she had brought the new one in.

“Wow! You look really good in that, Allie!” complimented Edie. She could be a brat sometimes but right now she was being a very good girl.

At the beach, the two girls, ages 8 (actually 9 and a half), and 9 played in the sand on the beach. Betty laid back on a padded lounger and sipped her cool drink while she watched them have fun together.

She wished she could join them, but they needed adult supervision. She watched as the two girls come out of the ocean laughing and having great fun after diving into the waves with a little sadness and regret.

Allie motioned Edie over and pointed at grandma. The two came up to her.

“Grandma! Have you put on any sunscreen?” asked Allie.

"Bless her heart!" thought grandma, that girl always thought of others first! It made her heart swell with happiness.

“No, I haven’t. Can you put some on my back?” she sat up in the lounger and went to undo the tie-string holding her bikini top up. She couldn’t reach it very easily and turned around for one of the girls to undo it.

She noticed that the skimpy material wasn’t holding her breasts as tightly as before. it was probably just a little stretched from its newness, she figured.

The girls slathered themselves down with sunscreen. Allie and Edie took off like shots to play in the sand closer to the surf. Grandma laid back down on the lounger and fell asleep for what felt like a few moments.

It was a light sleep that allowed her awareness of the beach to fade in and out. She felt the hot sun warm her body and a light breeze blew away her sweat.

A vivid image of playing with Edie and Allie on the swings popped up in her mind. Grandma still wished she could play with them, but she again reassured herself that she had to be the adult and let it pass.

Another image popped up with them playing with Barbies. Her heart panged with longing as she had enjoyed that. She watched the image of giggling girls playing barbies fade out with more sadness and regret.

She woke up from her light slumber and looked at the girls to see what they were up to. They were doing fine!

She should have brought a book to read, it would have taken her mind off the emotions she was feeling.

She readjusted her position on the lounger and noticed that her bikini top was loose again. As she checked herself, she determined that new fabric stretching out wouldn’t account for it. She checked the fit of her bikini bottom.

The tie-strings hung limp on her hips. She was able to slide several fingers under the straps on both sides. She tightened them and went to get up, holding her loose bikini top in place with one hand as it slipped down and threatened to reveal a little too much skin.

She signaled for the girls to come over. It took several tries, but they came back as soon as they noticed her waving at them.

The sight of her holding her loose top while her bikini bottom hung at an odd angle as she jumped around would have been interesting to watch had anyone done so.

“What is it, granny?” asked Allie. She stopped and got a good look at her grandma. A worried look blossomed on her face.

Grandma looked at Edie and said, “I think the cakes are affecting me, Allie.”

“What? No way! It takes special training to get the magic to activate!” said Allie as she looked grandma over, “You do look a lot younger, though.”

“Oh, I know I’m younger! I’m getting younger by the second, Allie! How do you stop it?”

Edie just looked at the two and didn’t understand much of what they were saying. She wanted to help, but she didn't understand the problem.

“What should we do, granny?” she asked worriedly.

“You need to picture yourself older, grandma! You have to wish for it and want it!” said Allie

Grandma wished for herself to become 30 again. She closed her eyes and pictured herself at that age.

“Is it working?” she asked after a short time passed.

“No, it’s not,” said Allie, “it was hard for me to want to grow down after I aged up, maybe you’ve got the same problem but the other way around?”

She was nearly naked now that her bikini refused to cling to her shrinking body. Grandma grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her shoulders as the top and bottom bikini halves fell down underneath it.

Her top hung from one side off the diminishing curve of her hips and her bottom didn’t pass go or collect two hundred dollars, it fell straight to the ground.

“Grandma, how old are you feeling right now, you should be able to ask the magic and it’ll tell you.”

“It’s telling me that I’m about 14 and still getting younger,” she said.

“Try again to picture yourself as older and really want it! It has to work!” said Allie with desperation in her voice. 

Grandma closed her eyes in concentration. she told herself she wanted to be older, but a small voice said, “No you don't! You want to play with Allie and Edie!”

“Oh, crap!” said grandma. That was as close to a swear word that she would utter under stress.

She stopped growing down at age 8. “Job done!” announced the magic inside her, "Have a happy play date, little girl!"

It wouldn’t listen when she asked it to age her up again.

“Well, the good news is I’ve stopped getting younger. The bad news is, I don’t know for how long,” said grandma as her bikini top joined the bikini bottom at her feet.

The large towel felt very roomy to her, now.

“Well, now we can all play together!” enthused Edie, “How old did you say you are, gran-, um, Betty?”

Before Betty could answer she was age 8, Allie cut her off, “She’s at least 10, right Betty?”

“Oh, yeah, right! I’m 10 going on 11, in fact!” Lied Betty.

She didn't want the reappearance of "Boss Edie", that would be bad! She shuddered in memory of what "Boss Edie" could do.

Edie didn’t believe her for a minute but she wanted to play more. “Okay, I guess you’re the boss, then.”

“I can’t play in a towel! And what did I say about having adult supervision?” asked Betty feeling that at any moment someone would walk up and turn them in for being unsupervised minors on the beach.

“I think we can just say that the lifeguards are watching us and we’re to do as they say,” suggested Allie.

“Oh, that’s right! The lifeguards are like babysitters on the beach! I feel really stupid right now!” said Betty with a groan of relief.

Allie just laughed, gave her a hug, and smiled. Betty smiled back with the warm feeling of being forgiven by her granddaughter.

“Hang on, I’ll go get Allie’s old swimsuit from the car! Can I have the keys?” asked Edie. She got them and scampered off to the parking lot.

==========

The pale-blue one-piece bathing suit was a little big on Betty, but it fit her well enough.

Edie almost remarked that Betty was a little smaller than she remembered at age 10, but was stopped by the thought that playing with Allie and grandma took higher priority than being a boss. She was learning!

The girls built a sandcastle with a moat and watched it collapse, they swam in the surf and played tag with each other in the water.

After they’d tired themselves out and had a shower to wash off the salt water from their bodies, they went back to the lounger for more sunscreen and to eat some of the sandwiches that Betty had made that morning.

After playing some more and losing all track of time, the day began to wane.

The sun’s golden light washed over the beach giving everything a kind of vibrant glow. After an hour or so, the gold turned to red and found the girls back at their spot on the beach.

“Well, it’s going to get dark soon,” remarked Edie.

“I think we know that, Edie,” snapped Allie a little nervously.

“Well, I’m kind of worried, you know? Are you going to grow back up soon, Betty?”

From under the large towel wrapped around her, Betty said, “I hope so, I’ve asked the magic several times already and it hasn’t answered me, yet.”

“Just feel that you want to grow up, Betty. You really have to want it to work,” advised Allie.

"Easy for you to say," thought Betty. She held her nervous tongue and didn't say it out loud.

A lifeguard approached the three. “It’s getting late, and we’ll be closing in about an hour, are you girls all right?”

“Um, yes! We’re fine! We’re just waiting on our big sister to pick us up!” said Betty.

“Well, okay, I’ll be back a little later to see that she did,” warned the lifeguard as she walked off.

“Well, it’s now or never, Betty! How about you ask the magic what’s going on?” Asked Edie.

She was becoming a real worry-wort and it wasn't helping to soothe anyone's nerves.

Betty talked to her magic, she asked it if it wanted her to end up in juvenile detention. It said nothing.

She asked it if it liked picking on helpless little girls. It stuck the magical equivalent of its tongue out at her.

A pair of lifeguards began approaching. Betty just knew that they were coming to turn them in for being unsupervised minors after dark and felt her fear escalate. Her fight or flee response was very close to activating.

She pleaded with the magic to grow her up one more time.

It wasn't in the mood and she felt a final surge of panic at being a helpless little girl unable to protect her granddaughters. She really needed to be older, and now!

The magic recognized her need and more importantly, her want! She grew up to age 16 so fast that her borrowed swimsuit ripped itself to pieces.

The first lifeguard began her incident query, “Excuse us, little girls, but could you give us your names, please?”

“I’m Allie!”

“I’m Edie!”

“And I’m Betty! Who are you calling a little girl?” said Betty as she stood up indignantly with the large towel covering her bottom just shy of being indecent.

In the waning light, the remains of the bottom half of her swimsuit fell off her hips to the ground.

“Um, hello Betty. How old are you?” asked the second lifeguard.

“I’m 16 and we were just getting ready to go. Is there a problem?” she asked as the adrenaline started to boil off her nervous system letting her calm down a little. 

“Um, no problem. These other two girls are with you, then?”

“Un-huh!”

“Yup!”

“Yes, they are. Can we leave, now?”

“Okay, your car’s in the parking lot, right?”

“Yes it is!” said Betty. She tried to readjust the towel a little better to cover more of her bottom. The top half where she had it folded in on itself almost slipped. She grabbed it nervously.

“Hmm,” said the first as she noticed that Betty was exhibiting nervous behavior. “Are you having trouble with something, by any chance?”

“Well-l-l, to be honest, my swimsuit ripped and I was just going to put on my spare. You guys came up at a rather inopportune time!” Betty gushed out giving the impression that she would just die if her friends found out!

“OH! Sorry about that! We’ll let you get decent then! Have a good night!” said the first.

“Drive safe!” advised the second as they left.

Betty pulled out her Bandeau swimsuit and put the bottom on. She had to tie the strings tighter and the material was a bit floppy, but it still covered up her naughty bits. The top fit her chest loosely as a large wrinkle in the middle of the fabric hung down horizontally.

They left the beach and Betty drove them home.

"Good thing I'm old enough to drive!" she remarked. She had the seat all the way up and the mirrors cranked to their farthest positions.

“Well, that was fun!” said Edie cheerfully and with great relief as they got home and went to change out of their swimsuits.

“Sorry about tearing your swimsuit, Allie,” said Betty.

It was strange to hear it from a teenage Betty instead of a child or an older adult to Allie. She was still her grammy, though!

“It’s okay! You bought me this new one after all! It’s so much better!”

Edie had changed out of her swimsuit to a t-shirt and a diaper. She came back to the living room and turned on the TV while sitting down.

“Why are you wearing that?” asked Betty.

“I dunno, it just seemed right, somehow,” Edie replied.

Allie also came out of her room wearing a t-shirt and diaper. It seemed to be in fashion tonight!

Betty shrugged her shoulders and copied the two girls. She came out with one of the leftover adult diapers on. Her t-shirt had a groovy 70's vibe to it and read "Dead Head".

She sat down on her comfy chair and watched as the two girls shared jokes and got along “like two peas in a pod”.

Watching them made her feel a strong emotional pang of wanting to join them in their banter.

The magic heard her and granted her request so fast that she didn't have time to object. It decided that it would add a little something extra and did so.

“Oh, cwap!” said Betty as she emerged from the t-shirt and diaper that had seemingly swallowed her 2-year-old body up.

“You okay, Betty?” asked Allie.

“I might need a diapew change, but othawise, I’m okay!”

Allie picked her up and carried her to the changing table in their bedroom.

“One fresh diapee for Betty coming up!” she said.

“Don’t spawe the powdah!” said Betty as she was pampered.

She sat between the two girls until 9 o’clock. The three had a great time, and she slept with Allie for the rest of the night.