'Ask Anne'

Chapter 6
The Jealous Brother - Part 1

Annie, you’ve got to help me! My big brother has turned me into a little boy! Nobody will believe me, please, you’re my last hope.

It started yesterday when I got home and my brother suggested I try a new app called “Rescue Time”, which he claimed would help me with time management. So I downloaded it onto my PC and phone, then went to watch TV. When the ads came on, I decided to try out the app, but it just opened a blank screen with the word “Initializing…” under an hourglass. Nothing happened for a long while, so I just turned the phone off and went back to watching TV. But after a while, I started to feel dizzy and lightheaded, so I turned off the TV and went up to my room. To my surprise, climbing the stairs took more effort than I expected, and I was gasping for breath by the time I reached the top. Then I nearly had a heart attack when I saw my reflection in the hallway mirror. Instead of a college student, a slender and curly-haired boy with round and rosy cheeks stared back at me – just like how I had looked in my old family photos when I only seven or eight years old!

Figuring that the app must have something to do with this, I immediately pulled my phone out, but it still was still frozen at the “Initializing…” screen. So I dashed into my room and opened the app on my PC. A dialog box popped up that said “Initialization Complete! Resetting….” and then the screen abruptly went blank.

I felt my room flicker around me, and when I looked behind I was shocked to find that my bed had shrunk and was now covered with a Bugs Bunny bedspread with a cute stuffed tiger by my pillow. My stereo system in the corner had vanished, replaced with a wooden train set complete with miniature bridges, tunnels and signal lights strewn untidily over a low table. Looking out the window, the car that I had just bought from months of savings from giving piano lessons had become a bicycle with rainbow streamers flowing from the handlebars and training wheels on the sides.

I desperately turned back to my PC, but it had become a neon green kid’s tablet that only offered a selection of cartoons and games. I tried my phone again, but it was a mere toy now, a useless brick of colored plastic. Then I felt my clothes shift on my body, and when I looked down, I found my turtleneck jersey and blue jeans replaced with a Spiderman T-shirt and matching underoos.

The door to my room opened and my big brother walked in with a smug look on his face. Strolling past the riverbanks of toys and art supplies that now littered my room, he laughed at my diminished body and boyish soprano, and told me that this was payback for making him the black sheep in the family. My brother had flunked out of high school and had ended up waiting tables at a local diner for minimum wage, while my parents had been especially proud of me for getting into college and winning many national piano competitions. I pleaded with him to turn me back, reminding him that I had never once mocked or teased him and had always supported him whenever others tried to give him a hard time. But he gave me this look of intense hatred and announced that he was now in charge of me, and that I better do everything he said or else. When I protested, he picked me up like a sack of potatoes, pulled my underoos down to my ankles, and started spanking me hard on my bare bottom. My cries brought my Dad to the room, who didn’t seem to find it odd that I was a little boy again. My brother explained that he was punishing me for using potty language, and I ended up getting a stern lecture from my Dad while my brother stood smirking by his side.

Then my Mum’s voice rang out, reminding me that it was time for piano practice. I seized the opportunity to escape downstairs, and my heart soared when I saw that my baby grand piano was still in the living room. But after clambering onto the piano stool, I realized with dismay that my legs could no longer reach the pedals, and that a low plastic stepstool had been helpfully placed on the floor for me to rest my little feet. Opening my binder, I was shocked to find richly illustrated sheets with cheerful cartoon characters wrapped around music scores for one hand. And when I tried to play, I found that I had a lot of trouble reading the score, and even finding the right notes on the keyboard. I was close to tears, but then my Mum came and sat beside me to help, so I couldn’t allow myself to cry. I tried to explain to her what my brother had done, but she just smiled kindly, gave me a cuddle and told me not to be in too much of a hurry to grow up.

After a very awkward family dinner spent trying to avoid my brother’s gloating grin, I took a depressing bath where I was forced to confront my childish body in stark detail. Just as I was finishing up pulling on my pajamas for bedtime, my brother sauntered into my room with my girlfriend Lauren. With a start, I remembered that I had a date with her tonight, but now it looked like she was going out with my brother instead. He took great pleasure in introducing his “kid” brother, and then quietly slipped behind me and pulled down my pants, giving Lauren a full view of my prepubescent privates. My face flushed hotly as she twittered and covered her mouth in surprise, before rushing forward and pulling my pants back up again while giving my brother a sharp rebuke. She then turned over to me and gave me a big hug, kissed me tenderly on both cheeks and gently tousled my hair. I watched with despair as my brother left my room with Lauren on his arm, and when I was sure she was out of earshot, I broke down into tears and cried myself to sleep.

Today, I found that I had to go back to elementary school. At every opportunity, I tried to persuade my teachers and any adult that would listen that I was really a college student, but everyone just laughed and complimented me on my creativity and imagination! And now, my school librarian is glaring at me for hogging the computer for so long, there’s a line of kids waiting their turn. Please, you need to believe me, I’m really desperate, anything you can do to help… PLEASE!

Chris