Reset

Chapter 3
Another Step Back

---

Chapter Description: Andrew adjusts to life as a 10 year old only to go a little further back.

---

NZ terms notes: pakeha=white New Zealander, trainers=sneakers, bangers=sausage, All Blacks=NZ national rugby team.

It was the smell of cooking that woke Andrew up, the smell of bangers sizzling on a griddle. Returning slowly to awareness Andrew discovered he was no longer in the strange and unfamiliar room, but was now lying safely in his own bed in his own bedroom. Yawning, Andrew rubbed at his eyes, feeling the soft flannel of his pajamas brushing against his face. Freeing himself from his cozy duvet, he began to remember the events of last night. He had had a terrible nightmare that he was shrinking! It had seemed impossibly real. Feeling a bit anxious Andrew got out of bed and went to look at himself in the mirror on the back of his closet door. Looking himself over he was immediately filled with relief, he was still clearly a big ten-year old boy, he hadn’t shrunk at all, how silly of him to think some dream could be real. His mum always did say he let his imagination get the best of him sometimes. He just had such a vivid memory of that strange room with all the toys. Andrew looked around his room, smiling at the model bi-planes painted with German crosses and British targets that hung from the ceiling over the bureau, locked in a perpetual dogfight. His posters of Spiderman and Batman still stared at him from the wall just as he remembered, and his Star Wars action figures laid here and there across the floor mixed in with his army men and toy cars. Mum would definitely be after him to clean them up again, he thought.

“Andy, breakfast is ready, get down here!” a voice called from downstairs.

Andy, yes that was right, Andy realized his mum would be upset if he didn’t hurry down, so he quickly grabbed several toys from the floor and threw them in the closet, attempting to make his room at least appear clean, as he yelled, “Be there in a minute!” to his mum.

His room now slightly neater Andy ran down-stairs for breakfast. His mum smiled in maternal bliss as he entered the kitchen in his sky-blue Star Wars jammies, looking bright and bushy-tailed and ready for the day. Andy was very excited to see is plate full of bangers, scrambled eggs and buttery toast, he tucked in with vigor while his mum exhorted him for having a growing boy’s appetite. As Andy focused on devouring his meal, his dad, Jim, walked into the kitchen with the Dominion Post in his hands, barely glancing at the boy. “C’mon now Jim, no newspapers at the table, have a talk with your son,” Mrs. Baxter instructed her husband.

Putting down the paper, Jim looked warily at the newly minted ten-year old before him. It was shocking how the boy looked exactly as he had five years earlier as though time had reversed itself. “So, um, how you feeling this morning Andy?” Jim asked awkwardly. Andy looked up, his mouth full of toast, and answered, “Good I guess,” shrugging.

Mrs. Baxter was still glowing as she poured Andy a glass of orange juice, again pushing the need for vitamins a boy his age had. As Andy finished the meal his mum looked at the clock then declared, “Okay Andy now run upstairs and get dressed, you start at your new school today.”

Andy felt very confused by this. For one thing, he was suddenly aware that he had absolutely no idea what day of the week this was and he had no idea why he’d be going to a new school. “Why do I have to go to a new school?” he demanded. Jim disappeared back behind his newspaper at the question, but Mrs. Baxter just clucked her tongue. “Andy, we’ve discussed this all before and I think you really will like Karearea Primary. Think of all the new friends you’ll make. Now we don’t have time to argue about this at the moment so go get dressed and we’ll talk about it tonight.”

Feeling increasingly confused, Andy decided arguing with his mum was a bad idea and quickly followed her directions to go to his room and get changed. As he looked through his closet he could hear his mum and dad arguing but he tuned it out. Andy hated hearing his parents argue, especially about him. He found his pine green coloured school shirt and a set of black shorts hanging prominently at the centre of his closet. The school name and insignia were emblazoned on the upper left of the polo shirt. Andy changed out of his pajamas, leaving them laying on the floor, and pulled on his new school uniform. Looking in the mirror Andy pushed down the couple places his hair stood up, he didn’t take a shower, he didn’t like showers but mum made him take them regularly. Then he pulled on his white socks and New Balance trainers. Something in the back of his mind told him he had to wear shoes today. It was the same weird sense of something not being right that made his stomach unsettled as he got his school-bag ready. Everything seemed so familiar, so right, but there was the undeniable sense that something major was amiss. Before he could give it much thought though, his mum was calling him down for school.

“Andy hurry up and get down here, the school group will be here any moment,” she called.

“I’m coming,” he assured her as he jumped down the stairs two at a time.

Mrs. Baxter stopped Andy at the door and fixed his hair, assuring him, “Now don’t you be worried about a thing, you’ll love this new school, I’m sure of it. Just behave yourself and do as the teacher says, honey.”

Andy squirmed as she fussed over his hair, “Mum, stop it. I can do that.”

Mrs. Baxter stepped aside and let the energetic boy head out front to wait for the walking school bus. It really was wonderful having her obedient, loving, adorable boy back. And yet, there was something still missing. He was still on the same path as before, wearing shoes when he didn’t have to just because he wanted to look mature, not letting her fuss over his hair or wait with him for the other school kids. After a long moment of contemplation she decided she needed to make a phone call. She knew the number by heart so she picked up the hand-set in the hall and dialed. After two rings, someone picked up. “Hello,” said a woman’s voice.

“Hello Liz, it’s Jane, we need to talk.”

The walking school bus arrived just as Andy headed out the door. A tall blonde woman with sharp cheek bones and crystal blue eyes was leading the group of twelve children, all dressed in their green shirts and black shorts. The adult looked appraisingly at Andy and asked, “Are you Andrew Baxter?”

Andy nodded meekly, intimidated by the tall woman.

“Get in the line then, and understand the rules, no horseplay, no running, no dawdling and you will keep your hands to yourself,” she ordered while making a mark on her attendance sheet.

Andy got in line behind a short little pakeha girl who appeared to be picking her nose. As they began walking Andy felt a tap on his shoulder and looked back to see a Maori boy about his age smiling at him. “Hi, you’re new, eh?” he inquired. “Yes,” Andy responded simply. Apparently satisfied the other boy made no further attempt at conversation.

At this point they stopped in front of the Harrisons’ house and Andy watched as a woman who looked very familiar gave a bear hug to a small boy. There was a definite sense of d?j? vu that Andy felt at that moment that only increases his feeling of unease. The older boy spotted Andy and made a bee-line for him. “Hi I’m Sean, you’re Andy right. You’re mum told us you’d be going to school with us now. This is gonna be cool as,” the excited boy told Andy.

“Yeah, cool,” Andy agreed while he tried to remember where he knew this kid from. He was the next-door neighbour and he was the same age as Andy so certainly he should know the kid, he should have known him for years. But Andy couldn’t remember the neighbours ever having a kid his age. Yet he definitely knew this boy from somewhere. The smaller boy finished his hug and skipped to the front of the line. Andy felt a deep pang of jealousy for the younger kid. He wanted to be a grown-up so badly, but he really missed getting hugs like that from his mum. Sean seemed very interested in talking to Andy as the school group walked down the hilly streets towards the school, picking up more children on the way. He asked Andy about his favourite movies and characters and telly shows. And as they talked Andy felt his apprehension ebbing, he realized he was making a new friend and he began to feel more comfortable discussing his favourite cartoons. Finally they arrived at the road crossing by the school. An older Maori girl in her school uniform and bare feet was manning the orange crossing gate that locked off traffic for them to cross. Andy wished he got to wear the bright orange vest that she wore over her school shirt, but she had to be twelve or thirteen, and two years was such a long time to wait before he’d have the chance to be a crossing guard.

The kids crossed the school grounds to the classroom blocks. There three rows of classrooms, each with their doors opening onto a cement porch, sat facing the netball courts. The junior and senior adventure playgrounds were on the opposite side of the tarmac and the junior’s sandpit was next to the rugby pitch behind the assembly hall, a massive building that backed up to the class blocks. Since New Zealand schools have no cafeterias they could eat in the assembly hall if it rained. As they walked onto the asphalt of the netball courts Sean grabbed Andy’s hand and lead him towards one of the class blocks.

“This way, you’re in my class, Ms. Thomas is really nice, you’ll like her. We do heaps of cool stuff all the time, yesterday we made volcanoes!” Sean rambled on about the coolness of the class as he lead Andy to the Year 5&6 classroom.

Sean pulled him over to an Asian boy who was sitting on the cement porch next to the class door. “This is Chris, he’s my best mate,” Sean explained to Andy as he high fived Chris. Then, to Chris he explained, “This is Andy, he’s my neighbour and now he’s in our class. He’s really cool! We were playing with my RC car yesterday.”

Immediately Andy remembered something. He recalled very clearly playing with Sean the day before. He could see Sean in his memories, but not himself. Why hadn’t he remembered this before? Andy struggled to focus on the memory but suddenly a short skinny woman who looked barely out of university was calling everyone into the classroom and there was no time left to think. “Let’s go everyone, into the room, shoes by the door. Hurry up!” she was calling. Sean was already peeling off his sandals and dropping them in the quickly forming row of shoes and sandals by the doorway, and heading into the class. Chris poked Andy to get him out of his reverie, “C’mon Andy we’re going in,” he said as he hurried into the class, not having to stop since like several other kids he had no shoes on to remove. Andy realized that he was about to be the last one into class, so he quickly deposited his trainers in the pile and headed into the carpeted classroom.

Ms. Thomas found Andy a seat next to a haughty looking girl who was busy drawing something she didn’t want Andy to see, because she put her hand over the paper to block his view. Ms. Thomas clucked her tongue at the girl. “Veronica Marsh, how many times have you been told? No painted fingernails allowed at this school.”

The girl pouted and acted innocently. “I’m sorry Ms. Thomas, but my mum said it was okay.”

“I’ve talked to your mum Veronica and you and I both know that’s not true. One more time and you will be sent home.”

Andy couldn’t help but smile a bit at the girl being taken down a notch. But to his horror she flashed him a look that could have killed. “What are you looking at?” she demanded.

Andy gulped, “Nothing.”

The girl returned her attention to her secretive drawing and Ms. Thomas began class. Andy was able to return to combing his muddled memories. He was deep in thought when suddenly he heard his name.

“Andrew Baxter!” Ms. Thomas yelled, looking directly at Andy. Seeing that he was now paying attention she continued. “Well I’m glad to see you’ve decided to join us back on earth dear.”

Andy could feel the eyes of every kid in the class on him. At her last comment sniggering broke out all around him. “Sorry,” he mumbled, feeling flush with embarrassment and with anger at the other kids for laughing at him. Ms. Thomas returned to calling attendance but Andy didn’t feel safe returning to his thoughts anymore.

Finished with attendance Ms. Thomas pulled out a lesson book and announced, “All right class. Today we have a very fun activity for you all. We are going to split up into groups of three and make wind-mills out of paper, straws and milk-cartons. I’ll give you the materials once you’re all in groups, now split up.”

Andy looked around nervously for a moment, wondering if he would be left all alone because he was new. But then he saw Sean waving for him to come over. Andy was overjoyed to join Sean and Chris sitting on the carpet putting together a cool wind-mill. This was school? This was actually lots of fun. As Chris taped the blue construction paper sails to the straws and Andy used marker to draw details on the wind-mill, he felt all his worries easing away once again. The longer he went without being reminded of something being different, the less concerned he felt. The project was completely distracting him from any other thoughts. But best of all was working with two friends. Chris and Sean were nice kids and Andy was glad they liked him so much. When they finished their wind-mill Ms. Thomas sat it in front of a fan and to gauge how well it caught the wind. Andy was pleased to see that their wind-mill was a success. He had a real sense of pride and accomplishment that he couldn’t remember feeling in a long time.

“Okay everyone, its eleven o’clock so stop what you’re doing and put your projects away where they won’t be damaged. It’s time for morning exercises so everyone outside to the netball courts. If you have socks on, put them inside your shoes so they don’t get dirty,” Ms. Thomas announced, clapping her hands and directing everyone to the door.

Everyone seemed very excited about exercises so Andy figured he should be too. Following the crowd outside he realized he needed to take his socks off. For a brief moment Andy was sure that he didn’t want to do that, there was a reason that was wrong. But he couldn’t get his socks dirty could he and he certainly couldn’t do sport with shoes on, so why was he worried. Andy peeled off his socks and stuffed them in his trainers, then ran out onto the blacktop to join Sean and Chris. Ms. Thomas handed everyone jump ropes and soon the whole school was out on the courts with jump-ropes. The principal, a tall man in a suit, turned on some music over the PA system and everyone got to jumping. It was great fun. What could be better than being out in the warm sun, playing to music, while at school? Soon Andy was happily engrossed in a competition of who can jump higher and faster, with Sean. Andy found himself laughing as he jumped higher and higher. The hard ground was hurting his feet, but he ignored it, this was too much fun.

Lunch time followed the morning exercise routine and Andy opened his brown bag to find a ham sandwich with the crusts cut off, just the way he liked it, and a juice box. He sat with Sean in the grass by the playground. “I wanna play for the All Blacks when I grow up,” Sean announced between bites of his apple.

“That would be sweet as, mate,” Chris concurred.

Andy thought a moment then shook his head, “Naw, I think bein’ a pilot would be way cooler than that.”

Sean looked pensive for a second then argued, “But if I’m an All Black then I’ll be able to buy my own plane ?cause I’ll be so rich.”

“Yeah, but a pilot gets to fly all the time and maybe I could even fly big jet planes.”

Before Sean could consider another response Chris announced he was done and was going to play on the playground. Andy and Sean both forgot their debate immediately and ran after Chris to play. Andy climbed up the rope ladder onto the top of the metal senior playground and looked out across the school, looking at all the kids playing. Off to his right a group of seven and eight year old boys were pretending they were super-heroes, running around in the grass screeching and laughing. Andy felt a twinge of envy once again. He remembered playing super-heroes before, when he was little; in fact he still did now when he was alone. There was always something about seeing little kids play that made him jealous. His mum did say he was in too big a rush to grow up. Again a disquieting feeling began to manifest itself. But as quickly as it began it was gone as Sean gave him a playful push off the playground. Andy landed in the wood-chips below and they were no kind to the soles of his bare feet, but Andy knew he was a tough boy, so he covered up the pain and yelled at Sean, “You got me, but now I’ll get you,” and started to climb back up the metal steps to catch Sean.

Andy enjoyed the rest of the school day, the longer he was in school and the busier he was the more normal he felt. At the end of the day he and Sean decided to walk home together. Sean picked up his sandals and carried them and without so much as a second thought Andy followed suit, picking up his trainers and carrying them. He loved walking barefoot in the grass. The cool green blades tickled his soles and the soft brown soil was velvety cool. Andy was so glad he was still in primary school and could go barefoot, he even wondered why he had bothered to bring his trainers in the first place, he would leave them at home tomorrow for sure. He and Sean talked about the class and Ms. Thomas all the way home. Then a couple blocks from their houses Sean lit up with an idea.

“Hey you wanna come over my house and play? I’ve got loads of cool toys!” Sean asked.

“Yeah, I’ll go ask my mum if its okay, then I’ll come right over.”

Sean beamed, “Race you home!” he declared suddenly and took off sprinting up the footpath. Andy, caught off guard took off too, but a bit behind him, laughing and trying to catch up.

Jane Baxter was sitting at her kitchen table doing bills when the front door swung open and in ran Andy. He was totally out of breath, but he was grinning like a fool, and carrying his shoes. One look at his toes told her he’d carried them all the way home. Indeed he seemed to be adjusting perfectly well to being a normal ten year old. If he really did enjoy being this age, then this might be where he stayed, but if she was right about him. Well, the choice would be his, he just didn’t know it.

“Well hello Andy, how was school?” she asked once he had caught his breath.

“Great mum, I made some really cool friends and Sean lives right next door too!” Andy told her cheerfully.

“Wonderful sweetie, would you like me to get you an afterschool snack?”

“No, can I go over to Sean’s house to play? He invited me.”

Jane smiled, this was better than she thought. “Actually dear your dad and I are going out tonight so we thought you might spend the evening over there with your new friend.”

Andy lit up at this news. “Thanks mum, I’m gonna go over now, okay?”

“Sure dear, just behave yourself and be a good boy for Mrs. Harrison.”

“I will,” Andy promised, then headed for the door.

“Do you need your shoes?” Jane prompted him.

“Nope,” Andy shrugged and headed out.

Jane Baxter smiled at the smooth progression or rather regression of her son. Jim was being very awkward about the whole thing, but once he saw how happy Andy was he’d come around, he really just wanted what was best for his son. Jane picked up her phone to let Liz know it was time to take the next step.

Andy was having a great time with his new friend Sean. Any doubts about his life had evaporated over the day at school and he was now a perfectly happy and well-adjusted ten-year old. The two were now playing with army men on the living room floor. Andy hadn’t recognised the room at all since he was so well adjusted now. They had their opposing armies facing off as they used silly voices to impersonate the generals and the soldiers fighting in their mock war. Jake had arrived home in the midst of this after his afternoon gymnastics lessons. Now Jake was busy watching SpongeBob on TV while he ate an after-school snack. When the show went to ads though, Jake became interested in their game and began insisting they let him play.

“You gotta let me, you gotta!” he whinged.

“No,” Sean told him, “You aren’t old enough, you’d just mess it up.”

Finally Jake started kicking the pieces everywhere, ruining the game. “Stop it!” Andy and Sean yelled in unison.

Then Sean, pushed to the limit, shoved Jake to the floor, making their mum come running into the room to break it up.

“Sean, don’t push your brother!” she ordered.

“But he ruined our game, he knocked all the pieces,”

Sean pleaded.

“Would it have been so terrible to let him help you play, really? He’s little and he doesn’t know any better.”

Turning her attention to the sobbing little boy she picked Jake up and cuddled him to her chest, rubbing his bare back. “It’s okay sweetie, come with mummy and help me,” she cooed to the boy, ending his tears. She shot a last reprimanding look at Sean and carried Jake out.

Andy was amazed by what he had seen. Jake had ruined their game and thrown a tantrum but he ended up being hugged and consoled by his mum while Sean and he were yelled at. It was unfair, but it also awoke in Andy that envy of younger kids he often felt. After cleaning up the toy soldiers so Mrs. Harrison wouldn’t be angry, Sean suggested they go to his room and have a wrestling match. Now that sounded like real fun to him.

The two boys went to wrestling just like they’d seen on TV and in the movies. Sean flipped Andy onto his bed and pretended to jump on him with his elbow; both boys fell over onto a pile of toys and almost knocked over a bureau. “What’s going on up there?” called the stern voice of Mrs. Harrison. “Nothing!” they both called back, pausing their game momentarily. When they hear her footsteps move away, they went back to it until they were both too tired to continue.

Sean went down-stairs to ask for a snack from his mum while Andy sat on the bed and looked at all of Sean’s All Blacks posters and Warriors posters. His duvet was covered in rugby balls too. He heard Sean thudding up the stairs and the boy erupted into the room all smiles. “We’re going out for pizza at Romano’s!” he announced while he strapped on a pair of sandals from under his bed. “You gotta get your shoes on, we’re gonna go soon,” Sean advised.

Andy’s excitement at the promise of pizza waned. “I don’t have any shoes, I left mine at home and mum and dad went out.”

Sean considered this a moment. “Well why don’t you wear some of mine, they’re all in the closet. I’ll see you down-stairs.”

Sean rushed out of the room and Andy began to look through the closet for shoes. He found an old pair of jandals that would have been ideal since he had no socks either. But right at the top of the pile of clothes in the closet was an old pair of trainers with little lights in the soles, the kind that light up when you walk. Clearly they were old, no ten-year old would wear those shoes. But something was attractive about them. The idea that they were what a little kid would wear reignited Andy’s subconscious desires and he listened carefully to make sure no one was around. Surely no harm could come from just trying them on; they wouldn’t even really fit of course. It would be fine as long as no one knew. The fact that they were Sean’s somehow made it more enticing.

Andy slipped the shoes onto his sockless feet. They were very tight but he got them on. The inside was rather dusty or something. As soon as he felt the odd tingling in his feet and hands, he knew he’d made a big mistake. He sat down and tried to undo the laces and get them off, but they were too small and far too tight, his feet had swollen from the heat inside them and couldn’t come out. He was shrinking and he knew it. Andy suddenly remembered with a rush the dream he had the night before, the dream which clearly was no dream but was real. He realized the mistake he had made was using something too juvenile for him. But now that he knew his error, what could he do about it. He was still stuck. He pulled and yanked at the shoes to no avail, the tingling spread through his body. And then finally the right shoe gave way and popped off. Next he successfully removed the left shoe. Heart pounding in his throat, sweat covering his body he took deep breaths of relief at freeing himself from the trainers.

Standing up Andy looked at himself in the mirror in the corner of the room. He was no longer ten, he looked seven, seven and a half at best. Now Andy wondered if he was really supposed to be ten, or if he was really older. His shirt was way too large; his shoulders peeked through the neck hole so he took it off. His shorts were also huge, but they had a draw-string which he tightened, keeping them around his waist, though they were now calf length shorts. He had to get out of this room, who knew what else was booby-trapped. Collecting his thoughts he decided to take the trainers that did this to him with him. As long as he didn’t make physical contact he’d be okay. He’d wrap them in his shirt then sneak out of here.

Andy bent down with the shirt in his hands when he noticed the little lights in the sole were glowing. In an instant the lights became a brilliant red and the shoes began to give off heat. Andy froze as he was entranced by the beautiful light that illuminated the whole room. He felt a familiar deep tickle in his brain and was aware of what was happening. Andy fought the process, trying so hard to hold onto his thoughts and memories. But they were quickly slipping away and his awareness was dimming. Years of education were erased, his knowledge eliminated, words disappeared from his vocabulary and his comprehension skills took a big step backwards again. As he lost control he felt the warm tingle, pleasantly spread through his head and take away all his worries. Finally the lights switched off and Andy was left standing awkwardly in the middle of the room feeling disoriented. Why did he have a big shirt in his hands? Despite being a bit confused this time there were some things that stayed in his head. He knew that this was his friend Sean’s room and that he was supposed to be going out for pizza. But why he was standing here with no shirt on he didn’t know.

That was when Mrs. Harrison walked into the room and looked Andy over with a satisfied expression. “Well then Andy are you ready for some pizza?” she asked.

Andy nodded emphatically.

“Okay then let’s get you a shirt to wear,” she told the befuddled looking seven-year old as she proceeded to pull a Spiderman T-shirt out of the closet, perfectly sized for Andy now. “How’s this?” she asked.

“Perfect,” he told her, “I like Spiderman.”

Mrs. Harrison handed him the shirt and he eagerly slipped it on. “Okay now let’s get you some shoes.”

Andy pouted, “Do I have to?”

“Yes Andy, we’re going to a real restaurant not Domino’s or Pizza Hut, you’ll need something on your feet.” She picked up the discarded trainers. “How about these, they have little lights in them?”

Andy smiled, having already forgotten what the shoes had done to him, now they just looked to him like cool light-up trainers. He nodded in agreement and added; “I like the lights the most,” causing Mrs. Harrison to have a good laugh. Andy giggled too, though he didn’t really know what was so funny.

Soon the whole family, plus Andy, was walking down the footpath of the main street in Napier past the many brightly coloured art deco buildings that made the city famous, on their way to a family meal. Andy skipped cheerfully ahead of the family, the lights in his trainers flashing red as he skipped, looking for all the world like a normal energetic seven year old. Sean had already begun to treat him more like a little brother than a playmate, but to Andy that now seemed normal. As his mind became less developed there was less room for worries and doubts, so he was mostly untroubled by his most recent transformation.

Andy loved the downtown, all the big buildings and lots of cars and trucks. He especially loved the trucks, whenever one went by he pumped his arm and jumped up and down to get his attention so the driver would toot the horn. That was the coolest! Andy walked backwards for a moment so he could see Sean and Jake. Jake was riding on his dad’s shoulders, boy was he lucky, Andy wished he was still little enough for that. Jake was wearing his Thomas the Tank Engine t-shirt and Andy envied that too. He loved trains, especially Thomas trains, but he was too big to play with them now.

At the restaurant they gave all the kids children’s menus, but only Jake got crayons. That wasn’t fair, Andy wanted to colour too. But at least he was gonna get to have pizza, that was all that mattered really. They were big pizzas too, he couldn’t remember seeing bigger ones before. It was hot so Mrs. Harrison cut his up for him so he could eat it in smaller pieces. Sean could cut up his own, but he was a big kid. But Jake couldn’t even use a fork, he had to use his fingers for everything like a baby. At least Andy knew he could use a fork like a grown-up even if he couldn’t quite cut stuff up yet. Then the best part was they got ice cream for dessert! Andy was in heaven. Finally it was time to go home, but Mrs. Harrison told Andy that there was a surprise for him when they got there. He wondered what the surprise could be all the way home.

To be continued...

 

---