No Escape

Chapter 1
On the Run

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Chapter Description: Someone has come to rescue Matt, but who will rescue them? Male AR

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It happened so suddenly, without any warning at all, that Matt couldn’t fully conceive of what had just been done. All he knew was that something major had just changed. There was something happening in his mind, something so different to what he had become used to. He was, for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, thinking in words rather than just images and feelings. Words, incredible words, were flickering back into his thoughts. Matt blinked and became aware of his surroundings. For the first time in so long, he had names for the things around him. The room around him was painted in a gentle hue of... what was the name of the colour? It was... it was blue! Yes, it was blue like the thing up above... the sky! Yes, he knew the words! And he felt so proud of himself for that, he felt like such a big boy. And then a major piece of information fell into place. He was a big boy. And memories broke thru the dam in his mind and flooded his brain. He remembered who he was, who he really was, even his name. His name that had been nothing more than a meaningless sound that his mommy made when she spoke to him. He was Matt and he was a big boy... no, a grown up. He was a grown-up in College.

"Matt. Are you in there Matt, are you back?" asked the young man kneeling before him, a concerned look on his face.

Matt nodded and tried to speak, it was hard. How long had it been since he’d tried to speak real words? "Matt... I... mee, Matt."

The young man nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! That’s it Matt, you remember now don’t you! C’mon dude, focus."

The young man, Matt knew him. His name, his name was... Tim! Tim, who had been reduced to a toddling, nose-picking, half-naked little boy the last time he saw him. Now he was here looking so grown-up and in control, dressed in normal clothing and with a look of intelligence in his eyes.

As Matt took this all on board he became more aware of how he looked. Noticing Tim’s khakis pants, Matt noticed his bare legs and feet splayed out on the carpet before him. His skinny legs were totally hairless, as though he’d been exfoliated. They were also quite tanned, like he’d been spending a lot of time outside. He looked down at the bulky disposable diaper he was wearing, a picture of Elmo smiling up at him from his crotch. The yellow t-shirt he had on didn’t quite reach his waist, exposing a little of his tummy. Matt could see something was written on the shirt, he struggled to read it, but couldn’t even recognise the letters. They looked familiar now, but they remained indecipherable to him. It might as well have been in Cyrillic letters, he could not read it. Peaking in the front of his diaper was even more disheartening for two reasons. First and fore mostly he had been shaved and exfoliated down there too, making him look like a little boy. Second, there were no tan lines. Which meant he hadn’t just been spending a lot of time outside, he’d been spending a lot of time naked and outside.

"It’s okay man, I’m sure it will grow back," Tim assured, trying to look positive.

Matt blinked back tears. "Where are we?" he asked, his voice still sounding foreign to him.

"We’re in your nursery, your room, in Trish’s house."

Of course they were. It was all perfectly familiar, it was just that Matt was seeing it all in such a different way now. He looked over at the changing table in the corner and for the first time he understood what it was for. To him it had always just been the place where mommy played silly games with him and tickled him and blew this silly powder all over. He recognised the large crib to his left with all his favourite teddies and soft toys and the glorious mobile above it. It looked so mundane and simple now, how was it that such a simple mobile had kept him so entertained?

Tim was looking impatient now. "Look dude we gotta get outta here before Trish gets back. I got some clothes for you in the car, you can change later, but right now let’s go."

With that Tim helped him to his feet. His legs felt like jelly and it took all Tim’s strength to keep Matt upright and moving forward. He scooted down the stairs on his butt. His balance was still way off, as though he’s just gotten off oa roller-coaster or something. In the alcove he passed a mirror and got a good look at himself. There was something on his chin. He reached up to feel it and clumsily touched his cheek, then his nose, then finally his chin. It was chocolate. His lips and chin were smeared with it. What had he been eating? He couldn’t recall now.

They headed out the front door and down the front walk. Tim’s Honda Accord was parked on the street. Tim clicked the doors unlocked from several feet away then he guided Matt to the passenger door. As they rounded the car Matt noticed there was someone seated in the back, someone who wasn’t wearing a shirt. "Who..." he started to ask.

"I’ll explain while we drive, just get it," Tim cut him off, opening the door and getting Matt seated.

Matt reached for the seat-belt but didn’t seem to be able to get a grip. Tim obliged by doing the seat-belt for him, like he was a little kid. Then Tim was in the car and they were pulling away, racing down the street and past the lines of nearly identical suburban houses away from the neighborhood as quickly as they could.

Matt craned around and looked at the boy in the back seat. He immediately realised it was Jimmy. But something was wrong with him, he was wearing nothing but a diaper and he was sucking away at pacifier, looking at Matt with curious but uncomprehending eyes. Matt wondered if he looked the same. He wasn’t really acting like a grown-up yet and he felt pretty dazed and confused still. But then Jimmy began to coo around his binkie, a line of spittle dribbling down his chin. No, he was definitely in a different mindset from Jimmy.

"What’s wrong with him?" he asked Tim.

"The same thing that was wrong with you till a few minutes ago."

"But I’m better now. How come he isn’t?"

Tim looked chagrined. "Well, I was able to snap you out of it. But I haven’t been so lucky with Jim."

"Why not?"

"I dunno. It may have been too long with him, parts of his brain may have atrophied from disuse. Or the stuff they used on him was more powerful. This is all speculation, I just don’t know."

"How long has it been?" Matt asked. Time had lost all meaning for him in his infantile state.

"Since the party, since they changed you, about a month. For Jim, I’m not sure."

A month. It had been a month since he had spoken or done anything independently. A month since he’d used a toilet or watched anything other than kids TV channels. A month since he’d had a coherent, intelligent thought. A month of his life lost.

"So how did you escape, and why did you come to help us now?"

"I didn’t have to escape, they returned most of us to normal right after the party. The rest have all been to scared or embarrassed to do anything about the fact that they left you and Jim that way. Of course I didn’t know everyone there, so there could well be others like you guys, but I can’t do anything about that. I came now because I had to wait for an opportunity to save both of you at once. I had to wait for Trish and Jenn and Jim’s mom all to be gone. Today was the first opportunity I had."

Matt nodded in understanding. The longer they drove, the more miles they put between themselves and that town the clearer Matt felt. The whole experience of being mentally an infant for the past month felt like a very vivid dream. When he was living it, it certainly felt real, but the more time passed from his "waking up" from it, the more the details slipped away from him. Perhaps because memory is cue dependent and he was thinking in such a different way, not having language or a rational thought process, the memory of his second infancy was quickly becoming as hard to recall as his first time as a baby. This time of course, the change was much more sudden and he had some tangible reminders of his recent return to the playpen. He was still sitting in the passenger seat in a diaper and baby tee, his face was still smeared with chocolate and his motor skills were still quite clumsy.

Tim pulled the car over at a deserted rest area of the highway and got some clothes out of the back. Taking off his baby tee, Matt was finally able to recognise the letters. After some struggling, he managed to sound them out the way he was taught in first grade and read "Mama’s Boy." He happily discarded it and put on the plain grey t-shirt Tim handed him. He relieved himself in the woods before replacing the diaper with some plain cotton briefs and a pair of jean shorts. Finally he pulled on some socks and shoes. It felt so strange to have something on his feet, almost painful. He realised he must have spent the whole month he was mentally infantised barefoot. Mostly he was glad he hadn’t totally lost his toilet training after a month in diapers. His muscles down there had weakened, no doubt about it, but he wasn’t incontinent or anything.

As they got back in the car Tim asked, "Feel better?"

"Loads better dude. What about Jim? Should be get him changed into something too?"

"No, he’s still in his happy goo-goo, ga-ga mindset, he has no need for more clothes in this heat. I tried putting a shirt on his earlier, he just fussed and cried and tried to get it off till I did it for him."

Matt nodded and looked in at Jim. He was sleeping peacefully now, his chin resting on his chest and a little blue stuffed rabbit clutched in his arms, unconsciously suckling the binkie in his mouth. No, he had no use for grown-up clothes.

After six hours on the road it was getting dark and Tim decided they’d gone as far as they could for one day. Rather than stop right on the highway, Tim drove them twenty minutes off the main highway and picked an out of the way little motel for them to stay in. "You help Jim out of the car and unload, I’ll get a room," he instructed.

Matt opened the trunk and unloaded the stroller Tim had told him to get. It was quite oversized, just as he expected. What he hadn’t expected was that it was a double stroller for two big babies. He found that a little disconcerting. He locked it open and then opened the back door of the car. Jimmy’s eyes fluttered open and he yawned a bit, looking up at Matt. He held out his arms and flexed his fingers to indicate he wanted a hug, his eyes filled with complete trust. Normally giving another guy a hug would have been out of the question for Matt, but Jimmy was really more like an adorable baby brother than a guy. Matt undid Jimmy’s seat belt then embraced him, sweeping his arm under the boy’s diapered butt and lifting him out of the car and into the stroller. The boy didn’t want to let go, nuzzling closer and cooing. Matt gave him a quick cuddle then pulled away. He felt a little wierd about hugging the nearly nude young man in a public parking lot. Jimmy reached awkwardly towards the car, clapping his hands and babbling excitedly around the well-used binkie. "What is it buddy?"

"Mmmh...baaa...gaaaa," he jabbered adorably.

"Oh, you want your bunny don’t you?"

Jimmy didn’t reply of course, but Matt understood now, retrieving the bunny and handing it to a joyful Jimmy. The boy screeched with glee as he clutched the plush toy to his face and chewed on the ear, spitting out the paci. He couldn’t verbalise his thanks to Matt but he gazed up at him with absolute adoration in his glassy eyes.

That evening they sat in their motel room watching TV and trying not to think about the future. Matt was loving watching and understanding adult TV again. He just wished an episode of Seinfeld would come on. Jimmy was occupied playing with some baby toys, creeping around the floor on his tummy. His presence and his behavior made Matt all the more aware of how lucky he was to be sitting here like an adult again instead of playing on the floor at the feet of the adults.

Matt noticed that Tim’s laptop was sitting on the nightstand. "Tim, can I use you computer to check my e-mails?"

"Sure I guess. Just be careful, I know you want to let everyone know you’re alright, but hold off till we are somewhere safer."

"No worries, I won’t send any, just check."

Matt logged on and went to his e-mail account. He found typing was still quite difficult though. Over the day his gross motor skills had rapidly improved, but his fine motor skills still seemed to be quite poor. At least he was able to read now without too much difficulty. His inbox was absolutely filled. He read thru the oldest ones, seeing just how much he missed out on. His life had been on hold. He had missed parties, invitations to go to movies, a trip to the Carolinas. Then at the top there was an e-mail titled "Baby Photos" from an e-mail account he recognised as belonging to Trish. He immediately knew he shouldn’t open this e-mail. Who knew what could be in it? But something compelled him to look, it was just too irresistible. He prepared himself to quickly look away if something bad was in this e-mail. He clicked on the e-mail and it opened.

Nothing extraordinary happened, the e-mail opened and some photos loaded up. But as he looked thru the photos he grew disgusted. The first photo showed him squatting in a muddy puddle in Trish’s back yard, buck naked, mucky, hair wet and sticking up here and there, grinning gleefully and clearly trying to splash muddy water on whoever was taking the photo. The next one was from a clearly warm and sunny day, also taken in the back yard with Matt seated, still naked as a jaybird, on a red plastic scooter, feet raised slightly off the ground showing off how dirty and muddy his soles and toes were and chocolate ice cream covering his chin and dripping down is bare chest and tummy. Matt is horrified by the look of pure childish delight and innocence on his face in this photo. Below this is a photo of him in the bathtub with Jimmy, both of them looking blankly up at the camera while they chew on the bath toys they’ve jammed in their mouths. The ridiculousness of their situation is highlighted by the fact that the two college-age guys in the bath together barely fit in the tub. The final photo he looks at shows Jimmy and himself seated in the double stroller wearing matching striped t-shirt and blue-jean overalls, each with an appliqu? choo-choo train on the bib and ankles rolled up above two pairs bare feet. They’re being rolled into the park, each sucking on a binkie, looking contented.

Matt can’t look at any more photos after that. He is just too put off by the disturbing sights. He closes the e-mail and puts the computer to sleep. That night he watches Tim tuck Jimmy into bed, doing and expert job. He croons a lullaby to the diaper-clad young man, snuggling him close and mussing up his hair. Finally he pecks a kiss on Jimmy’s forehead and the boy drifts off to sleep, well, like a baby.

"You’re really good at that," Matt commented.

"Yeah, I used to tuck in my baby brother that way. He’s six now, but I guess you never forget. So what’s it like?"

"What’s what like?"

He gestured to Jimmy. "Being like him. Like you were. Did you know you used to be big, did you remember at all. I mean, he isn’t aware in there is he, y’know trapped in a babyish body but mentally intact?"

"No, no, he isn’t mentally much of anything now. I can barely remember what it was like now. I remember that I mostly thought in feelings. Was I too hot, was the ground icky or nice, was I happy or angry. Really simple thoughts. I knew that I had been "big" but I knew that I wasn’t anymore and after awhile I didn’t even know what "big" meant."

"Do you think he’s happy? I mean, if I can’t find a way to bring him back..."

"I think he’s happy now. He doesn’t know what he’s lost y’know. Ignorance is bliss, right?"

"Well, let’s get some shut-eye, eh."

"Yeah, sure."

Matt was so happy to go to sleep in a proper bed instead of a crib that night. He didn’t look forward to another long day on the road. He’d be happy just staying in this warm comfy bed all day instead.

The ringing of a phone early the next morning disturbed his sleep, but someone must have picked it up because the ringing stopped and Matt drifted back to sleep. When he did awake some time later he saw that Tim was sitting in a chair by the bed talking on the phone. He was staring blankly at the wall in the darkness of the room and mumbling into the phone. Matt could barely make out what he was saying.

"Mmmhmm. Yes, I understand. Yes, they will. Okay. He’s awake now... okay, I will."

With that he hung up the phone and got up. Matt flicked on the light. He could see that Jimmy was already awake but was peacefully chewing on his fingers and laying on his back on the bed. Tim walked across the room to the bathroom without a word or even a glance. He disappeared inside for a minute before the sound of water running filled the room. A few minutes later the sound stopped and Tim reappeared from the bathroom, still looking out of it. He walked over to the side of the bed and opened the laptop, powering it up. Then he took a seat on the bed beside Jimmy and pulled the boy up to a seated position beside him. Jimmy rested his head on Tim’s shoulder, sucking his thumb and gazing curiously at the computer screen.

Tim patted the empty bed beside him. "C’mon Matt, come join us."

Matt was hesitant, but decided to do as Tim said, he did owe a lot to this old friend. Matt climbed out of his bed and up next to Tim, who was now navigating the web. "What were you doing in the bathroom?" Matt asked, feeling a bit weird about asking such a question, but curious at the same time.

"Getting the bath ready," Tim answered simply.

"A bath?"

"Yep."

"For Jimmy you mean?"

"Yes," he replied, opening the web portal for Matt’s e-mail account. Without further ado, he plugged in Matt’s user name and password and entered his account.

"What the hell are you doing?" Matt demanded, shocked at this invasion of privacy.

"Yes, it will just be a moment and then you and Jimmy can have your bath."

"Our bath?" Matt gasped, as Tim opened his ’old mail’ section and clicked on the last opened e-mail.

"Yes, I know you’ll be feeling much more comfortable in a moment. Let’s help that along," he added. And before Matt knew it Tim had his shirt up over his head and then whisked it away.

"What the hell man," he exclaimed as the e-mail loaded and the photos he’d looked at last night loaded back on the screen.

Matt was awfully embarrassed as Tim scrolled down thru the photos of him naked and drooling, acting like a dumb baby. He wanted to disappear. "Don’t worry little buddy, everything is going to be okay. Look how happy you were, no cares no fears. Look at the expression on your face, total acceptance, total relaxation."

Matt was very confused by Tim’s sudden change of attitude. Then Tim scrolled past the photos Matt had looked at and down to a new one. It was Matt and Jimmy seated in two oversized versions of a baby seat called a bumbo. A seat made for babies a bit too young to sit up on their own. They were seated facing each other with their legs extended, wearing nothing but diapers, both leaning over and chewing on each other’s toes, their drool dripping down the other’s sole, looking at each other with vacant, crossed eyes. The caption said, ’Momma’s little toe- munchers.’

Matt thought this photo had to be the ultimate degradation. More embarrassing even than the nudie ones, because this one highlighted the loss of his intellect. Jimmy however, seemed intrigued by this photo, staring at it in awe. Then Jimmy rolled over onto his tummy and crawled forward. "What’s with him?" Matt asked.

"He’s happy because he’s going to get his playmate back," Tim answered.

Matt looked at Tim in horror as he realised what was going on. Tim put his arm around Matt’s shoulder and , being a big guy, held him still. "Tim, snap out of it! This is all them, they got to you. Wake up!"

"Shh, shh, it’s okay buddy, just let it happen. You’ll be so much happier."

"No!" Matt screeched, but to no avail. Jimmy grabbed Matt’s right foot in his hands as best he could and then the blank-eyed teen took his big toe in his mouth and began to suck on it.

Tim stroked Matt’s shoulder softly, rubbing his bare arm. "That’s it buddy just let go, feel that nice silly feeling, that infantile feeling and let it fill you. It’s time you joined Jimmy and be momma’s nice little toe-muncher again. We’ll just get these silly undies off you and then you and Jimmy can have a nice bathie together and make splashes and munch on each other’s toes more and then you two can creep around on the carpet and play with your toys and that will be enough to make you happy. It’ll be so nice to just have the simplest wants and desires again."

As much as Matt wanted to fight it, he could feel it was a losing battle. He could feel his words leaving him again, his dexterity slipping, his strength waning. His muscles lost their tone as he ceased his struggling. He was relaxing all over, it was as though he was melting into the bed. His mind was filling with lovely soft cotton, like the cotton that filled his favorite teddy who he loved to cuddle. As his complex thoughts broke apart and he lost track of where he was or who he was, he knew only one phrase. It was all that was left of his vocabulary. He knew he was momma’s toe-muncher and so he crawled forward towards Jimmy. He no longer knew Jimmy’s name, it was again just meaningless sound to him, but he knew him by sight, the other person he played with so much. He like playing, he was going to play now. As he crawl onto tum-tum, he feel air on bum, other person take thingies he wears off. Now he nakie, nakie feel good. He reach Jimmy, see Jimmy toes. He laying on other person’s legs, he see him feet, he munch his toes, hims silly baby. Matty look up and smile at person. He look surprised and scared, but then he look real happy and smiley.

***

Two hours passes before the white Mitsubishi Gallant arrived at the motel and pulled up beside the Honda Accord. Trish and Jenny got out of the car and walked to room seven. The door was unlocked so they walked straight in, closing the door behind them.

There were bath toys and diapers and other toys strewn all over the room. The beds were a mess, the suitcases looked ransacked and the TV was on playing some old western movie, but no one was paying it any attention. Jimmy’s lanky naked form was sprawled across the floor on his tummy, his bare bottom sticking up cutely in the air as he sucked his thumb. Upon noticing the two women Jimmy let out a squeal of excitement and rolled onto his back waving his arms in the air towards them.

Jenny quickly obliged, picking him up into a seated position and cuddling him to her bosom. She left Trish to investigate the whereabouts of the other two while she cradled her Jimmy in her lap and opened her shirt, easing her teat into his eager mouth. She caressed his soft back while he closed his eyes and drifted off suckling. "Yes, there we go, ma-ma’s hungry little man is back her arms, oh yes hims is, yes hims is," she cooed.

Trish headed closer to the bathroom. "Is my little Matty in here too. I think he is. I think from the look of this room big Matt is gone and my messy little Matty is back, isn’t he?"

Matty’s smiling face poked around the corner out of the bathroom a moment later, crawling on all fours, drool hanging from his chin. "Oh, yes look at that drooly smile, big Matt is long gone, isn’t he?" she crooned.

Matty chortled in agreement and crawled to Trish. "Now why would you ever want to be a big boy again sweetie? You’re clearly so much happier this way."

Matty cuddled into her arms and let her kiss him on his wet dribbly lips, clearly unaware of her jibes. A sound from the bathroom caught Trish’s attention.

"Uh oh, I think I hear a naughty little boy in there. Is there a naughty little boy named Timmy in there who thought he could steal momma’s babies away and get away with it?"

Half of a nervous looking face poked out of the bathroom. "Oh, there you are, I see you. But I don’t think that’s a naughty face is it? I think it was big Tim who was naughty and he’s all gone now isn’t he?"

Timmy stepped out from the bathroom completely, a mischievous grin on his face. As he stepped out of the bathroom it was revealed that like the other two, Timmy was also now in his birthday suit. Trish motioned for him to come to her, giving him a big smile. Sticking his tongue out slightly in excitement Timmy toddled to her, accepting her embrace. "Geuff what momma!"

Trish giggled at his diction, "What sweetie?"

"Matty munch my toes!"

Trish laughed, "Yes sweetie, I can see that. What happened after he Matty did that?"

"Um, we took baff, ’n ’den we pwayed," Timmy giggled, "I got nakie."

"Yes, I can see that too honey."

Once Jenny finished feeding Jimmy she and Trish set to cleaning up the room and getting diapers on Matty and Jimmy. As Trish taped up Matty’s diaper she chided him, "Honestly dear didn’t you even consider opening that e-mail might be dangerous. You had no idea I could track your location that way? You must have at least considered there might be something hypnotic in the message. I never would have thought it would work so well, I thought we’d lost you for good. But here you are, diapered dribbling all over yourself again. I suppose this only proves we made the right decision. This is how you are meant to be, simple, happy and taken care of."

Jenny loaded a well-diapered Jimmy into the stroller and Trish followed suit with Matty. "Now what about him?" Jenny asked, gesturing to Timmy, who was now presenting them a very good view of his bare bottom as he leaned over and looked at them upside-down between his legs, pulling his lips apart and blowing raspberries at them.

"I think he seems much happier this way. He really is an adorable child, so playful and carefree, not even a scrap of modesty. I think we have room for a third."

"Okay, I’ll do it. Without the doctor we’ll need him to make the choice himself, but I’m sure he will."

Trish went over to Timmy and led him to the bed. "Sweetie we need to talk for a moment."

"Kay."

"But this is big person talk, so I need ’Big Boy Tim back’ now."

Tim blinked and shuddered, then looked about in confusion. He looked down and gasped, covering his privates with his hands. "Tim, dear, do you know where you are?"

"Yeah I know where I am! I answered the phone and the next thing I knew I’m on the bed looking at photos of Jimmy and Matt and Matt is acting like a baby again. Then he... oh my god, you made me a little boy again!"

"You need to calm down now Tim. Just relax and listen to me. That’s good, much better. Now we can’t risk you doing this again Tim. So there are only a couple options. What was done to you today was just temporary. It will wear off after a couple weeks. But if we leave you here the authorities will find you and assume you’ve had a breakdown of some sort. They’ll institutionalize you and probably drug you up. You may spend years in a mental hospital. No one will believe you when you tell them about us and we will ensure you have no life to go back to in our town. The other option is you join our family and become Jimmy and Matty’s older brother of sorts. Your regression will then be permanent, like Jimmy’s was and Matty’s now is as well. You need to think this over, you’ve seen our photos. If you join our family you’ll be jumping and splashing naked in a muddy puddle right beside Matty, toddling barefoot thru the supermarket telling everyone how you can make pee-pee in the potty. I know neither option is appealing but in one you’ll be in a mental hell, no one will believe you and you’ll have to live with the knowledge of what has happened to you. If you join our family you’ll be splashing naked in the mud because you enjoy it, because you like the muddy squishing between your toes, the warm breeze on your bum. You’ll be proud as you tell people you use the potty and you’ll be barefoot because you like the feeling of the floor and the grass and the pavement and because you will know you’re momma’s little toe-muncher."

Tim sat for a moment considering this. "You can’t just let me go?"

"No."

"I... I don’t want either, but I really don’t want to go to some mental hospital."

"So?"

"So, I’ll join the family, as much as I hate you for doing this to me. I’ve seen how you treat Jimmy and Matty. You do love them and someday, someone will come and rescue all of us."

"Sure sweetie, sure."

"So now what?"

"Now we get you changed back into happy little Timmy boy and then we go out to the car and drive home."

"Should I get dressed first while I can still think?"

"No sweetie, all your clothes belong to big Tim. Don’t you worry we’ll be buying you all sorts of sweet little outfits to wear, footie pj’s and overalls and such. But in a moment you’re just going to be a silly little 2 year old boy, so you won’t mind walking out to the car nekkid one little bit."

Tim grunted. Jenny sat down next to them with the laptop and held it out so Tim could see. It was open to the photo of Jimmy and Matty in their bumbo’s. "Look at the photo sweetie, look deep into it and relax," Trish coaxed, rubbing his back.

Trish reached down and grabbed Tim’s right foot, lifting it to his lap and gently brushing the sole. "I want you to be my little toe muncher now."

He shook his head, looking down at Matty sucking his binkie in the stroller. "Matty already did that."

Trish hushed him, "Yes dear and now it’s your turn. Look into the photo and relax."

He did as he was told, unsure why this was supposed to work and then he saw the words. There were words thru the photo, in it. Words that told him what he had to do. He looked at Trish, "Yes honey, you’ll feel so much better once you do it."

She was so encouraging, her eyes so understanding, he had to so it for her, he had to be her toe-muncher. He took his hands away from shielding his privates and grabbed his foot with both hands and pulled it to his mouth, inserting his toe. So this was really it, he felt so silly doing this, so dumb. And then it became more than a feeling. He felt his brain switch off, his mind going numb. He was such a silly boy munching on his toes. Mommy seemed to like it, it made her laugh, he liked making momma laugh. He giggles too. Momma ask if he her toe-muncher. He nod and say "Uh huh!" She say they ready to go now. He goes outside, he so excited about going in car ride, he jumps and plays, the black ground is all warm and nice and his pee-pee is all big and bouncy. A big lady across the way is staring, he waves up and down at her, hi! Mommy take hand and make him get in car next to brothers. Wave bye-bye to lady.

Trish had to laugh at the look on the motel manager’s face as the naked teen pranced around the parking lot waving to her. Eventually she got the feisty oversized toddler into the car and off they went.

***

Two weeks later the newly adjusted family made their way to a church picnic. Jimmy and Matty arrived in their stroller wearing their matching superman t-shirts and brown corduroy bib-overalls. They quickly joined a group of babies under the trees, playing with soft toys under adults’ watchful eyes. Timmy arrived walking but tethered to his mommy Trish by a harness she had bought to keep the hyperactive tot out of trouble. He looked a bit like a dog on a leash with the thing on, but e didn’t seem troubled by it at all, toddling ahead gazing with slack-jawed awe at all the sights of the picnic, not having a memory of the fifteen or so he’d been to in the past. The sight of the teen on the leash toddling barefooted across the park wearing jean short-alls attracted some attention. Tim was well-known of course and unlike Jimmy and Matty his affliction was new. As far as the churchgoers knew though, it was all the result of a rare mosquito born illness that had afflicted the three boys on some common trip they had taken. Everyone thought it was a blessing that the girls and their moms took care of the unfortunate boys.

***

Timmy liked the green stuff under his feet, it was all tickly. There are lots of people here, he wants to say hi to all of them but mommy won’t let him go far. She not want him in ’trubble’. A pretty lady comes up to him, he ’members her face. She was Janice, he liked her when he was big.

"Hi there Tim. How are you feeling?" she asks, looking sorrowfully at him.

"I b’ushed my teeths all by myself," Timmy announced. He thought he wanted to say something else maybe, but he wanted her to know how big he was.

She smiled and said, "Well aren’t you a big boy?"

Timmy beamed, he was so proud the pretty lady thought he was big.

 

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