Fresh Start

Chapter 32
Everyone's Happy

Rowan Belton looked around wildly as Howe pressed the button. His eyes immediately locked on the boy on the leash arguing with his mum, now locked in a tug of war with her, trying to yank the leash away. His struggle stopped and his hands released the leash, his eyes wide as if he’d had an epiphany. Then he dropped heavily to his bottom and started giggling. “’m a siwwy boy!” he declared to his mother. She seemed relieved to hear his diction and vocabulary shrink back to kindy level and a moment later he was again leading her along, hopping about as if nothing had happened.

At the table next to theirs the toddler girl had finished cleaning herself and was insisting she wanted out of the high chair. “I can sit in a normal seat,” she was telling them. But her protests died the instant the button was pushed. She gave a little gasp and her eyes visibly dulled. She stopped talking mid-sentence and grinned foolishly, throwing the little napkins she had on the ground and pounding at her high-chair tray with her flat palms while blowing raspberries at the very relieved women at the table with her.

The diaper-clad toddler scooting between tables gave up his escape attempt at once. He dropped to his diapered bottom and began sucking on his thumb in wide-eyed wonder. It only took a moment for his mummy to catch up with him, scooping him up and depositing him back into the stroller and admonishing him for running away. The boy seemed oblivious to his transgressions and uncomprehending of his mummy’s rebukes. He just swung his legs up over the stroller hand-rest and took to munching away at his toes.

Rowan breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he managed to mutter.

“No problem,” Howe replied, shrugging. “Now, I would suggest you get back to camp. I would imagine Millie is a bit overwhelmed by the proceedings there.”

Rowan’s expression hardened. “What do you mean by that?” he demanded.

“Well I had to use a different, more powerful chip on them, given their size. And I’m afraid it doesn’t have the same deactivation feature of the rest,” Howe explained coldly.

“You lied to me,” Rowan seethed.

“No more than you’ve lied to me,” Howe replied, then glanced at his watch. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I imagine you’ll want to be hurrying home.”

Rowan wanted to scream at him, to punch him, but he was right, there was no time. He jumped up and once again raced through the mall, hopeful he could make back to the camp before things got too out of hand. He barely the changes in the kids he’d passed before, the eight or nine year old in yellow shirt and jean shorts skipping happily along ahead of his mum, no longer caring a bit about his lack of footwear; the naked toddler now once again dancing about the fountain in front of the entry unabashed and happy. Rowan sprinted across the car park, diving into his car and then driving like a rally car racer all the way back to the camp.

Nothing seemed to out of place on his arrival, but he wouldn’t breathe easier until he saw his kids. His run down the isolated path through the woods was one of the longest journeys of his life. What if they were all back to their adult selves? Would they understand that he did it all for their sake? How would Millie have dealt with them waking up from it? They weren’t little children, easily corralled and controlled after all. They had muscles and height in their advantage.

Rowan emerged into the clearing and immediately declared, “Thank God!”

Millie was sitting calmly on the porch watching his kids play in the grassy yard out front. Baby Patty, still naked but for a think white diapee, was sat in a giant green Bumbo that held her legs out in front of her. Her head rested at a forty-five degree angle on her left shoulder, her neck muscles now too weak to hold it up straight for extended periods. Her eyes were wide open, gazing with blank wonder up at the blue sky, a sheen of drool down her chin and bare chest shining in the sunlight. Harry was playing in the bushes along the front of the cabin, still in his backwards Sesame Street shirt and nothing else, squatting down to make another poopy in the flowers. Lucy had lost her Dora t-shirt and was now topless but still wearing her pink leggings as she sat on her bottom in a section of dirt having a tea party with her teddy bear and Barbie.

“Millie, are they okay? Has anything strange happened with them today?” he asked the woman, hurrying across the lawn.

Millie shrugged. “No, nothing unexpected,” she answered. “Why, is there something wrong?” she asked.

Rowan shook his head. “No, no, nothing at all. There just fine, that’s all I was worried about.”

Millie nodded and Rowan went to check on his kids, to make sure they were totally okay. He went to Harry first, finding the young man had just finished his poppies and was back to pulling out dandelions to stuff in his mouth. He leant down and placed and hand on the boy’s back. “Hey Harry, are you having fun buddy?” he asked.

Harry smiled at him, letting dandelion juice dribble down his chin. “Wo-wo wooks awll big,” the boy told him.

Rowan just shook his head, wondering what silly imaginary friend the boy had come up with now. “Okay, buddy, you go ahead and play with Wo-wo and daddy will be right back,” he assured him, pecking a kiss on his cheek.

“Wo-wo siwwy,” the boy declared.

“Yes, very silly,” Rowan agreed, getting to his feet and heading to where Lucy sat. He knelt before her and patted the top of her head. “Can I join your tea party sweetie?” he asked.

To his surprise Lucy scowled at him and shook her head vigorously, her pig-tails bobbing about. “Nuh-uh, no boyth!” she told him.

“Oh, that’s too bad honey. But what about daddies?”

Lucy shook her head again and banged her feet on the ground. “Go ‘way Wo-wo. Don’ wanna pway now,” she shouted.

Now Rowan was confused. Why was his daughter talking about Wo-wo too? And why was she talking to him so nastily, that was never how Lucy talked to her beloved daddy. Had the chip affected their personalities in some way? Had it made them imagine things? Concerned, Rowan left Lucy to play before she threw a tantrum, heading back over to where Harry was now lying on his back in the grass, peddling his legs in the air. As Rowan knelt back beside him the boy stuck his foot out in the man’s face, wiggling his toes and asking, “Wanna munch ‘em?”

“What? No, Harry. Daddy doesn’t do things like that,” he explained.

The boy didn’t seem upset, just took to chewing on a big toy car he’d picked up. “Harry, buddy. Who is Wo-wo?” Rowan asked.

Harry smiled around his toy and pointed straight back at Rowan.

“Me?” Rowan asked, wondering why the boy would give his daddy such a strange new nick-name.

“Wo-wo!” the boy shouted, still pointing as he spat out the toy.

“Why are you calling me that?” he asked.

But it wasn’t the boy who answered. It was a familiar voice from behind him that called out, “Because that is your name.”

Rowan turned to face Greg Howe as he walked into the clearing. “What are you doing here? What’s wrong with them?” he demanded.

“Nothing is wrong with them Rowan. They’re just a bit ahead of where you’re at. I’ve given them a little bit of new programming you see, nothing to change their behaviour, just how they interact with you. Today while you were meeting with me Millie triggered it.”

“But the chips?”

Howe shook his head. “There were never any chips in them. That was a lie. Sorry about that.”

Rowan was astounded Howe would go so far to mess with him. What could he possibly gain from this? Then it really struck him what Howe had just said. “Wait, did you say Millie triggered them?”

Howe nodded, smiling. Rowan turned to look at Millie. She’d stood from the porch now. She was smiling too, perfectly content with her betrayal. “What have you done?” he called to her, outraged.

“Only what you wish I’d have done years ago dear,” she replied.

“I don’t understand,” he declared to them both.

“The children aren’t calling you Wo-wo,” Howe explained. “They’re calling you Ro-ro, you’re new name, one much better suited for a little one.”

Rowan stared back at the doctor, shocked. “Excuse me?”

“You really don’t remember do you? Even now, even hearing your new name,” Howe mused.

“Remember what?” Rowan snapped, growing tired of his games.

“The sessions Rowan. The hours you spent in my special chair watching the lovely images, letting them overwrite your mind, prepare you for your new life.”

Rowan’s pulse ticked up a notch. “I… I don’t remember anything like that,” he replied, searching his memory for anything. How could it be true? Could he really forget entire afternoons or days of his life?

Seeing his anguish, Millie stepped forward. “It’s okay dear, this is all for the best. It’s what you’ve always wanted,” she told him. “You’ve helped free so many others. Now it’s your turn.”

Suddenly, for the first time, Rowan wasn’t so sure he did want this. He’d idolised the results of the treatment for so long, but now that it was actually being done on him it was different. Did he really want to lose everything this way? He enjoyed his work, enjoyed caring for his family. He shook his head.

“No, I don’t want this Millie. I like things the way they are.”

Millie frowned and looked to Howe. The doctor shook his head. “I’m sorry Rowan, but you don’t have a choice in the matter anymore. Your children have already forgotten you’re their daddy anyway. Look at them, they think you’re their brother, their play-mate, little Ro-Ro. It’s time for you to join them too.”

Rowan kept shaking his head, trying to think of a way out of this. Millie was moving closer again. “Why don’t you just take your clothes off now honey, hand them to me. It will make it so much easier when you go.”

Rowan shook his head and backed away. “My clothes? How… how young…?”

“Ro-Ro is just under two darling,” Millie replied. “He’s a sweet little nudist, a grass-eater, plants-pooper, a toe-munching dribbly-drooler just like his brother Harry.”

Rowan could only shake his head. This wasn’t right. He had so much work left to do.

“It’s total freedom Rowan. Isn’t that what you always told me?” Howe asked. “You get to have a lovely permanent holiday, a special kind of retirement from adult life. Little Ro-Ro is a happy, messy, playful boy. And little Ro-Ro will never grow up. You’ll spend the rest of your days here, playing with Harry and Lucy. Won’t that be just wonderful?”

Rowan had heard more than enough. It was time to cut his losses, time to get the hell out of here. He turned on his heal, aiming for the tree-line, and heard Howe’s voice call, “Baby time Ro-Ro!”

For years Rowan had watched his campers regress, enjoyed seeing the moment their eyes glazed over and their teen minds turned to mush. All that time he’d wondered, over and over, what did it feel like for them? What went through their minds as they lost their intelligence, their inhibitions, their memories? He’d spent a lifetime wondering and now, for a brief second he felt a rush of excitement as he understood that he was about to find out for himself.

There was a rush of endorphins through his body akin to an orgasm, perhaps even more powerful. His muscles went first, along with his motor skills. He stumbled, dropping to hands and knees as his legs seemed suddenly unsteady. Words left his vocabulary and the objects around him lost their names. Next went memory of their uses, of what they were and what they did. The pool, the slide, the trees, the small animals, the sky, the clouds and the grass all became mysteries to him. The people in the grass were familiar. He knew they were his brothers and sisters, though he couldn’t recall what any of that really meant. He just knew they were always there and they would like playing with him.

In fact play sounded like a lovely idea to Ro-Ro. It was the only thing he could remember how to do. But that was okay, because he quickly forgot he’d known anything else before anyway. He remembered this yard, the cabin and that was it. That was the world, that was all that had ever existed for him. He remembered the big people who wore clothes and talked in big strange words. They cared for him, loved him, kept him safe and happy. There was them, his brother and sisters and this clearing in the woods. Nothing else mattered.

Ro-Ro picked up a handful of green stuff and put it in his mouth experimentally, wondering what it was. It didn’t taste nice so he spat it out, wetting his shirt. He sat back on his haunches, it was a comfy position. The big people looked down at him with smiles. He smiled back and felt some nice warmth spread down his legs and bum. The big people pointed and used their words, all noise to him, and laughed. He giggled too, at the nice sensations and at the big people’s happy noises. After that they took of his wet clothes and the pinchy things on his feet. Then he got to play with Harry and he was so much happier free of the icky wet clothes.

Greg Howe and Millie watched with satisfaction as Rowan Belton played with his own son as an equal. The older man was now just as naked as his Harry, dressed in only a Cookie Monster t-shirt. The two bare bottomed men rolled about in the grass together, munched on their fingers and toes and picked their noses side by side all afternoon. Eventually even Lucy decided to join the messy boys and play beside them.

“It happened so quickly,” Millie commented as her former boss chewed, cross-eyed, on his big toe in the grass before her.

“He wanted it so badly. He couldn’t resist the programming even for a second,” Greg told her.

She handed him an envelope. “Here’s the codes to his real secret bank accounts.”

“Thanks,” Greg nodded.

“You got what you wanted,” she said.

“And so did you,” he agreed, nodding to the big toddlers romping about.

“We all got what we wanted in the end, even little Ro-Ro.”