Mother led the way out of the nursery, Sarah followed behind carrying me, one hand behind my back the other under my nappied bottom, I could feel her hand patting my frilly rear, as I used to do to her when I carried her around.
“Well off you go then Daniel, have a nice time,” mother smiled holding her arms out for me.
“It’s all right mum, I’ll strap her in her buggy, you put those rings in the safe.” Sarah grinned carrying me over to her buggy.
“NO….NO……NO,” I cried ejecting my dummy.
“She is really taken by the colour of those rings mum,” Sarah said as she dropped me in her old baby buggy.
I watched in horror, mother swung back the large portrait of the family, Dad and me, as I was, standing, smiling, Mum sat, Sarah, as I am now, on her knee.
She exposed the safe door.
“CLICK”
I looked down to see Sarah attach the first of my leather rein straps.
“This will ensure these rings don’t fall into the wrong hands,” Mother said as she pushed the buttons on the combination pad. “Not only are they valuable, they have special qualities too.” The safe door swung open. “Used by the wrong people and they could ruin lives.” She placed the box into the safe. “And we wouldn’t want that to happen.”
“CLICK”
Sarah attached my other rein strap at exactly the same time as mother closed the safe door. Both made the same noise, one securing me in a baby pushchair, the other in a babies body. I wailed in horror.
“Why don’t you put her in the nursery, you know how she loves playing with the real babies, that always cheers her up,” Susan suggested her grin growing wider.
“That’s not a bad idea, she should be with the other babies, as you should be with your friends too,” mother said closing the portrait to hide the safe.
I was doomed. Even if I could escape from the playpen or cot or highchair or pushchair or whatever else I was imprisoned in, even if I could manoeuvre a set of steps or something similar to allow my short frame to reach up to the safe, there was no way I could open it, only mum and dad knew the combination.
I was staring perpetual babyhood in the face, I knew it, Sarah knew it too, her confident smile told its own picture.
“Is dad really taking those rings back to Egypt?” Sarah asked as she took off the buggy brake.
“Sure is honey,” mother smiled taking the pushchair from him, “he was very lucky to get the chance to show them at all.”
“Why?” Susan asked inquisitively.
“Well, they are from a very special collection, and as I just said they have special qualities that make them a little dangerous so the Egyptian government has decided that they should be kept in the government vaults.” I felt the buggy lurch forward. “Once those rings are back in Egypt they will be locked away, never to see the light of day again.”
I saw my former face positively beam at this revelation.
“Pity really,” mother added wistfully.
I wailed in anguish.
I felt the warm summer breeze pick up my dress as mother pushed me along, Sarah had gone off in the other direction to meet my girlfriend, I hammered my Mary Jane shoes on the buggy foot rest in a fit of utter temper. Mother was used to the real Sarah having these sort of fits, it was fairly normal for children with the doctors had said, so she just ignored my pleas to save me from my fate.
“Sarah has no right to do this to me,” I sobbed to myself in self pity, “I should be meeting Jennifer not her, I shouldn’t be strapped in a baby buggy wearing a dress, frilly knickers and a nappy, I am a boy, a 16 year old boy, I don’t deserve this.”
“It’s your own fault,” another voice sneered sarcastically, “if only you hadn’t used those rings, if only you had not let the ring slip off your finger, if only you had lowered the cot side, if only Sarah hadn’t have woke up inside your body.”
IF ONLY….IF ONLY…..IF ONLY.
The facts were I did use the rings, I did let it slip off my finger, I didn’t lower the cot side and Sarah did wake up.
“You are trapped, you are going to be treated like a baby for the rest of your life, there is no escape. The rings are safely locked away out of your reach, tomorrow your father will take them with him to Egypt where they will be locked away for ever,” the voice got louder and louder as it nagged away inside my brain.
It was right, I knew that I was condemned to life as Sarah, a baby, there was only one person in the whole world that could save me, and she was the one with most to lose. She would never admit to us swapping minds, she would never allow herself to be put back into her own body. It was Sarah that had convinced mother to lock the rings away, ensuring what little chance I had of retrieving my situation was taken from me. Father was leaving for Egypt tomorrow afternoon, in less than 24 hours the rings would be gone, condemning me to a lifetime of restricted babyhood.
“IT ISN’T FAIR…….IT ISN’T FAIR!!!” I sobbed.
As waves of self pity washed over me I got an awful stomach cramp.
“NO…….NOT THAT,” I wailed, trying to control my new body, to my utter degradation I soiled and wet myself.
Soft excretia oozed from my bowels, squeezing between my legs, followed by warm urine. It felt absolutely disgusting, my own mess trapped inside my nappy. Now I would have to sit in it until mother decided to take my dirty nappy off, only for her to put another one straight on me. The only time Sarah was not in nappies was when she was in the bath, I would be treated exactly the same.
I was Sarah.
Each time I moved, the mess in my nappy squished further between my legs and around my front. I looked down expecting to see it covering my clothes, but my nappy and frilly baby pants did their job, they kept all my mess in next to my skin.
We finally reached the ice-cream store where mother bought me an ice- cream cone. She produced a bib from her purse and tied it around my neck before handing me the cornet. Ordinarily I would have welcomed the confection, but in a fit of frustrated petulance I threw it on the floor.
“That’s it young lady, I’ve had it with you,” she said exasperated turning the pushchair around and heading back home. “I just don’t know what’s got into you today,” she sighed. “It’s a pity you cannot talk and tell me exactly what’s wrong.”
“I wish I could talk too, I only needed to say a few words, it wasn’t much to ask for, just a few words like Sarah STOLE MY LIFE,” I cried, my words meaningless baby gurgles.
Being unable to talk was the most frustrating thing I had ever known, no matter how much I tried I couldn’t say one single understandable word. I looked up at mother as she walked me along.
“Please look at me mum, please tell me you recognise me as your son, please tell me you will change me back when you get me home,” I sobbed.
She noticed me looking at her.
“Are you trying to tell me something Sarah?” she asked.
“AT LAST!!!” I thought joy creeping into my heart.
“What is it baby?” she queried stopping the buggy, looking intently into my tear stained eyes.
“Mmmmmmmmmmmm……well don’t worry Sarah I’m going to change you just as soon as we get home,” she smiled.
“SHE KNEW!!!” Elation leapt through my heart. “SHE KNEW!!! I was saved, oh, thank goodness.”
“I knew there was something wrong with you, don’t worry I’ll soon have you changed,” mother smiled pushing the buggy on once more “and into a clean nappy.”
“NO…NO…NO..NOT THAT KIND OF CHANGE,” I screamed.
Mother gave a great sigh as my screams rented the air, to quieten me she pushed a pacifier into my mouth, she held it there for a while, I felt the teat swelling. This was a pacifier developed for very fractious babies, it could not be ejected. Now I couldn’t even gurgle baby talk with this baby comforter stuck between my lips.
Mother said very little as she pushed me home, I settled down a little as I tried to form plans to get myself out of the predicament I had put myself in. Each time I came up with an idea to get my mind back into my real body, a voice in my head quickly shot it down and a wave of self pity would wash over me.
“If I could just get hold of those rings,” I thought, “just for a few seconds then I could change back.”
“The rings are in the safe, you are not allowed out of your playpen, you cannot get to them,” the voice stated the facts.
“But if mother did leave me alone in the lounge out of my playpen, just for a few minutes,” I argued.
“You are never going to be left out of your playpen, but even if you were you cannot reach the safe,” the voice of reason countered.
“I could climb up the furniture,” I replied.
“The nearest piece of furniture is the sofa, you are too weak to move it, look at yourself you are a baby, you are never going to move any furniture,” the voice scoffed.
“Mother may do it for me, she often moves the sofa around when she is vacuuming the carpet,” I suggested.
“Mother only vacuums once a week, that is on Mondays, today is Wednesday, the furniture will not be moved for another five days, father goes to Egypt tomorrow, the rings are going with him,” the voice stated clearly.
I whimpered as I thought of father flying off with the rings leaving me stuck in Sarah’s body forever.
I HAVE TO THINK OF A WAY OUT OF THIS I JUST HAVE TOO.
“Perhaps I could spill something on the carpet, forcing mother to re- arrange the furniture, that’s what I’d do.”
“Spill what?” the voice scoffed. “All Sarah’s drinks are either in a babies bottle or a toddlers beaker, they are designed so that Sarah can’t spill her drinks down herself or on the carpet.”
“But it might happen,” I cried, but knew in reality I was grabbing at straws.
“All right then, it might happen, mother moves the furniture because for some miraculous reason you have managed to spill the unspillable,” the voice humoured me. “And for the first time ever mother leaves the room without putting you into your playpen, what then?”
“Then I climb the sofa and…..and….and…….”
“And open the safe,” the voice finished the sentence for me. “Face up to the facts Daniel, you will never be allowed to get to that safe, but even if you were allowed, you couldn’t open it, you do not know the combination.”
“YOU ARE TRAPPED!!! There is absolutely nothing you can do, you’re as helpless as a baby, and you are going to be a helpless baby for the rest of your life,” the voice sneered.
“IF ONLY Sarah HADN’T GOT MOTHER TO LOCK THOSE RINGS AWAY,” I sobbed loudly.
