When they got home, Anita made some phone calls and gave Bri-Bri his bottle before putting him down for his nap. She picked up the house until late that afternoon, when she started getting ready to go out. When she got Bri-Bri up from his afternoon nap, she was dressed in nothing but a bath towel as if she had just taken a shower. She gave him a bottle and sat him in his playpen while she went to the bedroom to get dressed. When she emerged, he saw that she was wearing her best black evening gown over her slinkiest black hose. The smell of her perfume filled the air and negated the scent of baby powder which hung around Bri-Bri like a pall. His adult mind woke as if a magic potion had been waved under his nose. Suddenly, he was aware of his surroundings and all that it implied about what had happened to him. He had allowed himself to slip into the non-thinking ease of infancy. Anita’s perfume could only mean one thing. She planned to go out that night! Anita never wore that perfume unless she was going out on a date with him! Howard panicked. Was she seeing another man? Did she plan to leave him there alone and uncared for, trapped in his playpen until he died of thirst? Ever since his rejuvenation she had been there to take care of him. Even when she had had to work, she had put him in the Daycare at her company so she could visit him during the day and be there immediately if there was an emergency and he needed her. He hadn’t appreciated being put into the Daycare at the beginning, but later he had realized how considerate she was to make the arrangements so she could be close to him all day long. At first he had rebelled against her control, but as his powers diminished with his size, he had become dependant on her help. He couldn’t survive without her, he needed her!

When Howard saw that she wasn’t leaving immediately, he began to calm down. Of course she wouldn’t leave him, she was his wife! She had simply forgotten to tell him that they were going out that night. Considering his infantile behavior of late, he couldn’t blame her for not consulting him. After all, it had been weeks since he had had an adult conversation. He sat in his playpen as she transferred her ladies wallet and lipstick into a black-beaded evening purse wondering when she was going to dress him for their outing. She had changed his diaper after his nap but had not bothered to put anything else on him since that time. Surely she wouldn’t take him to a fancy restaurant wearing only a diaper while she was wearing her best black evening gown! It just wasn’t possible that she could leave him! He knew her Catholic upbringing and how her mind worked, she may have been upset with him for not having a baby with her but her religious beliefs wouldn’t let her commit adultery with another man! One she was married, it was forever for her. She had sworn before God and Man to stand by him in illness and in health. The ethics that her mother had instilled in her as a child wouldn’t allow her to leave him while he was in such a condition. She knew how helpless he had become! He felt deep in the nethermost reaches of his soul that she was incapable of sleeping with a man other than her husband.

Nevertheless, her preparations bothered Howard in a way he couldn’t define. There was something unsettling about her going out on a Saturday night in her best even if she did intend to bring him with her. Did she plan to order a high chair for him and have the cook warm his bottle while she dined on Filet Minion and garlicked potatoes while sipping on vintage Burgundy? Howard mourned the loss of his teeth which made him unable to eat the fresh crusty bread of their favorite French restaurant. Their succulent rare steaks soaked in cognac and smothered in green peppercorns was a thing of the past for Howard. At best he might be able to stomach a tiny timbale of garden vegetables force-sieved through a ricer and cooked in small steel custard cups to emerge as firm multicolored-layered cones like a vegetarian’s version of Neapolitan ice cream. Unfortunately, Howard hated vegetables in all varieties except potatoes. Perhaps the renewed ability to taste granted by his rejuvenated body would render the flavor palatable. Howard doubted it. He dreaded the idea of going out to dinner to a fancy restaurant with Anita in his condition. The thought of being treated like an infant by the maitre d’ was depressing. He was too used to being treated like the visiting Lord of the Demesne to be comfortable in the role as the helpless ward of his Lady. When he gave orders as a man, he expected the underlings to whisper furiously at each other in their haste to do his bidding. Instead of the usual rush to do his will, the best he could hope for was a condescending smile from the maitre d’ as his feeding bib was ceremoniously tied around his neck by a busboy while the wine steward brought his warmed bottle of formula wrapped in a linen napkin for presentation to his ostensible “mother” before he would be allowed to nurse.

It would be a humiliating experience. Still, he preferred the embarrassment to being left to his own devices. Despite his intense desire to regain control his life, Howard knew he was incapable of being left on his own in his present condition. He had become dependent on Anita to take care of him. The Daycare Center was closed on weekends. What the Hell did she have planned? Surely she didn’t intend to forsake him and leave him alone!

Anita appeared unperturbed as she put on her high heels and made her final preparations for her night on the town. She made two phone calls, but Howard couldn’t make out what was being said. Anita seemed to be all smiles as she primped her hair one last time in the mirror of the entry hall. When the doorbell rang, she escorted a pretty young woman of about eighteen years into the living room. She introduced Howard to her as her nephew Bri-Bri and smiled as the high school senior cooed over what a sweet baby he was. Howard was stunned when Anita gravely introduced the girl as Rose and told him that she would be his babysitter that evening. The babysitter laughed at Anita’s joke, knowing that the baby boy in the playpen couldn’t have possibly understood his aunt’s mock introduction to her.

Anita gave Rose a printed list of phone numbers were she could be reached, including the miniature pager she had put in her evening purse. Then she gave her a tour of the house starting with the nursery and bathroom and ending in the kitchen. She showed her where Bri-Bri’s baby food and formula were kept and told her that she was free to drink the Cokes or Sprites in the refrigerator and make herself a snack if she got hungry. Anita gave her a list with Bri-Bri’s schedule and said that she didn’t expect to be home before one or two in the morning as she was going out to dinner and a play with a friend. Rose promised to take good care of baby Bri-Bri. The doorbell rang again and Anita went to answer it. She invited the person at the door in and Fran stepped into the hall, dressed to the nines. When Anita went back to get her purse, Fran followed and stood over Howard’s playpen with a huge grin on her face. Anita came over to the playpen, picked Howard up and deposited a maternal kiss on his forehead, commending him to the care of his babysitter and commanding him to be a “good baby” for Rose. Then she lowered him gently to the floor of the pen and took her leave of him. Fran smiled at Howard’s expression of surprise as he stood with wobbly knees at the side of the playpen, hanging on to the rails to keep himself upright. Fran blew him a kiss and said with a sardonic grin, “Goodnight, Bri-Bri! Have a good time with your new ladyfriend! I know it won’t be long before you’ll find yourself being held lovingly in her arms. I’m sure that before the end of the night, she’ll tenderly disrobe you with her own hands to see what you’re hiding in your pants. She may even be so taken with your manly charms that she’ll sing you a sweet love song. There’s nothing like a soothing lullaby from a woman to help a man sleep like a baby!”