There was a mad dash from Jennifer and Sarah but Molly was perplexed. What was a daycare crocodile? She got up and suddenly dashed upstairs. She needed her teddy bear as it had the device in it. She grabbed it. Took one last look at her cute reflection and then scrambled back down the stairs. She looked at the coat rack and saw a thick red jacket with brown toggle buttons and a brown bear embroidered on the pocket. As both Sarah and Jenny had their jackets on she guessed that one was hers and she pulled it down and put it on.
Jenny’s mom gave each of the girls a kiss on the forehead and pushed them out the door into the company of a woman probably 30 years old wearing a bright orange jacket that said Sunshine Bay Daycare. It was the daycare just down the street. Molly had passed it quite often when walking to Jennifer’s house but had never stepped inside.
“Hi girls! All ready for a day of play and learning”
The woman said in an overly chirpy manner reserved for young children. Molly felt silly but secretly liked her tone, Sarah simply nodded as she held Molly’s hand and Jennifer just scoffed. Molly noticed two other similarly dressed adults with the high visibility jackets on, and outside Jennifer’s front garden gate stood a line of teenagers standing in pairs, with each pair holding hands.
“Well girls get to your places please. You should know the drill by now. ”
Molly didn’t understand what was going on, but Jennifer wandered off to stand beside a teenage girl dressed in a denim set of overalls. It took Molly a second to recognise the blonde cheerleader. She was in their chemistry class. Jennifer held the cheerleader’s hand. A quick scan of the entire line of teenagers showed that Molly recognised the majority of them as being from her school. Her reality altering device had effected everyone. Every single teenager was at a younger stage of development because of her request.
She held her teddy bear tighter in one of her hands, the other one still held Sarah’s hand as Sarah led Molly into the standing line of teenagers. Had Molly done something terrible, or something wonderful in changing reality? Was she being selfish? She would allow herself one more day of this sort of treatment and then put it back the way it was. No-one would remember once it had been all returned to normal. The day care assistant moved to the front of the queue as Sarah led Molly into their place in the line up.
“Okay, everyone in the crocodile. Off we go.”
The assistant waved her hands forward and began to walk. The teenagers fell into step behind with two other daycare attendants in the back. Molly was fairly smart and she had realised now that the crocodile was what the line was referred to. She felt quite small being chaperoned. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been accompanied anywhere by an adult. Her parents had treated her quite grown up from a fairly early age and she had grown to meet that expectation. So to suddenly feel like she was being treated like a kid was a real treat.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the Daycare and as they stepped through the large high gates the pairs split up and rushed towards the front doors, pouring into the building and playing in the front yard, yelling and laughing and causing general bedlam.
Jennifer came up to Molly and Sarah. She smiled at Molly.
“What should we do first?”
Molly didn’t know what there even was to do. She had never stepped inside, but obviously because Sarah and Jennifer’s memories had altered to fit their new reality they knew this place better.
“What do you want to do Sarah?”
Molly asked, taking the pressure off herself.
“I want to colour in! That’s my favourite”
Sarah said excitedly. This seemed to appease Jennifer and she nodded happily.
“Lets go then before all the decent crayons are chewed!”
Jenny laughed as she then bolted for the main entrance leaving her two teenage friends in the dust.
“HEY! WAIT FOR US!” Molly yelled and ran after her with Sarah close behind.