By week’s end Teddy and Jamie were no closer to a solution. The corrupted data held a clue to the amount of exposure Jamie had been subjected and a possible lead. Ultimately it didn’t matter, they had no idea how large a dose it would take to regress a human male subject. All their experiments had been on rats and guinea pigs, nothing as large as Jamie. Sooner or later the regression had to stop and when that happened they could start to work on reversing the process. Now living in the body of a 13 year old Jamie was left guessing when the he would stop getting younger.
Jamie walked in the door of the house and noticed the kids hadn’t arrived home yet. He made his way into the kitchen where Marjorie was starting dinner. Without turning to look at her husband “Did you find a cure today? It’s Friday and you said a solution would be found.” Dejected he hung his head and quietly said “No.”
“If you don’t stop regressing by the end of the weekend, I’m afraid changes will have to be made. You can’t sleep on the couch forever and I can’t sleep with a pre-teen in my bed. Plus your relationship with your kids will inevitably change as you regress.” Jamie knew his kids were seeing him different already. Sheila had been great not overstepping the bounds of decency and respect once it was obvious Jamie was the younger of the two. Michael on the other hand had been much crueler with his jokes If Jamie regressed much further there would definitely be problems dealing with his son.
Saturday afternoon, Marjorie decided to take Michael and Mary to the park. It was too nice outside and Mary really wanted to play on the swings. Jamie was told he would be going to the park “You have been sulking all day and besides some fresh air is good for someone your age.” All Jamie could do was scowl at Marjorie before accepting he had no choice and relented to the much larger and older woman of the house.
Once at the park Michael and Mary ran around playing on their favorite apparatus, however Jamie refused to have fun and sat down on the bench. After a while Marjorie came over and sat beside the child. She put her arm around the diminished frame and tried to consol him. “Honey it isn’t all that bad, try not to dwell on it, go and have fun.” Jamie looked up at her, “Dwell on it? What else can I do? I’ve lost my adulthood and I might loose my pre-teens. I could end up being introduced as Mary’s twin! What is worse is that pretty soon Michael is going to figure out he can push me around, then I’m screwed.”
“Well then I suggest you start to make friends with him right now, so he isn’t as tough on you. I can’t watch over the two of you 24 hours a day. Now get up and go play with Michael.” With that Marjorie grabbed Jamie’s hand and walked over to the monkey bars. “Michael would you please play with Jamie. He is looking down and could use some fun.”
“Alright, I guess but I get to choose the game.” Michael grudgingly replied. With that Jamie knew that his control over Michael was starting to slip. It was only choosing a game but Michael made the decision instead of Jamie for the first time. “Let’s play spaceman. I’m the captain and you are the other spaceman. Let’s go into outer space. Michael climbed the jungle gym and proceeded to shout orders.”
Jamie slowly got into the play-acting roll of a spaceman in a rocket ship. With his youthful age also came with an overactive imagination, after a short while Jamie started to enjoy himself. Soon he was caught up in the game and forgot he was a mature husband and father. Instead throwing himself into his newfound role as a spaceman roaring across the galaxy.
