FebruARy Exclusive - Size - Part 3

Two minutes later, Oliver remembers Ruth. He retrieves his phone and makes the call.

"It's okay, Suzie's got clothes for Jacob. They're gonna be perfect!" It feels good to deliver good news, to show what a good friend he is.

Ruth doesn't sound particularly excited. "Who's Suzie? Are you still at Sweeties?"

Oliver laughs. He's managed to shake off the tiredness from before. If anything, he feels better he has in a long time, and he understands how stressed he's been feeling with the threat of the virus. He grins at his reflection in the mirror. All thanks to having someone he can trust, like the blonde with the sparkling blue eyes.

"The Sweeties lady," he explains in a rush, "she measured me, 'cause like you said, I'm the same as Jacob, and she's coming back with the clothes and then I can take 'em to your house, or I could take 'em to the clinic and he can change there, that's easy because-"

"Hold-"

Oliver interrupts, "And they won't be too babyish, 'cause I told Suzie, Jacob's young but not too young, like you said, and I don't want to wear..." He laughs. "I don't want him to look like a baby!" He trails off, and then frowns. "You there?"

"I don't think I ever said...you sound..." Ruth begins. There's a gap, and then she asks, "Oliver, are you okay?"

Oliver nods. "I wasn't before, because there was a mean lady, but Suzie's not mean, she's really nice and funny, and so I'm okay now." His eyes widen as he remembers something important. "Oh! Did Jacob bounce?"

Ruth exhales. "Yes. Some good news, thank God. It looks as though he'll be around five or six, mentally. Could've been a lot worse, and it means he can go to the special school, and they're even saying he might recover more because school has these classes that...anyway, like a rehab kind of thing."

Oliver grins. "That's awesome." Six is still plenty old enough to play video games with. He giggles as another thought occurs to him. "You won't have to change his diaper!"

There's silence on the other end of the phone.

"I mean," says Oliver, "because he'll be like a big kid, not a baby."

"I know what you meant," replies Ruth. She exhales. "Anyway, so we'll need the clothes brought to the house. Tell your Sweeties person that Jacob's MA age is six, okay?"

"Sure. I already told the lady to make sure they weren't babyish, but when I try them on, I'll know." He looks at himself in the mirror.

A snorting noise comes from Ruth's side of the phone.

"What...why are you trying on...are you serious?"

Oliver nods. "Like you said, we're the same size, so if they fit on me, then they totally fit Jacob!" He shakes his head. "But no diaper or anything babyish, Suzie promised."

He can hear Ruth breathing on the line. She sounds both frustrated and anxious at the same time. "You don't have to.." She produces another snort, and then asks, "Oliver, seriously, are you feeling alright?"

"Sure!" Oliver replies. "I got undressed and everything." He smiles at his naked reflection. "Suzie asked if I needed help but she was just kidding, it's just she forgets I'm big sometimes because she normally helps a MA person."

Ruth's tone softens. "Honey, you sound like you're a little confused. Is Suzie there, can I talk to her?"

"She'll be back soon," says Oliver calmly. "I could see how she's getting on but I better not open the door 'cause I don't have any clothes on." He sounds matter-of-fact, and why shouldn't he? Everything he says makes complete sense in his head. The only slight distraction is a slight itch in the small of his back. He turns around and then strains to looks at his back in the mirror, feeling with his fingers to discover something so small that it might not even be there; a tiny red bump, where he felt the scratch when Suzie was measuring him.

It doesn't hurt; there's just a faint, warm, itchiness. He scratches at it. "I got a bug bite," he mumbles. But it's nothing to worry about. And he's definitely not tired or stressed anymore. Just a little floaty. And now that he thinks about it, he's feeling kind of heavy in his bladder, as if he needs to have a big pee. He feels for a moment as if he should raise his hand, to ask for permission to go to the bathroom. But he's alone in the changing stall, with just Ruth's voice for company.

"Honey," says Ruth again, and this time her voice is gentler still. "I want you to-"

"Suzie's here!" Oliver announces with delight as the door opens and the blonde clerk appears with a bulging plastic bag. Oliver guesses, "She's got my...Jacob's outfit!" He waves the phone at the clerk and explains, "I'm talking to Ruth!"

Suzie nods. Oliver isn't sure, but he thinks that Suzie isn't happy about the phone call, a flash of something like annoyance crosses her face. But then she puts the bag down on the bench and gives Oliver a big smile, just like the ones she did before. "You got undressed all by yourself," she says brightly, and then she winks. "I can see your twinkle."

Oliver stares at Suzie in confusion. Twinkle? And then he follows her amused gaze to his crotch. And then he giggles without a trace of self-consciousness. "I didn't need help because I'm not a baby."

Suzie smiles sweetly. "You're a big boy, I can tell." She points at the phone. "Can I talk to your friend, please, Oliver?"

Oliver immediately hands over the phone. He eyes the bag curiously, but manages to wait patiently, hands dangling at his sides while the two ladies talk.

"Hi, yes...oh, that's good news. Mmm, we definitely have something for your husband." Suzie listens, glances at Oliver and says in a hushed, serious tone that Oliver didn't know the woman possessed, "Yes, it's pretty obvious that's what happened. He was fine when he came in, but then he started behaving rather...erratically...Yes, we'll have to follow the protocols. Okay, thank you." Suzie ends the call and pockets the phone.

"Well!" she says, with the return of her cheerful voice, "Are you read to get all dressed up?"

Oliver nods. He shouldn't really be naked, even in a changing room he's starting to feel a little silly. He points at the bag. "Nothing babyish, Jacob's six and he might get even older, 'cause of the special lessons."

“That's right," Suzie agrees, "Jacob is going to be a big boy, isn't he."

Oliver nods again. And then he's surprised when Suzie says, "Now, I want you to close your eyes, and not open them until I tell you to, okay?"

Oliver frowns. "Why?"

Suzie grins. "Because I want to see the look on your face when you see your outfit!" And her tone makes the idea sound so much fun that Oliver shuts his eyes tight.

He stands as still as he can while Suzie pulls a thick-feeling pair of underwear up his legs.

"I got a bug bite," he tells her. "It's kinda on my butt but not really." He points to the small of his back.

"Hands up like Super-Man," Suzie says brightly, and Oliver grins and shoots his hands in the air, forgetting about the itch on his back.

Suzie dresses him in a top that feels soft and warm, and then gets him to lift his feet, one and then the other, and pulls up a pair of pants that fasten higher up than Oliver's used to, with a pair of metallic clicks.

"Okay," says Suzie, "You can open your eyes now."

Oliver does as he's told, gazing at the full-length mirror to find himself in a white turtleneck sweater and powder blue overalls with a yellow duck on the bib. The obvious bulge around his waist from the chunky underwear confirms Oliver's suspicion.

He shakes his head. "It's babyish," he says, looking as if he's sucking on a lemon. "Jacob's not gonna wear it." He reminds Suzie, "Jacob's gonna be six and his mommy...his...Ruth isn't gonna change his diapers." His expression grows even more negative as he presses on the bulging underwear covered by the overalls. "That's for babies, not big boys."

"You sure?" asks Suzie lightly, taking Oliver's hand and brushing his fingers against the duck applique decorating his overalls. "Duckie's all fluffy, isn't he."

She smiles at him, her face so close to his, and Oliver finds himself nodding back. Duckie's are fluffy, and a vague smile tugs at his lips, and his bladder feels heavier, reminds him that he needs to go to the bathroom. He's ready to raise his hand, he should definitely go to the bathroom, and then he remembers his point from just a moment before. "Suzie," he says, and his voice has a trace of a sulk in it. "Duckies are for babies. Jacob's not a baby, I told you."

Suzie nods. She wraps her arms around him and gives him a hug that manages to feel reassuring and claustrophobic at the same time. "I know Jacob's going to be a big boy, sweetie." She kisses him lightly on the cheek, her hair tickling his skin. "But you're not."

Oliver stiffens. And he understands something important as he tries to make sense of Suzie's words. For the first time since he entered the changing room, he is concerned by how slow, how sticky like glue, his mind feels.

"We’re going to send Jacob’s big boy outfit to his mommy’s house. But you won’t get big boy clothes because you're going to be a sweet little toddler," says Suzie. "Your body will be big, but everything between your ears? You'll be sweet and innocent." She kisses him again. "You're going to be such a sweet little thing."

He shakes his head, pushes out of the embrace. "No!" he protests hotly, and he pulls at the buckles on his overalls. "I'm not a baby!"

Suzie stands between him at the door. "Sorry, Oliver, you're APP positive, it was obvious as soon as you entered the store. That's why Sandra sent me over to take care of you, so you didn't leave and then get all confused when you were crossing the street." She smiles at him. "Because you do feel confused, don't you sweetie. All foggy in your head."

Oliver sticks out his chin. "I'm not confu...I'm not foggy!"

"It's okay," says Suzie. "I've dressed you up and now you'll be fine. Anyone who sees you will know that you're just a sweet little boy who needs looking after." She beams at him. "You look adorable in your duckie overalls, and I know you're going to have such a lot of fun at daycare."

She thinks he’s just a dumb baby. She thinks he needs diapers. Oliver looks around wildly. "Where's my phone?" he demands. "Wanna call Ruth." He blushes at his diction. Wanna caw wooth. His tongue is clumsy, as if it's made of Play Doh.

Suzie will refuse. She will cuddle him again, hug him until he's senseless and babbling. Because she's the one who did this, Oliver is certain. He didn't catch any virus - maybe there isn't a virus - the whole thing is a big con-

"Here's your phone," Suzie says, pulling it from her pocket. "You can call anyone you want." And then, looking down at the screen, she frowns. "But it's low on power, sweetheart." She goes back to the plastic bag she'd brought. "Here, use this one instead."

As soon as she hands him the alternative phone, Oliver shakes his head, color rising in his cheeks.

He holds the chunky object in his hand. The large rubber buttons feel good against his fingers. Tempting. But it's not real.  Those phones don't really work, they're just for pretend, and pretend is the last thing he needs right now.

"It's only a toy," he complains, and he presses one of the bright buttons to prove his point.

The resulting noise, a bright ringing bell, is simultaneously surprising, distracting, and delightful.

He gazes at the object in his hands.

"You made it ring!" Suzie says, her voice rich with condescending praise. "What a clever boy!"

Oliver nods, and he presses more of the buttons, rewarded with a series of silly sounds that make him giggle.

Suzie giggles as well. "What a lovely phone!" And then she beams at Oliver and says sweetly, "What a happy little boy you are, playing with your special toy."

"Big," Oliver corrects her, but he does feel happy, the sleepy feeling returning, the world shrinking to barely more than the contents of the changing room. Any thought of calling Ruth fades gently from his mind.

The only distraction is the heaviness between his legs. "Gonna go potty?" he mumbles, less a request than a question.

Suzie doesn't seem to hear.  She strokes his hair gently and says, "Only my very best good boys get to play with a toy like that. You must be a very good little boy."

Oliver nods, giving the phone his open-mouthed attention. "Uh-huh," he mumbles, gazing at the phone as it lights up and continues to make its sounds. He likes the ringing bell, and the wooshing car sound and the...

The last button produces a sound that makes Suzie gasp with seeming delight. "You made it quack!" She pokes the front of Oliver's overalls playfully and says, "You got a duckie phone, and you're a duckie little boy. You made it go quack quack quack!"

Oliver laughs harder and more freely than he's done in decades, since he was a toddler the first time. "Cak-cak-cah!"

Suzie giggles. "What a silly baby!"

Oliver gazes at the magic phone and then into the pretty lady's sparkling blue eyes, and then he lets go without embarrassment, flooding his thick training pants with urine. The result is more than relief, and Oliver's eyes roll back in ecstasy as his mind is filled with the images and thoughts that are simultaneously the brightest and the dimmest.

Suzie cuddles him. "There you go, sweetie," she whispers in his year. "All rainbows and unicorns for you from now on. What a good baby."

"Goo..." he manages. "Goo...boh."

"Uh-huh," Suzie replies softly, patting his bottom and earning a glassy-eyed smile for her trouble.

There's not a glimmer of concern or self-consciousness now as Suzie leads Oliver out of the changing room.

"Time to go to the clinic, sweetie, so the special nurse can give you a little test and then you can go home with Mommy and your big brother."

Oliver holds Suzie's hand and clutches his special toy, focusing on walking, because steps are hard, especially when he's all warm and squishy between his legs, only lifting his head when a voice from before reaches his ears.

"Oh my," says the older lady, and for a moment Oliver feels afraid, because isn't that the mean lady?

She approaches them, looks Oliver up and down, and says to Suzie, "This keeps happening to you!"

Suzie shrugs. "Just good timing, I guess. Better it happens in the store than in the street."

The other lady nods. And she's not mean after all, because she smiles indulgently at Oliver and says, "What lovely overalls you have on. What a handsome little boy."

Oliver nods energetically. "Duckie go cak!"

Both women laugh. "The smartest thing you’ve said all day," says the older woman. She pats Oliver on the head and says, "I’m glad you’re all smiles. Here at Sweeties, we want all our customers to be happy boys and girls."

And then Suzie leads Oliver out of the store.

THE END

(An APP virus story) Eric's wife begs him to help out her best friend; she needs to shop at Sweeties for her regressed husband, but he's in daycare at the moment and she needs someone to try on the clothes... - Byron