"I thought that we could do some grown up things first," Judy said.
"'Grown up things,'" Betty repeated, sounding guardedly worried. "You mean..."
"I mean, we could go get drunk," Judy explained.
"Yeah," Cathy said. "That would be so cool!"
"Hell yeah!" Amy said and high fived Cathy. "Let's party!"
Betty fidgeted and frowned. Her arms subconsciously covered her bare stomach. "B-but, don't you need IDs to buy alcohol?"
The other girls paused in their celebration and looked at her. Faint resentment appeared on their faces for being pulled back from fantasy into annoying reality. "Damn," muttered Cathy.
Judy put a hand on her chin and tapped a finger on her lips as she thought a moment. An idea hit her and she brightened up. "Hey," she said and the girls turned their attention to her. "They never check my mom's ID when she gets wine at the store. If you look old enough, they just assume you are."
They all smiled. The night was saved. "All right, Judy," Amy exclaimed and gave Judy a celebratory high five. "That'll work. We can make one of us look really old so that they won't check for an ID when she buys the drinks."
"But, who's it going to be?" Cathy asked.
The three girls all looked over at Betty. "Hey," Betty said. "Why are you looking at me?"
"Well," Judy said. "It makes sense for you to do it." Jim immediately heard that Judy had switched into her "reasonable" voice. He had heard it many times before when she had manipulated their parents with a crafty lie.
"Why?" Betty asked and glanced fearfully at the balloon Judy held.
"You see," Judy began gently. "Any one of us could do it, but we're all just kids after all. I mean, we might look grown up, but we don't think like adults. Except for you."
"Me?" Betty said her eyes brightening at the compliment. Jim sighed at her gullibility. Betty was buying it.
"Of course you," Judy said. "You were the one who realized that we needed IDs, right? That was really smart and mature. Even if we made ourselves older, we'd have a hard time pretending to be adults, but not you. You can pull it off. It'd be no problem for you."
"Huh," Betty said. "I guess that makes some sense."
Jim wanted to scream at her, Yeah, it makes some sense, but why would someone care if you're acting like an kid when you look like an old woman anyway? He kept his mouth shut, though.
"Thanks, Betty," Judy said and put a kind hand on her shoulder. "That's very cool of you to do this."
"Well, I..." Betty started to say that she hadn't actually agreed to anything, but Amy cut her off.
"Yeah, Betty. Way to go." She put her hand on Betty's other shoulder.
Cathy said. "You rock, Betty." She gave Betty a thumbs up. Jim wanted to laugh.
"Okay," Judy said. "Let's do this so we can get the party started."
"Um," Betty said uncertainly, but Judy already had the balloon held up in front of her.
"Control Betty's age," she said and blew a long FOOOFF into the balloon.
Betty did not change much. Her face seemed a bit more worn out and her body seemed to have gotten a slight bit chubby. She looked somewhere close to 30 now.
Another FOOOOFFF and Betty had taken on more weight and her face now looked saggy and tired. "Ouch," she said, revealing a much more mature middle-aged voice. "This thing is pinching me." She reached behind her to untie her bikini top and then her bottom. She covered her sagging breasts and her crotch as the too small and inappropriately youthful bathing suit fell away.
Once more Judy blew deeply into the balloon, FOOOOOOOOOFFF, and Betty seemed to wilt in front of them like a dying flower. The color drained from her hair and her face. Wrinkles appeared all over her, and her posture drooped as if she had been punched in the gut. "Oh," she moaned, sounding now like an old woman. "Everything feels so sore." She looked to be near 70 at this point. "I feel like I want to lie down for a while."
"I think that'll do it," Amy said, clinically, as if she were checking Betty's makeup.
"Yeah," Cathy agreed. "She looks like my grandma now."
Betty looked even more hurt as she looked up at Cathy.
Cathy grimaced. "I mean, you look good. My grandma looks good for her age," she said, backtracking. "You look the right age to get the drinks at least. No one will doubt you're old enough."
Betty sighed and her whole body sagged even more.
Judy said, "Release." Then, she put a helpful arm around Betty and led her to the stairs. "Come on," Judy said. "Let's go to Amy's parents' room to find you some clothes."
"Yeah," Amy said and joined them on the stairs. "I'll help." They walked up slowly since Betty's knees seemed to give her pain.
Jim just stared at the spectacle disapprovingly. Then, he turned his attention to Cathy--the beautiful busty blonde who stood waiting for her friends in her borrowed bikini. "You sure you want to do this?" he asked her.
She looked momentarily startled. Apparently, she had all but forgotten that he was in the room. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What do you mean?"
"Doesn't this seem like a bad idea?" he reasoned. "I mean, what happens if you guys get drunk and do something stupid with the balloon? And, anyway, what are you going to do when Amy's parents get home?"
Cathy pondered a moment. "Eh," she said nonchalantly. "We'll figure that out later. I just want to have some fun for now."
Jim sighed. Growing older did not seem to have made her grow up at all.
"You look great," he heard Amy's voice say as footsteps approached the stairs.
"I do?" an old woman's voice replied as the women slowly walked down the steps together. "I feel a bit funny in this."
Betty sure looked funny. She wore a pair of slippers with white socks on her feet as well as a pair of pink sweat pants and a grey sweat shirt. Her grey hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail.
"You look fine," Judy assured her as they reached the first floor. "And, anyway, this was all that we found that would fit. Don't worry. No one will think anything's wrong with an old lady dressing like this."
Betty sighed. "All right, then. Let's just get going and get this over with so you can turn me back."
Amy handed Betty a credit card. "That's my mom's credit card," Amy explained. "She left her wallet behind tonight, I guess. You should be able to pretend to be her."
"Okay," Betty said and pocketed the card. "Well, let's get walking."
"Oh," Judy said. "We can't go with you."
"What?"
"If they see us with you, they might think you were just buying the drinks for underage girls," Judy explained in her "reasonable" voice again.
"Oh," Betty said and frowned. "So, I'm going alone all the way down the block to the store and carrying the bottles all the way back by myself?"
Judy smiled. "And, we're so totally grateful that you'd do that for us. Aren't we, girls?"
"Yeah," Amy said. "Thanks, Betty. It's really cool that you're doing this."
"You're the best," Cathy added. "We really couldn't do this without your help."
Betty sighed even deeper. "Thanks, I guess," she said, and turned to the door. "I'll be back when I can make it. I don't think I can walk very fast right now." She opened the door and started walking.
Judy watched her go for a few seconds and then shut the door. "Okay," she said turning from the door and seemingly putting Betty immediately out of her mind. "Let's find something fun to do while we wait for grandma to get back."