"I thought you had a little brother, not a sister!" Jeff heard Carla say.
"Well, Jeff is a boy" mommy replied.
"Why's he wearing pink then? Pink's for girls!" Carla said.
"That's what I said too. It's one of my old onesies. You can't see it now, but it even says 'Princess' on the front" Emily replied. Once more, Jeff was shocked. He hadn't noticed the color of his onesie yet, all colours actually looked very similar to him at the moment, but he clearly didn't like the idea of wearing his sisters' old clothes.
"Well, it would be a waste not to use it again. Also babies grow out of their clothes so fast it would be way too expensive to buy anything new. And at this age he doesn't care what he's wearing anyway." Mommy explained. Of course Jeff DID care, but he had no way to tell anyone. Suddenly, everyone was distracted by a loud farting noise. Both girls laughed hysterically as Jeff stopped suckling and slowly realized there was a big wet spot at the back of his diaper. "Hahaha, babies are soooo gross!" he heard Carla say - and felt the same way.
"Did you poop again, Jeffie? Mom, didn't you just change his diaper?" Emily said, obviously keen on rubbing it in. "Well, newborns often go number two at every feeding - and sometimes between feedings, too." he heard mommy say.
Then he cried, despite Mommy's attempts to pacify him with burping and rocking, until the soiled diaper was gone and his butt sufficiently wiped. Mommy bent down and blew a raspberry on his tummy. It was totally silly, but for some reason Jeff liked the feeling on his skin - it genuinely made him feel better and he tried to smile at mommy, but he wasn't sure if his facial muscles did what he wanted them to do, and if they did Mommy didn't seem to notice. She closed his onesie - still the "princess" one - over his new diaper, and for a moment Jeff felt content. But he still wanted to be turned back, and just now a plan to force Emily to turn him back dawned on him.
He'd just have to wait for the evening. Then he'd do one of the few things babies were really good at - he'd cry, as loud and long as he could. Emily and his parents wouldn't get any sleep that night unless she used the Chronivac to make him older. He wondered what time it was - probably late afternoon. In just a few hours, he might be turned back into a teenager. Until then, he might as well try to enjoy baby life. Mommy carried him back to the living room and placed him on a kind of fluffy rug on the sofa. Then she got up and went over to the kitchen, probably to prepare dinner or something. Jeff was surprised she'd just leave him lying here on his own, he might fall off the sofa after all. Then he realized that he was so weak and undeveloped he wouldn't even be able to roll over or move his body enough to fall down anyway - the idea was frightening and reassuring at the same time. A newborn couldn't do anything on his own, but thanks to that he wouldn't have to worry about the consequences of anything he did either.
Jeff just relaxed and thought about the way the Chronivac had changed reality. Apparently it hadn't changed his parents' age, so his mother was still 42. His parents had obviously - and unfortunately - kept Emily's baby clothes, so they already planned to have another baby 10 years ago. Why had they waited so long? Maybe it had to do with Mom's job?
Suddenly Jeff was distracted from his thoughts by...