“Wait, don’t tell me yet,” Dan interrupted. The woman raised an eyebrow. “I want to be surprised.”
“All right. Come with me, then, and we will start your treatment.” The woman walked away. Dan followed. They entered a medical examination room, where a doctor was already waiting with a large needle.
“Sit down,” the doctor instructed. Dan did as he was told. The doctor rolled up his sleeve, wiped a patch of skin clean, and then injected Dan with the contents of the needle. “You should pass out in a few minutes,” the doctor said, rolling the sleeve back down. “When you wake up, you’ll be back home, at your new age. Your emergency contact is currently waiting in the lobby to give you a ride.”
“Will my clothes fit me?”
“No.”
“So I’ll wake up naked?”
“No. We have clothes on hand that you’ll be changed into before you are taken out of the room,” the woman who led Dan to the room said. She looked down at her clipboard. “Just to double-check, your medical history says that you were still wearing training pants at the age of five. Is that correct?”
“Uh, yeah, I took a while to get potty trained. Why?”
“I just need to make sure all your medical information is accurate.” The woman opened the door. “Sweet dreams, Dan.” She and the doctor left. Dan sat nervously for a few moments, before he felt his eyes beginning to droop closed.
It seemed like no time had passed between Dan drifting to sleep in the examination room and waking up in his bedroom. He opened his eyes. Something felt weird about his clothes. He threw the blanket off and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. He gaped at the sight of his small legs.
Dread growing, Dan hopped out off bed and rushed downstairs to talk to his mom. He found her in the kitchen.
“Mom!” he said. His voice was higher-pitched than usual, not helping to assuage his fears at all. His mom looked over at him. “How- how young did they make me?”
“Five, sweetie.”
“Five?!”
“Apparently, you test at the level of the average kindergartener.”
“What? But- but how?” Dan squeaked. His mom shrugged.
“I don’t know, dear. But don’t worry, the company already set things up for you being five again. They were even kind enough to supply me with some new clothes. I have all your old ones, but they’re a bit outdated now.”
Suddenly, Dan remembered the woman asking when he was potty trained. That, combined with the strange feeling around his waist, made him yank his shorts down to check. He groaned loudly. He wasn’t wearing underwear, he was wearing training pants!
“Oh, don’t worry about those,” his mom said. “The doctor said you should still be potty trained. But just to make sure, you’re supposed to wear training pants for the next few days. It’s just a precaution.”
“Great,” Dan muttered, crossing his arms. He sighed. “You said the company set things up for me already?”
“Yes, they did. In fact, tomorrow, you’ll be…”