John pulled out one of the T-shirts in the suitcase. It was clearly for a toddler. Frustrated, he dug through the suitcase, looking for something that might fit. Surely there was something inside that would fit him. He let out a sigh of relief as he came across a polo shirt in his size. Before he could take it out, however, there was a voice.
“What’s going on here?” John looked over. While he had been distracted, a man about his age had come into the bathroom.
“Just changing into some clean clothes,” John said with a shrug. The man raised an eyebrow.
“From my suitcase?” he asked. John’s blood ran cold. Shit. “It’s very rude of you to take someone else’s property.”
“Look, man, it’s an emergency.”
“No, I understand,” the real Robert Jones said.
“Really?”
“Yes. Desperate times call for desperate measures. In fact, I’ll let you borrow some of my clothes.”
“Wow, I- I really appreciate it,” John said, relieved. Finally, some good luck! “Since they’re yours, I’ll leave it to you as to what I borrow.”
“I think what you pulled out of the suitcase already should suffice.”
“What?” John looked around. So far, all he had pulled from the suitcase was toddler clothing. There was even a diaper. “You’re joking, right?”
“No. I’m not.” Robert’s voice became ominous. “Go ahead and put on the clothes.”
“They’re way too small!”
“Oh, they’ll fit,” Robert said. John stared at him, stupefied. “Fine, I’ll help you out.” Robert snapped his fingers. To John’s horror, his body began to move on its own. Despite his best attempts to fight it, he had no control over what he was doing. He picked up the first T-shirt he had pulled out and tried to slip it over his head.
At first, the fabric got stuck. But then there was a strange tingling sensation across his torso and head. The T-shirt slipped on without any further issues. John picked up the diaper.
“No, no!” John said desperately. It was no use. He opened the diaper and pulled it between his legs. Like with the shirt, it was far too small at first, but the tingling sensation returned, this time on the lower half of his body, and he was able to clumsily tape the diaper on. Next came the diaper cover, which slipped on without a problem, as well as a pair of blue shorts. John’s heart was racing as he finished up by putting on socks and Velcro sneakers.
“There you go,” Robert said, sounding pleased. “You’re in some clean clothes now.” Robert walked over to John. John stared up at him, terrified by how much bigger Robert now seemed. Robert picked him up and carried him over to the bathroom mirror. “And I think you look much cuter than before.” John stared. In the mirror was Robert, holding a toddler boy.
“Why- how-” John squeaked out. Robert chuckled. He set John down and began to pack up his suitcase.
“Don’t steal from a wizard, kid. You’re lucky I packed my nephew’s extra clothes, and not my sister’s. Or my dog’s. You’d be in a much stickier situation.” Robert stood up. “All right. Come along, Bobby.”
“Wait, what?” John asked. Robert looked at him.
“You’re coming with me.”
“Wh-where?”
“My family vacation. I can’t leave a three-year-old on his own. For one thing, it’s irresponsible. For another, if I don’t keep an eye on you, I can’t decide when to return you to normal. That is, if I decide you’re worthy of returning to normal.” Robert took John’s hand. “And since you wanted to be Robert Jones today, Robert Jones you’ll be. My son Robert Jones II, whom everyone calls Bobby.”
“Won’t your family question where you picked up a son from?” John, or rather, Bobby, asked.
“Yes. And I’ll tell them the truth. They’ll understand.” Robert looked at his watch. “Shoot, we really have to get going.”
“But-”
“We don’t have time for more questions right now, Bobby,” Robert said. “Go ahead and take a little nap. We’ll talk after.” With that, Robert snapped his fingers. Bobby fell asleep immediately.
When Bobby woke up, he was…