Clearly, Nicky wasn’t going to get an opportunity to escape. He might as well take a nap while he had the chance. Nicky took his backpack off and set it by his feet. Sleep came surprisingly quickly.
While sleeping, Nicky tossed and turned like usual. The movement came at a cost. His feet kicked his bag, knocking one of the die loose from its case. Fast asleep, Nicky didn’t hear the voice of the dice speak.
“Six years you have walked this Earth, now this number is but four. Each roll of the dice returns more of what you have lost.” Golden light surrounded Nicky and he shrunk again. His clothes were now decidedly too big for his toddler body.
Elise, catching a glimpse of the light out of the corner of her eye, looked up. She got up from the desk and walked over to Nicky to check on him. To her surprise, the boy she thought had been a kindergartener was most definitely in fact a toddler in too-large clothes, likely borrowed from a big brother. She gently shook him awake.
“Nicky?” Nicky opened his eyes. Elise smiled at him. “I’m sorry, you’re in the wrong class.”
“What do you mean?” Nicky asked, sitting up.
“I thought you were older than you are. In my defense, you’re big for your age and dressed up in what I’m guessing is your big brother’s clothes,” Elise said.
“Wh- no, these are mine.”
“No, honey, they aren’t,” Elise said patiently. She took his hand and pulled him up. As he stood, Nicky noticed how much bigger the clothes were now, and knew immediately that he must have lost a few years in his sleep. Horrified by what that meant, Nicky lost control of his bladder. A wet spot formed on the front of his too-large pants. “And- oh. Yes, you’re too little for this class. We can let kids have accidents during naps every now and then, but daytime accidents have to happen in preschool. Come on.”
Elise put Nicky’s bag on him and ushered him, wet pants and all, out of the classroom. She marched through the halls, ignoring the stray student running to the bathroom or drinking fountain. Nicky, however, felt his cheeks burn red with embarrassment, knowing that each child could tell his potty training had failed him. Knowing he’d had an accident during the day allowed Nicky to figure out his precise age. At five, he was only wearing training pants at night, but at four still wore them during the day due to occasional accidents.
They arrived at a door with cartoon character stickers all over it. Elise pushed it open. Older toddlers and some younger children were scattered about the room, playing with various items. A young woman that was definitely Nicky’s type if he wasn’t a toddler swooped in.
“Hi, Elise!”
“Hi, Michelle,” Elise said cheerfully. Nicky winced. Yes, Michelle was definitely his type. She was another former secretary of his. “Nicky here wound up in Lizzie’s classroom but I think he should be in yours.”
“Hmm, I think I remember hearing I’d be getting another student soon, so you’re probably right,” Michelle said. She smiled at Nicky. “Looks like someone went up to big boy pants a bit too soon. Was it during naptime?”
“No, after I woke him up.”
“Ah. Okay. Definitely not ready for kindergarten, then. Come on, Nicky, let’s get you cleaned up and put some training pants on you.”
Michelle took Nicky’s hand and pulled him away from Elise. Elise patted the top of Nicky’s head, said goodbye, and left. When Elise was gone, Michelle brought Nicky over to a young man.
“Harry?” she said. Harry looked up. “Mind getting Nicky in some fresh clothes and some training pants?”
“You got it!” Harry said.
“I’ll put your bag in a cubby,” Michelle said to Nicky, taking his bag away from him. Rapidly feeling like he had less and less control, Nicky silently let the teacher’s aide bring him to the bathroom. At least it was a male teacher’s aide who was responsible for cleaning him and redressing him.
A few humiliating minutes later, Nicky left the bathroom, now crinkling thanks to his new training pants, and wearing an annoyingly cute overall patterned with sailboats and red T-shirt. Harry smiled at him.
“It’s free time right now, so you do whatever you want, Nicky.” Harry then left to go talk to Michelle. Nicky surveyed the classroom, thinking about his options.