With your feet in the low skate sneakers, you dash down to Main Street and turn into the alley where the store was. You burst through the door and the bell attached to the inside jangled violently.
The old Chinese man came out from his office and looked you up and down. “You use a lot,” he said, shaking his head. “Usually people only want little bit younger!”
Angrily, you reply, “I didn’t KnOw! And this isn’t me! I never looked like this!”
“Right,” said the Chinese man. “Cream contain a little bit of everybody who use it before, especially last one! Last one with cream was tall, lanky. Maybe two meter tall! But skinny. So you get some of that and whoever use it next get some of you.”
You look down at yourself. “Can’t you give me an antidote? Even back to who I was yesterday?”
“Antidote? No antidote. One way only! Well,” said the Chinese man, “nothing you can do now. Have to grow back up!”
You burst into tears. “I don’t wAnT to be a teenager!”
“There, there. Let Lao Yi help.” He hands you a cup of tea and lays his hands on your head, concentrating intensely. You sip the tea and suddenly the flavor and the pressure on your head makes you dizzy. You fall down, but Lao Yi catches you.
After a brief moment, you come to and Lao Yi is over at the stand. You hoist yourself up and stumble over to him, your feet sliding around in your skate shoes. You realize the room looks different.
“Better?” asks Lao Yi.
“Better how? What do you mean?” you say, expecting your voice to crack as it has been, but it stays in the higher register.
“You say don’t want to be teenager. So no more teenager. Lao Yi give you your wish!” He spins you around to face a full-length mirror. You stare. The boy staring back isn’t 13 anymore. You are…