There was a great big blue white light and Liam blinked. It was so bright! He was so mad at this stupid elf for making him go to some stupid place. He wanted to go back home!
But when he woke up, he wasn't at home at all.
Looking around, he realized he was in a new house with a new bed. He didn't see any electronics. It was strange.
"What happened? Who said that? Did I...why is my voice like that?"
Liam had been merely sitting on the bed but after he stood up he realized his center of gravity was off. He wasn't used to being tall, to taking long strides with his legs and he tripped a bit over himself.
"Hey, is this a trick? Why are my legs so long?"
He remembered what Freddy the elf had said. He had been on the extremely naughty list. And now...his eyes opened with horror as he saw a mirror and slowly walked towards it. In its reflection he saw a fully grown adult man with a heavy five o'clock shadow and black hair cut in a conservative style, combed in a way he'd never combed it before. His face wasn't his face. The man was almost six feet tall and his nightshirt stretched over a hairy chest. He unbuttoned the woolen pajama top and noted that the stitching looked different. He had hair on his chest. Great big tufts of it. The man's face looked worried and scared.
There was a typewriter in one corner and he looked around somewhat bewildered. He found some clothes to put on. Pants, a dress shirt, and a tie that he somehow knew how to tie around his neck.
This is weird, Liam thought. How is this possible? Am I dreaming?
"Not dreaming, no," Freddy the elf told him, appearing from behind him. Liam jumped. The elf was much smaller than him now. He was two feet taller than he'd been before and he didn't know what to make of any of this.
"You...you made me into a grown up."
"I did. You'll never see your parents again, I'm afraid. A much better replacement has been chosen for them."
Liam's big adult face scrunched up and he started to whine.
"There are other people in this house, you don't want to wake them up," Freddy wagged a finger. Liam started to cry.
"Ugh. Okay. I'll mute this room just for now. Go ahead. Get it out of your system," Freddy said, rolling his eyes.
"I want my Mommy! I want my Daddy! I wanna go home! I don't wanna be a grown up!" Liam hugged himself immaturely, and sat down and began blubbering.
"Be a man, for crying out loud! We made you into one! You think grown men are allowed to blubber like babies??"
"I...*sniff* I'm only 8 years old!" Liam sniffed again and cried some more.
"You are 28 years old and of marrying age. So cheer up! You can do whatever you want now within reason. You decide your fate from here on out! No Mommy and Daddy getting in your way, telling you what to do all the time."
"But what about all my Christmas presents??" Liam whined. It sounded even more obnoxious coming out of his adult voice and body. And Freddy told him so, scolding him for sounding so immature.
"You keep talking about wanting your Mommy and Daddy and they'll put you in a looney bin. You want that, kid?"
"N..no. But this is all your fault!"
"No, this is YOUR fault for being such a selfish brat. In this reality, you're an orphan and you live in a boarding house. You pay rent and go to a job. Maybe you'll like it! Just try it out for now and see if you like it, okay? We put you in 1935 because there's a lot less doodads and technology to ruin your little mind. Here, you have to use your imagination. Lots of books on your bookshelf to read courtesy of Mrs. O'Leary, hmm? And you can even drink beer! Why, you're a man now and Prohibition is over with!"
"I...I should call the cops on you!"
"You can't do that. One, they would never believe you and two, it's 1935. You have nowhere to go. Now, go ahead and wash up. You have to get to work soon!"
Liam did so, splashing some cold water on his face in the bathroom outside his room and wiping his face on a thin towel. He rubbed his unfamiliar, stubbled face.
Liam sat down on a chair in his new bedroom, still in shock. He was, to all appearances, a man who looked to be in his late twenties, somewhat rugged and rough around the edges. He had more muscle on him than most men of the time period. There was a Depression, after all. Most men were skin and bones. He was only just able to afford this little room in a boarding house. He heard footsteps and then there was a knock at the door. A stout and homely woman poked her head in.
"Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead! Breakfast is getting cold!"
"Coming, Mrs. O'Leary! I was just getting ready!" Freddy the elf had disappeared.
As Liam got his suspenders on, he scratched his big, now much wider squarish face. Gone were his cherubic looks. NO one would ever mistake him for being a child now! He frowned. He wanted to go home but he'd have to pretend he was a grownup until that elf guy came back.
"Seamus, you're running late again! Come on, man, it's nearly 6:30! Hussle, get a move on!"
The man talking to him at the breakfast table was there with two other gentlemen. All of them workers of various kinds, and the older Irish widow rented rooms to all three of them. The man talking to him was John. John Langley.
"I had a weird dream, that's all."
My name is Seamus now. Seamus Cooper.
Everything was like being in some kind of museum or a movie or something, Liam thought. He ate his breakfast of oatmeal and butter with one hard boiled egg and enjoyed it. It was plain and hearty. He drank black coffee and savored it, and enthusiastically enjoyed the rush it gave him. He'd never had coffee before, let alone plain black coffee! He was absorbing this new reality quickly.
He was tall and he had to smile as he headed out to work. Somehow, he knew where to go. The men all shared a Model T and paid Louis, who owned it, a little bit each month to drop them off at their workplaces.
Seamus, as he started thinking of himself, worked at a toy factory. He clocked in to an old style crank machine that made a stamped mark on his schedule ticket. He spent all day at big machines using his muscles to bend metal pieces this way and that. It was his job this month to make toy trucks and model cars, which he hand painted. He also worked with some other men on wood cutting machines to make various wooden toys. He traded off depending on what their orders were, he somehow knew.
At lunch, he took his big metal lunchbox with him to the lunchroom. Mrs. O'Leary made their lunches for an additional fee, and Seamus was glad to pay for it. A big salami sandwich greeted his tastebuds along with an apple and a roll. He couldn't believe how good it all tasted. Working hard all day sure built up an appetite! Suddenly, all the men were stuffing tobacco in their pipes. Seamus realized he also smoked a pipe. He smiled as he put the wonderful smelling brittle flakes in and tamped them down before striking a match so he could puff like the rest of the men as they talked about sports and whatever local politicians had been on the radio that week. The lunch whistle blew and Seamus returned to his job. His job which he loved. He loved making toys, especially for all the orders they filled for Mr. Klaus Von Whitehead, a mysterious benefactor who accounted for a majority of their clientele. The man had a series of shops somewhere up north in Canada.
When evening came, he and his pals found themselves in the model T, Joey and Louis. What a couple of pals. Louis worked down at the garage and Joey worked at one of the beer factories that had opened up again. The men lit their pipes or cigarettes and walked around the main street area, tall and proud, all of them wearing fedora hats. They went to a show because it was Friday night and Liam marveled at how nicely everyone was dressed. At first, he thought they were going to see a movie but then he realized it was a dinner club and the show involved girls wearing feather boas. Men smoked cigarettes freely. Bachelors and married men alike enjoyed the girls singing and dancing. He felt himself getting really excited in a way he'd never been before. He even hooted and hollered with his buddies when one of the gals blew him a kiss from the stage.
Seamus ordered himself a large pitcher of beer and got drunk for the first time. He laughed and laughed at his friend's stories. He'd never had so much fun! Girls and tobacco and alcohol!