As the bemused boy deliberated on what to make of this situation, he was caught off guard by a few abrupt knocks on the fitting room's door, followed by a voice, a woman's voice - one that spurred a sense of familiarity in the scout's mind; a feeling he couldn't quite place.
"Mark, sweetie," she called out. "Are you done now? Do they fit?"
"Yeah, mom - I’m coming! Gimmie a sec."
Jerry - or rather, Mark - took a brief pause; processing the fact that he had instantly recognized some stranger's voice for his mother's. As if to put his mind at ease, droplets of foreign memories trickled down his thoughts, driving within him the impulse to act and think as Mark would. With some trepidation, the 8-year-old emerged out of the fitting room, leaving his old clothes, and by extension, his old life behind. He was greeted by a couple - a towering man, with his arms crossed and a proud fatherly smile drawn on his face, he gave the boy a few gentle pats on the shoulder. "Well, son, will that be all?" he asked.
The boy nodded instinctively. "Yes, dad."
Next to him was a woman who exuded a loving, motherly aura - she held a couple of folded, kid-sized clothing items on her right arm. "D'aww" she cooed, "Look at you! Such a handsome boy, you are!"
With a tender touch, she adjusted her son’s hair beneath his cap, cradling his cheek, which blushed a rosy hue to the tune of his mother’s praise.
And of course, behind them was the orchestrator: Jim, who he felt uneasy around for reasons he couldn't quite remember anymore.
"Now, what do we say to the kind man who helped find your uniform?" his mom asked.
The young boy averted his gaze from the mentioned gentleman, nervously swaying a foot back and forth in a bashful manner.
"Mark?" she held on.
"Th-Thank you, sir…"
Jim chuckled and flashed an innocuous grin. "Think nothing of it! Actually, since you’ve been such a good sport," he paused, pulling out a peculiar merit badge from his breast pocket; he handed it over to Mark, who gave it a quick look. The boy could make out the semblance of a human figure shrinking into smaller concentric figures.
He motioned to the boy to lend him his ear, then whispered: "Sometimes, Marky, you run into some mean adults who are not as nice as you are, so if you see one, just hand it over to ‘em and let magic do the rest, but it’s our secret, do we have a deal?"
Mark couldn’t help but smile, a childish sense of curiosity overtaking him, so he obliged. "Deal!"
"Awesome," Jim said. To reward the boy’s commitment, he handed him a handful of replicas of the same badge, "have these in case you wanna experiment with a few more".
The boy thanked him and ran back to his parents who assumed the badges were simply Jim’s odd gesture of goodwill.
After that, the family of three promptly waved their goodbyes to the salesman and drove back home. The boy watched from the backseat of the SUV as they drove into the suburban area where Mark lives and his family live.
"So, Mark," his new dad spoke. "You excited about camping tomorrow?"
"Mhm!” the regressed boy affirmed, "it’ll be so much fun — all my friends are gonna be there too!"
Brief chats came to a close as the car parked by their home. From that point, there was little of the adult Jerry left in the boy’s mind — Mark’s personality seemed to exert more control over every aspect of his being with each passing moment. It was starting to show in his mannerism, the way he talked, and even the simple things he enjoyed: his love for animals - evident in his collection of wildlife-related merit badges, cartoons, and last but certainly not least, candy.
The rest of that day panned out like any typical day for little Mark — doing homework, without much recollection from of his old life; instead, he relied on what Mrs Avery taught his class just a week prior. Next up was watching cartoons till bedtime called, when his mom would dress him up in his matching pj’s, adorned with cute animal prints and kissing him goodnight, leaving the boy alone with dreams of all his adventures in camp.
Gone was Jerry, now stands Mark Taylor MacGiullan, who intended to make this year unforgettable.