Jennifer gave it some thought before an idea came to her. It was so strange yet so enticing it made her giggle.
“What’cha thinkin’ sweetie?” Emily asked.
“I think I wanna be old.”
“Oh, you wanna be a big girl?” Emily smiled.
“No, no I mean like Grandma’s age.” Jennifer explained referring to her maternal grandmother. “I’ll be old and you two can stay the same. It’ll be like when she used to come on vacation with us.”
Her parents both shared a look of surprise.
“You sure kiddo?” Anthony said. “Cuz…
“That’s preeetty old,” said Emily, recalling that her mother was well into her seventies and living in a rest home back on the mainland.
“I know, I just thought it might be fun cuz no one would ever think that I was really a kid if they saw me.,” Jennifer said.
Anthony and Emily looked at each other. They couldn’t quite see their daughter’s logic but if she wanted to see what it was like, there wasn’t any harm in it.
“Well if you’re sure, go ahead. You can always change back if you don’t like it.”
“Mhm, and we’ll be here to help you out if you need us to.”
“Thanks mommy, thank you daddy!” said Jennifer.
With that, she stood in front of the mirror and began to concentrate. She closed her eyes and focused on a mental image of what she would look like as an old woman.
‘Make me like grandma…make me like grandma…' she kept thinking.
Pretty soon the room went to work making her look the part she envisioned.
Her little body rose up to an adult height but stopped as her back hunched slightly. A pair of breasts bulged out and began to sag just as quickly. Her tummy, once small and round turned flabby. Her legs went from taut to knobby and lined with varicose veins.
Her cherubic face turned sallow and lined with wrinkles and a couple liver spots. Her button nose grew knotted and crows’ feet pulled at the corners of her eyes, her blue irises fading.
Her hair, which had only recently started to regrow from her chemo treatments, suddenly turned from brown to gray to white, its luster faded as it spun itself into a tight bun.
Her clothes changed too to match her growth in size and weight. Her purple T-shirt grew several sizes into a blouse of the same color along with her denim skirt while her Minnie Mouse undies shifted into a big ol’ pair of granny panties. A pair of horn-rimmed glasses appeared out of nowhere hanging from a chain around her neck. Her little flip-flops turned into a pair of comfy, orthopedic sandals.
Her parents watched breathless as their daughter accelerated through adulthood into her autumn years. It was a bizarre sight to behold. Both of them had thought they’d be long gone before they ever saw their daughter reach this period in her life, yet here they were seeing it unfold in real time.
At last the process slowed to a stop as Jennifer opened her eyes.
Her vision was a little hazy at first but cleared up as soon as she slid the glasses over her ears. Staring back at her was a petite old woman who bore an unmistakable resemblance to her actual real-life grandma but still somehow looked like herself.
“Hey, would you look at that, it worked!” Jennifer said, her voice weathered and dry sounding but retaining a hint of her childlike brightness. She slowly turned toward her parents and smiled, revealing one or two gaps in her teeth.
“What do you think kids? Do I look old enough to be your mother?” she chuckled.
“I’ll say,” said Anthony. “My goodness Jennifer, you really did a number on yourself.”
“Anthony!” Emily elbowed her husband. She walked over to her daughter-turned-mother and held her hand, feeling over the wrinkled skin. “You look great sweetie, you’re the spitting image of your grandma.”
“Thanks mom, or er- Emily. Now this way, all three of us can have fun and you two don’t have to worry about keeping me occupied. Just three adults, an oldy and her grown kids having a vacation.”
Emily smiled. “Your right. This does work out pretty well. We won’t need to hire a babysitter for you if me and Anthony decide to go off on our own for a while.”
Anthony nodded in agreement. “Yeah, good thinkin’ ‘Mom'.”
“That’s the spirit!” said Jennifer. “Well then, what should we do first?”