A few moments had passed, when Jim just stared at the top of the tall bookcase. The bookcase appeared to be much taller than before, which seemed strange to Jim at first. Then, when Jim looked around the bedroom, he realized that everything seemed bigger than before: The dresser, the door, the closet, the bed… The entire room seemed huge! What was going on here?
As Jim turned towards the dresser, he passed the full-body mirror, which was hanging from the door. He gasped out loud, when he noticed the strange figure!
“Oh no! Is that me?” he said to himself. He placed his right hand against the mirror and followed his fingers with his gaze. He couldn’t believe how small his hand had become. He couldn’t remember the last time his fingers seemed so thin and so short! He looked like he was no older than four years old now!
“Oh boy… I gotta get that balloon down… But how?” he wondered, as he began to look around the room. He wondered when he could use to grab the balloon with, to push it down from the top of the tall bookcase, so that he could progress his age back to twelve years-old again.
At that moment the doorbell rang. Jim was home alone and so had to get it. He could barely reach the doorknob but with the help of a chair he managed to open it. There was the muscular form of his friend Cody who’d gained that muscle from the very balloon Jim was now trying to get.
“Hey there little guy,” Cody said. As he observed the young boy though, Cody noticed a similarity and sighed. “Jim? What happened?”
“I was playing with my balloon…” Jim explained to Cody, who was now towering over him. “It was controlling my age, when I accidentally let go of it, and it was flying around the room until it ended up on top of the bookshelf! Now I can’t get it down, and it had regressed me into a little kid again! Can you help me get it back down?”
“What are friends for?” Cody said winking and following Jim inside and shutting the door for him. He moved the chair back with ease thanks to his young bodybuilder muscles. Then he went upstairs and to the bookcase and easily got it off the top shelf and handed it to the young Jim. “There you go.”
“Thanks…” Jim said, as he held the balloon in his tiny hands. “I gotta grow back as fast as possible!”
Jim took a deep breath as he placed the spout of the balloon between his lips, but he was barely able to get any air into it, while his cheeks where showing on both sides of his face. After three tries, he pulled the balloon out, and stared at it in despair.
“Darn it, I’m not strong enough to blow it up! I need to think of another way to get air into the balloon quickly…” Jim said.
“Here, give it to me…” Cody offered him. “I’ll blow it up for you! After all, I’m bigger and stronger than you…”
“No! Wait! I got an idea!” Jim cheered. “The pump! We have an electric air pump in the garage!”
Jim then took off running towards the garage, with Cody following right behind him. Of course, when they reached the door to the garage, Cody had to open it, because little Jim just couldn’t reach the door knob. As soon as they walked in, Jim flipped the power switch on the pump, and he gently placed the spout of the balloon around the end of the rubber hose, which was sticking out of the side of the pump.
“Now, when I hold the red button, air will flow into the balloon!” Jim said to Cody. “If I tap the release valve, it will let all the air back out of the balloon again…”
“Let me handle blowing it up okay? You just stand over there,” Cody said, indicating a spot nearby. He waited until Jim had moved over there then pushed down on the button.
Suddenly, the air pump came to life, as the pump’s engine started making a low sound. Air was being pumped into the balloon, which rapidly started inflating as Cody looked on while he held his finger on the button.
In the meantime, Jim suddenly started experiencing the greatest growth spurt ever! His arms and legs rapidly started growing longer. His toes grew thicker and longer, while his fingers and hands increased in size. At the same time, his arms increased in length, as his body aged several years in a matter of seconds! His torso increased in height and width at the same time, as the four year-old Jim suddenly grew wider and taller in proportion. Muscles suddenly started to appear, as Jim passed from 5 to 6 years of age in just a few seconds. He continued to grow from barely 3 feet in height to now just under 4 feet.
As the balloon continued to inflate, so did Jim continue to age. He was now 7 years old, and his hair grew a little longer while his face grew longer and his upper body increased in size. His shoulders widened some more, while his arms continued to grow in length. He was now 9 years old, and a little bit of hair started to sprout on his arms. Jim continued to age, as his arms grew longer, and his legs grew longer and thicker as well, making him stand nearly 5 feet tall as he reached about 11 years old. Finally, after another 2 seconds had passed, Jim started to look like he used to, when he started to look like the twelve year-old again.
When Jim expected Cody to let go of the button, he felt the growth continue. Cody just smiled, as he watched Jim grow older and pass his original age. Jim was now passing 13, and he was going through puberty in just a few seconds, thanks to the air pump! Jim was now becoming a little more muscular, but not nearly as muscular as Cody! As he continued to age, he passed Cody in height, but Jim was still skinny. After a few seconds, a little patch of hair started to form on Jim’s chin and above his lips, and Jim started to grow a little mustache! Hair sprouted on his legs and on his armpits as well, as well as on his chest, as Jim passed the 15 year-old mark. Within seconds, Jim had now reached 16 and was now going towards 17, when Cody decided to lift his finger from the button on the air pump.
Now that the air pump was off, Cody could only look up and chuckled as he saw the eighteen year-old Jim standing before him.
“Wow! What a ride!” Jim said, in his baritone voice. His shorts had become way too small for him, so he quickly took them off. Jim was now standing about six feet tall, as he was looking down at Cody.
“So, how does it feel to be an adult, huh?” Cody chuckled.