'What the heck, I am kind of tired,' you think and order the "Youth and Energy" drink. The employee apathetically mixes the concoction, takes your money, and hands you a practically neon yellow-green drink with a texture which looks like melted ice cream. Taking the clear plastic cup, which features a cartoonish looking pair of kids on the side, you take an experimental sip. Good grief the stuff tastes sweet! Kind of like a candy bar mixed with Cap'n Crunch, and other childhood treats! Still, something about it appeals to you, and you do feel a bit energized from the tiny sip, so you continue to take sips through the straw as you wander the mall. Gradually you seem to become accustomed to the taste and, without noticing, you begin to take longer and longer pulls of the thick and heavy fluid through the thick plastic straw.
Wandering the mall, you find yourself growing restless and bored. Clothes shops, clothes shops, some sort of furniture place, department store-- BORING! Throngs of people walking around... Wow! That's weird! Most of them seem to be bigger than you! You find yourself looking up at nearly everyone. Huh. And another odd thing, the ones you normally would find yourself distracted by don't seem to be doing anything for you. Intellectually you know you should be feeling some sort of sexual attraction, but..., ...but what little you feel just seems to confuse you. Kinda odd...
Pausing momentarily, you find yourself leaning against the wall near a short hallway leading to the rest room and some other stuff. Unable to actually hold still, you are drumming the fingers of one hand on the wall, while holding the smoothie in the other one, greedily sucking it down while you try to figure out what is going on. Suddenly, the straw is sucking in air, and, looking into the container, you notice that pretty much all of the tasty beverage is gone. Playing the straw across the bottom and sides of the large plastic cup, you suck up the remainder of the drink, and toss the trash in a nearby container. Man! Now you really need to pee!
Hurrying into the Men's room, you relieve yourself, and then step up to the surprisingly high counter to wash your hands. Come to think of it, the urinal was pretty big, too... ...and glancing into the inconveniently high mirror reveals another surprise. A young boy is staring back at you!
A kid, who looks to be in early grade school, is what your reflection shows you to be. Reddish brown, uncombed hair, bright green eyes, smooth, taut fair skin, and a skinny, fidgety body, all dressed in a plain, well used yellow-green t-shirt. Looking down, you find you pants have been replaced a pair of denim shorts, and your shoes by abused kid's sneakers. And your white socks have grass and dirt stains. Your panicking brain bets your car is now a bicycle of some sort-- you certainly don't look old enough to drive! In fact, you probably couldn't even see over the dashboard!
"Aw man! What happened?!" you yelp, noticing that your voice is now a soprano. Feeling yourself all over confirms that the reflection is accurate. But you GOTTA really be a grown up! After all, you still know all kinds of grown up things, right?
You mostly know how to add and subtract and can spell words. And driving a car... You don't know how to drive! It can't be hard, but, to your surprise, you realize you really don't know how to do it. Or how to do that writing stuff which comes after printing! Or how the government is supposed to work. Or, or how big the rest of the world is! Or pretty much everything a grown up is supposed to know!
Leaning on the wall just under the towel dispenser, you try to figure out what is going on.
Today wasn't a school day for some reason-- oh, yeah, it's summer! No one goes to school in the summer. So you came to the mall to find somthin' to do...
No! That wasn't right, was it? You were supposed to be working doing something, and you got something to drink...? You were an adult, lived somewhere (kids don't live by themselves!), and worked somewhere (kids DEFINITELY don't work!) but who were you and where did you live...? A chill comes over you as you realize you don't even know the answers to those basic questions! You're just a little kid lost in the mall!