Suddenly, as he was flexing, he heard a knock at his bedroom door. Startled, Jim nearly let go of the balloon.
“Jim, are you in there?” It was his mom. He had not even heard her come in the house as he was so focused on his own transformations.
He looked down at himself. He was a half naked young man now. That might be a problem. He let the air out of the balloon carefully, while trying to judge the age of his reflection in the mirror. Sixteen? Fourteen? Is that twelve now?
“Jim?”
“Release,” he whispered and then let the balloon deflate completely. “One second, Mom,” he said to her. His voice sounded a bit funny, though. Kind of squeaky. He pulled up his pants. Even zipped and buttoned up, his pants felt loose, and his pant legs seemed too long, the cuffs resting on the ground.
Crap, he thought, Too young! On closer inspection of his reflection, he looked to be about 11 or maybe even 10. No time to fix it now, though.
He stuffed the balloon in his pocket and leapt onto his bed, hoping that his younger body would be less noticeable while sitting down. He grabbed a book from his shelf and pretended to read, hiding his face behind it.
“Come in,” he said.
The door opened. His mom poked her head in.
“What’s going on in here?”
“Nothing,” he said, trying to make his voice sound a bit deeper. “I was just in the middle of reading something. See,” he said gesturing with the book in front of him. He held his breath.
“Really?” she asked. “Do you often read books upside down?”
Crap! he thought. He looked at the pages in front of him. The words were all upside down.
“What are you up to?” she asked, glaring him down.
“Nothing,” he said, rotating the book around the right way.
His mom looked ready to investigate more closely, but then she stopped. Jim was in luck. His mom seemed exhausted from his sister’s soccer game. “Okay, then. Fine. It doesn’t matter what it is, just as long as you don’t break anything or hurt yourself. Okay?”
“Only reading.”
“Right, ‘reading.’”
“Yep.”
“Lunch in fifteen minutes. Finish up your ‘reading’ by then.”
“Right.”
She gave him one last concerned look. He held his breath again. It seemed that for a brief second, her eyes showed a momentary flash of confusion, as if she was uncertain of what she was looking at, as if there was something indescribably different about her son. But, she seemed to let the feeling go and closed the door.
Jim let out a big sigh. That was a close one.
He hurried back to the mirror. He had fifteen minutes to get his body the right age again. He activated the balloon and tried to put just the right amount of air into it to make him his normal age again, but he was having trouble getting it right. Rubber and air were just too imprecise. He would put too much air in, and his pants would feel stretched tight on his legs. Too old. He would then let air out, only to find that his pants rapidly felt too loose. Too young. What he could really have used right then was a yard stick or measuring tape, but had neither in his room. It did not help that he appeared to be on the cusp of a growth spurt. Also, it did not help that the wizard in the shop had already made him an inch taller even before he had started playing with his age. It was too hard to get his body looking just right.
“Crap!”
If he did not get his age right now, his mom would surely figure out something was wrong. She already had looked suspicious at the door. He had to think of something.
Jim looked down at his pants, how they rested on the floor at his bare feet… Bare feet! His shoes! They would be perfect. They fit tighter than his pants. He could use them to tell if he was the right age again.
He grabbed his shoes and slipped his feet into them. The shoes felt lose. He blew gently into the balloon. The shoes felt a bit tight. He let the tiniest bit of air out. Perfect fit!
“Release.”
Jim looked down at himself and checked out his reflection. No doubt about it now, he was back to normal.
He put away the balloon in his pocket and headed downstairs, breathing a sigh of relief. He had just barely managed to straighten things out without getting into any trouble. He silently promised himself that he would be more careful with the balloon from now on. Though, at the same time, his mind was racing, considering all the possibilities for using the balloon. He smiled. This was going to be fun. He had a few ideas for what he could do with it after lunch.