It was the same daily grind at Mr. Burger. The dinnertime rush was winding down, though Richard's shift would not end for a few hours yet. There were still plenty of families eating with their kids, while still other kids were climbing and crawling through the plastic slides and tubes of the indoor playground. The noise of all their shouting was starting to wear him down. Now, mind you, Richard didn't think kids were bad, but being around dozens of them at their most energetic for hours on end could be tiring for anyone. He paused while wiping down a table and gave a sigh as he watched the kids play. It seemed not long ago that he was one of those kids playing there, an energetic little fox kit. At the same time, it felt like it had been an eternity. For a moment, he really wished he could go back, and be one of those kids, rather than the one cleaning up after.
There was a tap on Richard's back; he turned to see his boss, Mr. Ballard, a short, stocky middle-aged pug. ``Hey, Richard, some kid at table 6 spilled a bunch of drinks, I need you to clean it up.''
Richard looked in the table's direction, where a wolf couple were trying to quiet their screaming toddler. ``But I'm just about to go on break,'' Richard protested. ``Can't Gus get it?'' He gestured to a blue skunk, who was restocking the napkins.
``Gus got the last mess.'' Mr. Ballard paused. ``I'll tell you what, go do this, and I'll give you an extra five minutes.''
``Fine,'' the fox relented, hoping he didn't sound too petulant.
He arrived at the table. The wolf couple having given up trying to calm their child, were trying to clear the table, looking mortified. ``It's okay, I got it,'' Richard said with a slight groan. The mother gave a quick ``thank you'' and the family left. Richard first set about cleaning the mixture of milk shakes, soda, and French fries that had pooled on the floor. The task went a bit quicker than he expected and he soon finished. When he looked around for any spots he might have missed, his tail knocked an empty paper cup off the table.
As Richard bent down to pick it up, he felt something rush past him and the lanyard, bearing his name tag, was yanked from his neck. He looked up to see a young rabbit, lanyard in hand, running toward the slides. ``Hey, get back here you little - '' Richard grumbled as he took off after the kid. The rabbit, giggling, climbed the short steps into the ball pit. He turned to face Richard, who had paused to take off his shoes; a rule everyone had to follow.
``I'm waaaitiiing!'' shouted the kid, his arms crossed.
Richard sprinted and made dive for his lanyard. He caught it in his hand as he fell into the ball pit. When he emerged, a bit dizzy, it seemed as though the balls were deeper that they should be. Nonetheless victorious, he held up his lanyard. But something was wrong; it wasn't an employee name tag. Instead, it was a fill-in-the-blank laminated card that read, ``My name is Riddy and I'm 8 years old.''
``This isn't mine! You switched it with - '' He touched a hand to his throat. ``Wait, my voice.'' It was suddenly much higher in pitch.
Meanwhile, the rabbit replied, swinging his arms, an impish grin on his face, ``It isn't my name tag. This one is mine.'' He held up his own name tag, revealing himself to be five-year-old Julian.
Richard noticed that the height difference between them had been greatly reduced. He looked back at his name tag. ``Riddy'' had been his nickname as a kid. ``How did you? Change me back!''
``Gotta catch me first!'' Julian grinned, and took off into the plastic maze.
Richard, or now Riddy, was soon in pursuit. The ball pit slowed him down at first, giving Julian a head start in the tunnels. At each turn, it seemed he only caught glimpses of the giggling rabbit's footpaws and tail as he crawled along. Riddy, on the other hand, was a bit out of practice with such an exercise, though his now-smaller frame took surprisingly little adjustment. He felt he was gaining on Julian when he was suddenly cut off by a much smaller child, a husky barely more than two years old, coming from a tunnel to the left. The toddler looked at him, said ``beep, beep!'' and squeezed past him, though not without leaving behind a distinctive odor.
``Ugh,'' Riddy gasped, holding his sensitive fox nose. That kid was in serious need of a diaper change. He looked around and realized that he had completely lost track of Julian. How was he going to get out of this? He spotted a plexiglass window in the tunnel up ahead and crawled up to it. Through the clear plastic, he saw the little gremlin blowing a raspberry through a net barrier one level up. One climb and a few turns later, Riddy was on the same platform, just in time to see his quarry go down the roller slide. ``I got you now!'' he shouted. He tentatively got on the slide and quickly descended the near-frictionless slope. A little too quickly; he hit the bottom too fast to find his balance and ended up belly flopping onto the foam matt with an ``oof.'' The lanyard flew out of his hands and landed at Julian's feet. The rabbit grabbed it as Riddy stood back up.
``Oh, look what I have,'' he taunted.
``Okay, I have no idea how this happened, but I know it's your doing. Can you please give that back to me and change me back to the way I was?'' Riddy put his hands on his hips.
``Sure.'' He tossed over the lanyard.
Riddy felt a familiar dizziness, but instead of returning to his adult height, he grew a few inches shorter. He looked at the lanyard; it was still in the same format, but it now said he was 7 years old. ``I said to change me back, not make me younger!''
``Yeah, I changed you back to when you were younger.''
``No, change me back to when I was older. Make me 22 again!''
``Uh, that's not how it works; 22 comes after 8, and 7 comes before.'' The rabbit crossed his arms. ``I thought you were big enough to know your numbers.''
``You know what I - '' Riddy pinched his forehead. ``Okay, okay, let's try this again.'' He held out the lanyard to Julian. ``Change me back for real this time.''
Julian took the lanyard again and squeezed the name tag with his paws. ``Okay, here you go.'' He handed it back and once again Riddy felt himself shrink until he was barely taller than the rabbit. His age on the tag was now just 6 years. Before Riddy could respond, Julian was already running away, shouting ``you're welcome!'' back at him.
Once again, Riddy followed him into the plastic tunnels. He shouted, ``Hey, I told you to change me back for real!''
``I did. Did you think I would change you back for fake?''
Riddy couldn't help but chuckle at the snarky responses he was getting. It reminded him a bit of a cartoon hero and villain swapping banter. Maybe Riddy could be the bad guy this time. Yes, he was a fox chasing his rabbit prey. He paused to take in the atmosphere. The dim red light coming through the slightly translucent plastic was a bit scary, but in a fun way. It was always fun to play in these tunnels. Snapping back to what he was doing, he shouted, ``look out, I'm gonna getcha!''
``You gotta catch up first, slow poke!'' came a voice from somewhere above him.
``Just you, wait little bunny!'' Riddy went right, taking him up half a level to a green tunnel, then a left up to a blue one, following the giggling voice as it echoed through the tunnels. He came to a three-way junction and stopped. He had caught his reflection in the fourth section, a concave mirror. Though distorted and upside-down, he could truly see now that he was a kid, a young face, stubbier proportions. His work polo had been replaced by a t-shirt emblazoned with a racecar. He reached out a paw as he knelt before the mirror. That was really him!
A familiar rabbit's head poked around the corner. ``C'mon, what are you doing? Aren't you going to chase me? Or are you happy with how old you are?'' He vanished back into the other tunnel.
``No way! I'm going to get my age back!'' Riddy took off crawling after him.
``You want me to turn your age back?'' Julian shouted back.
``No!''
``Okay, then I won't make you a grownup again.''
``I mean, yes.''
``So you want to stay that age?''
``No!''
We emerged into a netted area with punching bags hanging from the top. Julian, stood, and faced Riddy. ``Okay, now you sound like you don't know what you want.''
``I want you to make me a grown up again.'' He handed Julian the lanyard.
The rabbit took it ``Hmm.'' He seemed to be pondering how he could twist this request around. ``Why?''
``Because I'm not supposed to be a kid! I'm 22!''
``You look like a kid to me. Why should I listen to you anyways?''
``Um,'' Riddy stumbled for his words, ``because I'm bigger than you!''
``You sure about that?'' Julian raised an eyebrow.
Riddy nodded.
``Well, that's easy enough to fix.'' He pushed the lanyard into the fox's chest.
Once again Riddy shrank, this time to about the same height as the rabbit. He looked at the tag: he was now 5 years old. ``Okay, I'm 5 now, but you're still not bigger than me!'' He pressed a finger into Julian's chest.
``Yes I am.''
``No, we're the same age!''
``But I'm bigger. See?'' He raised his long ears and pointed at them.
``Ears don't count!''
``Yes, they do. And it's my say-so because I'm bigger.'' He stuck out his tongue.
``But we're both 5.'' Riddy said weakly.
``Ha! You admit it! You're 5, not 22.''
``But...''
``Okay, how about this,'' Julian put a hand on Riddy's shoulder. ``If we're the same age we can prove who's bigger. If you can catch me, it'll show that you're the big kid between the two of us. But if you can't, it really will prove that I'm bigger. Deal?'' He offered his hand
Riddy thought about it for a second. At this point it didn't seem like he had much to lose, and this could be his only chance of getting older again. ``Deal.'' He shook the rabbit's hand.
Julian took off through the punching bags, weaving between them with great agility, but he also set them in motion. As they swung and bumped erratically, they slowed Riddy down enough to give Julian a good lead. The fox trailed behind, once again catching glimpses of the rabbit's paws and tail as he rounded several corners. He was gaining a bit as they came to a straight stretch of the maze. A yellow section rolled slightly as the two kits passed through, and more wildly as Julian cleared it. It turned enough that Riddy lost balance while crawling and rolled onto his side. He took a bit to right himself, as the tunnel shifted with each attempt.
``Can't manage the rollie tube? You must really be little!''
Riddy finally got himself upright again, but by then he had lost Julian around another corner. A minute or so crawling around and looking, he found a cube of domed windows connected to a bend in a tunnel. It offered a good view of much of the playground. Julian was running across a play matt on the ground floor. A few turns and one slide later, and Riddy was approaching Julian, who had his hand on the tic-tac-toe game. ``Safe!'' the rabbit shouted.
``No, you're not. You never said there was a safe zone.''
``Well, there is.''
Riddy stepped up next to him. ``Can I un-safe you?''
Julian thought for a second. ``You have to beat me at tic-tac-toe. But if you lose, I get a 10-second head start. I go first with X.''
He started by turning the middle piece to X. Riddy decided to block a diagonal by taking the bottom right. Julian took the bottom left, which Riddy blocked with the top right. Another X went in the center left; Julian was going for the top left! Riddy blocked that too, but then Julian took the center right. Three across the middle. Beaten by a five-year-old.
``Better start counting, then.'' The rabbit smirked and climbed up the soft stairs while Riddy counted. By the time he got to 10, the rabbit had already disappeared into the upper levels. Riddy was soon at the top as well. Having no idea where his target was, he decided to loop around the top level. He came across a few other kids; a tiger, a squirrel, but no rabbits. He had given up on this level and was going to take a slide down to search the lower level when he collided with a rabbit crawling from the side. It wasn't Julian, though; this one was a girl and she looked a bit older. He didn't have much time to register this newcomer, though, as the crash had also sent his lanyard down the slide.
``Oh no!'' Riddy exclaimed and went down after it. He was quickly tackled from the right.
``I gotcha!'' came Julian's voice. ``And now,'' the two kits sat in the tunnel facing each other, ``this proves I'm bigger than you.'' He grabbed the lanyard off the bottom of the tunnel and pressed it into Riddy's hand, as the fox once again felt dizzy. The name tag now listed his age as 4 years. His pants morphed into a pair of bib overalls with a balloon embroidered on the front.
``But I can't be littler than you!'' Riddy protested, realizing the rabbit was indeed taller than him, ears or not.
``Well, you are. There's no way you can say you're not.''
``But - ''
``And since I'm the big kid, I guess I have to look after little kids like you.'' He took the lanyard back.
``Hey!''
``I think you might be too little to have this''
``But I'm not too little!''
``Well, I'm the bigger kid and I know what's best for you.''
``But it's mine!'' Riddy whined. He felt he couldn't win against the bigger kid.
``Well, you're just little. Maybe when you're bigger. I don't want to make you sad, though. I know it's uncool to play with little kids, but you're fun. Maybe, if you play with me, I can give it back to you.''
``And maybe I won't be stuck at four?''
``Maayybe,'' the rabbit said with a tilt of his head. And with that, Julian crawled off through the tunnel. Riddy soon crawled after. He brushed off the minor twinge he began to feel from his bladder. He got to play with a big kid! How cool was that?
``Hey, wait up!'' Riddy called to him and crawled after. Once again, he was trailing after Julian's paws and tail. This time, as the rabbit giggled, Riddy couldn't help but giggle in return. ``Look out! I'm a big mean fox and I'm going to catch you!''
``You're not big!''
``Yeah, well, I'm still a fox and you're still a bunny!''
He chased Julian up a level, and they found themselves back in the room with the punching bags just as the ``prey'' disappeared into them. Riddy followed, but when he emerged out the other side, Julian was nowhere to be seen. He heard a snicker from behind and dove back in. For a about a minute, the two shoved the hanging foam bags to and fro, usually catching only glimpses of each other. Eventually, Julian got the upper hand; a good shove of a punching back caught Riddy off balance, and the fox kit stumbled fell on his butt. The came with another little jolt of pressure in his bladder. This didn't fully register; he barely had time to get up as Julian fled back into the tunnels.
Instead of going right, like last time, they went left. Julian disappeared down a spiral slide. Riddy, remembering his slide etiquette, waited a few seconds before following. ``Wooaah!'' he yelled on his way down. He emerged to a soft landing in the ball pit. He and Julian splashed each other with the colorful plastic balls for a few seconds, laughing the whole time, before Julian dove under and disappeared. He emerged near some rubber steps, proclaiming himself to be the ``tunnel bunny'' and went into the plastic tube again. Riddy's pursuit was hindered by the balls, which were much higher on him than before. The urge to pee was making itself known again and getting harder to ignore. He reached the steps soon enough, though and found Julian waiting there for him.
``Hey, can we take a time out?'' Riddy asked. ``I have to go potty.'' He had tried to say, ``use the bathroom,'' but it seemed his vocabulary was in kid mode.
``Okay, but if you leave now without this,'' he held up Riddy's lanyard, ``you can't get your age back with it.''
Riddy crawled up to him. ``Can I have it back, then?''
``Well,'' he put his hand to his chin and cocked his head, ``I'd rather keep playing. But if you really have to go, I could give it back. I'd need two things from you, though.''
``What?''
``Well, first you have to admit that you're little and can't hold it for very long.''
``Humph,'' Riddy pouted
``And after I give it back, you have to do the Big Finale with me.'' He held up his arms for emphasis. ``That means going all the way up to the top and taking the big slide down.'' He pointed though the plexiglass dome to the small, net-enclosed area that comprised the third level of the playplace.
``But - ''
``Unless you think you'll pee your pants.''
``I will not pee my pants! I'll do the Big Finale.'' Riddy crossed his arms.
``And the first part?'' Julian leaned in with a tilt of his head.
Riddy was silent.
``Hmm?''
``Why do I gotta say it?''
``Because I'm big enough to hold it for a looong time, but it seems you can't.''
``Okay, I admit it,'' the fox said quietly.
``Say the words.''
``I'm little and I can't hold it for long,'' he said more loudly.
``Okay, then, here you go.'' Julian place the lanyard around Riddy's neck.
Riddy felt dizzy and shrank a bit once more. His overalls retreated back down, becoming nylon pants with an elastic waistband. He looked at the name tag. It was getting harder to recognize the words, but he definitely knew the number 3. ``Why did I get younger again?''
``Well, you admitted to being little. Now it shows on the outside.'' Julian started to crawl away.
Something else felt off about Riddy's new pants. He tugged back the waistband to find his underwear had become a Tug-Ups brand pullup with one of the Power Pups on the front of it.
``Come on! You can see what cartoons you have on your undies later.''
``Right!'' Riddy crawled after, not wanting to admit how his undergarments were even more little-kid-ish than even Julian knew.
Julian took a right turn, and Riddy followed, but after a just a few seconds quickly said, ``wrong way.'' He turned around, nearly bowling Riddy over in the process. The fox just didn't mind much; he was excited for the Big Finale, but also a bit nervous. It was really high up, but he didn't want to act like a scared little kid in front of Julian. The rabbit's corrected route took him up a short slide. Big kid that he was, Julian climbed it nimbly. Riddy, on the other hand had trouble keeping traction on the smooth surface. Still, with some difficulty, he made it to the second level. He had to crawl quickly to catch up. Suddenly, a warm sensation started to spread from the front of his pullup. In all the excitement, he had forgotten why he had agreed to the Big Finale. He put his hands to his pullup, but he couldn't stop the flow. Soon, his bladder was empty and the pullup had grown swollen and squishy. The protective undergarment had held up, though, and there were no signs of any leaks. Julian didn't have to know about this accident.
Riddy finally caught up at the bottom of the ramp leading to the third level. ``You ready?'' Julian asked.
Riddy could only nod. He followed the rabbit up the ramp. Once again, he had a bit of trouble with the smooth surface. This time he slipped and tumbled backwards. A seam between two plastic segments caught his waistband, pulling his pants down enough to reveal a portion of his pullup. Julian, having heard the noise, turned, and asked ``Are you okay? Wait a sec.'' He came back down to Riddy. ``Is that a diaper!?''
``It's not a diaper. It's a pullup!'' Riddy shouted indignantly.
Julian pulled his waistband for a closer look. ``And it's wet, too! You really did pee your pants. I knew you were little, but I didn't know you were a pee-pee diaper baby!''
``Stop it! I'm not a baby!'' Tears started to well in Riddy's eyes and he broke down. Everything came crashing down on him now, unfiltered as a child.
``I'm sorry!'' Julian pleaded. ``I went too far. I wasn't trying to be mean.'' He hugged the fox, who, with nothing else to do, returned the gesture. His sobs were starting to subside.
``Julian, you're not supposed to make them cry!'' came an admonishing voice.
The two turned to see the same rabbit girl who had run into Riddy earlier.
``I'm sorry, Julia, I got carried away.''
Riddy sniffled and wiped his eyes. He saw Julia had a similar nametag, giving her age as 7. Still hiccupping a little, he asked, ``wha-what's going on?''
``I'm Julian's big sister,'' the girl said.
``You were my little sister at the start of the week.''
``Were you grown-ups before, too?''
``No way!'' Julian said, as if that were an insult.
The rabbits looked at each other, then back to Riddy and said in unison: ``We're youth spirits.''
``We sort of appear in places like this,'' Julia continued. ``Mostly we just have fun and give kids someone to play with, but sometimes we help someone bring out their inner child.''
``But why would you turn me into a kid? Can you make me a grown up again?''
The siblings exchanged another look. Julian said, ``Well, some grown-ups are really kids on the inside. We just help them let it out.''
Julia put a hand on her chin. ``For changing you back, I think that would be harder, but most new kids end up staying. It wouldn't have worked anyway unless this was something you wanted deep down.''
Riddy recalled the bit of envy he had felt earlier. ``But this young? I peed in my pullup!''
``Well,'' Julian shrugged ``your inner child must be pretty little, little enough to be okay with pullups and accidents.''
Riddy thought for a moment. Underneath the embarrassment he realized that the pullup, in a way, made him feel secure, that he was allowed to be vulnerable. Also not needing to stop playing if the situation called wasn't a bad deal.
``Speaking of being little,'' Julian continued, ``This is the youngest I've ever made anyone, so I can get a turn at being little, too.'' Suddenly, the rabbit boy shrank down a bit until he was about the same height as Riddy (not counting the ears). His name tag now listed his age as 3 as well. ``Cool!'' He said. ``I'm way ahead of you sis! Wait a minute.'' He tugged back his own waistband to reveal his own pullup. ``Comfy,'' he said.
``Ew!'' Julia exclaimed. ``I'm not changing you if you pee in it.''
``I can take care of myself.'' Julian stuck out his tongue. ``You're just jealous.'' Julia simply rolled her eyes.
``What's next?'' Riddy piped in.
``Now I wonder if I can get someone all the way back to diapers.'' Julian stared at Riddy for a moment.
``Uh, heh. Not sure I'm ready for that.''
``Hm, that's not `xactly a `no,' but maybe we'll make another game of it. Or,'' he rubbed his hands together, ``maybe someone else needs to be a kid again. C'mon.'' The three kids climbed up to the third level, where they could see down into the dining area. They scanned the small crowd below, though Riddy didn't quite know what they were looking for. ``There!'' said Julian after a minute, pointing to a tired-looking blue skunk who was wiping off a counter.
``Wait, Gus? Seriously?'' Riddy cocked his head
``Oh, yes!'' Julia agreed excitedly. ``He's real little on the inside.''
``Maybe even littler that Riddy here.''
``No way.'' Riddy shook his head. ``He's totally big.''
``Wanna bet? If you think he's big and he ends up in diapers, then that means you have to be in them, too!''
``No way he's that little. Deal!'' Riddy shook Julian's hand.
``I wanna help! It's been forever since I made someone a kid again,'' Julia shouted.
``Alright, let's go!'' said Julian. ``Though, maybe we can get this little fox a new pullup.''
And with that, the three set off down the slide, ready to make a new little friend.
