Nathan stands on the porch, his posture stiffening as the strange craft lands, while Cathy clutches her lemonade pitcher, eyes wide with suspicion and curiosity.
"Wife, you stay here while I go see what they want. This isn't anything for women to get involved in. If trouble starts, your big, strong husband will protect you,"
Cathy's lips twist into a scowl, but Nathan marches forward across the dry grass, heart pounding in his chest.
Nathan[/@ch_1]. The scent of ozone and a strange chemical tang fills the air.]
Zylox, taller and with blue-striped limbs, nudges his companion Vrin, whose antennae twitch excitedly.
"A perfect specimen for this planet. Let's capture it,"
"But he is too old. You know how short-lived they are on this planet. Unless we return him to his earliest stage of life, he will not last the trip back to our home planet,"
Without further warning, Vrin lifts a crystalline device, its core pulsing with unnatural light.
Nathan[/@ch_1], bathing the clearing in shifting colors. Leaves rustle and birds scatter as his form begins to shrink, features softening, hair darkening, and clothes vanishing in flashes of light.]
At first, Nathan marvels as vigor returns to his limbs, relishing the feeling of youth. But exhilaration turns to panic as his body continues to regress: his hands become small and chubby, his feet vanish into nothing as socks and shoes dissolve, and finally, his underclothes morph into a thick, crinkling diaper.
With a helpless plop, Nathan lands on the grass, now a bewildered infant wrapped in the remnants of his dignity.
Cathy[/@ch_2] creeps close, her pitcher of fresh lemonade glinting in the sunlight. With a swift motion, she douses Zylox and Vrin, the citrusy liquid splashing across their carapaces.]
"Eeeeeee! My skin is burning,"
"Such vicious, acidic weapons they have. Let's scram!"
The creatures scuttle back to their saucer, hissing and cursing, before the hatch seals and the ship lifts off with a thunderous hum, vanishing into the sky.
Cathy[/@ch_2] lifts the youthened Nathan into her arms, cradling him gently.]
"I guess we showed them!"
"What do you mean 'we'?"
Nathan glances up, confusion and hope mingling in his round, childlike eyes.
"You suppose what they did to me will wear off soon? You'll treat me the same until then?"
"Provided you are a good little boy who listens and obeys his mommy," Cathy grins, tapping his diapered bottom for emphasis.
Cathy[/@ch_2] straps Nathan into a stroller, wheeling him through the aisles of a bustling mall. Colorful displays of infant clothes and toys line the shelves, and Cathy pauses at a rack of blanket sleepers.]
She hesitates between a Barney appliqué in soft baby blue and a red one emblazoned with NASCAR logos, finally choosing the former.
"No! Not the blue one! I want the red one!"
But Cathy only smiles serenely, placing the blue sleeper in her cart as Nathan launches into the first of many crying tantrums, his protests echoing through the store.
With a satisfied glint in her eye, Cathy wheels her youthened husband toward the checkout, already imagining the adventures to come.
