✅ My Sister's Problem

31. Counterattack

I woke up and automatically started thinking about the day ahead. It was summer now, with no school to worry about, but somehow my schedule still ended up packed full. Somehow a 1-v-1 game of basketball with Hugo had turned into a weekly fixture, and it sounded like Jaycen and Meghan would be joining us again. She was only eight, and I would have thought she was too small to play with a group of older kids, but she had been playing for six months already and in our first two matches she'd shown that practice mattered more that size. It was the same as Harper being the perpetual MVP in the three counties quads league despite her small stature; in a strict non-contact sport physique always took second place to talent.

In between all the other things I had committed to, like spending regular quality time with my sister, playing in one of the region's top inline hockey teams, and volunteering whenever the quads girls needed an extra body, it meant I was often rushed off my feet. Today, I thought, was probably basketball. I wondered if Jaycen would be there this time, or if I would meet their enigmatic friend Chains this time.

"Do you know Chains?" I asked Mr Muggins, who stared at me with a quizzical expression. Maybe he didn't. "Hugo says he's a good player and a good friend. He sounds cool. I wonder what he looks like. Does it sound like a tall name?" Then I giggled a little, and wondered what had got me feeling so small this morning. It had been more than a week since Mum even mentioned treating me like a baby, and the most childish thing I'd done in that time was snuggle Lincoln and Mr Muggins and Rocky in bed. Maybe sucking on a pacifier once or twice, but I didn't do it every night. There was a damp spot on my pillow this morning; right next to my head, under the hand that was cradling Lincoln. That had happened a couple of times now, but it was still hard to believe that I was drooling in my sleep. And there was no reason to suspect any other kind of damp patch; I hadn't listened to that meditation thing again, not in the last two weeks.

Well, maybe once, but that hadn't even been the full thing. I'd looked online again about how it was supposed to work, and found out that my analysis was just right. It was supposed to condition you to react to the special wind chimes in the file in the same way that I'd accidentally conditioned Lindy to react to the sound of a waterfall when she was asleep. I'd been curious about that, and had downloaded another file that was just a minute of background noise, like walking by a river, with ten seconds of wind chimes in the middle. No words at all, nothing to say what it was for, just gentle noises. If I could condition somebody with that, it would be a great tool for pranking; if something like that could even work. It didn't sound likely, and I wondered if it was going to serenade me with the vocal skills of Rick Astley or something. I'd put it on once, and found the soothing river noises quite relaxing. Remembering the dream of walking in the woods, I'd found myself yawning as I tried to keep my eyes open; then the chimes started and I'd soaked my diaper and fallen fast asleep before I even knew what was happening.

It worked. I didn't need to test it again, and I wasn't going to. My sole motivation had been curiosity, wanting to know if conditioning like that was even possible, and now I knew. But that had been a week ago now, but I woke up feeling littler and cuter now than I had then. I couldn't explain it. I wondered why I was feeling so giggly, and tried to think about anything that could have prompted it.

There had been a dream, I thought. Sailing down the river on a floating crib again, laughing as the scenery went past. I'd imagined being babied by my family, just like in the first dream that had kicked off all this curiosity. Mum had been pushing the crib, telling me that if I kept on going she was going to keep me as a baby, and then I'd noticed the feeling of warm water around my hand. The reminder that this was a dream, and that I was a baby who didn't need to have a choice. I could just relax and let the stream carry me along, and let myself enjoy wherever they wanted to take me, or however little they wanted me to be.