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"Hey Thomas, I have a favor to ask." Gilbert said."What is it?" Thomas asked wearily. "And did you just call me to ask that?""Maybe. But can John and Alex and I camp out on your property tomorrow night? Your woods are the perfect place to campout, and John doesn't want to travel too far.""I guess so. But I'm only doing this because you're my friend. Is that clear?""Crystal clear!" Gilbert's delight was obvious. "See you tomorrow!
"What did you do to get yourself stuck doing this?" An amused Thomas asked a remorseful Aaron. "Tell Alex you'd never been camping before?""How'd you guess?" Aaron deadpanned. "I regret that decision with every passing moment.""You can stick your stuff in the living room for now. I think Alex or John is bringing a wagon, but you're early. Oh, and I made mac-n-cheese so you guys can eat something before you go to the land of Alex's cooking.""Alexander will be thrilled.""I'm not sure about that, he always gives me this funny look when I make Mac-n-cheese.""It's sarchasm Thomas.""Oh." It wasn't long before the other three showed up. Alex, dragging a bright red wagon behind him, the color contrasting with the fading green of the grass. "Aaron! You came!" Alex cheered. "We thought you might back out.""If I hadn't come, you wouldn't have stopped bothering me about going camping for who knows how long.""That is true!" Gilbert laughed, clapping Aaron on the back. "You do know our petite lion well!""Come in," Thomas offered. "I made dinner!""Is it macaroni again?" Alex asked suspiciously. "You guessed it!"Seated around the table, with Alex glaring at his macaroni whilst poking at it with his fork. Gilbert asked. "Do you want to join us Thomas? We can make room in the tent.""Thanks for the offer Gil, but I think I'm more comfortable in my own bed. And I wouldn't want to ruin your night by getting into an argument with Alex.""Okay. If you decide otherwise the offer is always open!""I will make you guys breakfast tomorrow." Thomas added. "Just tell me what time you plan to be up.""We shouldn't plan to be up too early, so maybe seven will be good?""Then I'll plan on seven!"
That night, Thomas woke to the crash of thunder, and the room being lit up at brief intervals with lightning. He wondered whether he should check on his friends in their tent out in the middle of his woods. After thinking it over for a few minutes, he decided to wait until the lightning stopped. no sense in risking his own safety. He looked at the time on his phone. 4:40am. too early to get up, yet too late to go back to sleep. He usually got up around five thirty in the summer months, occasionally later in the winter. As it was still only September, he would be up at that time on a normal day. He fully intended to keep his habit of never letting the sun catch him in bed. After a while, he realized that he had not heard any thunder for quite some time. He rose from his bed and pulled a light jacket over his pajamas, it was already chilly in the mornings. and pulled on his shoes before heading out to the place that his friends were camping. It was slightly drizzling still, and the mist was thick as he walked to the clearing about half a mile from his house. When he arrived, he saw several scorch marks around the outside of the tent, though the tent itself didn't seem to be harmed. He gently unzipped the flap to peer inside to make sure his friends were alright, only to have his face pale at the sight that greeted him. Instead of four grown men, he found four small children, the smallest of which didn't appear to be more than a few months old.Thomas stumbled away from the tent, panic rising in his chest. "No, no, no, no, no." He sank to the ground ten feet away from the portable structure. "Gotta call Jemmy, he'll know what to do." He fumbled his phone for a moment before shakily dialing his best friend's number. "Hello? Thomas, what's wrong?" The soothing, yet sleepy, voice of his friend came through the phone. "Jemmy?" Thomas' voice came out a small squeak. "I need help.""Hold on, I'm coming, just let me get dressed. Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?""Yes. I'm over in that clearing. You know, the one we made when Martha died.""Okay, I'll be there in ten minutes. Deep breaths Thomas. You need to calm down before you make yourself sick."Thomas obeyed, taking a shaky breath, then holding it for a minute before letting it out as slowly as he could."Okay, I'm pulling into your driveway now, Just a little longer."James stayed on the phone until he reached Thomas, who had curled up onto himself in the wet leaves. He put his hands on his friend's shoulders."Thomas. What happened?" James asked. His presence had calmed Thomas down quite a bit, but the man was still shaking. "L-look in the tent." "What?" Nevertheless, James stood up and walked to the tent to peer in. Much to his shock, he saw four children peacefully sleeping. "Thomas, why are there children here?""They weren't children last evening." "What do you mean?""Those aren't just children, they're Gilbert, Alex, Aaron, and John.""I still don't understand."Thomas somehow managed to explain how this had happened to the best of his understanding, which to be honest, was very little. The best explanation was that the lightning striking around the tent had somehow caused the four men to be de-aged."I'm not sure what to say." James remarked. "But one thing's for sure, we can't leave them like this.""I know." Thomas replied. "But, What will we do with them? You don't 'do' kids, and I don't know how to take care of even one!""Okay, let's get them to your house, and then we can do some research. I'll call Dolley and have her come over too. Then we'll just go from there.""how will we get them to the house? Half a mile is too far to walk carrying two kids each, and there is no way we can get a car down here." Thomas then glanced at Alex's wagon and got an idea. "I know! We can stick two of them in the wagon, it's plenty big enough and then we will just need to carry one each! I can pull the wagon, we don't even have to wake them up!"Thomas crawled into the tent and quickly realized that this would be a bit harder than he expected, moving the boys without waking them in such a confined space would be difficult. He slid over to where Alex and John were cuddled together in the corner, and gently moved to untangle their limbs. Thankfully, their clothes had shrunk to fit the much smaller bodies, though he realized he would have to go shopping later as he did not have anything that he would probably need. While Thomas was trying to move the boys without waking them, James had made the bed of the wagon a bit more comfortable by placing blankets in the bottom of it. When Thomas came out of the tent carrying a surprisingly still sleeping Alex and laid him in the wagon, James covered the boy with another blanket. This same process was repeated with John. "Here," Thomas said, handing James the smallest boy. "Take Aaron, he's undoubtedly the lightest, and knowing him, probably will give you the least trouble if he happens to wake up."With that, he went into the tent one last time to get Gilbert, and started off to the house. The trek took twice as long this time, likely because they were carrying children and trying to keep them all asleep. But they finally made it. When they entered the house, Thomas set Gilbert down on the couch. "I'll be right back, make sure he doesn't roll off.""Okay." James was confused for a few minutes, but saw what Thomas was planning when he came back into the room carrying an armload of blankets and an air mattress."I don't have any guest rooms open right now, so this will have to do." He explained. "They'll have to stay out here with us, I don't want them waking up by themselves."In a matter of minutes, the bed was ready. Thomas laid Alex, and John down on the edges, since they were the biggest, and laid Aaron and Gilbert between them before tucking them in.While he had been doing that, James had called Dolley, who was delighted to come help. She arrived not quite two minutes after James and Thomas sat down to do research. Thomas using his laptop, and James on the stationary computer. "Where are they?" she asked, startling the two men. Thomas gestured to the corner where he had set up the bed. Dolley went over to see the boys, and picked up Aaron out of the bed. "This one is Aaron, right?"Thomas glanced up to see who she was asking about. "Yep.""Well, I hate to tell you this, but he's too little to be in bed with a blanket and pillow. He could suffocate.""Really?" Thomas paled, realizing he had unintentionally put a baby in danger. "Are the other three okay?"
"Yes," Dolley reassured him. "They're older. Let's see. It looks like This little guy is about a year and a half," She pointed to Gilbert. Then John. "And he's about three I'd say." She then looked at Alex. "And finally, he's about five.""What about Aaron?" James asked. "Do you know how old he is?""It's hard to tell with a baby, since they all develop differently, and I'm only guessing with the others, he's pretty little, but then Aaron was always little, so I'd say he's about four or five months old.""So," Thomas interrupted. "What do I need? I know I don't have anything for kids here. and it looks like I'm going to be the one to care for them for the present. I don't want to bother George with this for now, he has enough on his hands without taking on four children."Dolley gave him a scary grin. "You're not going to like this.""And now I'm scared."
"I need all this?" Thomas asked, looking over the long list Dolley had made him. "Yep! I'll go to the store now and pick up some car seats, so you can take the boys with you so you can get the right sized clothes.""Wait a minute, Dolley, why are diapers on the list?"
"Aaron and Gilbert will definitely need them, and John may as well." Dolley answered, smirking. "Some three year olds are potty trained, some aren't. And we're not sure about his age either.""This is starting to get uncomfortable.""You don't know how to change a diaper, do you?""No?""Alright, I can teach you, but I'm going to the store now." And with that, she left.James looked to Thomas. "Do you want me to call George? He's probably awake by now, It's 7:30, and you know he's an early riser.""That would probably be wise."Just then, the two men were interrupted by John, who had crawled out of the makeshift bed and into Thomas' lap. He looked Thomas in the eyes, and asked. "Papa?"Thomas was shocked into silence. James stifled his laughter at the look on his friend's face before quickly snapping a picture. "Yes?" Thomas was finally able to squeak out."John cuddle with Papa?""Um, Yes?"The boy immediately snuggled into Thomas' chest, and within minutes, was asleep."That was the cutest thing I've ever seen." James said. "I don't think you're going to have any trouble with him, It looks like they aren't going to remember being adults."Thomas glared at him, but he was melting inside. For six long years, he had longed to hear a child call him 'Papa', but Martha had miscarried three times before her death, and when she got pregnant for a fourth time, neither had dared hope that that little one would live. And it was unfortunately not to be, when Martha was eight months pregnant, she was killed in a car accident. Thomas was devastated. James knew all this, but few people other than him, Dolley, George, and Thomas' siblings and closest friends knew.They sat like this for an undetermined amount of time, when Thomas felt something warm soak into his pants. "Jemmy?" he stiffened."Yes Thomas?""I-I, Help?""Thomas?" James looked at his friend, it took him a moment to register what the problem was. "OH!' He gently moved the little boy off of his friend so he could get up.Thomas immediately removed his pants, tossing them to the side before sitting back down, relieved. "Thanks Jemmy.""You're welcome Thomas, but PLEASE go put on some fresh pants!" James replied, a bit uncomfortable. "I'll take care of this little guy.""Okay. you sure? I don't want to leave you alone.""Thomas, for goodness sakes, just go put on some pants!"Thomas scurried out of the room. When he returned, he found John dressed in a white shirt that fell to his ankles. "Is that your undershirt?""Yes, I didn't have anything else to put him in." James told him. "His clothes are in the washing machine, and I put your pants in too.""Thanks Jemmy." Thomas replied sheepishly. "I don't know what I'd do without you.""John's hungry.""Okay, we'll get you something to eat." Thomas told the little boy. "It might be a little bit though. I have to cook it first."
By the time Thomas had cooked breakfast, Dolley had returned. "I see you didn't go to the baby clothes section." James remarked. "How can you tell?" Thomas asked. "She didn't come back with anything!""It's true, I decided to wait until you were with me, I figured once the boys are awake and fed, we can all go to the store!""I'm surprised they aren't up already." Thomas said. "Do you think I should wake them up?.""They were grown up yesterday, I'm sure they're just adjusting to the change." Dolly said reassuringly. "You can wake them up if you want to, but I'd at least leave Aaron asleep.""Okay. Oh, and John here doesn't remember being an adult.""And he thinks that Thomas is his father." James whispered in Dolley's ear. "It is absolutely precious!""Awww!""What are you talking about?" Thomas asked suspiciously. "Nothing!" James said."What smells good?" The three turned at the sudden voice from the kitchen door. Alex stood in the doorway, rubbing his eyes. "Thomas made breakfast!" James grinned. "You want some?""Papa made breakfast? Good, I'm starving!"Dolley chuckled. "I'm going to go check on the little ones.""What did you make?" Alex asked. Sitting next to John, who grinned at him. "Um, I made waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon." Thomas answered."Good. I like waffles."Dolley then returned to the kitchen, and pulled Thomas aside. "Can you come with me for a moment?""Um, sure?""Good. James, you're on kid duty! Don't look at me like that, just make sure no one chokes and you'll be fine."And with that, she dragged Thomas to the sitting room."You can learn how to change A diaper now." Dolly grinned. "I bought a couple of packs while I was out, I figured you'd need them before long.""I-I'm not sure this is a good idea," Thomas was mortified. "This isn't someti=hing I ever thought I'd be doing.""Thomas, they're babies, would you rather face your fears and diaper them, or not, and then clean up when they have accidents?"Thomas thought about how he'd panicked when John had an accident on him earlier and replied. "Put them in diapers I guess.""Good!" Dolley beamed. "Now let's get this over with."She bent down over the air mattress and pulled back the blankets. "Ah, looks like we've had a little accident, but nothing that can't be fixed!"Thomas, who had gone to pick up Aaron from the little cage Dolley had made by placing fat books around the sleeping baby so he couldn't escape, looked up to see her gently untangling Gilbert from the blankets and sitting the sleepy child down on the floor. "What happened?""Gilbert wet himself, it's to be expected as he is still so small. Here, hold him for a minute." She replied, handing Gilbert to Thomas. "I'll get Aaron fixed up, and then you can do Gilbert.""Okay."Dolley patiently walked Thomas through the steps of changing a diaper, and after both little boys were ready, sent Thomas to get Gilbert fed while she ran another load of laundry and cleaned the air mattress.