This is a fantasy, although any full-blooded boy would call it a nightmare. There are times when you should learn not to go too far when teasing your sister, and the fate that awaited young David was something he would have shuddered to contemplate. Little girls can be merciless sometimes!
Back to the Cradle
by Andrew B.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 |
CHAPTER 1
Like her father professor Michael Hill, my girlfriend Angela was highly intelligent. He was a prolific inventor, and with a degree in biochemistry she was an invaluable helper when he conducted his research. Not only was he talented in his work on the nature of the workings of the brain, but he had a good head for business, and had been astute enough to offer some of his remarkable findings to various companies on a commercial basis. Consequently, he’d accumulated enough wealth to provide himself with a first class private laboratory in the grounds of his large country house in Sussex, near Horsham. The laboratory was equipped with the very latest technology, and much of his instrumentation had been constructed by him specifically to satisfy his requirements.
Now I’m no dimwit myself, but not being a specialist in his field, I often had difficulty in completely understanding some of his work, no matter how patiently he and Angela tried to explain it to me. It wasn’t made any easier when they also carefully omitted certain crucial details of their work for security reasons, so that I was only given a hazy idea of how it worked. And so began a fantastic experience that I would come to regard with incredulity as well as extreme embarrassment. I was a pretty successful freelance journalist with a talent for breaking a story first, and had a talent for digging out sensational material and selling it to the highest bidder. On this occasion I’d taken a month’s holiday from work, and was staying with Angela and her father. Keen to see what his latest project was, I asked if I could see around his laboratory. Knowing that I wouldn’t really understand the nature of the work just by looking at the equipment, they agreed to give me the grand tour, and one afternoon, I found myself entering the lab with them.
It was certainly well equipped. Electronic equipment was everywhere, and I realised that a very large sum of money must have been spent on it. In the centre of the room were two medical examination couches a few feet apart, and lying on each one was a mass of wires with sensors on the end. They were all connected to a large metal box with an impressive array of switches and dials. I was both curious and impressed, and lost no time in asking what it was for.
‘Well’ said Michael, ‘It has to do with thought transference. As you know, all the thoughts in our brains can be considered as a series of electro magnetic patterns, and for the last three years I’ve been trying to convert them into a binary code that can be stored in a computer in much the same way as images and sound can be stored. But unlike something as simple as say, a video signal, this is vastly more complex and difficult to store. My system has to store every memory, physical sensation, and even the person’s emotion in the brain. In a word, their complete personality.’
‘But surely that’s not really possible’ I said. ‘I mean, I’ve heard of the idea in principle, but as I understand it, no computer in the world has that much storage space.’ Michael looked at me and smiled. ‘What you say was perfectly true up until six months ago’ he said proudly, ‘But due to a unique system of compressing information that I’ve developed, I’ve finally achieved it. I can not only download every piece of information stored in someone’s brain and store it indefinitely as a file in my computer, but I can also duplicate it perfectly without affecting their own faculties in any way whatsoever.’
I could hardly believe what I was hearing, but there was even more to come. ‘And not only that’ said Angela, ‘By downloading the memory banks of two people, we can switch them over and replace each original memory with the other. In a word, we can swap their minds over. We tried it with a cat and a dog to begin with, and it was strange seeing the cat trying to bark and the dog trying to miaow. But we didn’t leave them like that for more than a few minutes before we returned their minds to their original bodies. Afterwards they were none the worse for the experience. It wasn’t much, but it was our first step.’ ‘Later on we progressed to experimenting with one or two human volunteers, and I’m proud to say that to date we’ve achieved full mind exchange for over a month so far before restoring them, and so far have detected no deterioration at all. Three months ago, my brother Alan and his wife Susan agreed (after some persuasion) to undergo a mind swap, and they’ve certainly come to understand each other a lot better after occupying each other’s bodies for a week. And they felt so intrigued after our first attempt that they’ve actually been through it a couple more times. Apparently it’s a novel experience to say the least, and can become quite addictive.’
This was too much for my credulity. I’ve always been a sceptic, and this was more than I was prepared to swallow. ‘You are kidding me aren’t you?’ I retorted, ‘Oh come on Angela, for goodness’ sake, it’s impossible. This is science fiction stuff! Do you really expect me to believe that you can swap over people’s minds?
Surprised by my cynical reaction (I don’t suffer fools gladly), Angela looked at me with a look of disappointment on her face and said ‘Oh dear, I thought that might be the case. Well, what is there about the idea that you find so hard to believe?’ I was nonplussed for a moment. Was she serious? Did she really think it was possible? I tried to think of some fundamental objections to the idea so as not to bring her down to earth too harshly, and gathered my thoughts. Suddenly I realised that my knowledge of the field was so minimal that it would be impossible for me to argue against her claim. I decided to try another tack. ‘Well’ I said, ‘I suppose the only way you could convince me would be by a practical demonstration. Any chance of that?’ ‘I don’t know’ she said, ‘But in the meantime, Alan and Sue will be coming over next Tuesday. Perhaps a chat with them might convince you, so wait until you’ve spoken with them. In the meantime, let’s try and give you a better idea of how the idea works. You have no idea how long we’ve spent on the technique of preserving all the mental faculties of one person as a single file in the computer. Even though my father’s work on data compression has been far beyond anyone else, at this stage he can only store the minds of about eight people in our entire memory banks. You have absolutely no idea just how much space that takes up. You could run a country on it.’
‘Now the basic idea is that we can download someone’s mind into the computer, and then, if we wish, replace it in the body with someone else’s mind. That means to the person whose mind has been transferred into that body, they have transferred into another body. Then, the thought patterns stored in the computer can be downloaded into the other body, and so, in practical terms, the two people have swapped bodies. Or, if we wish, we can leave one mind in the computer, and take care of the vacated body as if it were somebody in a coma in hospital. All the bodily functions are taken care of, and as far as the body is concerned, it’s just one long sleep.’
‘We can store the entire thought patterns of any mind in the computer in a form of stasis, and we can even duplicate it and store it indefinitely. We can even adjust it, although we question the ethics of going that far. That means that we don’t have to put the displaced mind into an unpleasant environment. Instead, we can store it indefinitely in the computer, unchanged and unconscious, without any ill effects. The physical body of what we call the ‘vacated’ is kept in a state of unconsciousness, but we look after all the bodily functions that continue much like any unconscious person, and when we restore the original mind to its rightful owner, they simply wake as if from a deep sleep. As a matter of fact, Dad’s now able to insert a series of very pleasant dreams that actually make the subject reluctant to wake up. (He’s working on inserting artificially produced thought like that at the moment). So when they are restored to full consciousness, they literally continue from where they left off so to speak.’
‘The only problem we’ve found so far is helping people to adjust to their old body with the residual experience of being in the host body. We’ve already found that various people handle it very differently, and that’s why we’ve preferred to do it with a small select group of people that all seem to be able to handle it well. Susan and Alan have been excellent, and have done it several times with no ill effects at all. The best thing is that the more often they do it, the more easily they adapt to it. In fact they’re almost becoming casual about it.’
By now I couldn’t think of anything else to say, and although still not yet convinced that the whole idea really was possible, I realised that the others certainly did believe it. Out of good manners I decided not to argue the point any further for the moment, but I had a feeling that Angela, with her usual tenacity, wasn’t going to be satisfied until she’d convinced me, and she knew that it might need a practical demonstration to make that happen.
‘Well anyway’ she continued, ‘I really do want to find a way of proving it to you in due course, but I suspect that you might not like the experience of being proved wrong. You’re too proud. You have many fine qualities my love, but humility isn’t one of them.’ Sensing the way in which she seemed to be heading I said ‘Oh no you don’t. No way. If you think I’m going to let you experiment with my brain, forget it. You must be joking.’ Angela gave me a thoughtful look for a moment, smiled, and then said ‘Of course. It was a silly idea anyway.’ Looking at her watch she said ‘I’ve got to go and make a phone call, so I’ll leave you and Dad to chat for a while.’ She left her father to continue with my laboratory tour, and after dropping the subject of mind transference, we went back into the house for a cup of tea.
Thinking that was the end of the matter, I forgot about what seemed to me to be a harebrained scheme for the next few days. Then on the following Tuesday, Angela reminded me that Alan and Sue were arriving that afternoon, and would be staying overnight, so I would have plenty of opportunity to question them about their supposed mind swap experiences. That afternoon we were sitting in the garden when we heard the front door bell ring. ‘That’ll be Alan and Sue’ said Angela, getting up from her seat, ‘I’ll go and let them in.’ She went into the house, and I could hear her greeting her brother and his wife. A moment later I stood up as she returned with Alan and Sue. They were a friendly looking couple with a ready smile, but what unexpectedly caught my attention was that Sue was pushing a large rather old-fashioned pram. I didn’t realise they had a baby with them.
I walked across to them, and Angela introduced us as Sue removed the pram cover and lowered the hood to reveal a baby in a pink dress. Obviously it was a girl. ‘And this is Emily’ said Sue proudly, ‘She’s six months old. Isn’t she gorgeous?’ I had to agree that little Emily was the very essence of a sweet little baby girl, and she happily gurgled at us in the warm sunshine. The introductions over, we sat down in the garden and enjoyed some sandwiches and a cup of tea. I lost no time in asking the couple about their experience in each other’s bodies, and they seemed so well balanced and rational about it that doubt began to creep into my scepticism. Maybe it really was possible to exchange minds, but I was nowhere near convinced. Yet. I think they were disappointed with my doubt as if I almost questioned their intelligence, but were too polite to show it. But the afternoon passed pleasantly enough, and Angela took her little niece out of the pram and cradled her with pride.
Eventually it began to cloud over, and we all went indoors while Angela and Sue prepared dinner. I was looking forward to this opportunity to continue my questioning. As an experienced investigative journalist, I had a talent for getting at the truth. Dinner was a relaxed affair. Angela is an excellent cook, and the roast lamb was cooked to perfection. Her father was an avid wine collector, and we enjoyed a bottle of excellent Bordeaux.
I was careful not to appear too sceptical this time, and let the couple relate their experiences without interruption. They were obviously ken to convince me, and with the support of Angela and her father, they gradually brought me round to realising that they really had achieved what I’d thought was impossible.
‘It was really strange the first time’ said Susan, ‘It wasn’t just our obvious physical difference that was a novelty. Getting dressed resulted in some rather amusing situations, such as Alan trying to put on a bra and fasten it for the first time! But it was also the way in which other people treated us when we went out. We’d go out for a meal, and the waiter would ask me to choose the wine, and I was the one who would be given the bill.’
‘And I suddenly realised how intimidating some men can be to a woman’ added Alan, ‘I’ve certainly learnt to appreciate what women have to put up with sometimes, so I think that the experience has been a tremendous help in understanding each other. Mind you, I’m glad I wasn’t the one that had to have the baby! That was already behind us, thank goodness.’
As the conversation continued, I became more and more convinced that they really had done it, and with my instinctive journalistic mind, began to realise just how much money I could make if I could be the first to release the story to the world. Unfortunately, with the effect of an excellent glass or two of Michael’s brandy, I made the mistake of speaking my mind. ‘Well’ I said, ‘I think you’ve succeeded in convincing me. This is going to cause a sensation when it hits the headlines.’ Angela’s father looked at me with an expression of utter dismay.
‘Oh no!’ he said quickly, ‘Under no circumstances must this get out yet. Perhaps in a year or so, when my work is completed, but to release it prematurely would be a disaster. It could ruin everything! The one thing I don’t need is to be inundated by curious journalists while I’m still perfecting the project. Oh no David, you must promise me that you’ll keep this to yourself until I say you can release the story.’
‘But you just said that it could be another year before that happens’ I said, ‘Surely the world has a right to know. I’m a journalist, you can’t expect me to just sit on it for a year! Look Michael, I appreciate your concern, but if you really have already achieved mind transference, then it isn’t too early to at least let the world know how far you’ve got. This is a sensation!’
‘Yes, and will no doubt make you a great deal of money in selling the story’ he retorted. No David, I forbid you to tell anyone until I say you can.’
By now I was becoming unwisely stubborn. ‘Well how can you stop me?’ I said. ‘I’ve got enough information to put together a very nice little article, and I’ve no doubt there are quite a few editors I know who would absolutely lap it up.’ Suddenly, he looked at me and gave a slight grin. ‘Very well then David’ he said quietly, ‘Just when do you intend to release this article?’
‘As soon as I’ve written it. Probably tomorrow.’
‘I see. So I can’t change your mind?’
‘Afraid not Michael. I’m sorry, but this story is just too sensational to keep to yourself.’ Angela had been looking at me with growing concern on her face, and said ‘Oh David, how could you be so selfish? I wish we’d never told you. At least the secret would still be safe. I hate to think of you betraying a trust.’ ‘Don’t worry about it’ smiled her father suddenly, ‘What will be will be. Life can be full of surprises sometimes. Now let’s just drop the subject for now and have some coffee shall we. You sit there and I’ll go and make it.’ He rose from the table and went out into the kitchen. A few moments later, Angela went to help him, while Alan and I continued talking. Susan went upstairs to check on little Emily. She soon came down again, smiled, and said ‘Fast asleep. She really looks like a little angel.’ Angela and Michael returned with the coffee, and accompanied it with another glass of Michael’s excellent cognac. After dinner, we cleared the table, and after the dirty crockery had been put in the dishwasher, we went into the lounge, where we played cards for a couple of hours before retiring to bed. As I undressed I suddenly felt very tired, and put it down to the mental exertions of the day. I’d barely got into bed and switched off the light before I was instantly asleep.
CHAPTER 2
Morning. I woke up with a start to the sound of voices, opened my eyes, and had the shock of my life. I wasn’t in bed in my room. I was lying on one of the examination couches in the laboratory, and as I immediately tried to sit up I found I couldn’t. I was securely strapped down to the couch and couldn’t move. Thick leather straps held me down by the wrists, ankles, waist and chest. All I could do was raise my head a little off the small pillow it was resting on. As I opened my eyes I saw Angela smiling down at me as she said ‘Good morning David. Awake at last are we? How do you feel?’
‘How the hell do you think I feel, all trussed up like this?’ I retorted. ‘Now come on Angie, you’ve had your joke, undo these straps.’
‘I’m sorry we had to slip you a Mickey Finn in your coffee last night’ she replied, ignoring my request, ‘But we had to be sure you’d remain unconscious while we transferred you onto this examination couch.’ She grinned as she was joined by Alan, Sue and her father. ‘You’ll be released shortly my dear’ she grinned, ‘But not until you’ve had a much needed lesson in humility.’
‘You see David’ added her father, ‘Last night, I suddenly realised that you could endanger this whole project simply by releasing the story to the world. Your determination to do so, despite my asking you not to, requires drastic action. I obviously can’t keep you locked up for a year or so until my work is finished, so I had to think of some other way of restraining you. We had a little chat together after you went to bed last night, and my resourceful daughter here came up with a solution that kills two birds with one stone.’
‘Indeed it does’ smiled Angie as she looked down at me. ‘You see, on the one hand, you refused to be convinced that we’d achieved mind transference, in fact, you were pretty rude about it I thought. And on the other, you’ve threatened to release our secret to the press. Well I’m afraid we can’t allow you to do that. Your obvious doubt yesterday about the truth of our experiment verged on ridicule, so we’ve decided to not only convince you that we really have succeeded, but also to make you feel ridiculous. And believe me, with what we have in mind, I guarantee that we’ll succeed on both counts.’
‘Now don’t worry’ she added quickly, ‘I promise that you’ll be completely unhurt by the experience, and I suspect that you might even thank us. Well eventually, anyway.’
Suddenly I was alarmed. ‘What experience?’ I said, my heart suddenly beginning to thump, ‘What are you going to do to me?’
‘Well’ said Angela, ‘We’ve decided to let you experience mind transference first hand. You’re about to join Alan and Sue as a mind swap participant, but in order to keep you under control you have to be restrained like this just for a little while longer. Believe me David, I wish it wasn’t necessary, but it’s for your own good, trust me. You went way over the top in the way you questioned our intelligence, and you deserve to be taught this lesson. And more seriously, your participation in our research will help us enormously. Rest assured, you’ll suffer no harm at all, except to your arrogance, and that won’t be such a bad thing. You need to be taken down a peg or two.’
I lay back for a moment, trying to come to terms with the situation. Being strapped down to a couch is no joke. It takes away any sense of independence, but I was determined not to panic. I tried to think of a question, and soon thought of one.
‘Well’ I said, ‘If I’m going to swap bodies with someone, who the hell is it going to be?’
Angela looked at me, gave a slight chuckle, and said ‘Who is it going to be? Ah yes, good question. Well my dear, in order to ensure your complete silence as far as the project is concerned, your mind swap partner is lying over there.’ They all moved aside to reveal baby Emily lying on a blanket on the other couch. My heart missed a beat, and I instinctively jerked vainly against my restraints. I went cold, and looked pleadingly at Angela.
‘No!’ I exclaimed, ‘Oh no, please Angela, you wouldn’t, you couldn’t! I don’t believe it, it’s not possible!’
Angela looked down at me, and with her father began to attach sensors to my head. She smiled as she said ‘Oh yes it is, as you are about to find out. Now you just relax and we’ll take care of everything.’ Once all the sensors were in place, they moved across to where little Emily lay and began to gently attach tiny sensors to her head. I watched in fearful anticipation as they quietly continued with their preparations. Sue attended to Emily and made sure that she was comfortable, while Alan helped Michael to make some final adjustments to the equipment.
I knew that yelling for help would be completely pointless, and I’d already realised that struggling against my restraints was also a complete waste of time. With nothing else left to do, I simply watched the four of them as they prepared for my initiation into the world of mindswap. I looked at Alan and Sue in the hope that I might be able to convince them that I wasn’t a willing volunteer as they had been, but I wasn’t going to get far in that direction. Desperate to think of something that might help me I said ‘For goodness’ sake Sue, that’s your baby there! Are you prepared to risk her as well as me?’ She looked at me for a moment and grinned. ‘Don’t worry David’ she said, ‘Alan and I have already been through this several times. It really is completely harmless, otherwise there’s no way that I would risk little Emily. No, she’s just going to have a lovely little sleep, during which time Michael is going to add just a few grains of extra intelligence into her mind. When she wakes, she’ll be about two months older in the mind than she is now. Well worth it. But as for you, well........’ She broke into a grin and then a chuckle, and I didn’t like it.
After an intensive series of checks and rechecks, Michael took command. ‘All right everybody’ he said, ‘That’s pretty well it. I think we’re ready.’ He looked at me and said ‘Stop looking so worried David, you’ll be just fine. As a matter of fact, you’re about to be looked after more attentively than anybody else in this room. Now all you’ll feel is your consciousness slipping away, and a moment later you’ll find things are different. All right then, here we go.’
I watched his hand slowly turn a small dial, and that was my last image of consciousness. Within seconds I slipped into blackness and was gone.
CHAPTER 3
It seemed to be barely an instant. One moment I was strapped down to a couch in the lab as a wave of darkness overcame me, and the next, I was still lying on the couch. Or was I? I slowly opened my eyes and looked around me. What I saw was frightening to say the least. I was looking at me. Still dressed in my pyjamas, and strapped down to an examination couch about ten feet away. And I looked very unconscious.
But if that was me, who was I? Suddenly I looked up and saw my four companions looking down at me. Angela smiled. ‘Wonderful!’ she exclaimed, ‘It worked! How do you feel David?’ Now came my first shock. I tried to say ‘Lousy. What happened?’ But instead, what came out of my mouth was approximately ‘Mmmmflagagoogoo.’ There was a moment’s silence before Angela looked at me, grinned, and said ‘What was that you said David? I don’t think I understood you.’ Without thinking, I tried to say ‘What the hell’s going on?’ but all I could manage was a high pitched ‘Blubblemmfoobl!’ as a copious dribble came out of my mouth and onto my bib. Bib? Why on earth was I wearing a baby’s bib?
To the accompaniment of peals of laughter from Angela and Sue I moved my head and inspected my situation. What I saw took my breath away and I gave a tiny high pitched ‘Waaaaaaaaaaaagh!’ with gusto, and you couldn’t blame me. I was less than two feet long, and my short, pink dimpled arms stuck out from my small chubby little body, while my tiny fingers wiggled on my helpless and completely uncoordinated little hands. I tried to bring my widely spread chubby little legs together, but with a large terry towelling nappy pinned between them and a pair of plastic baby pants on top, that was simply impossible. A nappy? My journey of discovery was getting worse by the minute.
I suddenly began to recognise what I was wearing, and I didn’t like it one bit. Who would? On my feet was a pair of pink woollen booties, tied on securely with pink ribbon around the ankles. On top of my nappy and plastic pants I was wearing a pink baby dress. It had a peter pan collar, was buttoned up the back, and it had a sash belt to keep it tidy, tied in a bow at the back. It had short puffed sleeves, and was decorated across the front with a pretty smocking pattern across the front. A perfect little dress for a perfect little baby.
In my semi conscious state I still wasn’t completely aware of my predicament. What the hell was I doing wearing a baby dress? And how come it fitted me? Then the full horror of my situation began to sink in. Disbelievingly at first, I attempted to sit up, but after a couple of unsuccessful attempts I found that I simply didn’t have the co-ordination. It was almost as if I was extremely drunk, but my head was as clear as a bell. I tried to roll over on my side, but as I did so, Sue’s seemingly huge firm hands made me lie on my back again. I tried again, with the same result, and I soon realised that I was completely under her control.
The truth sank in and hit me like a hammer. I was Emily. Well, I wasn’t but I was. I was me, but I was trapped in her body, and the thought sent a chill through my mind. Knowing how babies aged six months are usually treated, I didn’t want to think about what might lie ahead, and I was in no position to do anything about it.
There must have been a look of comprehension in my eyes because suddenly Angela bent over me and said ‘Well well well, it seems that David’s taken up residence in a different body for a while. Well don’t worry my dear, Emily’s mind is safely asleep in the computer, and Sue and Alan have very kindly agreed to look after you just as you are.’ I put up my short little arms in protest as I yelled out ‘Plubbleumbllmpf!’ and more dribble fell onto my bib. I was crying with frustration by now, but Angie burst out laughing and said ‘Well David, I think you’ll have a bit of a job trying to tell anyone about us now, won’t you?’ and she chuckled before continuing in a more businesslike fashion.
‘Now then, I know you can understand everything we say, but Emily’s vocal chords haven’t fully developed yet, so you can’t speak properly, all you can do is babble like any other baby. Also, Dad’s made a few adjustments to your memory patterns so that when you try to speak, all that comes out is baby talk.’ She laughed and said ‘So you’re going to be stuck like that until we decide to put you back, and that won’t be until the project is complete, and I decide that you’ve learnt your lesson in humility. And that could well be up to a year.’
‘Now the lovely thing’ she continued, ‘Is that trapped as you are in Emily’s body, you will have to go through the normal lifestyle of a cute little six month old baby girl, and you don’t have the strength to stop Sue and Alan treating you as such. You’ll have to take your bottle, wet and do poo poos in your nappy, and in every respect put up with it until I decide you’ve suffered enough for your behaviour.’
‘And don’t worry about your own vacated body’ added her father, ‘We’re not going to put Emily’s mind into it, as for obvious reasons she couldn’t possibly handle the situation. We’ll look after it most carefully though. You’ll be drip fed directly into your stomach, and I can assure you that apart from a few weak muscles, you’ll find it in good condition if and when we allow you to reoccupy it. You seem to be pretty healthy, so I think we’ll soon restore you to full physical strength eventually. And with so little experience in her mind so far, Emily’s memory file will be easy to maintain in stasis almost indefinitely without any harmful effects, so she’ll be fine.’
Suddenly they started discussing the situation among themselves, and I began to realise how much babies are ignored as if they hardly exist when the adults have things to discuss. I just lay there helplessly on the couch while they talked, until they separated, and Sue said ‘OK then, I’ll just go and get Emily’s pram.’ Her pram? Oh boy, this was going to be humiliating. She went out of the room, and returned pushing the pram. She wheeled it alongside me, and Angela sat me up while Sue took a set of white leather baby reins out of the pram. Unable to resist, I had my arms thrust into the reins, and they were firmly buckled up behind me. It was becoming really embarrassing as I realised just how helpless I was.
Sue picked me up with ease, and laid me down on my back inside the pram. With a practised hand she took two leather straps fitted to the inside of the pram and clipped them onto my baby reins. She shortened them so that I was held securely down on the pram’s mattress, unable to sit up or even turn over. In frustration at this curb to my freedom I tried to undo the straps, but my tiny weak fingers were no match for the stiff buckles and clips, and I knew that I was imprisoned in the pram until such time as Sue chose to release me.
She arranged a small pillow under my head, and then took out a small soft bunny rug from under the pram, laid it over me and tucked it in around me. Suddenly I felt quite warm and comfortable, apart from the restriction of the pram’s baby harness. Satisfied that I was now well under control, the others busied themselves around the laboratory, leaving me to my own devices.
I lay there for about an hour trying to use my fingers, but soon found them to be totally inadequate enough to do anything useful, so eventually I simply shut my eyes and tried to sleep, as small babies do most of the time. Let’s face it, lying in a pram for hours on end with nothing else to do can be pretty boring, as I was about to find out. I dozed off, but was suddenly woken as the pram’s brake was released, and I was pushed up to the house and into the dining room. I could smell food cooking, and suddenly I felt hungry. Boy, was I in for a disappointment.
‘Right’ said Angela, ‘Sue, you’d better give Emily her feed first, and then we can have lunch.’
‘OK’ said Sue, ‘I’ll just use the kitchen for a minute.’
I lay there in the pram, unaware of the next approaching humiliation, but I didn’t have long to wait. Suddenly Sue came into the room with Angela. She had a tray in her hands, and set it down on the dining room table next to me. Then she leaned over me, and unclipping the pram restraining straps from my baby reins, she sat me up while Angela put some pillows around me to keep me upright. Sitting up, I looked across at the tea tray and saw a small bowl of infant cereal, a jar of apricot puree, and a baby bottle of milk. My heart sank as I realised that this was to be my meal.
Even in the form of a six month old baby, the expression on my face was correctly interpreted by my girlfriend, and she looked down at me and grinned. ‘That’s right David’ she chuckled, ‘This is the kind of food you’ll be eating from now on, so you’d better get used to it.’ She picked up a baby’s bib, and placing it on my chest, tied the fastening strings in a bow behind my neck. Now then’ she said, sitting down next to me and picking up the bowl of cereal, ‘Open wide, there’s a good girl.’ Horrified at the idea of being fed as a little baby, I indignantly tried to voice my protest, but predictably, the only sound that came out of my mouth was a high pitched ‘Blugmmpflmmmpf!’ They all fell about laughing, and Angela took the opportunity of quickly shoving the first spoonful of tasteless mush into my open mouth. Caught by surprise, I swallowed it, and wrinkled my tiny turned up nose with disgust. It wasn’t so much the taste as the lack of taste that was so awful, and the prospect of being fed the stuff regularly for the foreseeable future was something I didn’t want to dwell on.
Spoonful by spoonful, Angela made sure I ate every bit of the baby cereal except the generous amount that was left smeared around my face by my uncoordinated opening and closing mouth. At last she put the empty bowl down. ‘There’s a good girl Emily’ she smiled, ‘Now for your dessert.’ She removed the lid of the jar of apricot puree, and began to spoon it into my mouth. I was relieved to find that it actually didn’t taste too bad, and apart from the utter humiliation of being fed in such a manner, I didn’t find it too objectionable.
My dessert completed, Angela put the jar down and wiped my mouth with the corner of my bib. Then she untied the bib behind my neck and put it on the tray. Removing the pillows propping me up, she laid me down and reattached the pram restraining straps to my baby reins. Once more I was lying down helplessly immobilised. Leaving one small pillow under my head, Angela picked up the baby bottle, and grinning with obvious pleasure, she placed the teat against my closed lips and said ‘Come on Emily, take your bottle like a good little girl.’ Knowing that there was absolutely nothing I could do, and that this was the only way I was going to get anything to drink anyway, I meekly opened my mouth. Supporting the bottle, she pushed the teat in past my lips and almost toothless gums, and I began to suck obediently.
To an adult, a baby bottle or dummy teat doesn’t look very big, but they are specifically made to fill a baby’s mouth comfortably, and to me, the teat seemed to be enormous. I steadily sucked the warm sweet milk out of the bottle, and after what seemed an age, I finally drank the last drop. Satisfied, Angela drew the teat out of my mouth and put the bottle down. ‘There’s a good little girl’ she smiled, ‘Now here’s something to keep you quiet while we have our tea.’ She picked up a dummy from one corner of the pram, and pushed it into my mouth. I saw little point in spitting it out as a protest at such humiliation, and simply began to suck on it. Strangely enough, it soon began to come naturally, and I began to realise why dummies are also known as pacifiers.
Taking a pink soft woollen blanket from underneath the pram, Sue placed it over me and tucked it in around me. Then she raised the hood of the pram and said ‘Now you just lie there quietly while we have our tea. And no crying please. At least unlike the real Emily, we know you can understand everything we say, so I suggest that you do exactly as you’re told. I can think of some wonderful ways of punishing you if you don’t, so I really do suggest that you behave. Now you just lie there and keep quiet.’
She turned away to join the others, and I lay there gently sucking on my dummy and looking up at the white plastic lining of the pram hood. I sighed to myself as I realised where my derisive comments regarding Michael’s experiment had led me. I wondered how long they were going to keep me like this for, but in my present condition, I wasn’t even able to ask them. All I could do was helplessly await events.
CHAPTER 4
It was tantalising lying there in my pram watching the others a few feet away as they sat down to dinner, and the delicious smell of beef casserole assailed my nostrils. The wine flowed, and I squirmed in my pram harness with frustration as I realised I couldn’t join in the conversation, even though I understood ever word they said. From time to time they would glance in my direction and with broad grins on their faces talk to me in baby talk. I blushed with humiliation.
The dessert came next, followed by coffee and liqueurs, and all the time I had to just lie there, knowing that I was condemned to a diet of baby food for the immediate future. I groaned to myself at the prospect. No more steak. No more glasses of wine. No more chicken vindaloo. Just baby mush, fruit puree and bottles of milk sucked through a teat. And instead of sucking on sweets, I would have to be content with sucking on my dummy instead. Yuck. I was certainly paying for my scepticism with a vengeance.
At last they rose from the table, and Alan and Sue prepared to leave for home. They put on their coats, and Angela came over and looked down at me. She removed the navy blue waterproof pram apron from the shopping bag attached to the pram, and spread it over me. As she fastened it down with the securing clips around its edge, she chuckled as she said ‘Now you be a good little girl Emily. I don’t want to hear about any tantrums, and if you’re very good, we’ll eventually see about restoring you to the state in which you no doubt would prefer to be. Bye bye poppet.’ She leaned over me and kissed me on the forehead before straightening up and raising the flap of the pram apron. She secured it up by attaching the two elastic loops on the corners to the hinges half way up the side of the pram hood. Now I could hardly see out of the pram at all, as the apron flap covered the lower half of the pram hood opening. All I could do was look up at the white plastic interior of the hood.
They all said their goodbyes, and suddenly I felt the brake being released, and the pram being wheeled forward. Tears of frustration ran down my cheeks as I realised that I really was being taken home with Alan and Sue to live like a six month old baby girl for the foreseeable future. In a last gesture of protest I spat out my dummy and tried to yell at them to stop. But predictably, the only sound that left my lips was ‘Um um um um ub ub!’ and equally predictably, my protest was met by peals of laughter. I felt the pram being wheeled over the threshold of the front door and into the chill night air. Strangely enough, I did feel well protected as I lay under the warm baby blanket within the well sprung pram, with the hood and apron covering me completely.
We’d only been going for a few minutes, when I heard the tapping of drops of rain on the pram hood, and a moment later they stopped for a moment. Suddenly my small window of vision over the pram apron became blurred as a clear plastic rain cover was draped over the pram and fastened down in place. Then we continued on our way.
I don’t know how long it took Alan and Sue to reach home, but eventually I heard the sound of a gate opening, and we finally reached their front door. A moment later the pram was being pushed inside and the lights came on. The pram came to a halt, and a moment later, Sue removed the rain cover and apron, and lowered the hood. I could see that we were in the lounge. She looked down at me and smiled. ‘Here we are David, or should I say Emily, welcome to your new home. Now you can stay there for a minute while I go and run your bath.’ She went out of the room, and soon I could hear the sound of the bath water running. When it stopped, she came downstairs again and back into the room. She leaned over me and said ‘Let’s get you out of your pram shall we? It’s time you were in bed.’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
She unfastened the pram harness, and while Alan sat me up, she unbuckled the baby reins behind me, and pulled them off. ‘Up you come little girl’ she said and lifted me up out of the pram. Then she carried me in her arms upstairs and into the bathroom. She laid me down on the floor and undressed me, and then picked me up and laid me down in the warm water. She cradled my head as one does when babies can’t sit up properly, and began to lather me over with scented soap. Then she rinsed me down and lifted me out of the bath, where she dried me with a soft fluffy towel. Once I was dry, she lifted me up, and took me down the passage and into Emily’s nursery.
It was a nursery all right. And obviously for a little girl. The decor was in a delicate shade of pink, and a multitude of cuddly toys and dolls lay strewn around. The wallpaper was decorated with fairies and baby animals, and pictures in the same vein decorated the walls. Only the furniture was white. A wardrobe, a chest of draws, a high chair, and a barred wooden cot. It was obvious where I would be sleeping.
There was a neatly folded terry towelling nappy on the cot, and Sue laid me down on it face up. Then she sprinkled baby powder around my bottom and between my legs, and brought the corners of the nappy together in front of me and pinned them securely together with four large pink nappy pins. Next, she took a pair of pink plastic baby pants, and drew them up my legs and over my nappy, where she fastened the press studs at the crutch for easy nappy changing access, and tucked in the elastic around my waist and chubby little dimpled thighs.
My nightdress came next. It was almost like a day dress, and made of white cotton. The pattern was typical of a baby dress, with a peter pan collar, short puffed sleeves, button fastening down the back, and a belt that tied at the back. The front was decorated with pink smocking to give an extra sweet effect. With a practised hand, she pulled the dress over my head, pulled my arms through the sleeves, and laying me on my tummy she buttoned the dress up the back, and tied the sash belt in a bow behind me. Turning me face up again, she fastened a pair of white woollen fingerless mittens on my hands and tied them on with pink ribbons threaded round the wrists. Now my fingers really were useless. Finally, she placed a pair of white cotton ankle socks on my feet and turned them down neatly. For a moment she stood me up by supporting me under the armpits, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stand up by myself. As it hung down around me, I noticed that the dress was very short, and I was conscious of how conspicuously my nappy and plastic pants showed underneath.
Now it was time for me to be tucked in, and it was here that Sue showed some cunning. A white cotton sheet was laid out underneath me, and placing my arms straight down by my sides, she rolled me up in it and tucked it in underneath me. Then she took a second sheet and rolled me up in it on top of the other one. She pinned down the ends of the sheet with a few more nappy pins to prevent it from unravelling, and I suddenly realised that I’d been swaddled in the old fashioned way. By now, I might as well have been in a straight jacket. I couldn’t move. I lay there helplessly with my head propped up on the pillow, and Sue picked up a soft pink cot blanket and laid it over me before tucking it in securely under the mattress. I suddenly felt trapped as it held me down securely, and realised that I wasn’t going to be going anywhere in the night.
Sue looked down at me and smiled. ‘There we are, one sweet little baby all tucked in for the night. ‘How does it feel David, to be all wrapped up in your nappy for the night? I don’t have to do this with Emily of course, but I think it’s necessary in your case.’ Still forgetful of my condition, I tried to wriggle and shout in my frustration, but the only result was a slight squirming on my part and a ‘Blubble ubble oo bloo!’