This choice: It's time to take Helen home • Go Back...Chapter #9Homeward bound by: shadow   “Go home?” Helen repeated, “but I’m still a toddler.”
“And by all accounts,” Mike explained, “that’s all you ever were. When you were found, everyone assumed that you were a lost child.”
“You’re lucky they found your ID and contacted us,” Amelia added, “or you might be going to foster care right now.”
“As far as anyone knows,” Mike continued, “you’re your own niece staying with us and ran away, and Helen is out on a trip for the newspaper.”
“That’s not true,” Helen pointed out.
“What did you want me to tell them?” Mike demanded, “that my wife turned into a little girl?”
“They’d ship dad off to the funny farm,” Amelia reasoned, “and if they didn’t, they would probably ship you off to some lab.”
“At least they would be trying to figure out what happened,” Helen defended.
“We had them take some blood and other samples while you were out,” Mike explained, “they’re going to test them for any abnormalities.”
“But there’s nothing we can do now,” Amelia reasoned, “so we may as well go home.”
“But,” Helen complained, “what will I wear?”
“The hospital said we can borrow the gown, but I’ll bring it back tomorrow,” Mike elaborated.
“So I have to go home in this?” Helen demanded as she looked at the childish hospital gown.
“Only until we get home,” Amelia promised.
“No,” Helen stubbornly replied.
“Then you can stay here,” Amelia offered, “with nothing to wear but that hospital gown while having strange people change you.” Helen considered her options before she reluctantly got out of bed, “good girl,” Amelia praised.
Amelia offered her hand to the regressed woman, but Helen swatted it away, “I walk.”
“Fine, Grumpy,” Amelia responded as she got to her feet, and Helen realized that she only came up to her daughter’s knee now.
The trio made their way down that hall, but Helen found that walking with her new body was different, like walking in deep mud. Helen tried her best to keep up as the elevator arrived, and the people aboard held the doors open for five minutes for Helen to catch up, but eventually, Mike told them to go on. Amelia went to her mother and picked her up, “put me down!” Helen demanded.
“We need to get home,” Amelia pointed out, “I’m sure that you’ll be faster once you get used to your new body.”
“I don’t want to get used to my new body,” Helen responded as the trio entered the elevator. A few people told Helen goodbye before the family went to the car, where Helen found another indignity waiting for her, “a car seat?”
“You’re too small now not to need one,” Mike explained, “if we get pulled over, we’ll get in trouble.”
“More importantly than that,” Amelia added as she strapped the struggling tot into the car seat, “it’s a safety hazard.”
Mike managed to talk Amelia into sitting up front with him, which Helen was glad for as she didn’t think she could take much more of her daughter’s cooing. Once the family got home….
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