The following is a work a fiction. All items in the story, including but not limited to names and places bearing any resemblance to persons or events, real or fictional is purely coincidental, other than the mention of some states for the purposes of location, though if there is any resemblance to anything else real, I will be insanely jealous. This is also my first story, and if you like it, please let me know, and it will push me to write more faster.
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Prologue[/b]
It was a dark and stormy Thursday morning, but no one paid it much mind. It seemed like it was always raining in Transford, the smallest almost unknown town in northern Alabama, though it was closer to Tennessee than any other big or even mildly populated residence in Alabama. There were only about 300 adults and about 80 children living in Transford, making it a very small area. In fact, if you didn’t know where to go or just got distracted, you could walk right past it, and you may as well dump your car as you get close and hike the rest of the way on foot. This seclusion led to a townwide belief in Christianity, and a lot of available jobs needed just to keep the town stable, such as farmers, teachers, and firefighters. Also, some specialty jobs just for this town, such as town psychic, town singer, and town informant.
However, this Thursday in particular was different. The Head of Transford Construction, Carrie Gelant was in the hospital building with the only doctor in the town, Nicole Greathes who, despite the secluded town had enough medical know-how to rival most successful New York EMTs, and the town priest Harold Lepturn, who had a basin of Holy Water at the ready for baptism. Carrie was holding in her arms her newborn boy whom she looked at with an intense love, as any mother would. Carrie however, knew that she didn’t have much time, the birthing took too much out of her, and it would soon take her life as well. She looked at the baby one more time, her hazel eyes peering into his green ones, and whispered “My time has come. I name you Clyde Jered Gelant, and wish you the best.” She then leaned back, closed her eyes, smiled and exhaled her last. Both Harold and Nicole lowered their heads in respect of her meeting God, and took the child to be with his new guardians, the married sister of his mother, and her husband, Fiona and Adam Greendale, coteachers of 5th grade at Transford General Education, the only school in the town. The two new guardians of this boy looked at each other and agreed to raise him like their own.
Chapter 1
It was over forty-five years since Carrie had passed away. Clyde was sitting on the couch with his wife, Leslie, and their four kids. The oldest was Jack at age 14, then Hazel at age 9, and finally the youngest two, the twins, Luna and Leo, both 4 years old, Leo being older by 2 minutes. It was a school night, and the six of them were watching the season finale of their favorite show, “Trial by Comedy”, where contestants must complete hilarious challenges in order to win 1 million dollars.
As soon as the show was over, Clyde said “Alright, kids. Time for bed. You have school in the morning.” Luna, Leo and Hazel got up, but Jack stayed put. “Jack? Bedtime.” Jack shook his head.
“Dad. No offence but you have no idea how hard it is being a kid these days. You have it easy, with working for the government. You get to use robots all day and say what’s wrong with them! I bet if you were one of our ages, it would be much harder than your easy-going job!”
“Wanna bet?”
“Bet…?”
“The newest machinery I am testing lets you put your consciousness into an artificial body that matches how you were at a younger age, based on DNA, sort of like a mechanical fountain of youth. The boss told me I can tell you, it’s not that big of a secret. And to make it better, I will let you chose what age I become, either yours, Hazel’s, or the twins’.”
“Fine. If you can’t handle being the same age as one of us for a week, all four of us kids get to stay out of school for two weeks, and you have to become a baby for a week!”
“That’s fair, but if I can handle it, for a month, all four of you kids will come directly home from school, do your homework and your chores, which will triple in amount from before. Plus I can call your teachers and tell them to give you twice as much homework as before. Deal?”
“Deal!” The two of them shook on it, and the next day, the bet would begin.
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Once again, this story is my first, so take that into account if you leave a suggestion, but also take into account that I will make the age Jack becomes the same age most voted on by the people who reply to this story, and will begin production of the next chapter after a week of the first vote. If you didn’t get that, I can’t decide what age he should be, so I want you to pick.