"I want to play with you," Linda said softly, in that childish voice.
"Then say you don't want to play..." Stacy urged.
Linda looked at Mikey. "Don't like playing the mommy....then I have to tell everyone to eat their vegetables and clean up their toys...I have to be re-SPON-see-bull."
"But you are the mommy," Mikey protested. He looked into her eyes...and for a moment, he could almost see her remembering who she was. But then...
"I'm NOT the mommy!!" Linda said. "I'm not the mommy!!" Mikey could see her shrinking before his very eyes, growing less mature.
"Say you're the mommy right now," Mikey tried to order her.
"I'm not the mommy...I'm a big girl. I'm six years old," Linda said.
"You're not six years old....you're a grownup," Mikey said...not actually knowing how old his Mom really was. "You have three kids..."
She started spinning around in a circle, singing to herself. "Not gonna listen to you..Can't hear you..." She put her fingers in her ears. "La la la..."
"She wants to have fun with me...." Stacy said.
"I'm a little girl," Linda sung. "Don't know grownup stuff...like driving, and work, and babies....I'm a happy little girl....just a happy little girl...Get to play with my friends, and go to school...and run around..."
Linda got dizzy, and stopped spinning, giggling. She looked almost the same height as Stacy was... "I'm Linda Madison...and I'm six years old!" she said. Her cheeks puffed up, and her face started to take on an adorable child-like quality. She grinned, revealing a set of baby teeth had returned to her mouth.
Mikey looked down at Linda. There was no trace of a mature adult left. She looked happy...and so did Stacy, who started giggling with her.
