The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook: A Leap Day Paradox

Chapter 3: A Sitter for Audrey

About a month passed. It was now April 1, 2008. Audrey was now two years old. For Audrey's second birthday, Stacy and David invited some of their friends. Mary, Stacy's older sister came over with her husband Richard and her daughter Katie, who is now 11.

When Katie first entered the door, she found Audrey sitting on the floor in the living room, sucking on her pacifier. "Hey, birthday girl! So Audrey, how old are you going to be today?"

Audrey smiled, and then looked the other way.

Katie looked at Audrey again. "How old are you going to be, huh?"

Audrey took out her pacifier and smiled. "I two years old!"

At that, Katie smiled and hugged Audrey.

Stacy was in the kitchen with David, Mary, Richard and a few close friends. She held Zachary and smiled. "Hey everyone." She smiled. "Watch this." She placed Zachary on his feet, a few feet away from her. "Hey Zacky! Come to mommy!"

Zachary smiled and cooed. Seeing Stacy encouraging him on in the distance, he wobbled forward. He made small, uneven steps. "Ma-ma!" Step after step, Zachary kept moving.

"Come on, Zack-man!" David shouted.

In the middle of his movement, Zachary stopped. Looking at the other people, he was in a room of strangers. The only ones he knew well were mommy and daddy. His feet were wobbling. Just as he made another step, he lost his balance and fell on the floor. He landed on his bottom. Everyone in the room said "aww".

David ran up to Zachary and helped him back on his feet. "Here, Zack-man. Try again. Go to mommy!"

Zachary looked at Stacy and smiled. He continued making small steps toward Stacy. He walked into Stacy, who caught him. Everyone cheered.

Stacy smiled. "Good job, Zacky!"

"Zachary did a nice job." Mary said, smiling. "I can remember when Katie learned to walk. She started to walk at 8 months! She's quite gifted! Now Stacy, how old is your Zachary again?"

Stacy looked at Zachary, who was now in her lap and smiled. She and David exchanged glances. They both smiled, well aware of Zachary's secret. She then looked back at Mary. "Our little Zachary is 12 months old." she said, hoping that Dr. Miller's version of the truth would satisfy her.

Richard, Mary's wife, frowned. "Impossible. You had Zachary four years ago. He should be four, but he's still an infant. How is he not aging?"

Stacy looked at Richard, her countenance unchanged. "My Zachary...." She then looked at David. "Our Zachary....is special. He does age, but very slowly. We don't know why, but that doesn't matter. Our Zachary uses his own special calendar, so he is not four. He is twelve months. Using our calendar would be unfair to him. Isn't that right, Zachary?"

Zachary looked up at Stacy, smiling and cooing.

Katie entered the room with Audrey. She was playing with her while the adults were talking. "Hey Audrey. Let's see what the adults are talking about."

When Stacy saw Audrey and Katie, she gasped. "Let's not forget Audrey, our birthday girl!"

Audrey walked up to Stacy, holding her pacifier. "Wha'cha doing, mommy?"

Stacy gave Zachary to David, and let Audrey sit on her lap. "We were just talking with your Aunt Mary and Uncle Richard. But now that you're here, we can begin having your party."

And the party began. Audrey got a lot of presents. Most of them were toys. One of them was a potty chair. Another gift was some underwear.

Stacy showed her the potty chair. "This chair is for big girls, and you will learn how to use this, starting tomorrow!"