The reporter took a deep breath as he mentally prepared for what might be the most critical newscast of his life.
“You’re on in a minute, Mr. Anderson.”
“Right,” Anderson responded.
“Five, four, three, two.”
“Hello.” Anderson greeted his audience. “I’m Jim Anderson, and this is the nightly news. We have some surprises from Danny Webber on sports, and Nancy Jones has some updates on the weather report.” Jim saw a network representative signaling him to hurry up.
“But first,” Jim told the camera. “Our top story; you’ve heard the rumors and may even know someone who’s been a victim or might even be one yourself, but now we have official confirmation from the CDC; E-Reverse.” An image appeared next to Jim on the screen; it pictured an overworked hospital with children wearing overly large clothes. “The virus causes a build of estrogen in the body, causing the victim to regress in age. We have Cynthia Gonzalez on the scene.”
At the local hospital, Cynthia Gonzalez was ready with her crew to report amid a gathering of panicked patients, many of whom were running around in overly large clothes demanding service. “Thanks, Jim.” Cynthia gestured toward the administration desk where a woman was waiting. “I’m here with Courtney Dante for her take on the situation.”
“Hello.” Courtney nervously greeted the camera.
“Ms. Dante, what can you tell us about this new disease.”
“Well, it all started with a bad outbreak of what we thought was the common cold, but when the people came back for check-ups, they were smaller. At first, we didn’t think much of it, but then people started coming back looking much younger, and now we have former adults running around in a panic; we’re urging everyone to proceed with caution.”
“Good advice,” Cynthia commented. “Now, we’re going to hear from victims who bravely agreed to be interviewed.”
Cynthia walked over to a little girl wearing a shirt like a comically overly-large dress and put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. “Please, tell us your story.”
“My name is Wendy Morris, and I’m a college student.” Wendy looked at her body which couldn’t have been more than five. “I know it doesn’t look it now.”
“Please.” Cynthia urged. “Don’t worry about how you look, and go on.”
“Anyway.” Wendy continued. “One day, I had a sore throat, and a few days later, none of my clothes fit. After a week, campus security tried to throw me off the grounds because they thought I was a teenager pulling a prank. Anyway, I’m doing this because I need to contact my family. After all, I got kicked out of college because of my age, and my boyfriend told me to leave after my childhood nocturnal enuresis came back.”
“That’s the scientific name for bedwetting,” Cynthia told the camera. Wendy buried her face in her hands and started to cry. “Umm…” Cynthia stammered. “Let’s talk to someone else.” Cynthia entered a hospital room where a little girl was wearing a hospital gown, picturing flowers. “Hello, care to tell us your story, mam?”
“I’m not a mam!” The little girl shouted. “My name is Kyle Rogers, and I don’t know why I even agreed to do this!”
“Umm…” Cynthia struggled.
“I was an advertising executive, and now my company won’t even talk to me!” Kyle complained.
“Sir, I mean, mam, I mean….” Cynthia stammered. “You need to calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Kyle demanded. “I had to come to the hospital wearing my daughter’s old tutu, and my wife called me Kelly yesterday.”
Kyle continued to rant, and Cynthia spoke to the camera, “Umm… Back to you, Jim!”
“Thank you, Cynthia.” Jim thanked back on screen. “The CDC is asking people to stay home if possible, wear masks, and use hand sanitizer. We’ll continue to report on this situation as it unfolds.”
Now, let’s pick our fist victim.
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