“He will, once he gets through his first 29 years. Don’t forget you’ve had all those in the previous timeline,” said Trudi.

“But now I’m going to lose it all at five years old in this one,” said Daniel.

“That you are,” said Trudi, standing up and carrying him inside.

Soon she was seated at the dining table.

“I wish I’d never written you that poem about being this age again! I wish you’d never even come to the poetry slam at all!” he shouted.

“No you don’t,” she said, “You’re just saying those things because you’re unhappy about the way it’s turned out. Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon enough, but not too soon for me to savour it. I did promise you some interaction with my tongue, and now you’ll have quite an experience of that.”

She lifted him to her mouth, put out her tongue and licked him affectionately.

“There now isn’t that nice,” she said.

“I’m not really a kid any more, you know,” said Daniel.

“I was just trying to be friendly,” said Trudi, “I also don’t know if you’d have tasted this good at 29. I’m glad we came back.”

“It’s been more like a backstabbing than a backjaunt!” said Daniel.

“You still haven’t even thanked me for the licks,” said Trudi, “You kept telling me how much you couldn’t wait for that on your cheeks alone. You’ve had them all over your upper body instead.”

“Well it was admittedly terrific,” said Daniel.

“There’s my little poet back again. I think I’ll give you a quick send off, before you go back to being rude,” said Trudi.

She opened her mouth wide, placed him into it, onto her tongue, and gulped him down rapidly.

Then she time travelled back to the point where she’d caught him in the garden, and stood up again.

“It’s all done,” she said, “You were very tasty too ... You don’t understand, do you. I didn’t want you to, the first time. I’ve started another timeline. In the last one, I took you inside and ate you. Then I time travelled back to this point when I’d just caught you.”

“You could have told me you were going to time travel back after you’d done it,” said Daniel.

“You’ll know in future. I just wanted to see your reactions when you thought it wasn’t going to be reversed. From your perspective, as far as you know, you’ve never been eaten,” said Trudi.

“Well thanks, I guess. I’m sorry I got so hot under the collar. Being stuck at this size is a lot to take in,” said Daniel.

She gave him a friendly smile, carried him inside and put him on the kitchen bench.

“Now for this timeline, what shall we BOTH have for lunch?” she said.

“I ... um ... I’m thinking about after lunch actually,” he said, “If I haven’t blown it by all those things I yelled at you.”

“You haven’t, so don’t worry. I can understand that you’re frustrated. What’s on your mind?” asked Trudi.