Cross Contamination (Patreon)

Sometimes when you are out flying you might come across a group of boys or girls, rarely mixed, with very similar physique hanging around in the airport. Sometimes they have the same clothes on. Sometimes they have similar bags with them. The game is then for your, as a traveler, to try to figure out what sport they are competing in. Try without reading any of the print on T-shirts or jackets first.

I encountered this once I was flying from Amsterdam to US (no idea through with airport there) with a group of 18-something guys. What stood out to me was how dense they were, all of them. Thick necks, wide shoulders. So I of course picked a seat close to the group while waiting for boarding and managed to tease out that this was a returning youth-hockey team.

I don't think I've referenced hockey in a story before, but I liked the idea of cutting someone's height. Perhaps not that consequential in the story, but that also comes down to sequencing. At first I wanted the change to happen in the parking lot, so he would have to readjust the seat to drive home, but that didn't feel like the natural way. I guess he could have been knocked out, but I didn't want another wake-up-different story if I could avoid it.

I'm not sure I picked the right photo for the story. I probably would have liked someone a bit older and skipped the age regression part of the story. I had this photo as a possibility for a while

but he is way too obviously not a hockey player. Though hockey players are not necessarily far off, but not because they need it, but because they are vein as many other athletes. I guess it is somehow expected of you to look great if your job is to do sports.