Officer Stevens decided: You know Sarge was right, he needed to be in a boot camp at home. He needed the constant presence of military discipline, of having every second of his day planned out for him.
With that he grabbed the stone Sarge had given him in his pocket and got to work.
First, he made sure his son wouldn’t be able to move.
“ATTEN-HUT!” he yelled and his son jumped to attention. He would no longer be able to move a muscle.
Then he began to transform his son’s room. First his bed changed from a nice comfortable queen sized bet to an olive green military cot which was shoved against the side of the room.
All the trophies that Peter had gained over the years-vanished.
Any posters he had hanging on the walls-vanished.
Any furniture besides the cot- vanished.
A metal desk and a steel chair appeared in addition to a spartan looking wardrobe. The chair had no padding on it. Lastly, a plain mirror appeared that stood against the now olive green colored wall.
Then the room began to get smaller, much smaller in fact. Peter wouldn’t be needing the space, his father thought. The room decreased so that it was able to fit the current furniture but not much else. He didn’t want this to be a comfortable experience for his son. At least he was still giving him a place to sleep and a roof over his head.
His son looked on in horror, not fully comprehending what was happening, but unable to say anything.
Peter was able to catch his reflection in the corner of his eyes and noticed that he could see his clothes beginning to shift in the mirror.
He saw his T-shirt began to grow in length until it was long sleeved. It grew darker until it turned back. The material thickened and changed to that of a button down that was heavily starched and then buttons appeared at the wrists and at the center of the shirt where a collar formed. Then a black tie sprouted out of the collar where it began to tie itself tightly around Peter’s neck. It then smartly tucked itself through the mid buttons of the shirt and pulled itself tightly to not be wrinkled. Next his ripped jeans began to change from comfortable denim to a more scratchy wool, and the rips vanishing. They then changed to a gunmetal blue with a black stripe on the side. His tattered belt changed to a black leather and the buckle morphed into a brilliant polished brass clasp. Lastly, his white ankle socks started to grow in length and become thinner and a dark black. And his comfortable tennis shoes smoothed into leather and deepened in color until they became polished black dress shoes. Finally a grey military side cap appeared on his almost bare scalp, which he instinctually knew to take off, fold, and slide through his belt to only put on outside.
All Peter could do was look straight ahead with his arms glued to his side and the heels of his shoes glued together. His father then approached him with a calculating expression and slowly paced around him. “Hmmm…. No this won’t due. It is certainly a smart uniform, but it’s too easy to maintain and too comfortable. You need something more imposing, something you will need to work to maintain and that you will regret wearing every minute”
Peter wanted to argue that it was ridiculous and that it wasn’t’ comfortable to wear, but he was not permitted to speak while at attention.
Then Peter’s clothes began to change again. His pants changed shape and grew wide at the hips and tightened at the legs, like jodhpurs, but maintaining their color and stripe. Next his black shoes began to harden into a shinier and more uncomfortable leather and began to creep their way up his shins and to the bottom of his knees. The leather began to thicken and constrict until it squeezed his calves uncomfortably. Laces shifted to appear at the instep and on the sides at the top right under his knee, tying themselves so tightly to almost cut off his blood flow. They looked like a black version of the boots that Mounties wore only harder leather and heavier. Next, his tie pulled itself out from it’s position partially under the shirt and straightened itself out like a tie would normally be worn. Then a blazer appeared of the same gunmetal blue as the pants with left and right breast pocked that were buttoned. A metal nametag placed over the left breast pocket. On his shoulder, tabs appeared that would eventually mark his rank, which he had none of yet. A thick black belt then tightly bound the blazer at his abdomen. Lastly his flat cap morphed into a hard military cap like the one that goes with the army dress uniform.
It was like no other uniform that Peter had ever seen and it was very restrictive and uncomfortable. His feet already ached at their imprisonment in the boots and they felt much heavier than they should. The uniform was hot and restrictive.
Peters father gave it the once over and then nodded, with a slight gleam in his eyes. Then he turned back to his room where the closet was then populated it with identical versions of what he was wearing, including a spare pair of the dreaded boots. Another set of uniforms appeared, they were single color BDU’s that matched the gunmetal blue of his uniform perfectly and with those came with military boots—shiny and black.
“Now listen here cadet, you will always where this uniform unless I approve you to wear the PT uniform which are the BDUs you can see over there. Do not assume you will always get to wear that for PT, one of your punishments may be to do full PT in your current uniform. Just the same, you may receive a reward in which you will be able to wear the BDU for the day. Something to work hard for, Cadet.”
“Sir, yes, sir!” Cadet Stevens replied without any control over his actions.
“I expect that these uniforms will all be kept immaculate, especially those boots. They must be shined every day—both the dress boots and the pair for the BDU. If you have to wake up earlier to make sure it is done. There will be severe punishments if you do not pass muster at inspection. You will have precise schedule planned out for you every day. You will wake up by 0400 every day, including weekends and will be expected to do PT, take classes, do chores, and perform military drill every day to be in bed by 2200. In full uniform at all times, except right before bed where you will remove your uniform and sleep in underwear. You will notice I replaced your bed with a military cot, I think there is no need to waste anything as exotic as a comfortable bed on you.”
“You are already 16, so I think that by the time you are 21 you will be allowed to ease up on the regimented schedule a bit. But until then, it will be 5 full years where you will do exactly as I say when I say it and with military precision. Once you finish high school classes, we will enroll you on online college classes. When I am not here to tell you specifically what to do, I will write a list and you will perform all tasks to the letter. If you have extra time, you will then practice your military drill”
“Sir, yes, sir!” Peter yelled.
“At, ease,” his father said and he relaxed.
Before his father could continue, the doorbell suddenly rang. He was expecting anyone.
The officer then went to answer the door and opened to see, at his displeasure, one of his son’s former friends.
The youth didn’t quite see who it was as he was texting on his phone, and when he looked up to see the officer, he took a step back.
“Oh, Mr. Stevens, I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I’m sure you weren’t,” the officer replied.
“Is Pete home?” the youth asked.
The officer pondered how he should respond, “yes he is, no come inside,” he said beckoning the youth in.
He then shut the door behind the youth—wearing his typical studded jeans with a band T-shirt and ripped converse—and mulled over what he could do with the youth….