Based on what he knew of Mark, Ty actually felt quite badly for him. Dustin had explained once, bragging, that Mark had once been a locally famous rodeo star, who had traveled to circuits outside the city and earned some fame as one of the hottest young stars of his day. That was where he had met June, who had fallen head over heels for the city boy turned cowboy. It was quite a story, and Ty smiled slightly thinking of the old worn down man he was now looking at once being a devil-may-care young buck. Ty remembered it had all gone downhill. After Mark’s mother died of cancer shortly after he married June, his father had shot himself out of grief. Mark had suffered terribly, feeling he was to blame for never being close with his dad and was never quite the same. He gave up the rodeo and entered construction work; barely making ends meet as Dustin was born. He did eventually land a corporate apprenticeship from a friend of a friend, and then a lucrative sales job, only to have the company lay him off after 10 years of loyal service when they were bought out. It had been a hard life for Mark, and Ty came to realize once again why the old man was the way he was. Well, he could change that. He could make Mark happy and free again.
Ty whispered in his foster father’s ear, "Mark, could you get up and go sit on the couch?" Mark did exactly that. He dropped the paper and his pipe, and got up from the kitchen table. He walked over the long couch in the living room and sat down. Ty sat down beside him. "Okay, Mark, I want you to turn back to 20 years old. Slowly." Ty got up from the couch and sat at the other side of the room, watching Mark’s change with great interest. Slowly, steadily, the 45-year-old man began to change. The wrinkles and lines on his rough face began to soften, his sagging beer gut began to shrink away. His graying hair began to turn red. Wow! Mark was a redhead, Ty realized with a laugh. The changes continued onward, and Ty was amazed at the transformation. Getting younger, Mark became more handsome and healthy looking. His muscles grew strong and tight – his pecs stuck out from under his now loose shirt. Eventually he reached 20 years old, and Ty could easily understand how June could have fallen in love with such a rugged looking and handsome young man.
Ty was simply dumbstruck, it was amazing what the years could do to a person, and he secretly hoped he’d never age so badly himself. Hmm, Ty decided. He was going to have a little fun with this. What could he do to Mark that would make up for having had a rotten unfulfilling life? In the back of Ty’s mind, he gasped as the image of June slapping a saddle on Mark’s naked body and riding him like a horse came into his mind. Wow, that was… kinky. It did, however, give Ty a great solution! What better for a young cowboy than to become his beloved mount?
Ty sat back down beside Mark, who now looked like he was sleeping softly. He looked very silly in the eight size too big pants, and the sagging shirt. "Hey, Mark," Ty asked, "do you have a favorite animal?" Mark grumbled in a daze and nodded, "horse." Thought so, Ty grinned inwardly. "Any kind of horse in particular?" Ty asked. Mark seemed to laugh in his sleep. "Pinto!" he exclaimed. "Okay," Ty said, "Pinto it is. But first, um…" Ty looked around the room, "Given the space restrictions of the living room. Could you shrink to just one foot tall? We won’t have to worry about you breaking anything." Mark silently obeyed, for in a short matter of seconds he was already dwindling.
Ty had to admit it was a godlike feeling to have complete control over another living being, but it was also very satisfying. He felt pretty good about trying to change Mark for the better, and actually quite proud of himself for not doing something stupid like trying to get petty revenge. Even as Ty thought this, Mark shrank in size. His body shifted on the couch, and eventually his pants fell to the floor, no longer being held by anything. At just three feet, Mark could have wrapped his young tiny body twice over in his shirt. At two, his shoulders began to slip out of the neck collar as the shirt crumpled on his dwindling frame. Finally, at just one foot tall, Mark stopped. Perfect, Ty thought! Now he didn’t have to worry about the consequences of suddenly making a full-grown man into a full-grown horse in a cluttered living room.
"Okay!" Ty said to his tiny snoozing foster father, "Mark, you’re going to absolutely love what I’ve got in store for you. We’re going to transform you into a horse. Will you like that?" Mark stirred from his sleep suddenly, blinking and stretching as he yawned and woke up. "Huh?" he said, slightly confused, "What? Ty?!" Mark realized now that he was looking up at a giant, that in fact the whole world had grown impossibly large. "Oh, Jesus!" Mark screamed, and scurried to the arm of the couch, pressing his back against it in dread terror. Too dumbfounded to react or speak, Mark simply shook in shock. Ty spoke reassuringly, in a surprisingly gentle voice. "Mark, it’s okay. You’re in no harm, you can relax." As much a reaction to Ty’s calmness and to the command he was being given, he slowly calmed entirely down and regained his composure. "What the hell is this, Ty? What have you done?" Mark pointed an accusing finger at Ty, who laughed slightly at the tiny man trying to look authoritative. "Mark," Ty began, "will you listen for a minute? I’ll explain everything." There was a short silence. "O-Okay." Mark said, realizing he had no choice, and covering himself up with his huge T-shirt. God, Mark realized, he felt so energetic. Like a coiled spring ready to go.
Ty continued. "You and I have never gotten along, and I think it’s because you see me as more of an intruder to your family, but the thing is you decided to take me as your son, and then you refuse to treat me that way. Is that true?" Mark nodded sheepishly, and also felt remarkably guilty. It was true he had felt bad for Ty, without a family, and then scorned him as a weakling. Ty continued, patting Mark on the back, which made him feel more comfortable. "It’s also true that you’ve had a lot of things go badly for you. So, we’re going to fix that. As of right now you’ve been given your youth back." The realization hit Mark fully, holy shit! He was young again! An amazed and thankful grin crossed his face. "Ty, how did you do this?! A-And why shrink me?" Ty continued to explain his further plans for Mark, turning him into a horse, and not wanting to wreck the living room. Mark was enthused by the horse transformation, recalling how in his younger days he had wanted to run with wild horses, or travel in the country with a rider. He was genuinely amused Ty had thought ahead far enough to prevent the living room from being wrecked.
"So," Ty left the decision ultimately up to Mark himself, "Do you want me to transform you?"