Steve wasn't just dissatisfied with his relationship to his stepson, he was dissatisfied with his life in general. He felt that he had completely failed as an adult in this modern age. Marrying an older woman with a kid had made him feel mature and responsible, but now he just felt like a dead-end doofus. He should be living out some of the best years of his life right now: he's still rather young, he's attractive enough that older and wiser women still want to be with him, and he's at the right level of maturity to be a father, or at least he should be. His dead wife certainly saw him that way when she was alive. And yet, all he has to look forward to is another blue-collar day of banging around on other people's cars and going back home to spat with his teenage son as a single parent, whom neither of them considers to be the boy's real father. And even though David is a decent enough kid and smart as a tack, it doesn't look like Steve is every going to get his chance to be a real father, a GOOD father that's actually appreciated, anytime soon. It's certainly too late to start over with a biological child of his own, if the responses to his personal ads are any indication.
And his total failure to setup the Chronivac on his own was absolutely the last straw. Steve is a mechanic, for crying out loud! His whole job is to know how things are put together and get them to work. But he married too soon, grew up too poor, and went to work to young to get a really good education, so his knowledge of anything other than cars is stuck back in the 20th Century. He hated being left behind in this modern age, and he hated feeling like he was nothing more than an inconvenience to David.
* I should be the one helping HIM, you know? Teaching him about the world, helping him get ready to be a young adult. But I can't even get him to talk to me for five minutes, and I can't even get my own mail without needing him to help me understand it! *
And it was with this grumbling thoughts on his mind that Steve managed--clumsily and slowly--to scroll through the massive quantity of different options and settings the Chronivac came preinstalled with. He found himself more and more impressed with everything the software claimed to be able to do. It could make him younger or older if he wanted, increase his intelligence, alter reality so he could have better opportunities or a more prestigious job. It could even turn David into a baby so that Steve really COULD sort of have a chance to start over. It could even make David into an adult with his own life and his own home, getting them both out of each other's hair and giving them both the independence they'd each craved for so long.
* Yeah, right, like I need 'independence' of any sort. I'd just mess it up again like I did before. Can't get through my own adulthood without being handheld by a teenager. Probably be better off as somebody's PET than their father. *
That last sarcastic thought actually gave Steve an idea. David LOVED dogs, but he'd never been allowed to have one in Steve's house. He still had pictures in his bedroom of Tom's old chocolate lab from back before the divorce. Steve used to tell David he wasn't responsible enough for a pet, but that was a lie. Steve just didn't like dogs very much, he thought the were annoying and unsanitary. But surely there was a world of difference between HAVING a dog and BEING one. Dogs don't have the kind of life they can really mess up by human standards, unless they attack somebody or something. And maybe Steve and David would get along better if David officially had control of him rather than the other way round.
* It's not like he NEEDS me for anything more than money to keep games in his room and food on our table. This thing can supposedly make him old enough to do that himself, or alter reality so he has a different father... *
Steve was starting to get disappointed at where his train of thought had led him. Seriously? Throwing away his humanity? Spend the rest of his life chasing squirrels, begging for treats and having his stepson take care of him? But maybe it WAS for the best. One thing he decided was that he was NOT going to change David, or anything else other than himself. With Steve out of the way, David would have the Chronivac to himself, so he could make whatever changes he wanted, without anymore meddling from his stepfather from now on. Steve clicked on the menus, focusing on his own change, setting his new species to canine, his breed to laborador retriever, and his fur color to brown. He'd be just like Tom and David's dog from years ago. The Chronivac had a setting to change him back automatically after whatever period of time Steve chose, but Steve chose to remain an animal indefinitely. This was his life from now on, unless David had a better idea. Steve grabbed a pen and wrote out a note:
----
David, I have a surprise for you. You're getting the dog I never let you have. I'm going to step into that role for you, for us. No, this isn't a prank! Check out the device you hooked up for me. It's yours now. It can make things happen. It can make me a dog and it can make you whatever you want to be. This house is yours, my business is yours, and the chocolate lab I'm becoming will be yours. Change your life and your body however you want. Just please don't change me back. I'm done being human. I'm barely in my 30s, and I already feel like I've got as much out of life as I'm ever going to. I know I was never the father you needed, but maybe I can be the friend you wanted. I do want to spend time with you even though it doesn't seem like it, and I really hope you feel the same way. Anyway, I'll probably need shots and a dog license, the Internet will tell you how to that. Enjoy your new freedom, David! Everything I have is yours.