Somewhere in the Caribbean, 1974
On a mysterious little island, a large series of hills rise up like tuna fins. They intersect lush valleys, rivers and beaches are almost never as perfect. It's a little island we like to call Bueno Perspectiva and it was opposite a speck of land called Proteus Cay. It doesn't exist on most maps. You have to know someone in order to be invited. You have to be in a very special crowd of privileged few who know that it is there, waiting with its fantastical secrets, the rest of the world unaware as to the very real secrets taking place there.
Ray Upton walked his new son up the steps of the fantastic new hotel The Vida Variado, or "Varied Life" which greeted its customers in colonial flare. Red brick walls and stark white doors, large and wooden. The floors were polished cedar and there was tasteful decor, rattan furniture combined with French cushions, large oil paintings of fruit tables and men garbed in the fanciest of outfits.
Ray had adopted the boy because he knew the family. He was a bachelor for life, telling everyone back home in the South that he was just unlucky in the ways of love. In reality, he was just gay as the dickens. No one back home had to know that, though. A gay man in the 70s had to be careful, though there were plenty of hidden places in the world if one looked, and one could have a very good time cavorting with other men and enjoying their bodies.
Ray was a tall strapping man of 6'4", with a cowboy hat topping his still virile frame, Ray Upton was a classic American example of studliness. Not overly muscled but tall and rugged looking, Ray had big flat ears under his cowboy hat. He had deep laugh lines in his golden leathery, tanned skin a result of some partial Portuguese heritage, and premature deeply etched lines along his face outlined his strong lantern jaw, his raven black hair itself had dulled a bit over the last decade, but his still dark trademark sideburns brought attention more to the lovely crinkles between his eyes. His smile was Chesherlike and quixotic. He often grinned at Gus, who didn't know why this new handsome stranger he'd just met was so happy to see him.
Gus had been alone for a few years following the death of his parents, which happened when he was five. Now that he was 8 years old, it seemed like relative after relative wanted to pawn him off. He spent six months at a time with various aunts and uncles before they all settled on Uncle Ray to come adopt him. Ray had volunteered to come home. He ran his own shipping company down on the Gulf. He made real good money shipping things all over the Caribbean and back again.
He told Gus he wanted to make sure he had a good time as they got to know each other. What he didn't tell him was that the magical properties of Proteus Cay, which was just adjacent to their vicinity as seen from Bueno Perspectiva, or "Good Outlook". It was a place that allowed the impossible to happen. The hotel was the only place on the island that could harness energies from both the cay and the island proper, and a special energy vortex could be channeled by people who understand the special energy, warping human matter briefly so that it takes on another form, much to the delight or horror of the guest in question.
Gus had only been with Ray a few months and he'd become quite attached to his new distant cousin who wasn't really an uncle. He was better than an uncle. He was the relative who had decided he was worth adopting! Gus was an adorably naive kid who believed people too easily, so he really wanted to believe that Ray meant what he said, that they would be father and son. He was already entranced by the idea of finally having a father. Finally! A big tall dad just for him and they were taking on the world together. They were going to have adventures! And they hadn't wasted any time. Ray took Gus to the zoo, to a movie theater, to a car rally race. They had been to museums and restaurants. They had gone on a whirlwind tour of several cities, and Ray made sure that Gus always had smart looking clothes. The 70s were a daring new era of fun just waiting to be had. Gus was amazed at everything. Ray was practically spoiling him. He had never gotten so much attention before in his life. He was so used to being overlooked.
After checking in, Ray and Gus found themselves in a room with light yellow painted walls with big comfortable beds, ample lighting, beautiful curtains and the hotel even had room service! They could order food whenever they wanted! Gus had never seen such luxury in all of his eight years.
"Can we go to the beach, Ray?"
"Course we can," Ray drawled in his rich Kentucky accent, in a voice deeper than a movie star's, Gus thought. "But uh, first I need to talk to you about something, son. Now I've told you that I don't necessarily want you to call me Dad or Daddy unless you really want to. Now, what would you say you feel about calling me Dad? Or do you prefer just good ol' Ray? Either way is fine, I'm just checking in with you on that one." The man's voice was hypnotically smooth.
"Well," Gus squeaked, running a hand through his somewhat floppy hair. "I guess it feels like you're an uncle or something. Maybe I can call you Uncle Ray?"
"Oh there's an idea. Uncle Ray. Any particular reason?" He fished.
"Well. All the dads I know, my friends' fathers, they're all real serious or very kind of...scary. They spank my friends when they act out of line. But you're not like that."
"No, I don't really believe in spanking others," Ray said coyly. They were sitting together as always, and Ray had tried to keep it feeling as casual as possible for a reason. "Truth be told, I have certain tendencies to my personality which I haven't shared with you. Um. You see, I uh...I"m not used to being a father. I always picture myself deep down as just a boy again. You see, when I was your age, my Daddy ran off. It shamed my whole side of the family. Lots of folks stopped talking to my mother after my dad abandoned us. It weren't very fun, I can tell you what. Hurt my feelings real bad. That's one of the reasons I took you in. Thought you were an orphan, and you could be a real strong fella someday," he said, as if he'd just said something with hidden meaning, grinning over it and repeating that line once more. "I thought, this young boy, he could be a real strong fella someday. I bet he'd make a great dad himself one day."
"ME? A Daddy?" Gus giggled. He was a very good looking kid. He was pale as milk but he had the same shape jaw as his relative, angular and destined to be strong. His hair was polished wood ebony brown. His smile was infectious, his personality quirks tended towards a confidence, outgoingness, friendliness and extroverted behavior convinced Ray every day that he'd made the right choice to adopt Gus. Kid was a natural winner.
He had waited his entire life to have the kind of fun he was about to have! Ray thought.
"Yeah. What would you say to that? If I said you were going to be a father."
"I'd say that's pretty amazing without a mom around," Gus joked.
"That is a fine point, my enterprising young lad. So you have given some thought to the future. Think you'll have a woman in your life one day, maybe you'll settle down, get married, have some kids of your own...and you get to say things like "Hey, I'm this boy's dad" or Hey, I'm Mr. Upton and this here's my son! It's fun."
Gus giggled again. "So you really like the idea of being my dad."
"Oh I do. I do. But uh...what I'm really saying is gosh, you know, I just miss bein' a little boy so bad. I just think you're so lucky that I came along, because now I can give you all the things I never had. And maybe you can uh...pay me back for that. You know, there is something you could do for me that would help me out a LOT."
"What is it? I would love to help!"
"Take over the family and be my dad."
Gus laughed. Ray didn't.
"This place is a little bit different. I can show you. Let's go down to the pool. The attendants can show us around. No, you see, Gus, I never had a daddy, not really. I really missed having a daddy after mine left. I always wanted to be a little boy again. So what I'm suggesting is that you can be the dad and give me orders and I'll follow em. Like a game."
"Sounds like a game most dads would NOT like to play with their sons!" Gus exclaimed.
"I know but...doesn't that sound fun? You could be in charge for once? In charge of me? Does that sound like it could be fun?"
"Sure? So, would you like to go down to the pool, Ray?"
"Can you...call me son and I can call you Dad? I think it would be a real fun rule to the game, where we pretend to be each other."
"Are you serious? This is SO COOL! Yeah! I wanna be the Dad!" Something in Gus had lit up, his eyes and face were really savoring the idea of power over his adopted father now.
As they walked down to the pool, Ray felt himself shaking a little bit. This was it. The Big Moment.
"Mr. Lawson and Mr. Upton, I presume." The attendant was a beautiful Hispanic woman with long shining vinyl hair, with a slightly warm face that spoke in a tone wise beyond her years.
"Gus Lawson and Ray Upton, yes. That's us," Ray said. "Now, we have to decide options."
"You mean, Mr. Lawson has options. You've signed your rights over to be his charge for the rest of your visit, Mr. Upton."
"Yes. Yes, ma'am."
"So wait, are you saying I like, get to be in charge? Really? Are you guys puttin' me on or somethin?"
"No, we are not, Mr. Lawson," The woman who introduced herself as Veronika urged him to sit down at a table with her as she got out some photo albums. "Some of our clients prefer to be older versions of themselves. You could try a different age. Or you could swap bodies with your new father altogether. You could also decide to become older and you could decide Ray's age as well."
"You can make people younger or older? I don't believe you. You're pullin' a fib on me. You gotta be. There's no way...is there?" He was suddenly a very shy boy, his heart beginning to race as he realized the adults were not laughing and they were wearing totally serious expressions. Gus noticed the photos in the album were all of older men and younger men but...the same men in different photos appeared to be different ages, wearing the same outfits. Some aged up ten or twenty years, some more than that. Some were youthened all the way to being little boys again. It was a hodgepodge.
"And now you must decide what kind of vacation you'd like here at Via Variado. Do you wish to be older? Younger? I can't imagine you want to be younger but it's up to you. You can only go as young as five years old, though."
"So you can change people's ages for real?"
"Yes. Tell me your plans and I will execute them for the rest of your stay here. You must decide for both you and Ray. You can place him in any of our loaner bodies as well. But all the loaners are a little bit pricier because they're so...muscular and in shape. You can make him younger or older up to age 70."
"Time for you to decide...Sir." Ray looked hopefully down at the boy.
"Okay. I know what I'm going to do. I've decided..."