Gus had become Ray and Ray had become Gus. They had switched bodies and taken on their new identities. After they had put on some simple linen robes, Veronika continued.
"We have some rules to go over now," she told them. "Now that you're the adult in the family, all decisions regarding your future transformations belongs to you," she told New Ray, who had been a child all his life until just a few moments ago.
"Wowzers! Even my voice! It's...it's that of a grown man!"
"And I'm a kid again! This is unbelievable. Thank you so much! You can truly be the dad now!" New Gus gushed. He had been a strapping giant of a man, a dead ringer for Clint Walker. It was 1974 and he was now just a little boy, and he could grow up all over again, just like he did in a previous decade. Only this time, it would be different.
"Let us go over the potential transformations that our island resort offers. I went over these with your former father and now I'll go over them with you," she told New Ray, who was admiring his long arms, and with typical gusto for a child who has entered into a grown man's body, he was gleefully exploring the thick stubble on his face with his hands, as if he couldn't believe that it was really growing on his face. Finally, he could grow facial hair if he wanted to! He could shave every morning, he bet. Bet it grows super fast. Just like all the movie stars!
"You're in for a treat...Dad." New Gus was exploring his own tiny arms and hands, and discovering he was much lighter. He pirouetted on his delicate feet and twirled around a few times. "I'm so limber now!"
"You can change yourself in any way that would not be seen as unusual. You can be older or younger. You can add muscle mass or fat. You can change your voice, your height, your hair, any bodily feature. Some people who come to us even swap bodies with a woman, but that has to be arranged in advance. That's different. A transformation with a woman cannot be undone for a solid five years. If you want to change back, you'd have to wait that long. For all male only body swaps, the typical time that you can go back is within a few weeks. You can go back to the mainland in your new adult form or you can switch back with your former guardian. It's all up to you now."
"Something tells me you don't want this just to be for a vacation, eh little fella?"
"Yes, but you would need an...upgrade," Veronika informed him. "You have the maturity of an adult now, but you do not possess the knowledge of one completely. For THAT process, you can't go back. We can give you all of your former guardian's adult knowledge regarding finance, employment, job skills, advanced or specialized mastery of a particular subject, mastery over the field you find yourself in. Right now you wouldn't be able to do your job as an importer/exporter business owner. But if you decide to take that knowledge, it's yours for life.
Right now, you have a more mature temperament and you will probably need some adjustment. You may still enjoy doing things a child enjoys doing or you may mature quickly. It's really different for everyone. Some new men develop more skills than others.
"I was reading my former guardian's book about the Civil War. I was reading at a much faster pace than I normally do," New Ray noted. He was getting a little excited about that newfound skill. It made him feel more confident. He liked that feeling.
"Again, the total maturity of an adult is not usually going to be yours until a few days pass. You may both feel mature or immature but within a few days the changes should settle in. The sex drive is usually not going to kick in for at least a day or two."
"A sex drive?"
"The human desire to have intercourse. You essentially wait until your penis is erect and then you use it to make love to, or in the colloquial English "fuck" your partner. For the men, they can be fucked in the ass. Women can be fucked in their vaginas. This will all seem perfectly natural to you within a few days. It will kick in and you'll feel...like a new man."
"Yes, I suppose I will be. Getting back to the job skills. The changes would be permanent if I learned how to work an adult job?"
"If you decide to go back in your original child form, you can, and go back to your regular lives...but if you take his job skills and you change your mind, which you can do, you can only switch bodies again in the future. If you choose that option, you'll still have all of the knowledge of a legal adult guardian and your guardian will have to manage through the rest of his life with the mind and experience of a child again. That path of taking job skills is a one way street."
"Got it. So in other words, I have to be really sure I want this before I become an adult full time. Well. Let's see how much we enjoy it, son!"
Father and son walked out of the resort. Ray made his son hold his hand. They wandered down a cobblestoned street and visited a park. They came to a beautiful fountain that was surrounded by statues of men and boys dressed in various outfits. Sometimes the men would be playing with children's toys while stern boys wore top hats and carried canes.
"This is great! I'm so big! I'm tall! This is like my dream come true! Woohoo!" New Ray danced around, his long muscular legs swinging wildly, a bit too much for a grown man. He found himself hysterically happy but then realized he had been skipping around the fountain and sing-songing about how happy he was.
I am a grown-up! I am a grown-up!
Look at me I'm so freaking tall now! Hey!
"I take it you're happy with this vacation so far," Gus looked up at him, overcome with happiness. Maybe Ray would choose to be his daddy forever and that would make him real happy. But if his new father decided they had to go back, he would abide by his wishes and go back to being a boring adult.
"I love being able to reach up and touch things I couldn't before!" Ray said, reaching up and touching a very tall tree branch. "I like being taller than other people. It feels real good!"
"What do you want to do now?"
"I guess I want to go get a nice big breakfast. I feel like I could eat a stack of those sausages they were grilling. Or fish! They have fish for breakfast here. How marvelous. And then maybe a relaxing time at the pool, with that lovely view. You can try to find some new little shrunken friends to play with when Daddy gets a massage, hmmm? Oh and there are playgrounds nearby built in the jungle with lots of rope swings and tree houses to climb! I can take you to make friends with other children and I can make friends with other dads. I can make ADULT friends! This is so cool. Other men are going to see me as one of them now! I'm a man now! I'm a GROWN UP!!!!"
"We know! Keep it down, buddy!" Ray looked to his side. Standing there was a balding, very muscled man with a receding island of black hair, and what looked like a mixture of Anglo and Italian genes. He had a New Jersey accent, and tough sandpaper black stubble. He stood tall at 6'1" but was still shorter than Ray.
"Oh. Sorry, mister. I uh...My voice is super loud now. I'm uh...still getting used to it."
"Well I know how you feel. Hey, I'm Vinnie. Put her there, pal." The two men shook hands. It was exciting, more than shaking a kid's hand, Ray noted. Adult men shake hands with a firm grip. The man continued. "I've been a grown up a whole three days now and I still scare myself when I talk sometimes. I sound like one of my teacher's back home now. I even started lecturing my boys. I lecture them on appropriate behavior now. I have four boys by the way. Brought all of them with me. One of them used to be my dad but I'm thinking of just keeping this body. I got this whole being the dad thing down pat."
"Did your other sons stay as children?" Gus asked.
"Two of my boys are grown men now. They chose to age up and one of them chose to be a seven year old. Don't be shy, son. Say hello."
"Hello, Sir," the 7 year old looked shy and waved.
"This is my son. This is Frankie. He used to be 18, wanted to be a little sprout again. I used to be Gino. I was 10. I was surprised my former dad chose me but it makes sense because I always want to be in charge of people who are older than me. All the time. Now I'm the boss, you know? Anyways, New Gino is ten. Sammy and Joey, they was 6 and 12 and now they're both grown men."
"I guess you're my first adult friend, who is an actual grown up! You even act like a grown up."
"Yeah, after a while you really just start to feel more at home being the big guy in the family, you know what I mean? Hey, look, why don't we hang out together. Have you guys eaten yet? Why don't we all go out together?"
"We would love that! Wouldn't we, son?" Ray smiled down on the little boy who now had to accept whatever Ray wanted to do. He felt flush with power.