Mr. Roch was an old-fashioned man, a man from the old days. Stoic and serious, a macho from the old days who in his time was an ideal model of a man. He had behaviors that would now be considered sexist but not misogynistic, he respected women, he saw female jobs like nursing and others as more than dignified and he saw women who practiced their profession as more than women worthy of respect.
If anything characterized him it was that today's society disappointed him, he fought in wars and worked hard to educate his children and so on and yet the world was full of problems.
A few days ago Joseph Roch was looking for something in antique stores looking for things that might please his nephew who was coming to spend the holidays. The boy was... Honestly a disappointment in Joseph's standards, the boy was small and not at all athletic, which saddened Joseph who always wanted to play ball with him or teach him how to fish. The third generation boy was short, he used to wear big clothes and more than once when he came in he saw skirts in the boy's dirty clothes. At first the war veteran hoped that they were from the girls that he brought to his house but the threats of his grandson and his habits of taking care of his skin or the way he talked about his Asian band singers indicated to him that he was surely batting on the same side...
"Are these things like those from your days?"
The store clerk brought Joseph out of his thoughts with his words as he looked at all the things he had bought in a plastic bag.
"Sorry if I'm bothering you, I was just asking out of curiosity, you take a lot of antiques sir."
Joseph sighed.
"No, these are things for my grandson, he likes antiques and I want to be able to have something to talk about with him tonight."
The employee let out a slight, mischievous laugh.
"Trust in me, you're taking something that will make your visit very entertaining."
"Thank you very much, I hope so."
Joseph paid and went back home to prepare everything for his grandson. The older man prepared his house, put the blankets in the room where his grandson would sleep, prepared something to eat, etc. After everything was ready, the man had nothing to do and decided to look at the things he bought for his grandson.
An old ornament, some cufflinks for suit cuffs with lion prints, an old book...
"Why did I buy this...?"
Joseph wondered about an old book that he didn't really find interesting, out of curiosity the man opened it.
"This book has all the rules of the universe, the power to change it is in the hands of its user. The retroactivity of the changes as well as whether or not the world will be aware of the change will depend on the linguistic abilities of the user."
Joseph opened his eyes in surprise and then rolled them without enthusiasm.
"People don't know what to write on these things."
Joseph put the book on the table in his living room where he had several things for the arrival of his grandson, among those things was an agenda with a pen. Joseph's curiosity was a quality that people did not expect from him, thinking about changing the world (Obviously for him it was a game or a children's joke) an idea crossed his mind.
"Let's see if I can change something about age..."
The already elderly veteran with more than 60 years had not been preserved badly but it was definitely noticeable that his golden years had already passed a long time ago.
"It would be great if things like vision weren't lost with age..."
Joseph opened the book and to his surprise, just after turning the first page, a series of articles about age and old age were revealed.
"What a coincidence..."
"Physical changes in old age.
Decreased muscle strength and bone density, loss of skin elasticity, appearance of wrinkles, deafness and vision problems."
Thinking that this book wouldn't interest his grandson, Joseph decided to have some fun with the book just to pass the time while the college boy arrived.
"Physical changes in old age.
Increased muscle strength and bone density, old age males are especially capable of turning the smallest wimp into a strong man, this increases with men who are already strong, problems such as deafness and vision problems decrease with age to the point that people with glasses for example reaching the old age people can stop using glasses because their vision improves."
Joseph laughed with some sadness, deep down he wished those bullshit were real, after finishing writing that he left the book on the table and got up to get some water until...
"THE HECK?!"
The veteran's scream came out as he felt a muscle pain run through his body, it was a tingling that ran through every fiber of his body and for something less than a minute that however felt like an hour left him standing still while he breathed with difficulty, after that minute he began to see blurry.
"... But what... in the name of...?"
Joseph took off his glasses and tried to clear his vision but... Strangely his vision began to adjust to not wearing glasses. Something impossible, he had needed them for years... However now he could see things clearly.
"This is... I think it reminds me of a movie I saw with Jason..."
The old man took his glasses and went to the table where the book was and left his glasses beside it.
"It can't be...?"
After taking the book again he wondered if he should make one more change... That wouldn't kill him... Or would it?
"What change? Something immediate... Maybe my hair color?"
Joseph ruffled his gray hair where only a few strands were still the black of his youth, the man opened the book and almost had a heart attack when he saw how the pages of the book now changed their letters and showed information about him...
"What in the name of heavens?!"
Data about him, his body, family, history, everything there... A fearful Joseph read more and more about himself in the book until he looked up at the table and saw the pencil again. Taking it with some fear the man decided to make a quick change, noticeable but not breaking the laws of physics or biology... Yet.
"Joseph Roch...
... Hair color: Mostly gray, black streaks..."
The war veteran decided to make the change.
"Joseph Roch...
... Hair color: Brown"
The man left the book on the table and ran to a mirror that when he found it held in front of himself and...
"Jesus Christ!!!"
His gray hair was now completely dyed a bright brown color which was certainly something this one did not have and was not possible unless this book was...
"Is this thing... Real?! Then I could..."