Jay thought it through before saying to his twin "Nah, we don't have the time. We're already running late as
it is, and now that gramps is teaching us how to run the shop, dad needs all the help he can get. Maybe we can
come back during our break or something if we really want to change things".
"Yeah, I guess you're right" Mark replied. "Let me just brush my teeth and we'll get going".
Jay was suspicious of Mark, but said with a bit of hesitation "OK, but if you're not in the car within 5
minutes, you're going to have to walk". Mark gave a short laugh, knowing that the last time Jay said that, he
went through with his word, and it'd taken him an hour to reach the shop on foot. But given how he'd noticed
small choices can have immediate consequences, maybe a long walk would keep the hereditary gut away for the
time being.
Of course, instead of brushing his teeth, which he'd done before breakfast as always, Mark once again started
up the Chronivac. He still felt like the time acceleration was too slow. He may have aged an extra 3 years
overnight, but it didn't feel like enough. Remembering where the temporal flow section was, he thought about
how to change it. At the moment, it said "1 DAY = 10 YEARS", or one year for every 2 hours 26 minutes. It was
about to turn 9 o' clock now, which meant he was now 25 years old. Thinking about it, he knew exactly what to
do. Adjusting the sliders, the display now read "1 HOUR = 1 YEAR". That would make him and his brother 40, his
dad 60, and his granddad 80 by the end of the day. It was an extreme change, but he was ready for it, and as
long as he remembered to stop it by the end of the day, he wouldn't have to worry about everyone getting too
old. He checked the advanced options again to make sure they'd stuck, then clicked enter. The now familiar
"INITIALISING RIPPLE EFFECT. PLEASE WAIT..." message appeared as he felt the wave of energy burst from the
device. Glancing out the window, he could see his brother was still there. A quick swish of mouthwash should
fool him.
Jay was still waiting for Mark to come out of the house, making note of when he got into the car. It didn't
take this long to brush your teeth, and 4 minutes into his countdown, he felt an all too familiar weird
feeling. He looked back to the house and saw his brother peek his head through the window in his dad's room.
The sneaky bastard! He knew he would do something, and he was right. But whatever he changed, he didn't seem
to notice anything different. His phone buzzed, signalling his 5 minute limit. He started up the car, just
about to turn out when Mark opened the front door, waving at him. Jay rolled down the window and shouted out
to him "Too late!" and drove off to the shop. It serves him right, ignoring his job to tamper with reality.
Just a bit of self-inflicted karma. Chuckling about his justice, he didn't notice his belly expand further
with a gurgle.
Mark swore to himself as his brother drove off without him. Now he'd have to walk again. It was bad enough the
first time. If he doesn't get lost like the first time he tried, he could be at the shop within the hour. He
felt a bit winded at first, he hadn't done this in a while now, but the further he walked, the better he got.
About halfway through, he started to jog. A new memory appeared in his head of always jogging to the shop
instead of getting a lift with his brother so he could keep trim. At least he now knew the route, having taken
it countless times now. The little curve on his stomach that appeared at breakfast was quickly disappearing,
being replaced by toned muscle. In fact, his whole body was getting more toned. He was the one who did most of
the heavy lifting in the shop, now having the body for it, somehow missing the fat storing genes the rest of
his family had. His clothes had changed from his bulky work clothes into running gear. He kept his jumpsuit at
the garage so he could change into it there. Sweat was dripping down his face and into his beard which had
grown more wild and bushy, now longer than the length of his dad's and granddad's facial hair combined. It
seemed to compensate for the hair that had disappeared from his head, which was now completely clean shaven
like Simon's, a sweatband wrapped around the dome to stop further sweat from soaking his face. Checking his
watch once he had the building in his sights, he had made it in half an hour, slower than normal but he did
start off walking at first. Mark stopped just outside, waiting to catch his breath before entering. Simon was
in the back, attending to a broken engine, while Bryan sat off to the side, coaching Jay on something he
couldn't hear. Jay's stomach had swollen a lot bigger, looking bigger in size than their dad now. Unlike Mark,
Jay hadn't shaved his head at all, seemingly proud of his hair loss because it showed just how manly he was,
or at least how high in testosterone he was compared to his peers. He kept it at a noticeable length, a 2 inch
wide strip of hair separated his hairline from the large bald spot at the back. There was no way of guessing
these two men were twins. Brothers definitely, but not twins. Mark greeted his family and went inside to
change.
Jay saw Mark enter the garage and say hello to everyone before heading out to the break room. How did he get
here so fast? He'd left him in the dust at home after he'd passed the 5 minute limit for a lift, and yet he'd
arrived, in gymwear no less. Wait, did he offer him a lift? Mark hadn't come to the garage by car in years,
preferring to jog the distance instead. Thinking about it, he did offer him a ride because they were running
late, but he refused it as usual. But something still felt wrong. Did Mark always have that huge beard and
shaved head combo? It was certainly different to his sculpted goatee and severe balding combo. It was like he
didn't want to look like his twin any more. He sighed and got back to following his grandfather's
instructions, the old man having retired, too tired to help about the store any more, and was passing on his
expert knowledge to his grandsons.
Mark entered the break room and stripped out of his gymwear and stood in his underwear. His body hair had
grown even thicker now, wrapping around his body like a shirt of its own. he scratched at it, letting the
sweat sticking to it cool him down. Digging through the wardrobes, he found his jumpsuit, the smallest size
there, and put it on. Looking in the mirror, he marvelled at his changes. That jog definitely helped him,
looking thinner than he had in years. If only he could convince the rest of them to join him, but they were
quite content being overweight. He was able to stand the friendly jabs at his body from them. He ran a hand
over his smooth head, no sign of any stubble at all. He remembered shaving it off one drunk night and thought
he looked better without hair than trying to clasp onto it. So to compensate for this change, he also stopped
trimming his beard, letting it grow longer to replace the hair he'd lost. He'd only recently noticed a few
grey hairs were creeping into his beard. He was definitely enjoying himself here. He looked up at the clock,
seeing that it now turned 10 o' clock. That meant he was now 26 years old. It was going to be a long day.