Jake walked down the street as fast as he could, but just before he reached the corner, he heard someone
yelling behind him. He turned around and saw a man equally as rotund as himself. It was his neighbour, Graham.
Shoot, he must of saw him leave the house! "Excuse me sir! Sorry to bother you, but why were you leaving my
neighbour's house? And without a shirt? I don't believe I've ever seen you around here before".
Jake told the man the same story he told Matt earlier, with a few differences given his new age. "Sorry, this
is my nephew's house. He's gone away for the weekend with his wife and asked if I could check up on his son
while they were away. I stayed the night and ended up getting my dinner over my clothes, which then shrunk in
the wash. I thought I saw a shop around the corner that I could get a new outfit from, given how my nephew's
clothes are a tad small".
Graham nodded his head and then said "There's only a clock shop around there. I could lend you some of my
clothing if you want. You look like you're around my size".
Jake considered the man's offer. he really did need new clothes, and it was colder outside than he expected.
But Matt was still in the house with the clock. He couldn't be out too long, but it should only take 5 minutes
at the most. "That would really help me, thanks!". He followed Graham back to his house.
Matt was watching the TV, hoping Jake would get back home soon. He was getting impatient. A look at the clock
showed it had only been around 5 minutes. He was now 20 years old, a fine beard grew on his face, but his body
hadn't changed much in size. Matt couldn't remember how old he was before he turned on the clock, but he kept
repeating his friend's age, 45, in his head so he'd know when to turn the clock off. It was effective for the
time being, but it was going slow. He had changed the flow of time to about a year every 3 minutes earlier.
Maybe he should speed it up. It's not like his friend was going to be that long at the shop. He adjusted the
clock again, now at its extreme of 1 year every minute again, and got back to watching TV.
Graham had gone upstairs to get some clothes while Jake sat in his living room. He'd never been in the man's
house. He'd barely even spoken to the man before now. His parents didn't like him, but he didn't know why. It
was clean, much cleaner than his own house, and littered with various fragile figurines. He was afraid of
touching anything, expecting them to shatter on impact. Graham came down with a plain shirt and a pair of
pants and watched as Jake took off his pants, before averting his eyes once he realised the man wasn't wearing
underwear. The clothes fit Jake perfectly and he thanked his host before leaving. But Graham stopped him.
"While you're here, wouldn't you like a drink or something to eat? I don't get many visitors, but I should
have something about".
Jake's stomach growled. He realised he hadn't eaten anything since this whole fiasco begun and his larger
belly was calling out for food. He did tell Matt he was going to be out a while. A few more minutes couldn't
hurt. "I guess I could stay for a bit, but I do have to get back to Ma-, uhm, Jake soon. I told him I'd only
be out for a few minutes.".
Matt felt like he needed to stretch while the commercials were on, he muscles aching slightly. He stood up to
stretch, then walked over to the mirror to examine his body. His beard had grown to a similar length as Jake's
with strands of grey hair breaking through on his chin. His body was starting to soften, his abs disappearing
behind a layer of fat. Hair thickly covered his chest and stomach, giving him a bearish look. More hair had
spread to his upper arms, giving them a patchy coating. He still looked like the 30 year old man he was back
when Jake had left, but he knew that was wrong. His memory kept on changing, but the clock couldn't take away
what he knew about it. He sat back on the sofa as his show came back on, still repeating 45 to himself, but he
was starting to forget why it was an important number. It had something to do with Jake, but he couldn't
remember what.
Graham had made some coffee and laid out a few cakes on a plate for them both. Graham told him a little about
his life, how he works for the nearby film studios, how he was planning a holiday to San Francisco, how he
rarely spoke to the family next door but how he knew he should probably question the strange topless man
leaving the house. Jake enjoyed the chat with the man, wondering why his parents never invited him round more.
Then Graham asked him about his life. He didn't know what to say, he couldn't tell him about the clock, but he
wasn't a very good liar. He was surprised he'd fooled anyone so far. He told the man what he remembered of his
grandfather's life, who he realised, with a drop in his stomach, was only 5 years older than he was now.
Graham listened to every word, thoroughly interested in his fake life. The talk was distracting Jake from his
original intentions.
Matt's show had finished and he considered whether to make something to eat. He picked up the clock and took
it into the kitchen with him and found a large bag of doughnuts, which he scoffed down in no time flat, crumbs
littering his beard. He rubbed his expanding belly with satisfaction, the hair covering it was starting to
turn grey. But that's what happens when you reach 40, as did the sudden weight gain and his quickly thinning
hair. Looking at his face in a nearby mirror, he thought that he could've looked worse for his age. He still
had some hair on his head unlike Jake, but it'll probably be gone by the time he was 50. At the moment, his
hairline was several inches higher and made an M-like shape with the middle at the tip of his forehead, a bald
spot expanding at the back. He wiped the crumbs out of his beard, which was now more grey than brown. Lines
were radiating from the corners of his eyes and mouth, giving his face a rugged demeanour. He thought about
turning the clock off now, but the number 45 kept coming to his head. Was he trying to reach that age? He
couldn't remember any more. He left the clock alone and went to explore the fridge for more food.
Jake and Graham were heavily invested in a conversation about a British sci-fi series when Jake happened to
notice the time on the clock behind Graham's head and realised he'd been there for over 20 minutes now. He
didn't want to end his conversation with Graham, but he also had to make sure Matt didn't end up senile. "Oh
geez, I'm really sorry but I have to get back to Jake to make sure he's OK. He might be worried since I said
I'd only be gone a few minutes".
Graham sighed and said "OK, but you're welcome to come by whenever you can. Where did you say you lived
again?"
"Uh, I'm on the other side of town. Takes about 30 minutes to get here, but yeah, I'll try and come by the
next time I'm in town".
Graham smiled and bid his new friend goodbye. Jake thought he was a nice man. If he could fix things, he could
occasionally use his clock to make himself older and continue their new friendship. But for now, he had to
find out if there was a way to reverse it in the first place. He reached the gate outside his house. He should
really check on Matt to make sure he hadn't gotten too old, given how long he was distracted. But his friend
was adjusting the clock when he left the room last. He be in his twenties for all he knew. He could still have
time to get to the clock shop and find a solution before getting back. What to do...