"Hi, is this Eugene Smith?" asked the person on the other end of the phone. It sounded like an older man, the voice was slow and sounded somewhat distinguished.
Stuart was dumbfounded, he must've been given a number which used to belong to someone else. He was pissed off about this, and was about to explain into the phone about the situation, but when he went to speak words, what came out was "Yes it is, old chap!" in a voice which didn't even sound like his own. It sounded throaty and deep, yet it had a distinctive "old man" ring to it. While Stuart was shocked and dumbfounded by what had just happened, the man on the other line spoke.
"Ah, wonderful. This is Clarence, I was wondering if you'd enjoy a nice cup of coffee tonight with me at the local place?" he asked.
With his mouth running on automatic, Stuart replied "That sounds like it would be rather lovely, yes. I'll probably have to enjoy the decaffeinated variety tonight, I have to take good care of myself at my age, you know."
The man on the other end of the line found this funny, apparently, as he let loose a little chuckle, "Ah yes, I understand, being 65 and all. In any case, I look forward to seeing you tonight, enjoy your day and we'll meet at 6!"
"That sounds marvelous. I shall see you in the eve." replied Stuart. The line went dead. Stuart hung up on his end. He was absolutely terrified, and decided to run home, just to avoid his mouth betraying him again, not entirely sure of what to do. The walk to his apartment was short, only a couple blocks long.
When he got there, he went into the bathroom, and took a look at himself. He still looked the exact same as before, kind of plain, not bad looking, but he was definitely Stuart. As Stuart was checking himself out in the mirror, he stripped his clothes off just to check over his entire body. He stripped naked, and as he was removing his final articles of clothing, he looked back into the mirror, and everything was blurry.
"Oh, tarnation, I must have left my glasses by my bedside table again!" he exclaimed out loud, his voice the same as it was when he was on the phone. Wait, glasses? Stuart had 20/20 vision. But something was telling him that he'd always needed glasses his entire life, and his eyesight wasn't getting better with old age. Either way, he definitely needed them now. Naked, he exited the bathroom and walked carefully to his bed, and retrieved his glasses. He put them on and his sight improved dramatically, he was able to see now. When he put them on, he felt a cold shiver down his body. Stuart was feeling weak after the shiver left. His back had a dull ache and his knee was sore. He carefully walked to the bathroom as to not agitate the pain any further.
He returned to the bathroom and all that he could think of was alleviating the pain. He had plans tonight, didn't he? He couldn't go out feeling like this. Stuart opened up behind the mirror where the medicine cabinet was and pulled out a daily pill container, taking the one with the current day marked on it and ingesting the pills, swallowing them down with water. It felt new, yet familiar at the same time. He looked around, wondering what he was doing in the bathroom, naked. It didn't make any sense, he saw his clothes on the floor, and decided to get dressed.
First, Eustace put on his wool socks, followed by his white briefs. He pulled up his trousers to his natural waist, and then put on his white button up shirt, tucking it into the trousers. He then put on a blue wool sweater on top of his shirt, so he wouldn't get cold.
Eustace looked in the mirror. For 65, he didn't look terrible. Sure, he didn't have hair on his head, he was very wrinkly, and his moustache was white as snow, but he was alive, and mostly healthy as long as he took his pills. He still maintained a sharp, at least somewhat sharp, brain, and had somewhat of a social life. He looked down at his watch and checked the time, 5:30. It was time to meet Clarence at the coffee shop, it sure was nice of him to call the house phone earlier. Eustace didn't have a cell phone, he never would understand those "newfangled contraptions".