Because of the events taking place in the bathroom, he could not hear when his father had arrived home. As Simon stood under the water, his father waked in the house. Placing his wallet and keys in a dish so they would not get lost, Simon’s father heard the water running and then shut off. Confused because he knew that his son would be at school at this time, he walked up the stairs and over to the door to Simon’s room.
Simon’s father was a large man. Standing at six feet and three inches, people were always surprised by Simon’s small stature. A very hairy man, he was everything that Simon had not once been.
Knocking, Simon’s father heard a deep voice quietly exclaim an expletive and then heard, “Just a minute Dad.”
Hearing the deep voice coming from the other side of the door, Simon’s father grew concerned. “Simon, are you feeling alright? You don’t sound like yourself.”
“Uh, Dad. I’m do not look exactly the same as I did this morning. I kind of had a run in with the football team.”
“What! Do you get beat up again?”
“No, but they did kind of mess with me.”
Having heard enough and unwilling to wait for his son to open the door, Simon’s father turned the knob and pushed in saying, “What have I told –“ At the sight of his son, the words died in his throat.
At first he thought that a stranger was standing naked in his son’s bedroom with only a towel inadequately covering the young man’s form, but up into the young man’s face, Simon’s father saw an appearance very similar to Simon. However, looking into the eyes of the stranger before him made Simon’s father realized that this was his son. They were the same eyes that his son had had his whole life.
“Well it’s about damn time!” Simon’s father exclaimed crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe.
Of all the responses Simon might have predicted coming from his father, this one would have never even existed. Simon knew that his father would have preferred to have a son that was not small and geeky, but he never thought that those words would be uttered.
“What do you fuckin’ mean, Dad?” Simon boomed in his deep voice.
Taken aback by the deep and commanding voice his son now had, Simon’s father had to take a moment before he was able to reply. “Don’t take that tone with me, young man.” Simon’s father shot back while still leaning against the wall. He knew that with Simon’s new height, to try and get up in Simon’s face would not be effective.
Simon hung his head. He knew that it was everything that had happened to his body that day, but he could not believe his father would have set up this nightmare. Seeing the aftermath of raising his voice at his son, Simon’s father said in a more subdued tone, “Did you know Simon, I was even smaller then you use to be when I was your age.”
Looking over at his father leaning against the doorframe. Simon had difficulty believing the words he was hearing. To Simon, the man across the room had always been a big, muscular and hairy specimen of what all men wanted to be. Having played football in college and knowing that, even past his prime, his father was heavily muscled and lacking much body fat, Simon could not even picture his father being small or weak or even without the massive amounts of body hair.