Guest Post: Lovely Day At The Beach (By Jona)

"Dylan – I mean Dad – are you smoking a cigar?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, so what? Can't daddy have a bit of relaxation at the beach?"

"I didn't say you could smoke cigars, Dylan," Mark whispered reproachfully.

"Listen, kid, you have to stop calling me Dylan. That's your name. You'll address me as Daddy, ok?" Dylan said.

"Ok," Mark said with a sigh.

"Ok, who?"

"Ok, DAD" said Mark with ironic insistence.

"Listen," Dylan said while pulling his former body closer to him, "this is your choice. You wanted to be a nine-year-old boy and have a carefree day at the beach, just like when you were young. You wanted to play in the sea with my friends and have fun building sandcastles. You thought I was just going to sit here watching you have fun? Now I'm 39, I want to enjoy the perks of being an adult. That means smoking a cigar and flirting with the cute boys on the beach."

"What!?" Mark exclaimed. "Flirting with boys? That's it, mister. We're done with this. We're going home right now and we're going to change back. If I had known you'd be such a brat in my body, I wouldn't have made the swap in the first place."

"I'm not going anywhere," Dylan said defiantly. "Besides, you don't call the shots anymore. I'm the dad now and I will decide when we go home. Honestly, I'm not sure I want to change back actually."

"How dare you, boy? Once I get the amulet and change us back, I'm going to tan your hide." Mark threatened.

"Listen here, son," Dylan said in a stern voice, "don't ever speak to me like that again. I'm your DAD and you should show me some respect. YOU wanted to come to the beach and YOU wanted to have fun. I'm not going back to how it was. I like being an adult. Besides, you forget who has the amulet now we're in each other's bodies."

Mark suddenly realized what his son said was true. He had put the amulet in the safe of his home office. Luckily only he knew the code to open it. It was … Damn, what was it? Oh no, he had forgotten! Mark tried to remember the combination but he just couldn't.

"You can't remember the combination, can you?" Dylan said triumphantly. "No worries, boy, I know it."

Mark felt defeated. He realized that instant that he was stuck being a nine-year-old.

"Now, let daddy have some peace and quiet, so he can talk with the other adults here. Go and play with your friends, SON. Look, they're already wondering why it's taking so long for you to join them again. Have some fun, sport." Dylan ruffled his new son's hair, who was a bit down in the mouth.

"Ok, dad." the new Dylan said, after which he ran to his new friends with tears in his eyes.