Guest Post: Not As Planned (By Jona)

I had had enough of being bossed around! At seven years old, I was the youngest of the family and I had to listen to everybody else. My father was very strict with me, my mom was sweet, but overbearing and my two older brothers were always playing boss over me. I couldn't do this, because I was too young, I couldn't do that because I would hurt myself. I was always the first one to go to bed and I couldn't stay up late. Rules, rules, rules all the time. I just couldn't deal with it anymore.

That's why I bought a special amulet in this new store I noticed in the shopping centre. I managed to sneak away from my mom for ten minutes and went in. It was a higgledy-piggledy store with lots of weird stuff, some of which looked quite ancient. This old guy at the counter asked me if I was old enough to be unaccompanied. I said yes and told him I wished I could be older, so no one would treat me like a child anymore. The guy paused for a moment to reflect and stared at me in a curious way. He then gave me an amulet and he said it had the ability to swap ages with the first living being it touched after I had made the wish to swap. He said that might be a solution to my problem. I was very happy and thanked the man. He said it was his pleasure and that I didn't even have to pay him. It was a favour. I thanked the man again and ran out of the store to find mom. When I found her, she told me off for running off without telling her. I said I was sorry. It would be the last time she would be telling me off, I chuckled.

On the way back home, I thought of all the people I could be swapping ages with. Mom? One of my brothers? Dad? I settled on dad. It would be fun to be the dad of the family and to punish my dad, who would become my son. I could also be the boss of my two older brothers and ground them when they made a mistake. I grinned at all the possibilities there were to get back at my dad and brothers.

Back home, I went to my room and hatched a plan. Dad was in his office, so I would make the wish outside the door, go in and show him the amulet. When he would take it to have a look, we'd swap ages. It was the perfect plan.

I went to dad's office, made the wish and opened the door. Suddenly, I was run over by Max, the family dog. He was very happy to see me and jumped on me. He liked my face and I held him with both my hands, which meant I touched him with the amulet. The swap was immediate. Max became a puppy and I became 57, which was Max's age in human years. Reality also changed. I was my dad's uncle all of a sudden and Max was my dog. I lived just up the street from my nephew and was a frequent guest at their house. I often visited my nephew, his wife and their two sons and they loved having me around. The swap was not as planned, but somehow I was ok with it. I was still in good shape and there were lots of young guys looking for a hunky daddy to have fun with. And best of all: no one bossed me around anymore.