Ring of Desire

Tension was brewing between Martin and his Uncle Jim. He was staying with him while the rest of his family went upstate to support his brother's debate team in the regionals. Martin had hoped he'd be alone for the week, but staying with his uncle was a nice alternative. They were kindred spirits, both enjoying the same music, the same movies, and the same baseball team. The only problem was that Martin's easygoing nature clashed with Jim's sternness. So when he switched off the TV, claiming the upcoming game would be on too late, Martin didn't take it well. As he stomped upstairs to his room. Jim called out, "Where are you going, little man?"

Martin huffed, "I'm gonna play Minecraft."

"At this hour?" Jim asked. "If you can't sleep, isn't there any homework you could do? Or maybe you could clean your room a little. Dirty clothes belong in the laundry, after all."

Martin ignored him and slammed his door. He didn't think he could last another day with his constant rules. So he reached into his bedside table, and pulled out a tacky looking ring, the kind you might get for 500 tickets as an arcade prize. Except, Martin had bought the ring from a thrift store for a dollar. It was no ordinary ring, it had strange powers. It could grant any desire of the person using it. From making the bed to changing the universe, there were no limits to what the ring could achieve. The powers would last until the day he discovered his ultimate desire. At that moment, the ring would vanish, sensing he would no longer have the need for it. It could take hours, or it could take years. He knew this, of course, because the ring told him when he first put it on.

He'd had the ring for a few months now, and Martin had used it to the fullest extent. From changing his grades to be automatic A's, and gifting himself knowledge of various life skills, to more absurd ventures like swimming in chocolate pudding, or gifting himself a jetpack that could fly among the clouds. He achieved his desires to make life easier. To be free to do what he wanted, when he wanted. Of course, Martin's desires didn't always go according to plan. He learned pretty quickly that the ring could misinterpret his wishes when his brothers wanted to play leap frog with him. He did manage to wrangle them up, and turn them back to normal, eventually. But from that day, he kept the ring by his bed until he wanted to make a wish.

Martin pondered what to do with the ring in hand. He had an idea in mind, but he was a little nervous about going ahead with it. What he wanted was to be the one in charge, the head of the house. Which required a seniority and maturity he didn't possess. Therefore, it seemed obvious that he should rewrite the family tree, making himself older and Jim younger. Then he would become the uncle, and the one in charge of all the rules.

Yet this would be the first time Martin used the ring to properly change himself. He'd made small alterations, like changing his hair color, or growing a couple inches taller. But never anything so drastic. He'd often thought of becoming an adult, what kid his age didn't? But he didn't have a plan for what came after, let alone the big change in reality that would occur. He couldn't commit to going through with it.

However, this was different. He had a specific wish in mind, which was more than any vague idea he'd had previously. He would get to be an adult, still be part of his family with a normal life, and Jim would replace him as the little kid of the family. Then, if he liked being an adult, he could always make further changes along the line. Martin sat down on his bed, and spoke his words carefully, "I want to be an uncle, with Jim as my nephew." With any luck, that would be enough.

The ring felt warm against his finger, and he waited with held breath. Without warning, he suddenly shot up in height, gaining a couple of feet in mere seconds. He jumped off his bed, almost falling over as his center of gravity had shifted, and stumbled towards his mirror. He was rapidly shifting through puberty, acne coming and going in a sickly wave. His beanpole body eventually filled out with lean muscle, as thousands of dark hairs marched their way across his arms and legs. It wasn't long before he was staring at a college aged man with a square jaw, and a short beard. Martin wasted no time tugging his shirt off, grinning with enthusiasm at his ever increasingly hairy, buff torso. Why hadn't he wished for this sooner? Yet underneath the excitement, there was another feeling. Of discomfort, and unbelonging. This is what he wanted, right?

But he was nowhere near finished with his journey through life. He continued to watch as he passed through his twenties, and then his thirties. By now, his dark hair was giving way to gray. His eating habits soon caught up with him as he gained a few pounds, and then some. And he wasn't too pleased as his shaggy hair started to recede, revealing more and more of his forehead in the process. It wasn't long until he reached his uncle's age. A beefy man in his early forties. Yet he still didn't feel right, like something was missing.

He could tell the magic wasn't finished just yet. His hair continued to fall out at an alarming rate, his wrinkles were deepening. In fact, he looked older than his uncle now. Martin felt a drop in his stomach, maybe he should have put more thought into his words. This had become one of those tricky wishes where his words were twisted a little. He was going to be an uncle alright, but he wasn't going to be young...  He continued to watch with trepidation and awe as he progressed through the decades. His bushy beard gradually lightened to a mix of white and gray hairs, while the wreath of hair that remained on his head followed suit. His body hair continued to thicken all over, coating him in a salt and pepper pelt from front to back. His muscles sagging, his gut growing, his skin turning leathery and craggy. Finally, the transformation subsided, and Martin was faced with an elderly man, a solid seventy years old.

Martin couldn't move for a minute, transfixed by his wrinkled reflection. Slowly, he dared himself to take a closer look, allowing his calloused fingers to grope and brush his aged body. As he stroked a hand through his graying chest hairs, he found himself breaking into a smile. It was unexpected, he was dreading where the wish would lead, up until it was fulfilled. He knew it wasn't a perfect situation, he was a senior citizen after all. But he didn't hate it. All of that hair, and beef, and rugged skin was actually cool. He looked a lot like his grandpa, a man he had always admired for his manly appearance and no-nonsense attitude. Except now, it was himself with the hairy body, and white beard. In fact, that peculiar 'not right' feeling had gone away. He felt at ease being old? That must be it. He liked being old!

Suddenly, the wave of new memories hit him. It was stronger than every other time, probably because it covered sixty years worth of new information. He'd lived a comfortable life as a child, before leaving school early in life, and spending nearly five decades as a laborer at the docks, eventually retiring five years prior. He was his former grandpa's older brother, and therefore the uncle to young Jim. Younger compared to the new him, at the very least.

Martin sat on his bed, and removed the ring from his finger, which had grown to fit his thicker digits. He felt conflicted. This life of his was practically perfect. He didn't have to work, he had a comfortable amount of money in the bank. He was the oldest in the family, the ultimate seniority, so everyone had to look up to him. He lived with Jim, they were like two peas in a pod after all, and he was the one in charge. To top it off, he just liked being physically older, having a big presence with thick hair on his chest, and none on his head. But was it really worth giving up his youth, and his chance at becoming that kind of man naturally? He held the ring up in front of him. Was he actually considering this? Staying an old man, even if just for a few days? It was an interesting conundrum. He did want to have a little fun in his new life, but could he really live the life of a man six decades older than he should be?

As Martin rolled the ring between his fingers, wondering what to do, the unthinkable happened. Without warning, the ring slipped from his grip. He watched as it bounced off the bed, and rolled across the floor. He got to his knees, wincing from the dull ache in his joints, as he bent down to try and stop it from slipping away. He was going to feel sore later on. He reached for the ring, accidentally knocking it further from his grasp. Martin watched with wide eyes as the ring spun wildly, straight into the air vent in the floor. His heart sank as he heard the sharp raps clattering deep into the metal chamber, falling further and further into the apartment complex. 

Martin stayed on all fours for a moment, feeling light-headed. Maybe he'd be able to find it. It could have fallen to the laundry room. Or maybe into another's person's apartment. But as he fell back onto his ass, he knew it was foolish. The decision to stay old was made for him. The ring was gone. He sighed, and cursed under his breath. "Fuck..."

As Martin began to comprehend what had happened, he heard a knock at the door. "Hey, gramps! You alright?" Jim opened the door and saw him on the floor. "Yeesh, how'd you end up down there?"

Martin sighed, and tried to pull himself up, only to wince as a bolt of lightning shot up his back. He fell back onto his ass, and grunted. "I dropped something on the floor, and now my damn lumbago's acting up." He rubbed at his lower back. It wasn't entirely untrue. He leaned against the side of the bed, and sighed. This was his life now. Stuck as a seventy-year-old retiree. He looked down at his body, his ancient, fat, hair covered body. The age spots on his wrinkled hands. He felt the thick beard on his face, the bald skin on his scalp and the wreath of white hairs around his head. The more he felt himself, the more calm he felt. In fact, he rather liked it. 

"You okay, old man?" Jim asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you bruise more than your back? You're doing an awful lot of rubbing..."

Martin chuckled, looked up, and grinned. "You know what? I'm more than OK. I'm absolutely peachy."

"Let me help you up then, big guy." Jim stuck out a hand, and Martin grabbed it, getting back up to his feet. "Maybe I should have left you down there," Jim muttered as he looked around the room. "Then you could clean up a little. I don't know how you could leave things in such a state."

"You just saw what happened when I tried to pick something up. I'm old, I can't bend down too much. You're the young one with the well-oiled joints."

"Okay, I'll do it this time, you lazy bum. But only if you get some brews out for us. The game's about to start." Jim whacked his uncle on the back, and Martin felt a sharp pain, and then nothing. He smirked, the man always knew the best spot to fix his dodgy back.

"Of course, kid." Martin left the room with a smile. He and his nephew were like kindred spirits, they got along incredibly well. So well, in fact, that they ended up living together. Jim needed somewhere to stay after coming out to his parents when he was fresh out of college, and Martin was in need of a roommate. Despite their initial differences in attitude, Jim was a clean freak while Martin was a laidback slob, they came to appreciate each other. After a while, they simply stuck together. It helped that they shared the same passions for good beer, good sports, and good men. Martin set the beers on the table, kicked his feet up, and switched the TV on.

The ring had tapped into Martin's subconscious, and this time, it knew that it had served its purpose. He no longer needed a magic ring when he had the life he always desired. It was time for it to help someone else. As Martin watched the pre-game commentary, the thoughts of his lost ring got ever fainter. By the time  Jim joined him on the sofa, he'd given into his new life with vigor. He was an old man, and he loved every moment of it.