Phone Upgrades (TG/AR)

    Gilbert mumbled in frustration as his phone returned him back to the main menu once again. The elderly man was tired of trying to contact his grand-kids through this confusing piece of technology. His son had recommended him trying to learn how to use this stupid thing and even had bought him an old flip phone to help him ease into the idea.

    “I should just let Lauren do all of those foolish ‘texting’ nonsense,” Gilbert grumbled.

    Unlike her husband, Lauren had embraced the new technology and had become an expert. Young kids were always shocked when she pulled out her smartphone in public and started flipping through apps and searching for information. None of this skill or enthusiasm for cell phones had rubbed off on Gilbert though.

    The seventy year old man placed his phone down and made his way over to the dining room table. Like everything else in the house, it was old, way past its prime. Its wood finish was faded and it sat awkwardly off balance due to an accident long ago compromising one of its leg. This wasn’t an usual sight in Gilbert's house though, almost everything had been worn or damaged somehow.

    The retired man sat down in front of a laptop that his wife had kept open for him to easily search for information on something called “Google”. He wanted to see if there was anything out there about making it easier to use these darn cell phones. To his delight, one of the results was titled, “Cell Phone Downloads For Phone Troubled Elderly...” He gingerly moved the mouse over and clicked on the result.

    There was a short list of instructions to connect Gilbert’s phone with the computer. After a while, Gilbert had surprised himself with succeeding with an actual technological task. Maybe he didn’t need whatever this website was offering anyhow...He shrugged that thought off and moved his mouse over the “Download” button and clicked.

    His hand flinched back as if it had been shocked. His phone’s screen blasted light into the room. After his eyes recovered from the sudden increase of light, Gilbert noticed that a progress bar appeared on both his phone’s and the laptop’s screen.

    “Downloading: 0%”

    Seeing that this might take a while, the elderly man decided that it was as good as time as ever to starting making himself a meal. He arose, not noticing that the table was now lacking its normal leaning, and made his way to the kitchen. He reached the refrigerator and paused. Had it always had double doors? He could have sworn that it had only had one.

    Gilbert scratch his scalp in confusion as strands of hair began to grow from his bald spots. No, that wasn’t right. He had always had a double door refrigerator. His young grand kids allowed loved playing with the water dispenser on the outside. And the ice crusher especially.

    Speaking of drinks, Gilbert decided that a nice cup of tea would do nicely. He got a cup, filled it with water from the fridge, and put the cup into the microwave. He somehow missed the fact that the microwave had become brand new, replacing the ten-year old one that Gilbert had before.

    “I hope this phone upgrade goes without a problem,” he stated, heading back to his laptop as his posture improved, destroying his hunchback and narrowing his shoulders. “I’ve had enough problems with technology at work. I don’t need any more at home.”

    Wrinkles started to fade away from his face and his skin lightened up youthfully. For the first time in years, Gilbert had a full head of hair, with it flowing down behind his ears and across his forehead. It’s color was darkening from a snowy white to a chocolate brown, similar to what he looked like in his youth. He wasn’t the only thing that was looking youthful. The house itself was updating itself with newer models of appliances and with newer designers of both furniture and flooring. Years seemed to be slipping away from both the man and the house.

    “Downloading: 30%”

    Gilbert groaned once again as he saw that the download for his slide phone was not even a third done. He flicked the keyboard out subconsciously in his softening hands as he waited for the percent to go up again. He reminded himself that he really should get his son a thank you gift for the phone. It could also double as a late wedding gift. He couldn’t believe his son had gotten married just a month ago.

    The last of the wrinkles vanished from Gilbert’s pondering face. His furrowed eyebrows thinned into a more effeminate form, while his cheekbones became more prominent. His nose shrunk slightly, while his lips filled in a bit more. He idly pushed a few loose strands of hair out of his field of view as his hair grew thicker and longer.

    Did he just think that his son had gotten married? His son wasn’t even old enough to move out of his house yet! How on earth would his son be getting married? What silly thought.

    *ding*

    Gilbert had completely forgotten about the drink he had prepared himself earlier. He went over to his brand new coffee maker and poured himself a cup. He took a deep sniff of the coffee’s wondrous aroma and exhaled. Nothing was better than the smell of freshly-brewed coffee. He waited for it to cool before drinking a large sip.

    All over Gilbert’s body, hair began to remove itself from the outside of his skin. The potbelly he had grown from years of inactivity slowly began to recede, moving the fat to other places of the body. His body in general, however, was slimming and shrinking, as he unknowingly lost a few inches in height.  

    He once again returned to his computer, with more sashay in his walk than before, to see how far the downloading progress had gone.

    “Downloading: 60%”

    Gilbert released a groan that was closer to the sound of a soprano than it was a bass. All he wanted to do was download a new update for the smartphone that his wife...no, girlfriend had given him for an anniversary gift. He couldn’t believe that it had already been two years since they started dating. Their relationship had definitely picked up since they had been able to rent this house together. A lot of alone time.

    The length of his torso decreased dramatically, while the length of his legs increased a bit to compensate for some of the height loss. His thighs and hips expanded, while his waist shrank to help illuminate his curves. His butt, joining the curves bandwagon, began to expand, using some of the fat that was being drained from his tight stomach.

    “No...no I’m not here alone,” Gilbert corrected himself. “Lauren has a roommate here to help pay the rent. It’s the...three of us here, her, me and my girlfriend.”

    Luscious dark brown curls of hair began to tumble down unto his narrow shoulders. His eyes increased in size as his eyelashes thickened. His lips expanded as he teethed whited. His face lost its hard edges and softened, becoming silk-like smooth. Any remembrance of facial hair had long been destroyed. All that remained was the cute face of a young woman barely in her twenties, maybe not even.

    “No, no, that’s still not right…there’s only two of us...”

    His clothes, which had been hanging awkwardly off him for sometime now, shrank to fit his new dimensions. His old dress shirt lost its sleeves, leaving behind spaghetti straps. The buttons disappeared and the neckline dipped down. A new piece of fabric began to form underneath this new tank top, leaving itself empty for now. His pants changed into a denim material and compressed to fit snug on his legs. They began to slowly ride up his legs, revealing hairless skin underneath. They eventually stopped short of his perky butt, becoming jean shorts that framed his butt nicely.

    “Lauren’s not my girlfriend...she’s...she’s my roommate. There is no boyfriend.”

    Two small tents began to form at the top of his tank top. The expansion increased rapidly, as two round, jaunty pieces of flesh bloomed in his chest. He gave a high pitched gasp as one of his dainty hands reached for his groin, discovering that he was now rather a she. The house itself mirrored this revelation, losing some rooms and becoming a small apartment that two women could afford to rent.

    “Download: 100%”

    Gloria was so happy that her brand new iPhone was finally done being updated. One would think that with all the advances in technology that they could make updates go faster. Oh well.

    Her phone buzzed, signaling the arrival of a new text message. She opened the text up, seeing that it was from her roommate Lauren.

    “Hey there Gloria! Theres going to be a party tonight down the road U want to go?”

    Gloria quickly replied with a yes and started to eloquently making numerous check ins texts with multiple of her other friends to see if they were interested in going as well.

    “I honestly don’t know where I would be without my phone,” Gloria commented as her phone went off again. She paused to take a drink out of her Styrofoam Starbucks's cup.“I would honestly be lost without it.”