The Beach: Part One

 It was a warm and sunny day at Brincombe with many locals and visitors taking advantage of the good weather and the Bank Holiday to spend the day at the local beach. While the weather was warm, a chill was about to hit the beach and spread along the coast. It would change everything for the people enjoying the day but only last for a few moments and leave no memory of its visit. The Silent Swapper was in town for the day.

Trying to keep up with demand at the Vanilla Skies ice cream shack was Kelly Matthews. The dark haired 21 year old was relieved to have just finished serving a long queue with her last two ices, a mint choc-chip and a raspberry ripple, to a blonde girl in a skimpy pink bikini, and she was about ready to collapse into a chair. The company uniform wasn’t too flattering with its red polo shirt, black knee length skirt and white apron. When she took the job she thought it would be wonderful to spend summer by the beach however the idea that she would actually need to do some work didn’t seem to hit home then as much as it did now. She glanced out over the rest of the beach patrons with jealousy and then turned to her boss Brian Long, nearly twenty years older and sat scribbling in the corner at his small wooden desk at the back of the small, wooden shack. He was dressed similarly in a red shirt and black trousers both of which had seen better days. “That was quite a long one that last one,” she said. He grunted a little. “Could have done with help,” she continued. “Really, really quite long…” “Yes, yes I get the idea. Privilege of rank, Kelly,” he turned around sighing. “Once you get to wear this fantastic yellow apron,” Brian replied twanging his apron strings, “you’ve really made it in this world and while you get smile at the great British public, I get to sit here crunching the numbers and wonder where we’ve lost five boxes of flakes in the last week,” he added through a half smile, tapping his pencil on the desk.

As Kelly turned back to face the front of the stall everything went quiet. Somewhere in the distance a clock bell sounded and a breeze swept through the vicinity. The whole beach became enraptured in its spell. Up and down the sandy coast the patrons began switching clothes with one another. Back in the shack, Brian and Kelly turned to face each other, both in a trance, and started to strip off. As they shed another layer they began to hand the garments to each other. Brian struggled into Kelly’s pale blue bra and knickers set, putting it on as if he had his whole life, while she pulled his rather large white boxer shorts. Already their bodies began to change to fit their new outfits.

As Brian pulled on Kelly’s red polo shirt and black skirt, the years were wound back and he became a twentysomething again. His hair grew darker and longer, breasts filled out his shirt and the bulge disappeared from his knickers. As Kelly pulled on Brian’s rather older red polo shirt she started gaining a few more muscles as well as another couple of decades. Short brown haired topped her head and her breasts disappeared into her chest as she pulled up Brian’s trousers (complete with bulge) and tied the laces on his black, shiny shoes as he did the same with her light blue Chuck Taylors. Then they switched the all important aprons before Kelly removed what little make-up she usually wore and Brian grabbed her handbag to add a touch to his own new face. A little red lipstick and some eyeshadow worked wonders.

 Time unfroze and suddenly Brianna and Ken were left looking at other. “Um, that was weird…did you just feel something,” Brianna said looking around. “Perhaps the tide’s about to come in,” Ken mused before sitting back down at the desk. “Anyway you have customers” he indicated to a group approaching the shack “and I have flakes to find.” “One day, I’ll wear that apron!” she said defiantly. “Good I can retire and you can chase up lost confectionary” “Oh it’s probably the seagulls or the mice aga…” Brianna blushed and turned to face her customer a very round, very red man “aga…a good day to you sir, how can I help you today?” she smiled.