Up Skilling

By Gary Travis

I was so annoyed when I got home from work after a 12 hour night shift. Apparently I had sprung a leak in my bathroom. I had no skills or spare cash to fix it, so all I could do was turn the water off at the mains and speak to my Dad later in the day. After cleaning up most of the mess, chilling for an hour or so with a beer and some pizza; I headed into the garden for a quick smoke before heading to bed.

I looked across the fence to the new housing estate where there were builders, building brand new houses. I contemplated to myself “I wish I had gone to college and learned a trade after school and had the skills to fix my leak” It was rumoured that plumbers were on $40 an hour as opposed to my measly $8 an hour. Having said that, I was fairly well off, but only on pay day, money seemed to go nowhere.

The last thing I remember before falling asleep is “I wonder what it would be like to be a builder?”

What happened next was a real out of body experience or maybe it was a dream. Suddenly, I found myself on the building site across from my garden fence, I was chatting to a few other builders like I was there best mates, the banter and chit chat, all whilst I was laying bricks to build this house. I just got on with it as though it was the norm. I knew in the back of my mind that I should be asleep so this had to be a dream.

I glanced at my watch, on my left arm. It was the first time I had looked at myself. I was confused; I always wore a watch on my right arm. I noticed how young my arm looked. This was weird; in all my other dreams I had been myself, this time it appeared that I was someone completely different. It was 11am and time for a tea break.

A man who I recognised as Jack shouted “YOU COMING MARTYN?”

“Sure am, I'm gasping for a brew and a bacon butty” I replied.

I headed for the washroom and began to wash my hands. It was the first time I had seen my reflection. Grabbing onto the basin that I almost pulled off the wall as I jumped back in shock. The mirror image was not my normal bear type body. It was an athletic looking body that was barely out of its teenage years. Obviously an apprentice in the building trade and freshly out of college. He had all the knowledge and skills required to build a house on his own from scratch if he ever needed too.

I admired my new form only for an instant before I heard a voice behind me and said in a husky American accent “You’re not in Kansas anymore Martyn.” It was shortly followed by a comical chuckle. Remembering the old classic film; The Wizard of Oz; for some reason I taped my heals together three times and the next thing I knew I was waking up in my own bed.

I remembered everything about Martyn, his day, his life and his skills. I had all of his memories. Absolutely everything, it was quite strange I had the desire to build something simply because I suddenly knew how. It was a dream right?!?!?

At work I couldn’t concentrate. I kept thinking – fat use a builder was; I needed a plumber. But it was more than that, I had the memories of Martyn, a guy I had never met, but I had been in a dream. It was really disorienting, almost like having a second brain inside my head. I pondered on what would happen if I had seen a plumber before I went to bed the yesterday. I decided that finding a plumber would be my next challenge for the morning.

As luck would have it, when I got home there was a white van pulling onto the building estate. Well I say luck, but I was parked just outside the gates of the sites car park where I could see exactly what was going on. I didn’t have a clue what he did for a living, but to he had a roguish look that sort of hit all the right buttons. I had never considered myself to swing the other way, but I've been told that I'm in touch with my sensitive side and even I knew he was good looking guy. You could always tell the luckier ones – the ones who were cut from a different cloth so to speak. I had decided that if this was in fact happening for real then I would only choose good looking guys. I had been lucky yesterday, Martyn, the builder I had only seen from a distance.

The lad in the van was young lad who dressed a little scruffily but he looked like he kept himself clean and tidy as a person. It was obviously some sort of apprentice scheme, maybe a get back into work or possibly a young offenders payback system because all of these lads were young, with the odd middle aged bloke dotted about – must have been the tutors. Something that I would have to dig into and find out why they were all under about 25.

Once he opened his van, I realised that this guy would be perfect, lots of pipes and plumbing equipment. I could recognise the UpVC pipes and the copper bits, but there were tools that I didn’t have a clue what they did.

I was getting tired and knew what I needed to do. I raced to bed and began to drift away. The last thing I remember thinking was “I wonder what it would be like to be a plumber?”

Once again, it happened. The next thing I knew was getting wet as Jimmy had decided it would be funny to make one of the pipes leak. I had just connected them and turned the water on for its test.

“Shit” I screamed “you’re gonna pay for that Jimmy, the boss is coming to sign me off on this house later, how am I gonna explain me being soaked to the skin and all this water everywhere.”

Jimmy headed over to the mains and turned off the tap, then threw me a mop. I sat back for a moment and realised I was actually having fun, I hadn’t even realised that I had swapped in to Jake. The guy I had seen earlier this morning. I started chatting to Jimmy.

“Don’t worry Jake; it was just a bit of harmless fun. I’ve got some spare kit in the van and we’ll get this mess sorted before the boss sees anything.”

I just chuckled and Jimmy went off while I finished off cleaning up. Jimmy returned with a set of brand new overalls, still in their wrapper and a towel.

“Thanks” I said

I snuck into a corner, and striped, drying myself off then I pause; suddenly I had a feeling I was being watched, I quickly spun round to see Jimmy staring straight at me.

“Sorry mate” he said, I’ve just never seen such a stunner before”

I felt myself going red… then there was a knock at the door and to my horror it was the boss, here for my inspection.

My boss let himself in. He had a clip board and he was obviously an official. All he did was tick boxes on his clip board. Finally he spoke.

“Excellent work Jake. I have no problem signing you off.” He stated.

With that I figured I had been Jake long enough. So I quickly tapped my heals three times. This time something was different. I looked down at myself and I was sure that I was once again myself, but I hadn’t woken in my own room. Instead I was in a very bright white room with a single computer terminal sat in the middle. I walked over to it and sat down.

There was an interactive application on the screen and it said to begin, I needed to connect my iPhone to it. Which I did. The app stated that I had been pre-selected for a magical experiences of up skilling my life skills with a unique way of body swapping. Basically, the last 2 days had been trials. I was now able to browse images on my phone and view their skills that I wanted to add to my own life. I wouldn’t be able to return to my own body and life without fixing something about their life first, kind of a payment for them up skilling my life.

The next I knew I was waking up in my own bed. Possibly for the last time in a while. The app was ready there and waiting on my iPhone. I fixed my leak and set to browsing the apps profiles. There were literally hundreds of faces popping up, any age, and religion, any race and both sexes. All it told me was their name and the skill they would provide, the rest I would find out when I arrived in my chosen body.

I had decided to attempt to play it safe and went for someone who was male and looked around my own age. The only real decision I had to make from there was what skill I wanted to learn. I had been a builder and a plumber so decided to continue with the trades for a while. I set the filter to show me only electricians. At this point there were only three to choose from. A young lady, an older man and this guy.

I chose him because he looked my age and after pressing on his picture, I then pressed the button that began the transfer. I felt my own body drift to sleep and soon enough I had woken up in the body of Chris. Instantly, Chris was sent into me and I knew everything he knew about being an electrician. In fact everything Chris and what I needed to do to return back to being myself.

Chris had been with his partner, Danni, for around ten years. Chris knew what Danni wanted, marriage. But Chris didn’t have the nerve to do it. That was going to be my job. I didn’t want to just jump into it though, I decided to learn to live as Chris for a while first, and then make a bit of a fuss to make it a special moment for them both. I tried the heal tapping, just for curiosity but it didn’t work.

Since I was staying for a while, I decided it would be ok for me to learn about Chris. Of course I already knew everything, but I hadn’t experienced anything as Chris. Believe me I had picked a good body. He was packing a very large package that was sure to hurt anyone it encountered. He had obviously spent a lot of time in the gym as his body was perfectly sculptured. Amazing abdominal area, really nice toned pecs and arms that I could only ever of dreamed of. He kept himself trim and proper too with a trip to the men’s salon on a monthly basis where he was pampered tip to toe. I considered it a bit strange, a little feminine, but from looking at my new temporary reflection, it had been worth it. Chris also had a tribal tattoo on his left shoulder and arm. As he didn’t know what it meant, neither did I. But the tattoo completed his appearance perfectly. I was sure to have some fun being Chris. Safe in the knowledge that Chris would be having fun as me and ensuring that I was a qualified electrician when I returned.

We had to send daily e-mails to each other and it was weird seeing my own name pop up as the sender but I soon got used to it. After 2 weeks Chris was getting home sick form his own life. He told me I had a week before I would put in a complaint. That gave me the boost I needed. I quickly booked a holiday for Chris and Danni; I packed the cases for us both. I also included a few bits to help with the proposal. That night we jetted off for a holiday in the sun.

It was great, being in a foreign country, in a body that didn’t belong to me, spending someone else's money. Spoiling myself. I really didn’t want to have to give this up. I have to admit though it was beginning to feel strange without my own routine that I had lived with for years. Half way through the holiday, I decided tonight was the night and made the proposal. Once the predicted yes was given, there was a quick kiss and a cuddle before I knew it was time I had to return. Three taps of my heals and I was instantly returned home.

About 3 hours later an e-mail popped from Chris that simply said Thanks. I was thrilled I now knew how to be a builder, a plumber and an electrician. Where could my journey go next? It was nice to be back home and I stayed for a few days.

Mechanic? Policeman? Brain Surgeon? Baker? This time my decision was based up on the fact my car was due a service and realising that my car was normally one of the most expensive hic-cups in my life. I began to browse the app on my phone and found a profile that looked like he needed cheering up. I pressed on his picture and hit the transfer button.

I arrived in Mike and I have to admit I felt very hard done by. Mike was a qualified mechanic with ten years’ experience under his belt. I expected to arrive in his body, full of grease working under the bonnet of a car. Instead I arrived sat on his couch lounging around.

“What the fuck” I exclaimed. That was until I began to explore his memories. Mike had lost his job that he was extremely good at and loved doing. It was rare to find someone so fond of their job in this day and age, but Mike was one of those unique people. He had lost his job due to the recession and the company he worked for unfortunately closed down. The company owed Mike a month’s wage and he was now on benefits. He hated every second of his life right now. He needed a break, he needed out and was ready to give it all up until he found this app.

It was now my task to find him a new job and get him out of his depressive state of mind. Mike had the qualifications and experience, but being in one job that he walked into straight from college without an interview meant that he didn’t have the skills to pass at interview. He just went to pieces every time he attended and as I said, he really was ready to give it all up.

Finding a job could wait. I had decided that he had abused the system to get out of his body for the wrong reasons. After all I had effectively been paying his wages for the last six months. Of course I felt sorry for the lad, but I hated people who were claiming free money off the state and not making any effort to find work. I concluded it was time for a break myself. Enjoy life a little and see what there was out there for fun. I had worked all my life and it might be fun to let my hair down for a while. I set my self a time limit of one week though. I didn’t want to fall into the same rut that Mike had fallen into.

I spent the week partying, eating, drinking, having sex, sleeping, watching TV, and going the gym, then some partying eating and drinking. All expenses were paid during a swap, so it really didn’t matter. I didn’t seem to sleep much that week so after the first week I chilled out for a day and caught up on sleep.

It was really nice abusing someone else's body. And I have to admit I had grown quite fond of his body. I enjoyed staring at it in the mirror, touching it, feeling it, and admiring it. He really did have an amazing look and one that was far too nice to be left sat at home doing nothing.

I hit the streets, gave Mikes resume to every car repair centre out there. My feet ached at the end of every day. So I still managed to enjoy myself each evening in the local bar. I don’t know how I did it but I managed to find Mike a girlfriend. It has to of been a combination of Mikes good looks and my charming nature.

It was now a month into the swap and Mike’s perfect body was becoming a bore. Mikes new girlfriend had moved into Mike’s house and brought her 2 children with her. However, still no job, so I couldn’t swap back to my own body yet, no matter how many times I tapped my heals. The new addition to Mike’s finances had caused a larger strain on his finances and it became imperative that I found Mike a job and quick. I knew with a job that Mike would be happy with what I had done for him, because I was him and the daily e-mail communication was encouragement enough. He was desperate to return home and meet his new girlfriend and adopted children.

Two weeks later, I finally got the hit I was looking for; I found him a job in a major car repair centre paying almost double what Mike was used too. I attended the interview and passed for him. After heading back to Mike’s house and spending my last few hours with the Kids and girlfriend before shedding a small tear and tapping my heals three times and returning home.

Oh boy! It was good to be back. I had now learned how to be a builder, a plumber, an electrician and a qualified mechanic. My life should be much cheaper with all these new skills I have gained in such a short time. What else could a guy need?

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Sorry everyone – that’s it for this part of the story

I need your direction – this story definitely has further parts to it, but I need your help deciding its direction.

Here are a few ideas
* Suggest a person, a profession for me to become! Ever wanted to be a soccer player, hockey player? Ever wondered what it was like to have a 9-5 job? Be a doctor?
*Shall I be gay or straight?
*Shall I find a guy or girl and stay as him or her?
*What about returning to my first guy? Like buying a car, you look at hundreds, but always end up getting the one you looked at first.