The House Sitter

Wanted – house sitter to watch home while on summer vacation, great pay. Call 555-674-9980.

The ad caught Greg’s attention. He needed a place to stay other than the seedy motel he had been at since arriving in the city a few days ago. House sitting would afford him the luxury of a place to live while looking for a new job and a place of his own. This would work out perfectly if he could convince the owner he was the man for the position. At nineteen he was a very responsible young man having grown up part of a small family with no brothers and sisters. When his parents had suddenly both died about a month ago he had made the decision to move to escape the confines of small town life; so now after settling all the affairs here he was. He dialed the number in the ad.

“Good morning Wellington residence. How may I help you today?” An older sounding man answered the call.

“Good day, sir. My name is Gregory Peterson. I wish to inquire about the house sitting advertisement in today’s newspaper. Are you the gentleman to whom I should speak?” Greg did his best to mask his nervousness after hearing such a formal greeting.

“No sir. Please hold while I put Mr. Wellington on the line.”

Greg was slightly puzzled. Why would someone pay for a house sitter when they obviously had a staff at their disposal? It didn’t really matter to Greg though since this would be an ideal job. He was getting lost in the music coming from the phone when someone else, presumably Mr. Wellington, picked up the call.

“G’day mate. This is Tony Wellington. I understand you’re interested in sitting me little shack for the summer.” Greg let out a sigh of relief. Mr. Wellington, Tony, didn’t sound stuffy at all. In fact with the jovial Aussie accented baritone voice he was one of the more pleasant people Greg had talked to recently. But “little shack”?

“Hello Mr. Wellington…” Greg started to say when Tony interrupted.

“Tony, please. You don’t mind if I call you Greg do you?”

“No, Mr., er, Tony.”

“Great. Let’s get down to business.” Tony was definitely a take charge kind of guy and with his very disarming charm Greg was sure he could get people to do what he wanted very easily.

Tony didn’t get into too many details on the phone other than to give Greg the address and an agreed upon time to meet. After the call Greg wondered what Tony would be like in person.

Greg didn’t have many good clothes with him so he donned an oversized clip-on bowtie and vest over his short sleeved white shirt. Add his glasses and he appeared extremely geeky but at least he didn’t look like a complete hayseed.

Tony’s house was quite a distance from where Greg was currently staying so without a car and not enough money to afford a taxi for such a trek, Greg had to rely on the city busses. That would mean allowing extra time to get there. Just as he was about to leave his room, the front desk called to tell him his ride to Mr. Wellington’s house had arrived. Tony hadn’t said anything about a ride so he thought this must have been a mistake. However when he went down to talk to the driver, the livery clad chauffeur greeted him by name and ushered him into the waiting limousine. It definitely was a much better ride than a bus!

After about an hour that Greg spent exploring the limo’s interior and gazing at the changes in scenery from city to country, they pulled up to a gate that opened onto a long tree-lined road. No sign of any house yet but Greg could only imagine what the “little shack” must be. Nor was he disappointed with his first view of his potential summer residence.

This place was huge! No, even that word didn’t adequately describe the behemoth of a mansion Greg saw. All he could think of was “Tara” from “Gone with the Wind” and even that seemed small in comparison. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever pictured such a house as this. The car door opened and he was escorted to the front door where an older looking gentleman waited to take him to Tony.

“This way, Mr. Peterson.” Dang if it wasn’t the old gent from the telephone call. He could only gape at the magnificence as he was led through a long hallway to what Greg presumed must be the backside of the house. French doors opened upon a landscaped pool area bigger than anything Greg had ever seen. Emerging from the pool house was one hot man -Tony.

“Ah, Greg. How nice to finally meet you in person.” That thick rich accented voice, much hotter in person than over the phone, simply turned Greg on as the two men shook hands.

“Likewise, Tony. Not quite the little shack I expected.” Greg tried hard to keep his composure. He had lots of practice keeping things secret as his hometown was not very tolerant of “unordinary” things as people there put it.

“Let’s have a seat by the pool so we can talk about the details. I’ll get Henry to bring us something to drink and eat. What would you like?” What would he like...? Tony.

“Whatever you’re having will be fine.”

“Fine. Henry, see to our guest here please. Now let’s get the business out of the way.”

The talk centered on Greg’s personal history: family (none), job (none at the moment), willingness to stay at the house for the summer (no problem with that one), and finances (not much). Tony explained that he wanted an extended vacation for the summer after a particularly busy past few months and Greg’s only duties would be to live here so he could keep a watch on the house. The staff would be at his disposal and he would have complete authority to resolve any issues that might arise in Tony’s absence. All his expenses would be paid plus a generous salary and he had complete access to anything he wished, including the fleet of cars and bikes in the garage.

“So do we have a deal, Greg?”

“We sure do, sir.” He was so excited by the prospect of living here for the summer he could barely contain his enthusiasm.

“Great. Let’s shake on it.” Greg took the hand Tony extended to him, feeling an odd pulling sensation. The next thing he knew he was looking at his own body holding onto his hand. What the…? Tony’s very studly physique met his astonished gaze when he stared down at himself.

“No, you’re not going crazy.” He heard his old self say. “I need you to be me while I’m gone for the summer so you can carry on at my business. I’ll be you and have a great time relaxing. Don’t worry. You’ll be able to handle everything just like me since you are me, Tony, now.”

“But I….” In just two simple words Greg heard the sweetly accented baritone coming from his own mouth! He was really Tony!

“Strange but I’m getting rather worked up being near you Greg, er, Tony. Are you… am I now…?” the new Greg was confused. He had never been attracted to men. In fact he was a super straight dude who one might say was close to homophobic. Now he suddenly found himself attracted to his old self…. oh, how hot Tony looked…

“Yes, Greg. You’re gay… and I’m not!” That was the first time ever the former Greg had openly admitted his sexuality. And while he still retained his own personality, it was his new playboy lifestyle with which he felt most comfortable now.

“Hmmm… no going back on a deal. I guess we’ll just both have to get used to our new roles and have fun with them. And believe me you’ll be having fun Tony.”

“And I suspect you will find yourself quite happy as well Greg.”

The staff knew nothing of the arrangement. As far as they were concerned Greg had not worked out to be Tony’s house sitter so Tony had decided to stay home until he could find someone else. Tony’s life would go on just as it always did. Neither one would have to worry about anything since “Tony’s” vacation had all been set up in advance, including enough money to live on for quite some time. Henry escorted Tony’s new friend Greg back to the waiting limo where he would start his long awaited sabbatical from work.

The summer literally flew by for both men. Tony continued to wine-and-dine many women, thoroughly enjoying his new role as a wealthy hedonistic playboy/entrepreneur. Greg, while having a slightly harder time getting used to his different life style, actually came to enjoy his new self quickly, even hooking up with quite a few men along the way. Finally it was time for Greg to come back from vacation. Tony arranged for his limo to pick up Greg for a visit, very surprised when he met him at the door. Seems like he had been making a few improvements over the summer. Gone were the glasses and his body was now quite well muscled, showing off the natural handsomeness that had long been hidden. The two men went back to the place where their adventure had begun. Greg slipped off to the pool house where he donned a swimsuit before taking a dip in the water.

“So Tony,” began Greg, “how was your summer?”

“Great. I had a blast meeting new ladies and getting… well, you know. I even have a semi-steady girlfriend now. How about you? I see you’ve got my old body looking pretty good, stud.”

“Yeah, been working out and having a great time. I, too, have a new love in my life. Mike is his name and I’ll introduce you to him later.”

“So when do we switch back?”

“I think we need to discuss that. I really don’t want to go back to being Tony again. I enjoy being Greg and I’m hoping you like being Tony so we can stay the way we are.”

“What? I’m glad you like being me because I really didn’t want to switch back either. Being you is just so much fun and I’ve learned so much over the past few months.”

“Good. Then it is all settled. We’ll stay the way we are now. Except for one thing. Can you give me a job?”

Laughing, Tony told Greg: “I think I can give you a nice comfortable job and make sure you are taken care of for the rest of your life. It’s the least I can do for the man who made me what I am today. In fact I think you and your new love should move in with me. I have a very comfortable guest house you two can share. Just a little shack, mate!”