"Hi Mrs. Mann, is Josh home," Matt asked hoping for a positive response.

"Why yes, he is Matt. Come on in. I don't know if he's awake yet but you can go up and see."

Unknown to Josh that Matt was even in town, Josh was half asleep when Matt entered his room. The sound of the door opening brought Josh to a higher state of consciousness. "I'll be down soon, Mom. Let me sleep a little more. It's summer for pete's sake."

"Get you're ass out of bed now you lazy little shit," Matt screamed to jolt Josh up.

"Matt, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well hello to you too Josh," Matt went over to hug his sleepy friend. "I'm here for summer vacation again. Are you ready for a great summer?"

"Yeah, let's just not do many more of these early mornings."

"Josh, it is 10:00; it's practically afternoon. The days almost half over and you've spent that in bed. Let's go outside for a morning swim. It will do us some good to exercise."

Josh reluctantly moved his feet over the edge of the bed. Still groggy, Josh got out of bed to go take a piss. "I'm guessing by your comment that I better get used to these morning wake up calls" Josh yelled to Matt in the other room.

"You will if you want to see me this summer. My Grandma is going to put me to work this summer around the house. I thought that we could hang out each morning, go for a swim, jog a little, or whatever. The morning is a great time to do workout."

This new found energy was new to Matt. Matt thought to himself, "Who is saying that? I have never had this much energy in the morning. Even if I did, I would never think of working out. Where did that come from?"

"Yeah sure, Matt. We could swim each morning before the sun gets too hot. That way we can spend the majority of the day helping your Grandmother," Josh explained to Matt. "Can I ask you why the sudden burst of energy? I remember last summer you were the one sleeping until noon and I was the one waking you up in your room. You never wanted to do anything outside. Our days consisted of watching TV and playing X-Box. I must say, I like the new Matt."

This brought a smile to Matt's face. Little did Josh know that Matt was developing a crush on little Josh. Josh was about an inch shorter than Matt and about 20 pound lighter. Josh reminded Matt of a little Todd, wiry and taught. Similar to Todd, Josh didn't have any body fat on him but unlike Todd, Josh didn't have much muscle development, although that is typical given Josh's age at 15-years old.

"Yeah maybe you and I will finally grow. I am sick of being short and pudgy. I wish that I would be as tall as Todd, or even taller, and have muscles. Then I could push Todd around just like he pushes me around. Hey let's get that swim in before Grandma gets home and maybe I can convince her to allow you to stay for lunch," Matt told Todd as he grabbed his arm and lead him to Josh's pool.

Matt and Josh swam for about an hour an half doing laps, freestyle races, and dives in Josh's in-ground pool in his back yard. Matt was amazed at how many laps he could do, and so was Josh. "Boy Matt, have you been swimming in Philly? I can't get over how many laps you just did, and you're hardly tired."

"I know, isn't it weird? 50 laps around the pool even after I did three races. So really I did 53 laps. Had to be that protein drink I had for breakfast," Matt commented.

After the two friends were done in the pool, Matt saw his Grandma pull in the driveway. "C'mon Josh, Grandma's home. Let's go, I'm starving. All this exercise has made me hungry. Which is weird because I just ate an hour and half ago." Josh hopped out of the pool, towel off, and the two of them went across the street. Matt couldn't wait to eat and to tell Grandma his accomplishment in the pool. Matt and Josh came steamrolling in the front door, well at least Matt did. He needed something to calm his voracious appetite.

Grandma turned around as Matt ran through the hallway. "Hello, Matt. Slow down, why the big rush?"

"I am so hungry Grandma, when's lunch?"

"In a few minutes. Will Josh be joining us," Grandma asked as Josh followed into the kitchen, catching his breath. Josh couldn't keep up with Matt. He must've been 15 feet in front of him at all times. Sure, Matt left before Josh did, but surely Josh thought he would be able to catch up with his 15 year old buddy. Josh ran as fast as he could but couldn't catch up. Josh never knew that Matt could run that fast, as a matter of fact, last summer Josh was faster than Matt because he won the many races to the corner store. "Weird," Josh thought.

"Yeah, is that alright Grandma?"

"Sure dear."

Josh sat down next to Matt still panting a little. Josh noticed that Matt was hardly fatigued after running what must have been about 80 yards, almost a whole football field. "Aren't you tired," Josh asked.

"Not at all, Josh. Why?"

"Oh nothing. I guess you are in better shape this summer than last. How else can you explain the 53 laps in the pool and the almost 80 yards you just ran and not even breaking a sweat," Josh answered.

Grandma overheard this conversation and she felt butterflies in her stomach. Her plan was working. This was going to be the best gift she ever gave to one of her grandchildren. Sure, others had benefited from summers with Grandma, but Matt was the last grandchild to "leave the nest," so to speak so she thought that she should give it one last hoorah.

You see, Grandma was an apothecary. She dabbled in medieval medicine and stumbled across an herbal mixture that would hypermascinulate any boy who hadn't fully gone through puberty yet. Grandma wondered how well this would work on Matt, given that he was 15 and puberty might have already begun. This conversation between Josh and Matt confirmed her belief that the herbal mixture she had mixed in with the protein drink this morning had started working. Now all she, and Matt, needed to do was wait and watch the changes. •