Previous post
A quote: “When old people speak it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths; it is because we see something which you do not see.” ~~ Chinua Achebe
I’ll start with a story …
*******************************
“Nice spot you picked, Bill.”
“Earl.”
“Gorgeous view.”
“Yep. How’s the family?”
“Good. My girls are smart and married smart men. All moved on.”
“Jean?”
“Gone with them. Extra hands to help with grandkids. They never questioned it.”
Earl put a hand on Bill’s shoulder, “Vivian?”
Bill nodded toward the city, his eyes filled with unspilled tears, “When they denied her any cancer treatment, she said she never felt freer or more powerful. No one suspects … bravest woman I ever knew. I love her so.”
“Contempt of us old folks makes ‘em blind,” Earl laughed. “Push the button, Bill.”
*******************************
Now, it’s your turn.
.
.
.
.
.
. featured image, cropped, Adobe Stock standard license.
GWB says: Very dark story bit for such a bright scene, Darleen. But very understandable.
I was thinking more along the lines of …
“Gorgeous view, Bill.”
“Sure is, Earl. I love spring in a college town.”
“In my day, though, they wouldn’t have had to settle for those man-bun types.”
“Nope. We’d have had them in the back seat of our muscle cars, teaching them some biology.”
“Maybe we should teach a few of them some proper pronouns?”
Etc. 🙂
American Human says: “Jonathan: Bill, when I was a lad I remember that song by Paul Simon.
Bill: What song was that? he had so many.
Jonathan: ‘Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park bench quietly.’
Bill: Oh yeah, I remember that, I think the next line is ‘how terribly strange to be seventy’.
Jonathan: That’s it. Bookends. That’s us, bookends. I’m imagining a very strange thing though.
Bill: What’s that?
Jonathan: We’re seventy now. Where did it all go?
Bill: Most of what we have left is memories
The dry leaves rustle as the wind blows them away
Fletch says: Wine gets better with age, as does wisdom. As young men we know everything. We’re passionate with our loves and also with our hatreds. We know exactly what’s right and strive mightily to force our vision upon the world.
Ah, but then time comes: diapers to change, long nights by the window, weddings and funerals. One day the realization comes that, in reality, we know nothing at all – and with that realization comes wisdom.
And part of that wisdom is to enjoy the sunshine when it shines; to stretch your legs out and let the season seep into you. Good things come when they come. They should be treasured, like fine wine.
Cameron says: “Good to see you, Charlie.”
“You as well, Alex.”
“Remember high school? We said that we were going to get out of here once we graduated.”
“We made good on that.”
“Fun times. London, Tokyo, Warsaw-”
“Berlin, Buenos Aires. And then college and careers.”
“And when you and I talked about moving, there were two old men on a bench who said that we’d be back.”
Out in the park, they heard two boys talking. “I say we just get out of here when we graduate and never look back!”
“You want to tell them?”
“Nah. It’ll spoil the surprise.”
GWB says: Excellent!
Lewis says: Nice, Cameron!
Cameron says: Thanks, GWB and Lewis. Glad I can entertain.
Here’s the park, just as the instructions described. Except for one wrinkle: instead of one elderly gent on the bench, there are two. Which raises the question of which is my contact, and how can I get him away from his buddy so we can make the connection without revealing the recognition signals to an outsider?
Or worse, an informer. Our telepaths can’t be everywhere, and we know the Administration has telepaths of their own, who can stymie our efforts to keep their kind out of the Sharp Resistance.
One thing’s for certain: I need to get to that safe house and hole up, soon. People with this kind of biomods have extraordinary stamina and endurance, but when it runs out, we crash, hard. And after thirty-two hours straight, I’m getting way too close to that point.
Dupin says: “Will you look at that guy?”
“Yep. Making a total fool of himself with that girl, isn’t he?”
“Sure is. Going about it all wrong. I could give him a few pointers about how to treat her, and she’d be his. Looks like she likes him but just isn’t sure about the shenanigans he’s pulling.”
“It might impress the guys, but she’s having none of it. He ain’t got a clue how to win her heart.”
“Looks like me back then.”
“Me, too. Now I know how to woo her but wouldn’t be able to handle a girl like that.”
Navig8r says: “Mort, remember the time in Oklahoma City when we . . .”
“No, Fred. You need to remember that we don’t remember that. The statute of limitations hasn’t run out yet.”
“Oh, yeah. Remember that other time in Wichita when we . . .”
“Yep. Gotta remember that. It’s our alibi.”
“Ya know, in a few more years, neither one of us will be able to remember what it is we remember and what we don’t remember. Think there might be problems?”
“Shouldn’t be. The statute will have run out by then, and who’s going to pay any mind to a couple of senile old geezers?”
10 Comments