From Child to Present

from child to present:

he had met his friends for lunch. they had talked and reminisced of old times. though their life situations had moved on from twenty years ago, they were all recognizably the same people, but now the talk was more of work and business and news.

he often wondered how he would answer the question, how old do you feel? in truth, he thought he felt exactly the same at all ages of his life but to answer, the same as when i was three and now, seemed a little ridiculous and somewhat provocative.

but how had he changed? he felt wiser, he supposed, better at assessing risk, if nothing else, not only from the mistakes and errors of judgement he had made in the past but from a better understanding of generally how things worked on Earth. he wondered if all prescribed grownup speech and behaviour was all some kind of program he had picked up along the way to adulthood, and compatibility between people depended on like conditioning.

when he had first met his friends, they were all still in the form of children, playful yet watchful, and in a way, quieter and more subdued.

CLEARCHARGE