On a sticky summer morning, he was feeling pretty good about himself and life in general. Donning a crisp white shirt and red neck-tie, he grabbed his blue sport-coat and headed out to work. Energized, he strode down the sidewalk, he thought how the humid and sticky summer weather was lasting right up to the end of September.
He hailed a cab, climbed in and gave the cabbie directions to the morning meeting. The driver apologized because the AC wasn’t working. “No problem, ” he said, “We’ve got to enjoy this weather while we can.” Cruising along with the warm breeze streaming through the windows, he thought of his wife and the pleasant weekend they just enjoyed. His thoughts turned toward his meeting just as the cab pulled up at the address. Leaning forward to pay the driver, he glanced in the rear view mirror and noticed lines around his eyes for the first time.
The meeting went well. Afterwards, he decided to walk back to his office and enjoy the last of the warm weather. On the way, his reflection in a store-front window caught his eye. He was surprised to see a paunchy middle-age business man glancing back at him. It was him of course but not how he felt. Incredibly, and worse, the reflection was older than he imagined he looked. “Oh well, ” he smiled and hurried along.
Outside his office, he ran into an old friend. There were the usual pleasantries about family and then talk about the imminent start of Fall and the ensuing and inevitable cold weather. As they parted, his friend said something about him having some gray in his hair now, though of course it looked good.
“I guess there’s only so many days to summer,” he said.
copyright 2016 Christopher Donahue