Twenty Minutes Ago

"So you're turning 21 tomorrow?" I asked. The kid had high color in his cheeks and a scar on his arm. He threw the rope with the strength of the young.

"Yeah," he said. He was from up East staying in his folks' Florida condo for the summer, mating on the parasail boat.

"So that makes me exactly twice your age," I said, toeing the dock. "I feel old." Sometimes I fool cashiers if I have my hat on, but only until they look into my eyes and see the years and the learning and the lines.

"But in...