"Old People"

Flash Fiction, by C.J. Heck

Old People
Flash Fiction, by C.J. Heck

I overheard this conversation from the next checkout lane in Walmart —so did a lot of other people: “Dad, why do old people walk so slow? That old guy keeps stopping and it makes me bump into him with our cart.”

Poor dad was obviously embarrassed and he hushed his son. “Jeremy, shhhh, he can’t help it. Go on over there and stand with your mother.”

I don’t know what happened next. I was in a hurry and it was my turn to check out, but I often thought about that boy’s remark. At the time, the ‘old guy’ he spoke of wasn’t that much older than I am now.

Why DO old people walk so slow? Is it their age, or maybe they’re in pain? I thought back then, it was probably some of both, but it also seemed like something else, something bigger, something more interesting.

It wasn’t until I retired myself a few years later that I began to understand. It was from something my grandmother said a long time ago ...

“Gather round, young-uns. Gran-Ma-ma’s got somethin’ ‘portant to share:

We older folks went through near a lifetime rushin’ here to there, always in a hurry, countin’ minutes to make it back on time to where we just left. We missed so much more than we ever had time to look ’n see.

Now here we are, the pressure’s off, the rush is gone. We’ve outlived our jobs, kids are grown —it’s their turn to hurry ’n rush back to where they were, so they’re on time.

This time belongs to us —we earned it. Now when we go someplace, we own the time to slow down ‘n look ’n see what we wanna see. If we need a bigger look, we own the time to stop, too. We can let those minutes die ‘cause there’s no place we gotta rush back to now.

Next time you’re out ‘n about ’n you see one of us walkin’ real slow, maybe even stoppin’ —smile, ’cause now you know.

Someday, maybe some day soon, you’ll be the one … who owns the time … to slow way down … to see what you want …. when you want … and go as slow as you want … maybe you’ll even wanna stop … for a bigger look ... ’n that’ll be jest fine.”

There. like I told you, Gran-Ma-ma did have something important to share. It went a long way to explain to us kids how older folks feel once they retire. I didn’t really forget what she said. I only misplaced it till it was needed.

Now that I’m retired, I’ve squeezed all the truth out of her words for me, so I’m passing them along to you ...

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