“Mum, why are my shoes getting tight?  He was just 6 years old and starting a growth spurt.  Not unusual in a child who has a father that is 6 feet 5 inches tall and a mother that is 6 feet tall.

“You are growing and it will soon be time to buy new shoes and other clothes.”

She then turned to her husband and said, “How long are we going to be?”

“Less than an hour” was his reply.

“You play in your room until we get back.  Be GOOD and I will bring you a nice treat”.

“Time.  It is always about TIME!  I don’t want to grow anymore. I like my clothes and shoes.”  These thoughts ran through his brain while he looked around at all the things that represented time.

“I’ll STOP time.  And I will start with that old clock on the mantle.” He dragged a chair over to the mantle, then went looking for something a stop the clock.  He returned moments later with a clothes peg.   Up on the chair he could easily reach the clock face and open it.  He then clipped the clothes peg to the large second hand and waited to see if it would work.  The second hand came up against the minute hand and stopped.   “YES, it worked.”

Now it was a matter of working out what other things controlled time in the house.

The electric clock radio in his parents room.  He simply turned it off at the wall switch. 

Next he considered the well known fact that when the sun goes down it signifies the end of a day.  “Have to stop all these days.”  He now turned his attention to the large wall calendar attached to a cupboard door in the kitchen.  It had ALL the days that had already happened, and the ones that were coming.  Pulling it off the clips that held it was easy, but the problem of how to dispose of it was much harder,  It was big, almost 1/4  a metre square, and it wouldn’t fit in the trash bin.  He carried it into the living room where a 3 seater with a large centre cushion provided the ideal hiding place.  He was able to lift the cushion and slide the 12 page calendar completely out of site.

“Now my shoes will still fit and I will stop growing out of my clothes.”  Then He looked up at the ceiling and saw all the lights.  

“NO!”, he yelled.  “When they come on the day is done and I can’t reach them.”

Downcast, he sat on the floor and stared at his feet. 

“I wonder if I would be allowed to get the same colour shoes.”

Being YOUNG can be almost as hard as being OLD.

©  FC Mickey Benefiel   2023