Challenge #00475 - A100: Growing Old is Mandatory

Inner Child looking for Outer Adult. – RecklessPrudence

She’d taken inordinate pains to seem adult. Learned how to perfect her makeup. Learned how to deal with the adult responsibilities. Made herself eat her vegetables and stopped playing with her food.

At least in public.

Yet she still bought toys. Played games. Read comic books. Enjoyed animated features and sang along with her favourite songs - despite the fact that she couldn’t really sing. Still did up her hair in silly styles and played hopscotch on the differently-coloured tiles of public spaces whenever she could.

Someone was smiling at her. A fellow with a studious suit and… carrying a Captain America lunchbox.

Pel fought the blush and sidled up to him. “So… you saw that.”

He was turning a little pink, himself. “Uhm. Yeah I guess I did. I hope I didn’t spoil your fun.”

Wait. “What? I thought fun wasn’t allowed when people got older.”

“That’s a mistake lot’s of people make,” he said. “Fun’s perfectly normal. We should enjoy ourselves more, I think.”

“I know, right? I can’t help feeling that if people just… had more fun with their day…?”

“…there’d be less aggression in the world,” he answered. Then he offered his hand. “Mark.”

“Pel,” she shook it. “Short for Pelagrine. Mom liked falcons and she couldn’t spell.”

“Smith or Jones?”

“Jones. How’d you guess?”

“It’s the way the world works,” Mark shrugged. “People with common last names tend to have spectacular given names to make up the balance.”

She blurted it out. “Wanna play hooky today?”

“Sure you’re allowed out with strangers?”

“You’re not a stranger once you’ve introduced yourself.”

“Hi. Mark Sabaton. Pleased to meet you, Miss Pelagrine Jones.”

That was the day she learned an important lesson. The most important lesson of all inner children with a thin veneer of Adult.

Growing up is optional.

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