He was sitting down, lost in thought.
He was thinking about the years that have passed and how they were inevitably rolling on to what was the end, the end for everybody. The nurse enters the room and notes the worried look on the man’s face.
She approached him. “How are you doing?”
Snapping out of it, he looks up. “Just thinking,” he said, “as I get older, I know that my memories of all that I have experience, the good and the bad, will slowly fade. All those things I have seen and done will be harder to recall. Some of the recollections will take on a vagueness that leave me wondering whether they are truly real or just imagined.” His grey eyes smiled.
She went to speak.
“As for my physical state,” he went on, “well, I know that it is perfectly normal for my body functions to slow down and become less effective. Parts of me will wear out gradually and any aches and pains will take longer to subside…”
“OK.” she said. “Shouldn’t be long now.”
Back at the desk, she asked, “What’s he in for?”
The other nurse checks her screen. “Flu jab.”
“Goes on a bit, doesn’t he? For a seventeen year old, I mean. What’s wrong with him?”
“Oh! Nothing, he’s just getting old.”