Jeff was feeling closer to his dad than ever before. He trusted his dad, he loved his dad, but his dad was boring and a completely separate person from the exciting stories of his youth. Shared excitement over this device was one of the very few things they shared outside of a love of bacon and a Marvel movie here and there.
"Hey Dad, what's it like being old?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well its just that Grandpa and Uncle Frank have exciting stories about when you were younger and you aren't anything like the cool and exciting person they describe. I just wanted to know what happened to to make you so..."
"If you say boring I'm going to ground you till you're dead."
"Dad! I didn't mean it like that! I'm gonna grow up too and I just wanna know how to avoid... I don't wanna... It's just that..."
"Say, come to think of it, tonight is garbage night and its your job to take the trash out... While you're out there, I think that I had mentioned you and your friends left trash in the car last weekend when we took you guys to see a movie and I asked you to clean it out... and while you're outside, you might as well pick up the sticks in the lawn like I asked you to take care of..."
"Dad!"
"GO."
Jeff plodded off oblivious to how hurtful he had just been. Mike could take it, he knew he wasn't the reckless teen he had been and if Frank and Grandpa knew half the stories from his twenties they'd die... but Mike also heard that Jeff felt he was out of touch with his younger self... and as a parent that was a win... Telling Jeff to be careful and not do x, y, and especially z when he had done those things regularly between 18 and 32 wouldn't get him very far...
Mike stared a the computer screen... Maybe... No... Well?
Mike began typing, long ago he learned how to set his feelings aside for his kids. Jeff wasn't just expressing curiosity, but a fear of growing up, of not feeling prepared... or so Mike intuited. As a parent, it's his responsibility to help Jeff learn and grow, and to help him back up when he faceplants.
The Chronivac wasn't hard to understand, he was there for Windows 1.0 and everything since, after all. Granted he was a small child, but he's older than the internet! That has to count for something!
As Mike was finishing he heard Jeff rolling the garbage bins down the driveway, "Time to spare." he smirked to himself.
*********************************************
Jeff finished his chores and it was time for dinner... as he washed the grime off his hands from picking up the sticks he felt hot. It made sense, evenings were still chilly and he'd just been active.
Jeff had a bigger appetite than he was used to but there was also more food than normal on the table. "What are your plans tonight Jeff?" dad asked nonchalantly.
"Finishing homework and playing online." Jeff meant to say. Instead it came out, "It's poker and game night with the guys, I'm off tomorrow so I'll be out late, don't wait up. I'll crash at Pauly's if I drink too much or get tired." For a second that whole sentence seemed off but Jeff shook his head and double checked his answer, yeah, tonight is poker night... wonder why he wasn't thinking of it earlier.
"That sounds great Jeff, make sure you have plenty of fun and be safe... You're only young once, usually." Dad said with an awkward smirk he seemed to be trying to hide.
***********************************************
Jeff was heading to the bathroom after dinner, prepping to take a shower and head out, when his dad stopped him. "Hey Jeff, I played with that program you got."
Jeff stared in confusion... dad continued, "Earlier today you asked me what its like being an adult... I decided to let you try it out."
Jeff initially looked at his father like he was crazy but like slowly waking from a really convincing dream he eventually pushed past his dad and looked a himself in the mirror. "This feels like it should be weird, but it isn't... like I remember that I should be 16 but being 22 feels normal." Jeff pawed at his beard stubble soaking in the incongruency. "I'm taller and stronger... but I guess that shouldn't be a surprise."
"Good, that's how it's supposed to be. You'll spend a few days as an adult and playing the part will be normal for you and everyone else, every so often you'll become aware that this isn't normal, like now, but that's just to let you enjoy it and take stock of what its like. I'll be the only one always aware of your real age. I figured, you trusted me with it so I should trust you too, and maybe after you get some of the crazy stuff behind you, we could work together to make things here a little bit better."
"Yeah dad! Thanks! That sounds great!" Jeff said enthused. "I love you dad." Jeff was suddenly hit with the magnitude of what this all means and was touched his dad loved and trusted him enough to let him do this.
"Have fun tonight champ." Dad said leaving Jeff to get ready.
Jeff went about getting ready quickly forgetting he was 16 just an hour ago.
Mike smirked, Jeff is going to find out what its like getting old. Aging a decade a day till he's 82 should give him some perspective. Mike couldn't wait till 6 days from now when he can return the question, "So Jeff, what's it like being old?"