Its just a second

It's just a second

 a small elderly man sits in a single recliner chair in a small one bedroom apartment in a seniors home. A young woman is leaning over him attaching a small wireless lapel microphone.

young woman - 'There that should do it.'

A young man finishes setting up a tripod, attaches a video  camera and focuses on the elderly man. Under his breath, to no one in particular he says 'we need more light.' He finishes fiddling with his equipment and leans in towards the young woman.

young man - 'We need more light. We need to open the curtains.'

He heads towards the window.To the young man the woman says, 'just a sec.'

To the elderly man she says 'we need more light, we need to open the curtains.'

elderly man, 'aye? whats that?'

woman louder, 'light. we need more light. we're going to open the curtains; OK.'

 elderly man, 'aye? more light?' Turn on all the lights.' 

The young woman looks quizzically at the young man. The young man frowns and holds his hand up and open pointing towards the window. She pauses, thinks a second, and then turns towards the elderly man.

young woman louder - 'yes ok, we will turn on all the lights, but natural lights better. Can we open the curtains?'

elderly man, 'oh yes, sure sure sure. but just close them when you leave, I have a hard time drawing them my self. but go ahead, do what you need to do.'

The young man heads to the window and opens the curtains.

young woman  - 'OK, thank you, we are just about set. So are you ready?'

elderly man,  - 'well I'm not really sure. I don't really know what you want.'

 young woman  - 'Anything. Any story or anecdote or history from your life, you know, just fell free to talk, talk about anything.'

elderly man,  - 'aye? any story?'

young woman, louder  -  Yes anything, any story.'

The woman looked at the young man behind the video camera. He nodded at her and gave a thumbs up.

elderly man,  - 'hmmm. a story. any story?'

young woman, louder  -  Yes any story.'

The elderly man rubbed his chin and looked down at his lap.

elderly man - ' any story. hmm. where to begin.'

young woman, louder  -  Well, why don't you start with your age.'

The eldery man smiled glanced at the young woman and then looked directly into the camera.

elderly man,  - 'aye? Start with my age and not my name? Ok. OK, I've got a story for you. I am  ninety or ninety-one, depending on how you figure it.'

The young woman looked at the young man who pointed to his head and touched his temple. The young woman smiled.

 young woman, - 'how old are you?'

 elderly man,  - 'aye? ninety or ninety-one, depending.' 

 young woman, - 'you don't know how old you are?'

 elderly man,  - 'Of course I  do. I just told you.'

The young woman frowned for a second.

 young woman, louder - 'your drivers license. How old does it say you are on your drivers license?'

 elderly man,  - 'clever girl. I don't have a drivers license, those bastards took it away. It doesn't say how old you are on your drivers license anyway, it just says when you were born.'

young woman, louder - 'do you know when you were born?'

elderly man,  - 'Good grief woman, of course I do. But you wanted my age, and my age depends on how you figure it. Let me explain.'

 young woman - 'yes yes, please go ahead.'

  elderly man,  - 'when I was young, in my teens and pre-teens, if you wanted to mark out ten seconds you would count, "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine, ten."
Then in mid life, my forties, you would mark out ten seconds by counting "one and, two and, three and," and so on.
Now  you count out ten seconds by counting "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand," and so on.'

The young woman looked away toward the young man and then back to the elderly man.

  young woman - 'ya..so....I don't get it.'

elderly man,  - ' and in twenty years, well no, probably more like ten years the way things are going, you would count out ten seconds by counting "one one thousand and, two one thousand  and, three one thousand and," and so on and so on.'

young woman - 'so....so you mean seconds are getting longer??'

 elderly man,  - 'exactly. and consequently I am  ninety or ninety-one, depending on how you figure it, depending if you use current seconds or seconds from my birth.'

The young woman opened her mouth slightly and turned towards the young man. The young man popped his head out from behind the video camera, looked at the young woman, raised his eyebrows, and went back behind the camera. The young woman turned back to the elderly man.

 young woman - 'but, its just a second, its not even that, its less than the time to say a word.'

  elderly man,  - 'exactly.  its just a second, less than a fraction of a second actually, but its the basis of all our time. those fractions add up.'

  young woman - 'but we all have watches and clocks and ways of keeping time, and they all agree. no one else says this, maybe you've just remembered things wrong.'

elderly man,  - 'maybe, but I've still got all my marbles. no one else says this because you need to live through it and be alert to observe it. its not just a matter of remembering but a matter of remembering and observing. most of the people here have lived long enough to have lived through it, but none of them will have observed it. And even if they did, by this age they allow others to convince them they are wrong.'

  young woman - 'this is crazy. watches and clocks; they all agree. time is not getting longer! you're delusional.'

 elderly man,  - 'its not time is getting longer, its our measure of time that is getting longer.'

 young woman, louder - 'watches! clocks! cellphones! computers! tv! they all agree.'