This, That, and the Other

Alex woke up from a restless night’s sleep, stretched his old bones before maneuvering his way out of bed in a manner that would be as painless as possible. He slowly made his way to the bathroom, fished his penis through the hole in his pajama bottoms, and let loose a stream of urine, trying to get much as possible centered in the bowl so as not to splash out onto the porcelain. He was moderately successful. He stuffed himself back into his pajama bottoms, moved over to the sink and looked at his reflection in the mirror. When did I get this goddam old? he silently asked himself as he ran a hand across the white stubble on his chin.

Opening the sink faucet, Alex splashed his face to wash the sleep off. He reached for a towel, dried his face, and looked in the mirror. To his dismay, the reflection he saw was one of a boy, maybe 12 or 13 years old. Alex cocked his head to the right. The boy cocked his head to the left at the same angle. Alex took his left hand and moved it toward the mirror. The boy in the mirror moved his right hand toward the mirror. Their index fingers touched on the surface of the mirror and Alex felt an electric jolt shoot through his body.

Alex was thrown back a few feet, caught himself before falling and moved back to the sink and looked in the mirror once again. But this time he saw his reflection, that of an old man, staring back at him. Alex put his hand on his chin. It was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. He ran his hands over his face. No wrinkles. He looked at his hands, which were smaller and had no liver spots.

The young Alex asked the old man in the mirror what was going on. The reflection in the mirror said, “We are one and the same, Alex. This is a rejuvenation mirror. Save this very special mirror. Listen carefully, young man. In your 70th year, on the 131st day of the year, you must come stand in front of this very mirror and I’ll be who you see, but I will be a child. We will each touch the mirror with the tips of our index fingers, and we will trade places, just as we did today. And you — or we, actually — will be young again. That way we can each live in perpetuity.”

“I don’t understand,” the young Alex said. “Why me? Why us?”

“I don’t know the answer. All I know is that this is the fourth time we’ve swapped places like this,” the old Alex in the mirror said. “But be warned, if you don’t show up and look in this same mirror on the 131st day of your 70th year, the repetition shall end, you will continue to age until you die, and when you do, I shall die with you.”

**********

Alex woke up from a restful night’s sleep, stretched, and hopped out of bed. As he was walking toward the bathroom, he had a vague recollection of a strange dream involving some old man and a mirror, but the details of the dream had already faded. He peed, went to the sink, looked in the mirror, and felt excited about it being a Thursday and the next to the last day of school for the week.

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Written for Sadje’s What Do You See prompt. Photo credit: Jenna Hamra @ Pexels.