Journals through time

There he was. The infamous 30 year old, in the small English village of Farnham. He claimed to be 30 but the elders remember him exactly the same as when they were children. People brushed it off as looking exactly like old relatives. To them, all the men through the generations did. He looked exactly like his father and his grandfather. But he didn’t tell them that it was just him through the decades.

 He had written journals in his time in that village, as to not forget the memories or people he got involved with. They dated back exactly 100 years to the day. The first had been a birthday present from one of his friends at the time, Joshua Bennett. He had gathered quite the collection after that, taking a liking to the different textured covers he found.

      Once he claimed he had written all of them, word for word, so maybe someone could see it was him. They all had his name in them, the ink just as old as the ink of the writing inside. Again, people paid no mind to it. Just family heirlooms, they said. Either way he continued to collect them and fill every inch, of every page. 

     It was finally 4pm. The doorbell rung at exactly 3 minutes past and he opened it with a smile and an excited hello. It was his birthday after all, he was allowed to be excited about the decorations around him and the cakes in the fridge. Slowly, few at a time, the population of the village (which was only about 100 people including him) was in his house and his garden lingering and enjoying the company of each other. He had insisted that no one bring gifts but they all did anyway. 

     Ha had made some new friends, mostly with his old friends children and grandchildren, but pleasant people nonetheless. Joshua Bennett was too important to him when he was around because he had shared his secret and had not been laughed at. So he had a particular soft spot for his granddaughter. She walked up to him and gave him a big hug, slowly slipping him a new yellow mole skin journal. She kissed his cheek and whispered so only he could hear.

“Happy 100th” 

“Thank you.” He smiled, and hugged her back.