Farewell Summer ~ Ray Bradbury - Marimarister

That dreadful word again!
―Don‘t say it!‖
―But I‘m thinking it,‖ said Bleak, trying mightily to keep an unaccustomed smile from
creasing his lips.
―So you‘re right, so I‘m miserable, and here I sit, crying like a goddamn idiot fool!‖
The freckled leaf-shadows passed over his liver-spotted hands. They fitted, for a moment,
like a jigsaw and made his hands look muscled, tanned, and young. He stared at them, as if
delivered free of age and corruption. Then the freckling, twinkling motion of passing trees went
on.
―What do I do now, what do I do? Help me, Bleak.‖
―We can help ourselves. You were heading for the cliff. I tried to warn you. You can‘t
hold them back now. If you‘d had any sense, you might have encouraged the children to continue
their damned revolution, never grow up, to be egocentrics. Then they really would have been
unhappy!‖
―A fine time to tell me.‖
―I‘m glad I didn‘t think of it. The worst thing is never to grow up. I see it all around. I see
children in every house. Look there, that‘s Leonora‘s house, poor woman. And here‘s where
those two old maids live, and their Green Machine. Children, children without love. And over
there, take a look. There‘s the ravine. The Lonely One. There‘s a life for you, there‘s a child in a
man‘s body. That‘s the ticket. You could make Lonely Ones of them all, given time and
patience. You used the wrong strategy. Don‘t force people to grow. Baby them. Teach them to
nurse their grievances and grow their private poison gardens. Little patches of hate and prejudice.
If you wanted them unhappy, how much better to say, ‗Revolt, I‘m with you, charge! Ignorance,
I‘m for you! Down with the slob and the swine forever!‘‖
―Don‘t rub it in. I don‘t hate them anymore, anyway. What a strange afternoon, how odd.
There I was, in his face. There I was, in love with the girl. It was as if time had never passed. I
saw Liza again.‖
―It‘s still possible, of course, you can reverse the process. The child is in us all. It‘s not
hard to keep the child locked there forever. Give it another try.‖
―No, I‘m done with it. I‘m done with wars. Let them go. If they can earn a better life than
I did, let them earn it. I wouldn‘t be so cruel as to wish them my life now. I was in his face,
remember, and I saw her. God, what a beautiful face! Suddenly I felt so young. Now, turn me
around and roll me home. I want to think about the next year or so. I‘ll have to start figuring.‖