As Justin walked out of the Goodwin Mutual Trust Company for the last time a hollow feeling came over his psyche. He was no longer officially the Chief Claims Officer of the thirty second largest Insurance company in the world. He could now be described with a word that he disliked more than any other in his vast vocabulary…RETIREE!
Oh he was happy for the free time, permanent vacation which lay ahead, which he had earned after forty eight years of employment with but a single company. He had started in the mail room alongside Gustavis Goodwin, eighth “Goodwin” to work for his family’s firm.
Justin knew that unless Gustavis or “Gus” as he was known to close friends, wound up in prison, convicted of some atrocious crime, Gus would eventually become President of the company.
It was good to be friends with a Goodwin at Goodwin Mutual Insurance Company and Gus came to relay on the excellent judgement of Justin down through the years.
But today, would be the very last day that Justin would ever see Gus again, at least as an adult, of which, incidently at the time, Justin was totally unaware.
Yes, it was a strange day for anyone under the circumstances but especially for Justin.
After arriving at home Justin went to his dressing room to change into retiree clothes, whatever they were. He’d ordered an array of outfits from Orvis that gave the impression of big game hunter, and a group of clothes from Caballas that hinted of fly fisherman, and finally a selection of duds ordered at Emporio Armani which translated to a look of European weekend sophistication.
Justin tried on all of his “looks” but couldn’t settle on a suitable non-suit for retirement.
Justin’s Mom had saved all of his clothes from his childhood and just because it was a day of reminiscience, Justin pulled out the trunk full of clothing and pictures from those, too long ago to count, happy days of way back when.
He was in the attic looking through the array of kid’s outfits complete with shoes, slightly worn and scuffed, when the room began to swim and the dust became caught up in a swirl, and as the swirling cloud grew larger and larger like a tornado, Justin was pulled into the cyclone and was swept away!
He didn’t know how long he’s been twirling but Justin was still dizzy when he thumped to a landing and tried to stand up or even focus on the vista before him.
After a minute or two and after rubbing his eyes, which never really helps anyhow, he realized that he was back in his old school yard at #55 elementary school.
“Get in here Kidagin, you are ALWAYS the last to come back in from recess. You’ll never amount to anything with that attitude of yours.”
It was Miss Jennings, his sixth grade teacher. Not one of his favorites but definitely one that always pushed him on to better effort.
Justin looked down at himself, his short legs and smallish feet and childlike hands and realized that he had seen those same limbs about the time that he was twelve years old!
He was still staring at himself when Miss Jennings, yelled for the second time…”NOW!”
Justin got up from the ground, and dusted himself off. Then, as he passed his stern teacher he said… “Miss Jennings, I am deeply disappointed in my abominable behavior and I am forthwith dedicating myself to correcting my demeanor to a degree where you will be alleviated from the dismay that I have caused during this recess period.”
As Justin took his seat behind his desk Miss Jennings was still standing at the door, mouth agape!
After a time of readjustment for Miss Jennings she resumed her duties at the head of the class and her lesson but never again looked even near the direction of the desk where Justin sat.
He was slowly beginning to understand what had happened to him and realizing the unbelievable power that he now posessed as a twelve year old WUNDERKIND!
It didn’t take long for the teachers to realize the success to be had by “showing off” Justin by way of Spelling Bees, Debates, Science Fairs, and all sorts of events where Justin blew away all competition.
After a month or so, the teachers were even asking him for advice, especially on matters of investing and insurance.
Letters that were sent home with Justin, were responded to by him as if he were his parents.
Justin was still living in the family home where he grew up and “walked to school” each day.
The beauty of Justin’s situation was that he still had his bank accounts and his pension from the Insurance company. He wouldn’t dare drive a car but ordered mostly everything from Amazon with home delivery.
Justin often went to the attic and tried to see if he could find a way to travel back and forth from retirement to sixth grade but never could get the “swirl” to build up any power.
He thought at first that he might be able to predict events since he had lived through them but somehow the “time twist” as he called it didn’t work that way.
But he had plenty of clout as a twelve year old with the experience of a retiree and that was more than enough to deal with on a daily basis.
He didn’t really want to admit it to himself and of course couldn’t to the rest of the world, but he was actually starting to miss things.
He was doing lots of homework and although it was easy, it took time and he had to do it even if he didn’t want to. Plus, he couldn’t go anywhere as an adult or even by himself except to school without an adult being with him.
He missed driving his car. He missed being tall, he missed adult friends, and frankly he missed so many things that he couldn’t even list them all, though he tried.
He was deciding, and not too slowly, that he actually missed something that he never would have guessed: he missed the idea of retirement. A comfortable one where he could go nearly everywhere and do almost anything he wanted, when he wanted, and with whom he wanted: go to sleep when he wished and sleep as late as he wished and eat adult foods.
But there was a problem. How to “Get Back”.
He spent hours in the attic but nothing that he tried seemed to get the swirl going. Until one Saturday, after he had beeen experimenting all day with “get back” methods, he pulled out the trunk where the children’s clothing and photos had originally been stored. Justin had placed all of his “retirement outfits, the Hunter, The Fisherman, and the European Sophisticate into the trunk and replaced it back into the attic corner.
Upon opening the lid and pulling out the second outfit, there it was…”THE SWIRL” and he madly pulled outfits out of that trunk as fast as he could and the tornado gathered him up along with the clothing and after a wild and hectic ride, dumped him with a thump onto his patio with a glass of adult lemonade in his hand, wearing a safari jacket, waders and fishing boots and a beret! But he had made it all the way back to retirement and total bliss.
Justin Kidagin was never ever a kid again and he was so happy, that from that day forward, he laughed every single day.
The lesson from this tale is that if you ever meet an extremely precocious 12 year old, check out his attic!

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