Short Story: Grownups

In the town of Calville, in the east part of town, a young boy named Charles decided that he wanted to know what being a grown up was really like. What made grownups “grownups”?

One morning he asked his mom as she was making breakfast, and she told him that grownups were people older than 18, for she was busy and didn’t want to burn the muffins. Walking away he though he liked this idea, since it made it very easy to tell if someone was a grown up…

But, just to be sure, he asked his dad as well. His dad was sitting at the dining room table reading the paper when he asked, but he turned his attention to Charles when he asked him what being a grownup meant. To his confusion, his dad told him that being a grown up meant being mature.

“What does mature mean, Daddy?” he asked.

“Why, Charles, it means being old inside, not just on the outside,” he said with a smile, and turned back to his paper.

Charles did not understand this very well, and didn’t think this answered his question very much at all. How could grownups not be grownups inside and out? But, on the way to school in the car with his mom, he thought he saw what his father meant. Looking out the window of the car he saw grownups pushing each other around sometimes, yelling at each other down one street, and a couple were whining and complaining in front of a grocery store.

His first thought was that all that was very childish for grownups to be doing, and his second thought was that it was very strange that he, a little boy, was thinking about things like that. But it was too late to stop this train of thought, so he kept thinking about it all the way to school.

At school he asked his friends at lunch what it meant to be a grown up.

“It’s being able to do what you want, dummy,” said one boy, chewing on his sandwich.

“It’s being old,” said one girl after a moment and with great effort of thought.

“Why don’t you ask the teacher at the end of class?” said his friend, who always had good ideas, and Charles liked this suggestion so much he resolved to do it, but figured he’d ask the kids what being mature was. Not unexpectedly, all of them thought it was just being an adult. He decided that, in this respect, they were right, but their ideas about being an adult were wrong.

When class was over he asked his teacher, who had begun to peruse the homework the class had left her, what she thought maturity was and what being a grown up meant.

“That is a very deep question Charles,” she said, setting down her glasses, and thought about it for a moment. “I think maturity is knowing things for what they are and doing things accordingly. Like seeing that everyone has good in them, and then loving them for that. Or knowing that you should always learn new things, and then trying to learn because of that. Do you understand what I’m saying Charles?”

Charles wasn’t sure he did, but nodded his head, thanked her and went off down the hall to where his mom was waiting to take him home.

That night his parents were out to dinner, so his Grandfather had come over to take care of him while they were gone. They had lots of fun playing trains together and building a fort out of pillows, but eventually it came time for Charles to go to sleep. As his grandfather was tucking him into bed he remembered his question about grownups, adults and maturity.

“Grandpa?” he asked tentatively. “What does it mean to be an adult? Not a silly adult, but a real adult? I’ve asked a lot of people and was told it means to be mature, but nobody was able to explain that very well… What makes a man a man, and what makes woman a woman? I don’t understand.”

His grandpa smiled and let out a small chuckle.

“Oh Charles, you are already so grown up it’s very surprising. What you’re asking about is a very grownup question that many people can’t answer very well. A lot of people have different ideas of that to boot. But tell me Charles, what is the difference between a grown up and a baby?” Charles thought for a moment.

“A baby has to have everything done for it, doesn’t it? It can’t do anything. A grown up can do anything.”

“Well, not everything,” said his grandpa, smiling and ruffling his hair. “But grownups make their own choices, don’t they? Their lives are their own. They take responsibility for their own lives, you know? They don’t need people to feed them or take care of them. They can take care of themselves, think for themselves and are willing and ready to. Does that answer your question well enough young man?”

“Yes, Grandpa, I think it does,” said Charles with a contented smile as he closed his eyes. And with that new knowledge a certain tranquility came over him, and he fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

*Any comments, criticisms, suggestions or outright angry rants about my short story are very welcome! I enjoy all the advice, good and bad, that I can get. Not saying that I'll take your advice though, just that I'd like it. If it's bad advice I probably won't take it. Since, you know, taking bad advice is bad...