The Dirty Old Man
by Lewis John Carlino

THE STORY: On a lonely stretch of beach in Northern California sits an old man.

In his hand is a notebook in which he copies impressions of the colors of sunsets, the smell of trees and flowers, the feel of wind on his face.

To this spot come two high school students, a boy and a girl.

An argument flares up and the boy storms off, leaving the girl stranded with the old man.

They begin to talk and as they do, each of them opens up.

The girl, touched by his loneliness and sorrow, tries to shake him out of his mood by teaching him how to “twist.”

Suddenly the old man's face contorts with pain as he suffers a heart attack.

After taking a pill his pain eases.

The girl, upset by his condition, relates the death of her grandmother who died of the same ailment.

The old man grows more and more uneasy as she details the events.

He doesn't want to hear about death!

He is only old outside.

The girl looks deep into his face and somehow in his eyes, behind the old, sagging skin, she can see a glimpse of this caged soul.

She asks if she can kiss him, then pulls away to see him crying.

Just at that moment the boy returns, sees the situation, and surmises the old man is molesting his girl.

He beats him viciously, calling him a dirty old man.

In the end the boy and girl leave, and the old man, torn with guilt, cries out in anguish that time has passed him and he had no right to the kiss which, for a fleeting moment, made him young again.