Eddie stood in front of the mirror. In front of him, there was an old man full of wrinkles and silver hair. His face was pale yellow, with a pair of unhealthy grey eyes. He was a tall man and his hair was messy.
He stared at the mirror and sighed, ‘I’m becoming older and older than before. I couldn’t run like an athlete anymore. I’m trash.’
‘Ed, don’t be so sad. It’s normal and it’s the nature of human. You can’t be forever young,’ a brown-eyed woman with a white hair said and put her hand on his shoulder. ‘It’s just a match. It’s normal that you have lost in the competition. It’s time for you to quit.’
‘Mandy, you’re the one who understands me the most. I won’t quit,’ Eddie refused and continued, ‘I’ll never quit from running in a marathon.’
‘But Ed…’ Mandy cried. Ignoring what she had said, he turned away from her and returned to his bedroom.
He shook his head. He wouldn’t let this happen and he would never quit. He picked up a photo frame. There were four people in the picture and two of them were smiling with a trophy surrounded their necks. One of them had smooth black hair and a pair of unique grey eyes – it was him who was once a tough and healthy boy. Eddie put his hand on the photo and grinned, thinking of what stupid things he had done in the past. But then he suddenly focused on the tallest boy next to the ‘young Eddie’. The boy had shinny golden hair and a pair of sky blue eyes. He was Eddie’s best friend, John who was a quiet, shy boy and the one invited him to join the marathon. However, after graduating from the university, they separated in different places to realize their dreams – to get a gold medal in the marathon. ‘Maybe I should visit him,’ Eddie decided and put on his grey coat.
He arrived at John’s little cottage where roses and different kinds of plants greeted him along the gate. He rang the doorbell and a man with a pair of pale blue eyes opened the door and spoke with surprise, ‘Welcome, Eddie! You’re giving a surprise to me! Come in, please.’
John led Eddie to his bedroom and sat on a sofa. Like Eddie’s place, the room was full of different photos. Yet Eddie realized that most of them were pictures of children.
‘Who’re they?’ Eddie pointed at those photos and questioned.
‘My grandchildren and some are my great-grandchildren,’ John replied with a grin on his face.
Eddie nodded and asked, ‘Have you quit the marathon race?’
‘Yes. As you can see, I’m too old to participate in it and my health condition doesn’t allow me to continue,’ he laughed.
Eddie frowned at him. He wasn’t happy with his answer and said, ‘How about your dream? Didn’t we say that we have to get a gold medal and continue to run for the marathon until we die? You’re now giving up?’
John shook his head, ‘I am not giving up. It’s just that I gave my dream to the younger generation. Though I could not win a medal by myself, through teaching my grandchildren and sharing my experience with them, I pass on the dream to them. All of us will fight for the same dream and they try to achieve their goals with my advice. Isn’t that wonderful? Through sharing my dream with them, my happiness would be doubled, tripled or even more when they succeed. You could never imagine how happy you would be when you train a talented child. So I’m telling you, I’m just changing the way to chase my dream but not giving up.’
Eddie stood up and asked, ‘Can I chase my dream?’
John smiled, ‘You should know what I mean. You are never too old to live out your dreams.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ Eddie smiled.