Chapter 1

I was sitting at the computer answering e-mails, and got an e-mail from a fellow who I had told I was old and sick and trying to regain my youth.

He wrote: We all are, take a look at this.

It was an Internet ad for an invention to cure disease and most of the effects of aging. I laughed at the ad and left it in my inbox.

I saw it again about 1 month later and decided to answer it. The cost was small, so I figured that if it was a scam, it wouldn't cost me much. After I sent the money order, I said to myself, 'What a sucker'.

After a month, it hadn't come and I forgot about it. I went into the hospital with a staff infection, and was delirious with fever for 3 days. After I got home, and recovered, my wife said, "You got a package."

Guess what, it was my cure for aging. I laughed as I read the instructions. It was a small U-shaped device that looked like an electromagnet. The instructions said the device gave off low frequency electromagnetic waves that reset the telemeres on the body's cells and caused them to begin dividing like a young person's would.

Okay, I thought, what do I have to lose.

I put it in my bed and slept with it for about 3 months. I actually forgot it was there, and it took me three months to remember it.

I took it out of the bed and stored it in my closet.

In a couple of weeks my wife said, "What is wrong with your hair?"

I never look at my hair except to comb it, so I said, "I don't know, what does it look like."

"It looks like you colored it and it is growing out," she said.

"You know better than that. It beats me," I said.

I just kept on living and working like usual, my dark hair grew back in and I had to finally get a short haircut to cut the gray off.

I was feeling better, lately, and when my quarterly doctor's appointment came along he cut down on my medicine. He cut out my blood pressure medicine totally, and cut my cholesterol medication in half, and cut my diabetes treatment in half also. He said, "Keep up the exercise and we may get you off the sugar medication totally."

"That is good news," I told him.

I told my wife what the doctor said. She said, "See, I have been telling you that for 10 years."

I began to lose weight, not just weight, fat and fluid weight. I began putting on muscle mass, so my weight did not change all that much, just where it sat.

I felt better, so I really did begin to exercise. I joined a gymnasium, and went 3 times a week. I had been unable to do this before because of joint and knee problems, but my knees were in good shape and my shoulders and hands had stopped hurting.

I had been suffering from erectile disfunction, and viagra didn't work. My sex life was nonexistent. One night when we were going to bed my wife looked at me and said, "Where did that come from?" Looking at my erection.

I remembered rule three for being an old man. 'Never waste an erection, even if you are by yourself.' We used it then and my wife said, "That was nice. I had almost forgotten what it was like."

Aside: For those of you who don't know, the three rules for being an old man are as follows: 1) Never miss a chance to take a leak. 2) Never assume it is just a fart and 3) Never waste an erection even if you are by yourself.

It was nice. My wife and I had a very active sex life until I got where I couldn't anymore.

I kept on working and exercising. I felt great, and looked pretty good for a 55-year-old. Actually, I looked damn good for my age. My skin had lost its sags, my wife assumed it was from the exercise, I didn't know.

My body was cooperating and I was able to have sex on a daily basis. My wife was very happy about that. It helped her hormones, too. I looked younger and she felt younger.

My energy level was very good. I worked in the yard and kept the house up. I was doing things like a young man. My body continued to act younger and younger.

I started feeling badly. I went to the doctor and he checked me out and took me off my cholesterol medication and off my diabetes medication. If you have to stop exercising, you need to check your blood sugar and start back if you need to.

In a couple of days, I was back to feeling great. My wife was glad, she said she missed the sex, now that she had gotten used to it again.

I loved life again like I had forgotten how to do since I had gotten sick. My children all commented about how good I looked. I told them I felt just as good.

Everything was really good. I had a good job, I enjoyed my hobbies again and my wife and I were getting along as well as we ever had.

I got a telephone call one morning at work. They said my wife had been in a car accident and had been killed immediately. I was crushed. I cried all the time for about 2 days. My oldest daughter took care of the funeral arrangements for me, and arranged for my doctor to give me some tranquilizers. I was calmer and was able to get through this terrible time in my life.

One day, my grand daughter asked me, "What are you going to do without Grandma?"

"I don't know, Sugar," I told her. "Granddaddy is a grown man and I will just have to take care of myself until I can find someone else who wants to take care of me like Grandma did."

"I miss her," she told me.

"Me too, Baby. I miss her every day," I said.

After a few months, I was getting really lonesome. I am not a drinker, so I didn't go to bars, I don't like the smoke anyway. I am not really religious, so I don't go to church much, none since the funeral. I didn't know how to meet anyone anymore. Everyone at my work was married and much younger than I am.

I decided to take dance lessons. It would get me out and be healthy exercise as well. I guess I was becoming a health nut, except the terrible food.

The lessons were given on Tuesday night, at the National Guard Armory. The acoustics were terrible, but the company was nice. There were mostly couples that took lessons, but there was another single man, like me, and four single women in the class.

We introduced ourselves the first night and told whatever we wanted to about ourselves. I told everyone that I was a 55-year-old widower that wanted to learn social skills. Everyone laughed at that quip.

We learned to do the waltz, the foxtrot, the rumba, and the jitterbug during the first two months. The single ladies in the class were all in their forties, and a bit too ditzy for my taste. They were fun to dance with though.

I went to some church dances over the next few months and had a very good time. I found out that I was a very marketable commodity. There were several divorced women that attended the dances. They were in the market for a husband. Most of them were younger than I was by a decade or so, and we really didn't have much in common. They didn't know who Ho Chi Minh was, if you get my drift.

My wife had been very interested in current events and history, so we had always had something to talk about, or for her to fuss at me about anyway. I was not finding anyone who really was interested in the same things I was. Who I was finding was interested in a steady paycheck.

I was talking to one of my hunting buddies one day and he said I should go over to the VFW and dance with the women there. There was always a shortage of men, and most of them were my age or a bit older.

I went over to the VFW the next Friday night, and saw that Bruce had been right. The only down side was the fact that alcohol was served, and many of the men got plastered. They weren't obnoxious, just drunk.

I met six or seven really nice women. They were smart and friendly, and nice looking. They were more interested when they found out I was fifty-five. Two or three said they thought I was more like thirty-five. "Just low mileage," was my answer to that comment.

We danced up a storm. A couple of them really were good at the jitterbug, so we had a really good time. One in particular was a load of fun. Her name was Rhonda, but she asked me to call her Ronnie. "Please call me Larry," I asked her, "I might answer better to Granddaddy, though."

"I know what you mean, I love my grand daughter to death," she said.

Ronnie lived and worked in the same town the VFW was located in. She said she came over here about twice a month to the dances. I bought her a soft drink, and we talked some more.

She was very bright, we discussed current events and politics. We agreed on many things, and where we disagreed we had a lively discussion. I asked her if she would like to go out to supper tomorrow night. She accepted and we decided to go to the Mexican restaurant in the town where I lived. It was a good restaurant, my favorite actually. I was to pick her up at 7:00. We exchanged cell numbers, and parted when the dance was over.

The next night we had a really nice supper and went back to her house to watch a little television. There was nothing to watch that we were interested in, so she suggested we turn on the stereo and dance a little bit. That suited me fine so we did. Ronnie was about 50, 5' 9" and bosomy, so dancing was a good experience. Her red hair framing her freckled face, with green eyes and bright smile really were a great combination.

At about midnight, I told her I had better be heading home. She said, "I have had a really wonderful time tonight."

"Me, too," I said, "I have been looking for someone that I could talk to for several months. I am so glad we met."

I called her the following Tuesday on her cell. "Rhonda Kelley," she answered.

"Is this the wonderful dancer," I asked.

She caught my voice and laughed, "I don't know how wonderful, but I love to dance."

"Well then, how about going with me on Friday?" I asked her.

"Alright, if you will come and eat supper with me tomorrow," she answered.

"It's a date, what time?" I asked.

"How about 7:30?" She asked.

"Great, how should I dress?" I asked.

"Casual," she laughed.

I hustled home from work and made my trip to the gym. I got ready and arrived about 2 minutes late.

I had stopped at the store and picked up a small bouquet of flowers and gave them to her at the door. "Thanks," she said, with a kiss on the cheek.

I smiled and put my hand to my cheek. She looked at me funny. I said, "No one has kissed me since my wife. Thanks, it was nice."

"You're really a good guy aren't you?" She said.