No. I wasn’t checking out a 17 year old…

Have you ever felt that you were in a time warp? Have you ever felt like you are talking to an older or younger version of yourself? Have you ever met someone so familiar that they felt like instant family?

My waiter on the weekend shook my partner’s hand as we paid the bill and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. What the? Inappropriate. Unprofessional. Utterly random. But not unwelcome. It felt like we were saying goodbye to family. This is not a comment on the service at the restaurant – which was fabulous – but on something entirely different.

The young man that served us, Sam was his name, was warm and helpful but we liked him entirely too much after he took our drink order. We mused over our wine and beer where we knew him from. Surely we couldn’t know a random HSC student from Glebe? Could he be a family friend? No. A little brother of a Uni acquaintance? Nope, we both felt like we knew him.

Then it hit me. Big blue eyes. A mop of unruly sandy brown curls. A slight but muscular physique. Pouty lips. Innate confidence. Sunny personality.

“He is Cooper” I say to Rubens.

“What?”

“He is what Coop could look like in 16 years.”

“Holy shit! I reckon you are right”

“Good” I say relieved that the affection I feel for this minor is somewhat explicable and not just creepy.