Fait à la Perfection

8

"So James...tell me about yourself, how old are you?"

"Six," James responded from the floor. He was preoccupied playing with the cars, "my birthday is in February."

"Oh? Mine too."

"When?" James asked suspiciously.

"February 29."

"There is no February 29," James said, "you're an idiot."

"Pardon?"

James gulped.

"Do you talk to Hermione that way?"

James stayed silent.

"Well...if we find a February 29, what do I win?"

James knew it was a trap.

Be he was right.

"I'll stop being rude to Hermione, and what if I'm right?"

"Then you get a whole box of stickers."

James immediately got up as the Doctor grabbed a calendar.

They flipped to February 2004 and there is was. 

A leap year.

"B-B-But...how?" James asked.

"February 29 is what is called a leap year, every four years, all the time in the world gather up and give February one more day, February 29."

"But...you look so old."

The man laughed.

"I am, I am 62 years old but...since there has only been sixteen February 29's in my lifetime, you could say I am...sixteen years old."

"But you're still old."

The doctor chuckled.

"I celebrate by birth on the 28th and the 1st...maybe all that cake has made me look a little older."

James nodded.

Tang had to be the reason.

He went back to his toys.

"James," the doctor said, "how about you draw me something."

"I don't like to draw, drawing is for babies."

"Is it?"

James nodded.

"We'll I'll be darned, and here I am loving to draw."

James looked at his doctor. He stood up and went to the table.

"Do you know what I'm going to draw?"

James shook his head.

"My dog Daisy, oh, she's just as old as you."

"She's six?"

"Yes, but she also likes to draw."

James slowly went to the table.

"Look...this is me...this is my older sister, that is my older brother — he's always making fun of me — that is my baby sister, and that is my baby brother."

"There's five of you?"

The doctor nodded.

"This is was my mum, and this was my dad."

"Are they dead?"

He nodded once more.

James chewed on his lower lip.

"My mum and dad are dead too..."

"I'm sorry James, when did they die?"

"A few days ago."