"'Time is a riddle, is it not?' the farmer mused, returning from the refrigerator with a jar of homemade raspberry jam. 'The last time I saw Nicholas, that ancient dog of ours was a puppy. And you know what? I remember that the two of us felt old then! So, what does that make us now?' He laughed and shook his head. 'And yet at the same time we both agreed that part of us still felt like the boys we once were--like we hadn't changed a bit.
"'And do you know what Nicholas said? I remember it plainly. He said that he doesn't believe we become different people as we age. No, he says he believes that we become more people. We're still the kids we were, but we're also the people who've lived all the different ages since that time. A whole bunch of different people rolled up into one--that's how Nicholas sees it. And I can't say that I disagree. How else to explain that sometimes I want to run and jump the way I used to--but can't anymore--yet at the same time enjoy sitting with a cup of coffee and a newspaper in a way you couldn't have paid me to do as a boy? Well, it's a wonder.'"
--Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages, p.238
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