Story Bazaar

If I Didn't Know Now What I Knew Then

It started with a whisper in Sardinia, followed by quiet probing in Nicoya and Ikaria.

Within a year, there was official interest in the phenomenon.

What had happened was that two women aged 108 and a man aged 110 began what was being called a "Second Puberty".

The predominant symptoms were:

* Resumption of a mild period in the women

* Increased erections in the man

Within two years, there were five more women and seven more men, with additional symptoms, including:

*Richer hair growth in pubic area

* Woman's breasts becoming firmer

* Men having strong, revived interest in sex---even without an erection

Certain corporations began a push to send medical teams to Sardinia, Nicoya, Ikaria, Okinawa, and Loma Linda, California.

One particular corporation sent a scientist/physician/psychologist team to Loma Linda---they began blood draws, laboratory testing of skin cells and hair, along with intensive psychological interviews.

Mary Gilbert went along with it all until the scientist wanted her to sign a paper that gave them the right to own any treatments derived from the physical specimens being taken.

In a televised interview sparked by some of Mary's actions, she said:

"They tested me and my body without good faith---fact is, they tried to get me to sign those papers without reading them. Something bad is beginning..."

The corporate team got full permission from two of the Loma Linda centenarians---Mary did her best to dissuade them but failed...

The team disappeared---two years later a new drug appeared on the marketplace---it was called, YoungOnceMore.

People in their 80s and 90s (there were reports of some folks as young as 45...), none of them in Second Puberty, began taking it---rumors were the health oversight organizations were heavily bribed.

People who'd taken the drug had a few weeks of illusory youth---twenty died suddenly...

TV crews began to show up in Loma Linda wanting interviews with any of the centenarian residents---Mary declined all but one of them.

The woman who approached her had said:

"Mary, we've got a case of corporate crime, always hard to fight; but, you seem to have had a premonition that they were up to no good. What made you not sign their consent papers?"

"Basically, the way they talked---all over-happy, too many words of praise of me---I mean who am I to be praised for something strange that happened in my body (didn't even feel all that good---my breasts were a bit firmer but ached...) and the men were totally getting on my nerves---why in the world want to make it so anyone could have what we were struggling with...?"

"So you don't like your Second Puberty?"

"Hell no---some folks pretended they did; but, scratch the surface, if ya know what I mean..."

"Can we video you so other folks can hear a rational explanation of what's happening and the dangers of this YoungOnceMore craze?"

"Let me think on it---come back tomorrow..."

~~~

Mary did agree to the taped interview.

It was appropriately closed captioned and shown all over the world.

A movement of younger folk---21 to 35---rose up, calling themselves "Protectors of the Respected Elders".

It only took six months for the group to attain a membership of one million.

What caught the public's attention were the members of "Protectors" who specialized as counselors to the centenarians---there were a constantly growing number of the seniors contracting Second Puberty and the youth counselors transferred knowledge and feelings from elders who didn't like the condition to those who claimed it was "Wonderful!".

~~~

It took another six months for the deadly qualities of Second Puberty to become glaringly apparent:

* Men were becoming quite violent.

* Women were planning for births that would never come, then plunging into depression cycles that threatened mortal results.

* More and more folks, even down to their mid-30s, were taking YoungOnceMore, with a larger percentage dying.

~~~

When the drug was finally taken off the market and a new one that mitigated the Second Puberty symptoms appeared, Mary wrote a book about her experiences...

The final paragraph said:

"I need to sum-up and some folks won't like it.

"Second Puberty is a disease, bottom line.

"You may wish for returned youth; and, you may hate the results of aging; but, there's a way a person with an old body can feel young without fancy drugs and it's called paying attention to your inner self.

"There's also a reason our bodies age---all the increasing poor functioning is there to help us tune in to our Immortal Souls---the material world isn't all it's cracked up to be, ya know...

"You sure don't have to agree with me; but, let's talk about it when both our souls are in the Afterlife..."

~~~~~~~~~

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