Benefit of surety

Back in the day a mother was showing her black-and-white wedding picture to her son. The nine-year-old boy, with his eyes beaming out of the socket, took a keen look and asked, "If this man is my dad, then who's the takloo in the drawing room?"

What we just read may be a joke but there's something intriguing about it. The boy could notice that the man he has come to know as his dad doesn't match the guy in his wedding picture. But at the same time, he's perfectly in alignment with his mother's identity. Let's give him the benefit of doubt and accept that his ma hasn't aged or changed much in appearance for over a decade now. But still. Don't you think there's something about the attachment kids—especially boys—shares with their mother? It's as if they grow old together, i must add, at the risk of generalizing the very concept of parenthood.