Paperwork: Before I kick the bucket, should I kick the can … again?

“The Twilight Zone,” Season 3, Episode 21: “Kick the Can.”

I had to look it up and watch it again. I was 13 years old when I watched it the first time. It aired in all its black-and-white splendor in February 1962.

The episode had a lot to say about aging, which I clearly understood better this time.

I chased down this episode thanks to Robert K. who sent me a short note about the column I wrote in July, reminiscing about summer evenings and childhood games.

I reminded him of that Twilight Zone episode about an older man who believed playing a childhood game might be the true fountain of youth.

“The episode stayed with me all these years. ... Maybe now I’m old enough to enjoy the game of Kick the Can again,” he said.

The story takes place at Sunnydale Rest Home where older folks spend their days sitting and staring. Except for Charles Whitley who gets excited watching local kids running and shouting nearby, playing Kick the Can. (Think tag, hide-and-seek and Capture the Flag. Whoever is “it” must guard the can and find those hiding.)

It’s a noisy game, lots of shouting, which irritates Ben Conroy, a longtime friend of Charles. It’s the back and forth between Ben and Charles that’s worth noting.

“Let them play someplace else,” Ben groaned. “They got playgrounds. They got homes.”

“Well, it’s the grass, Ben,” says Charles. “Kids can’t resist going where the grass is.

“Well, you can’t stop kids from playing Kick the Can. It’s like Statutes and hide-and-seek. It’s in their blood. It’s a special summer ritual. Did you ever stop to think of it?

“All kids play those games. And the minute they stop, they begin to grow old. It’s almost as though playing Kick the Can keeps them young.”

Charles reminds his friend that he used to believe in magic.

“Me, magic?” says Ben.

“Yes, you did,” Charles says. “When we walked on different sides of a street lamp, you’d say ‘bread and butter.’ When your baby teeth came out you put them under the pillow for the Tooth Fairy.

“Yeah, you believed in magic. What happened, Ben? What changed you? Was it time that did it? Or was it something else?”

“We grew up, that’s all,” grumbled Ben. “Everybody gets older.”

“Maybe there are ... people who stay young,” says Charles. “Maybe they know a secret they keep from the rest of us. Maybe the Fountain of Youth isn’t a fountain at all. Maybe it’s a way of looking at things. A way of thinking.”

Ben fears his friend is going senile, saying, “You’ve lived a full life, Charles. Don’t go sloppy now. Don’t spoil it by acting like a nut.”

Other residents, however, are enticed. Charles wakes them during the night and persuades them to sneak outside.

There’s more to the story but you can guess how it ends. Hey, it’s the Twilight Zone. Let’s just say Ben ends up regretting he didn’t kick the can. What stuck with me was the consistent message about how we give up on kid games and the idea of being young.

I don’t have any desire to kick a can. I do hope the game never vanishes, but I might be too late. (Hint to those with kids and grandkids.)

I wonder when I crossed that line of no return, stepping from young to old. There were several stages of life when I had to accept new realities. Or did I? There might be something in what Charles said. (Cue Twilight Zone music.)

“Maybe it’s a way of looking at things.”

• Lonny Cain, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, also was a reporter for The Herald-News in Joliet in the 1970s. His Paperwork email is lonnyjcain@gmail.com. Or mail The Times, 110 W. Jefferson St., Ottawa, IL 61350.