The band’s packing up. Last call at the bar. The balloons have begun to wilt, the streamers to sag. Fifty-year-old tales of teenage escapades are echoes, refracted by time. We laugh, slap backs, embrace. “See you in five years!” we say with hope while our hearts are haunted by doubt.

Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. In addition to 50-Word Stories, his writing has appeared in dozens of reviews, journals and anthologies. His first novel, “Deadline,” was published in the Fall of 2023. He lives outside Chicago.