Not Fade Away

Jackson Browne, I say.

Who?

Jackson Browne, the singer. You look like him, like he was in the seventies when he was big.

I do?

Yes.

But I can’t sing and I work in a burger bar.

I know, but you’re finishing a degree in International Studies, right?  You’ll be a diplomat. And you have his idealism, his energy. One thing though.

What’s that?

Don’t fade. Don’t go sanctimonious on us

I won’t, he says.

And looking at him, his floppy brown hair, chiselled features, slender build, alert eyes, I believe him.

He won’t.