Time of Your Life Competition

"In 2050 1 made the first trip to Mars, Cosmo."
"Yes, I know, Grandpa, and you were 'Amazed, astounded and deeply astonished."
"Well, who wouldn't be, to find fossilised bacteria imbedded in a Martian rock! "
"Would you like a chunk of Mum's rock cake, Grandpa?"
"There I was, holding the blueprint of life in my hand!"
"Wouldn't you like a piece? There's juicy sultanas inside."
"But see, I never told you the whole story, Cosmo."

Grandpa's name was Edward Biscuit and he had been a famous explorer of the universe. He had even had a little moon named after him. Most of the time Cosmo was proud to be a Biscuit, but sometimes he felt that having such an illustrious Grandad was a bit of a burden; it made him seem so grand and distant, like another planet spinning away in outer space.

Besides, Cosmo was more interested in things on earth. Like how he was going to get through the initiation ceremony tomorrow. There were five tests to pass before they would pronounce him a Man and a Citizen. He had to show how he was Strong, Brave, Unique and Honest, and have done something To His Own Personal Cost, over his thirteen years, to contribute to World Peace. (He had a problem with the World Peace part - he'd killed a lot of mosquitoes, would that help? No, that was World Health.)

But his biggest problem, really, was Honesty.

Grandpa cleared his throat. 'In 2050 when you were born, Cosmo, I went to Mars.'
Maybe that's why I've always felt so far away from you, thought Cosmo. I bet you, Edward Biscuit, never had to worry about Honesty. I bet you never took anyone else's school bag home by mistake (Norman E. Lilo's bag, for heaven's sake, son of Lilo, the great inventor) and only discovered your error later when your dog had chewed it and peed all over it and your little sister had buried it in the back yard under the compost. I bet you never had to lie and say "No, I haven't seen Norman's bag. Bag, what bag?"

"Now that you are thirteen," Grandpa went on, "I want to tell you the true story. As you are about to become a Man, you can shoulder the Truth." Grandpa shifted uneasily in the chair, as if there a spring were sticking into him.
"You mean the near miss with the meteorite, the solar wind blast, the black hole suction were all untrue?"
"Well, no, not really." Grandpa spread his hands and gazed at them. "There may have been exaggerations maybe, you know, to whet your appetite. No, it's only that I left out the most important part."
"That's not lying."
"It is really. See I changed the truth so that you'd see me more heroically. That is something that people do-"
"Who've failed their Initiation tests?"
"Back in my time we didn't have them. We sort of fumbled through..."

Cosmo wished he'd lived in Grandpa's time. Then it wouldn't matter that he'd taken Norman's school bag home by mistake and lied about it and discovered later that it had a very important invention inside it. If Cosmo had lived in Grandad's time he could have left the bag in the ground and faked it. Bag, what bag? But faking it was an old-fashioned piece of Behaviour. You couldn't really do that anymore, not when you were thirteen. Because everyone had to go through this Initiation, and Reveal All, otherwise you couldn't belong to society. They said Lies & Secrets were a form of Alienation, and that's what led to War.
And everyone had to be really careful about War. There'd been enough of that in the last century. But what was he going to do about the bag? Couldn't there just be a little corner of darkness, like a blind spot that the light never hit and he could hide in there? Everyone always thought Cosmo would be such a Model Citizen, what with his famous grandfather and all. And there he was with the bag and the lie. It made him go hot all over every time he thought about it. And now what was this about Grandad's secret? The whole story? That made his skin prickle too. He decided to change the subject.

"Did you hear about Discovery 206?" Cosmo asked.
"I was telling you about the year 2050."
"I know, but Discovery 206 is amazing and has great implications for world peace."

Finko actually was excited about 206. Page One of Cyberspace News always told the latest scientific discovery and last month there was the Discovery of the Forgiveness Gene, No. 206.
Imagine, the Forgiveness Gene!
There had already been the Discovery of the Good Mothering Gene, the Curling Tongue Gene, the Smart Aleck Answering Back Gene - and now, it was Forgiveness.
"What I want to know," Cosmo went on breathlessly, "is, can you work on a gene? I mean, just say your friend wasn't blessed with a strong kind of gene, is there something to be done about it? To build it up, I mean. Go from weak to strong, I mean."
He just knew Norman E. Lilo's Forgiveness Gene would be weak as water.

"I suppose so. But I want to talk to you about something quite different this evening, Cosmo."
About outer space, thought Cosmo. Why doesn't he ever talk about Inner Space? Where genes live.
"You see, arriving on Mars was about the biggest thing the Human Race had ever done."
"Depends on your point of view," said Cosmo. "I don't see how it would have helped the thousands of people who were still hungry on earth."
"Well, anyway, when I bent down and picked up that tiny chunk of rock, and we examined it with our Microzilofile Expansion Unit, it was like the whole universe stopped for a moment."
"I know, and you were astounded and agog."
"And then, Cosmo-"
"I know, it mysteriously disappeared. But we know that the other astronaut from Cashew Island stole it. You were furious and indignant and foofuffled. And they never admitted it. But at least you had the memory of it on record, didn't you. No one ever did find another chunk like that, though. So you, Edward Biscuit were Unique, and made history, and they even called one of Mars' moons after you." And how can I ever live up to that, thought Cosmo gloomily.
"Yes, well, that's what I wanted to tell you about."
"They found another piece? Cashew Island gave up the rock?"
"No, I ate it."
"You what?"
"Well, see, it was like this."
Grandad was practically bouncing around on his chair, as if five million needles were sticking into his bottom. He looked as if he wished like mad he was in outer space right now. But Cosmo was really hooked. He'd even forgotten about his Initiation for five minutes.

"When we climbed back into Voyager 23, we were dog tired and hungry. Nutman-"
"From Cashew Island-"
"Pulled out his space rations and I pulled out mine. I'd kept some of your Mum's rock cake in one of my front zips, in case I got hungry on Mars. But I forgot that I'd put the Martian rock-"
"With the fossilised bacteria imbedded in it-"
"Into that same pocket. It was only when I nearly cracked my molar on a piece of cake and practically choked, swallowing it, that I realised what I'd done. "
"Devoured the most important piece of information in the universe!"
"Yes." Grandpa slumped heavily into the chair.
Cosmo stared at him.
"I've never been able to eat your mother's rock cake since."

Cosmo couldn't help it. He started to smile. Then he let a chuckle burst out. Grandpa's lips twitched too. He was looking at Cosmo in this sort of humble, grateful way. But Cosmo was thinking of how his Mum, for all her life, had been offering rock cake to Grandpa, and never noticed that he, Cosmo, was the one who ate it. Cosmo knew he should have been dwelling on more important things, like poor Nutman who'd been wronged, and how a war could have started (if everyone hadn't been so civilised with the Initiations and all) and how Grandpa, his famous, moon-named-after-him Grandpa, had told a terrific great lie.

Honestly! Honesty.

Cosmo looked at Grandpa sitting there in the chair. He looked peaceful and grandfatherly, not bristling with strange, outer space energy like he usually did. He looked as soft and restful as the velvety armchair. Like someone you could get close to. Someone you could lean on.
Funny how when a person confesses about a lie, you trust them more than ever. Cosmo went over and offered him a piece of cake.
"It's delicious," Cosmo said. "'Don't miss out for another thirteen years."
Grandpa took a piece, and held Cosmos's hand.
"Cosmo my boy, I think you have a very strong Discovery No. 206. 1 can't imagine which side of the family you get it from."
"I hope it's you, Grandpa Biscuit, because you're going to have to exercise yours now."

Cosmo had just made up his mind. He would tell Grandad about Norman's bag. Everything. Even the important invention that lay rotting under leather and compost. It would be like a rehearsal for tomorrow.
He took a deep breath. The air in his lungs expanded his chest and made his head go light and floaty. He saw little stars exploding around Grandpa's silvery hair like one of Saturn's rings and suddenly he felt Strong and Brave and Unique and Honest. He was going to Reveal All and somehow he knew that Grandad would still go on sitting there in that chair, smiling at him in a relieved sort of way and eating rock cake, his first tasty mouthful in thirteen years.