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May 4
My birthday was not celebrated the way that I wanted. There was no cake. There were no balloons. Just me and Uncle Max taking biscuits and groundnuts from a large tray with a lotus symbol at its centre.
"So how old are you today?" Uncle Max asked.
"I am plus one," I said with such confidence befitting of a native fowl that is about to prepare for defeathering.
"So you are not going to tell me your age?" Uncle Max persisted.
"I thought I told you now."
"When?"
"Come on, Uncle Max. I am plus one. That is my age."
Uncle Max shook is head in a way that signified he wasn't afraid of questioning me until he got what he wanted.
"Plus one is an addition not an age," Uncle Max argued.
"What is the meaning of age, Uncle Max?"
"If I must tell you, an age is the number of full years, months, days, hours, etc., that someone, or something, has been alive."
"Good!" I complimented. "So you agree it is a number?"
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