He told his son who is about halfway
through an expected lifespan that he’s
got a whole half of life yet to live

(he didn’t mention unforeseen circum-
stances, as both he and his son were
well aware of that from family ex-

periences). Then he blithely mentioned
that he had a quarter of a lifespan
left and only when the conversation

was over and the two of them had said
their “I love you’s” and hung up, did
he realize that he was being quite

liberal with his estimate of a quarter
of a lifespan. In reality, he was al-
ready there given the US average stat-

istical lifespan for males, but given
the tragic, premature death of a family
member (alluded to above) he decided

that those lost years should go to him
to even things out. Then he thought
to himself that her death could never

be evened out by a few more years
that weren’t hers.