"Dad," said Cheryl, "the ‘Flash is fast, Flash is cool’ part of the song was over, like, three minutes ago, why do you keep repeating it?"
"Do you even know who Flash is? Do you even know who is performing this song?" asked her dad.
"No, and I don’t care," Cheryl responded.
"That’s a shame," said her father. "They just don’t make music like they used to."
That is the point in the conversation where Cheryl always checked out. She knew what was coming next. Her dad started with a song, and next thing she knew, he was forcing her to relive a time before distressed jeans, one-hundred dollar sneakers, MP3s, and the Internet.
A year or two earlier, Cheryl began keeping a list of things that "they" no longer make like they "used to" but soon gave up. Not only was she overwhelmed by the number of contemporary products and people with which her father was not satisfied, she could never figure out who “they” were.
She was happy with her life and the time in which she lived it. The music made more sense than the stuff her father listened to, and the clothes were more fashionable than what her father wore as a teenager and continued to wear. She could not imagine wishing that the world was like it "used to be." She often worried that her dad was frozen in time. She knew that becoming a single father at a very young age had a major impact on his life. Just as his friends were starting to explore the world apart from their parents, he was becoming a parent. In some ways, he never stopped being a teenager.
She thought that, but she never said anything. She knew that her father would go off on another rant about how much better things used to be, or worse, that he would tell her that he was not satisfied with his life.
2
Which of the following sentences suggests that Cheryl and her father have different ways of looking at life?
A.
She could not imagine wishing that the world was like it "used to be."
B.
Cheryl sat in the kitchen, eating her cereal and reading the newspaper.
C.
That is the point in the conversation where Cheryl always checked out.
D.
"Do you even know who Flash is? Do you even know who is performing this song?"
1 answer
The sentence that suggests Cheryl and her father have different ways of looking at life is:
A. She could not imagine wishing that the world was like it "used to be."
This sentence highlights Cheryl's view of the present and her father's nostalgic longing for the past, indicating their differing perspectives on life and their experiences.
