It took awhile to recover from his question.

Did he see me as old? - well I knew the answer to that yes,yes he did.

Had I asked him he would have admitted to it, I have no doubt. But I knew, the signs were there.
The adolescent snarl I was occasionally the recipent of,
the dismissive attitude I encountered from time to time that I had previously considered as part of his problem of immaturity- not of my old age
and then the true key to my understanding; when the considerations of his immaturity were cast aside, he often prefaced our conversations about everyday life, experiences and personal philosophy with examples given to him by his grandparents. Initially I saw this as evidence of his close retaionship with his granparents but came to realize he saw me in the same light as his grandparents and was introducing a commonality of experience to our conversation. OUCH!