He climbs into the back seat, and we’re off to spend the morning together, every day, all summer long.
We sing duets. His voice, sweet and childish, is sometimes spot on and sometimes off-key, joining mine as we drive along. We attract strange stares at traffic lights – a handsome little boy and a middle- aged lady in a beat-up old Esteem. Belting out numbers with unabashed gusto.

There are stories to tell, as we drive along. Mine are usually about the things he used to do, long ago, when he was little. Having reached the ripe old age of five, to him these are tales of very long ago, indeed. His are usually about the heroics of Spiderman, whom he dearly longs to be. He promises to bring the latest DVDs, the next time he sleeps over at my place. I feign wild enthusiasm, and cringe inwardly at the memory of the last of these so-called "sleepovers", when I had to watch no less than five such escapades.

Sometimes, we get philosophical: “Didi, (that's his name for me, coined at age one)… Why don’t you get a new car?”

“Because I can’t afford one, Jonty. I’m not very rich, you know.”

“What does “rich” mean?”

“Well, people who have a lot of money are rich and Didi isn’t.”

“Oh.” (Long, pitying silence. Didi seizes opportunity to live up to exalted title of godmother).

“But there are other ways in which a person can be rich, even if they don’t have any money…by just being a nice human being.” (Long, meditative silence …then sweet, small voice pipes up with conviction). “I’m a very nice human being, Didi. So, I’m rich, yes?”

And Didi, thinking wistfully, that grown-ups are very poor indeed for losing this sense of self-worth, replies, “Yes, you are, sweetie, very, very rich indeed.”

And so we go on, all summer long. Till it's school time again and he’s off to a new routine of classroom and playfield and fun times with friends closer in age than his companion of the good old summer time. But a bond unbreakable has been forged in that beat-up old Esteem. For every time we meet, I’m treated to the “Jonty Special” : a hug that speaks a thousand words, as two hearts connect across the great chasm of age and experience.