Al helped himself to my fries as I chatted him up over a dinner of ‘ugly burger’ (double-decker burger and fried egg on toasted wheat). He told me about his stint with the Marines during World War II, and how he had watched the Enola Gay take off on its fateful flight to Hiroshima. I asked him what his secret to long life was. He said it was the wrong question. ‘I would recommend that you don’t live past 80,’ he said. ‘This 100 business is the worst.’