I remember the summer of 1944 vividly. Now being the year of 2008, with all of its modern tech knick-knacks and computer-related hoo-has, I can confidently state the two times are wildly divergent. I'm sitting at a grand age of 80 with my best friend Benny. Benny was always peculiar. Folks had a difficult time understanding him. Now ripe with age, displaying graying skin and withering hair, his personality has gradually settled. He was different in 1944. He was about 300 pounds give or take, and he always wore his father’s tattered straw hat and baseball mask. Yes, these items were part of his self-imposed daily dress regimen. Some laughed at him for it, some scorned him for it, but Benny took utmost pride in it. We were 17 then, nimble and spry. Despite his weight, he was far livelier than I. Me? I was white, lanky, with my hair greased and combed to the side. I spent the summer with Benny, and I have zero regrets. --- "I AIN’T, NO VIRGIN!" howled a man of seeming African-American descent. "YOU HEAR ME? I AIN’T NO VIRGIN!!" he exclaimed once more. Sitting in one of the pews toward the back of the cozy church, I watched him stomp in, dancing, in the middle of a sermon. He had a baseball mask, a straw hat with holes, and a neon-yellow shirt on. Right on through, he walked. "HAHA! Guess what? I KNOW, YOU AIN’T NO VIRGIN EITHER!" He took his trembling right index finger and pointed directly at the Wilkinsons family situated toward the front. "And YOU wanna know something? That seat you sittin' in? I DID IT THERE!" I let out a stifled laugh. My mother swiftly turned to me with an accusing expression: "Howard!" "And why you all wastin’ your time for? You NUTS? I AM GOD! I'm RIGHT here!" He then did a foot dance in-place while uncontrollably laughing in the middle walkway of the pews, atop the fine crimson carpet. Mr. O'Malley, the town family doctor, stood up and firmly told the intruder to get out, fist-in-air. "GET OUT? This is MY HOUSE! I IS GON’ FO’GIVE YOU THOUGH! HAHA!" He continued to waltz, around and around in circles. Everyone was bewildered, but my stupid mouth couldn't keep shut any longer and let out a loud chortle. Church-goers gestured toward grabbing him which prompted the bizarre young man to sprint toward the entrance, hand on his head to keep his hat secure. --- "That was inexcusable behavior, Howard." While sitting at the dinner table that night, my mother demanded I give reasoning for my "behavior" in church that morning. "Why? I laughed because it was funny. I can’t exactly control laughter when something so funny is right in front of me." "Just stop. Go to your room." While lying in bed, studying the ceiling's patterns, I began to think. How school's going, who I'll ask to the end-of-the-year formal if I can muster the courage, the homework I have yet to do... and then that mysterious person who interrupted church. Who was that? I stood up and wandered to go look out the window. A tall oak tree blocked a potentially stunning view of the mountain range in the moonlight... "HEY!" Startled, heart racing, I looked down to see the church intruder, wide-eyed and smiling up at me. I put a finger to my lips in hopes he'd lower his volume. "I SAY HEY!" He was clearly excited and equally unwilling to work with me. I unlatched the window lock, pushed it open and hastily told him to keep it down. He still had that baseball mask on his head, straw hat on top. "How can I help you?" I uttered. "Yeah. I’ma hiding from the church-goers." There couldn’t have been that many people in our church that would still be chasing after him. "I go church to church doing these kinds of things." Impressed, I let him in. My mother would have a fit if she ever found out I agreed to host someone who scowled at her idol. "So... who are you?" He sat in the armchair in a corner of my room wolfing down a roast beef sandwich I swiped from the dinner table. "Benny." He took a couple more bites while I told him how what he did earlier was more than welcome in my book. "What school do you go to?" I had to know. "I don’t go to school. Dropped out in the 7th grade." "Wow... what have you been doing all your life?" "Exactly what you saw today." "Interesting. What are you doing tomorrow?" "The same thing." "Can I come?" "Of course." In that moment I had stars in my eyes, hoping Benny would be a significant figure in my life for a long while. --- It was Monday morning, and luckily a waiver day. Benny stayed the night. I got my driver’s license about a month ago, and I was overjoyed to show my new friend my brand new Callewart car. After he jumped into the passenger seat, the right side of the car sank, but I wasn't worried. This is a dead sturdy whip. "Where to?" I asked him. Call me crazy -- I barely know this guy, I had not a faint idea of what I was getting myself into, but I believed I had to go with it. "How about the Episcopal church in Vashon?" About an hour's drive, Vashon wasn’t too far from Seattle. I was surprised they had service on a Monday. Benny was already well aware of all church schedules, so, okay. I quietly sat down in the pews and waited. Fifteen minutes passed, then a half hour. Just when I thought he ditched, I heard a thunderous bang of the entrance doors slamming open. Bewildered, the pastor looked up and in plain-view was Benny. Benny looked beyond enraged. The pastor's expression quickly changed to one of a warm, welcoming nature. "Why hello there! Everyone, let’s give this young man a warm welcome!" Members of the church applauded Benny, and it prompted him to step forward, looking more and more irate every passing second. "You wanna know something?" Benny asked. The pastor looked concerned. "Why yes, we would all love to get to know you!" "Listen... listen carefully." said Benny. Everyone leaned in to listen to his words in suspense. "GUESS WHAT? I’M 17, NOT MARRIED, AND I AIN’T NO VIRGIN!" Again, he began to dance, gyrate his hips, and clap his hands above his head. "YOU WANNA KNOW SOMM' ELSE? I know more than HALF A Y’ALL AIN’T NO VIRGIN EITHER! And you’s UNMARRIED TOO. I WATCH YOU. I KNOW WHERE Y’ALL LIVE, each and every single ONE OF YOU. And yes, I DO watch you do the nasty. SINNERS! SINNERS ALL A Y’ALL!" He sprinted away with his hand on his head once more. I chased after him, probably appearing as though I was offended. In the midst of our high speed run, Benny tripped on a rock and collapsed to the ground. I finally caught up to him, trying to catch my breath. His face began twitching and his eyes rapidly blinking. Fast forward 15 seconds and the rest of his body followed suit. What was happening?! He stuttered "Help me" and his skin went pale. Some of the church-goers found us and broke out in hysteria when they saw Benny. They kicked him, rolled his body around, called him stupid, and left. I tried to drag him back to my car, but it was useless, he was too heavy. Momentarily, a kind driver stopped near us. "What’s wrong with him?" he asked. "I don’t know. He was running and he fell. He needs an emergency room." The man helped me lift Benny into his car, and we drove as fast as traffic would allow to the hospital. It was a blazing hot day, probably no less than 109 degrees. Within five minutes, we arrived at the Vashon Health Center. We consulted the triage desk, and the hospital personnel moved Benny onto a bed. "How- w- ward... ?" Benny was wheezing, coughing up blood, which dripped down his face onto the white bed sheets. He looked past the point of decay. "Thank you... so much... for being here... for me..." The nurses wheeled him through the swinging double doors. I thanked the kind stranger who transported Benny and I to the ER and he headed out. I was left in the lobby, carless, and alone. I listened to the air conditioning sounds while trying to hold back my tears. How could I have dragged myself into this? Why disturb peaceful worshippers? If we chose to go somewhere to eat instead, or maybe if I just called the cops on him, he might not be in the terrible predicament he is in. I knew nothing about this guy. Why am I in so much pain? ------- Red ultra-violet rays pierced through my eyelids. Flashes of blue, a lighter shade of green, the veins in my eyelids began to move as I made my way into the state of wakefulness. I apparently fell asleep on one of the sofas in the lobby. Someone was kind enough to cover me in a white hospital sheet. I stared blankly at the stack of magazines with dog-eared pages on the coffee table before me. A doctor, with the little plate on the left front pocket of his white jacket that read Bernstein, MD, headed towards me through those double doors, his face stoic. When he reached me, he hesitated, opening and closing his mouth, unsure of how best to communicate. He looked young, couldn't have been older than 30. Just as he began to speak, I heard an ear-drum-damaging BANG. "I’MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Benny, bursting through the double doors. Benny jumped on Dr. Bernstein and firmly asserted: "I AIN’T NO VIRGIN AND YOU AIN’T EITHER." I dropped my head in disbelief and felt nothing but gratitude. Benny gave the doctor about 5 hugs while I sat there... with a subtle smirk on my lips.