"Kenny was really eager to please everyone. I think frantic is the word." He seemed so overwhelmed by gratitude to my dad, and so wanted to make something worthwhile of his life. I couldn't get away from him. He always wanted to help me with my homework, or hang out and watch TV with me, but most of all, we went tramping in the woods together. He was like an encyclopedia of nature. Dad arranged financial assistance for his return to university, and he also had a part time job..."
"With the florist?" asks Carl.
"Yes. It was like he was wearing magic dancing shoes, the kind that make you keep dancing and dancing and dancing till you drop dead from exhaustion. He worked, he studied, he played, he prayed, he hung out, he helped out. He was nonstop. And then he would get hit by depression and ...Bang!... for four days he couldn't get out of bed. He did manage to stay clean, but he kept shunning any kind of psychiatric or counselling support. He didn't trust anyone in any official capacity, except maybe my dad, as a priest, but he was the one and single exception. I sometimes wanted him to go away for a while, just to give me a moment's rest. So, I started to look forward to his depressive episodes, if only to give me a couple of days respite.
"But I would always get restless and bored...and lonely. I didn't make friends easy, being a shy introvert, and Kenny was not at all an introvert and when he wasn't being too manic, he was actually a complete delight to be with. And he protected me from Griffin."
"Speaking of Griffin, I'm still curious about his influence over you. I mean, you were just seventeen, presumably innocent, when you managed to extort that hundred bucks from Griffin. Wherever did you learn to be streetwise..."
"Except from Kenny. Yes, he taught me a lot. And, yes, he gave me the idea..."
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