"My Friend Benny"

I am sure most of you remember Harvey, he was a Pokka, A giant rabbit. My friend Benny was a lot like Harvey. I don’t know much about Harvey, but I think he came from the west, somewhere close to  Hollywood, California. I guess he was around eight foot tall, He had to stoop to get through a door way, and the people he was with, had to look up at him.

He was a soft spoken person, gentle and never a problem. He always liked to hang out in bars and liked to drink, although it was never a problem for him. He would come and go as he pleased.

I first met Benny back in about 1940, I had been in Reno and was just crossing the border between Nevada and Utah, heading for Salt Lake City. I came up over this ridge an saw a highway that was  straight as an arrow and it went on as far as one could see.

It was hotter than blazes and there was nothing in sight, no matter where you looked. I was getting restless and about to fall asleep, this is when Benny first spoke to me. Benny was kind of like Harvey, only different. He wore white and he looked a little like a cloud, His feet never touched the ground, he just seemed to float where ever he went.

At first, he startled me but as times passed I was relaxed from the sound of his voice and I became interested in everything he had to say. As I said, it was really hot and we had all the windows rolled down, but the heat in the wind made one feel breathless.

This was before the days of Air Conditioning was being put in cars. Benny said: he could fix that and all of a sudden we were inside a cool car, The highway had places that made the car go up and down and that was getting tiresome.  Benny said: he could fix that also, and the car rose up off the surface of the black top and floated smoothly along.

Benny told me many things that was to come in the future, I was astonished and asked many questions, He told me it wouldn’t do any good to tell me everything, as I wouldn’t remember anything that he told me.

That was when I saw this sign that said, The next gas station was eighty miles down the highway and my gas tank was showing almost empty. Why I didn’t fill my tank at the border, I will never know.

The cost of gas was only 27¢ a gal. The engine sputtered and and then stopped, and we were sitting on the side of the road. Carswere passing by, going in both directions, as if they never saw us.

A few hours later, a tow truck pulled up behind us and wanted to tow us to the next town which was eighty miles down the road. Benny told me to say “No”. So I did, and the man got back in his truck and drove away. Then Benny told me to get out and pour the gas in the can, behind the car, into our gas tank, and to my surprise, there was a can of gas setting behind my car. Well, by now I knew it wouldn’t do any good to ask how it came to be there. 

My friend Benny stayed with me for a few more months and we had some good times. But sharing my bed with him was like living in a tornado, then one day he disappeared and I have never seen him again.

Benny, Where ever you are, I beg of you to please come back! The one I have to replace you, can’t do the same things, like you did. 

Oct. 17, 2012

By: Ben ®