DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. If you are offended by 
sexually explicit material or are under the age of 18, stop reading 
now. This material cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes 
without the consent of the author.

JC: Ed Biggers
Part 1: Epiphany
Chapter 1
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

… come forth to define himself as a man, yet he knows not what it 
means to be a man.

What he knows is useless. Big boys don't cry. Big boys don't sit 
around dreaming nonsense. A man is strong and does not allow 
others to push him around. A man will fight for what is his. A man 
does what he must. Add those trivial statements together and you 
get nothing useful for defining yourself as a man. 

Is a man defined by the cock between his legs? He does not know, 
but does not believe so. He works to mold himself into the image 
of his father, big, strong, callous, and loud. That is his only model 
on which to base his idea of a man. Yet the father defined himself 
in the same fashion, following in the footsteps of his father. 
Generations of men, none of whom knew what it meant to be a 
man. Unless he learns, generations of men to follow will not know 
what it means to be a man.

Ed watched as a man pulled up to the house across the street in a 
jeep. Hoping this guy was better than the wimp that lived there 
before, he watched as two trips were all that were required to 
unpack the jeep. A backpack, a bag of groceries, a walking stick, a 
couple of lawn chairs, and a computer were all that the new 
neighbor had with him. Talking to himself, he said, "He travels 
light."

For days, he checked the house across the street. He was waiting to 
see the moving van arrive, but the only thing that arrived was a 
beat up truck carrying a used desk in the back. Manuel and his son 
unloaded the desk and carried it into the house.

The stranger had gone into the house and remained inside. It 
bothered Ed more than he could express in words. In his mind, the 
stranger should have come out and established himself as a 
presence in the neighborhood. This kind of behavior suggested his 
neighbor was just another wimp. Of course, Ed enjoyed teaching 
wimps what a real man was like, maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Maria, the neighbor across the way, came out to watch her son play 
soccer in the front yard. Ed, not yet ready to go down to the bar, 
picked up a beer and went across the street to talk to her. Stepping 
across the road, he shouted, "Hello, Maria."

Looking at him with dread, Maria answered, "Hello, Ed."

Taking a big sip of the beer from the bottle, he asked, "So what 
about the new neighbor?"

Maria shrugged and answered, "I don't know. I see him sitting out 
back on a lawn chair occasionally. Keeps to himself."

Ed shook his head in derision. Finally, he said, "It just isn't right."

Pleased to have a quiet neighbor, Maria wasn't about to complain. 
She had hoped that Ed would have moved out rather than the 
previous occupant of the house next door. Ed was a loud braggart 
that chased off every nice person in the area. She shrugged and 
said, "It's the quiet ones that will surprise you."

Ed took another sip of his beer and looked over at the house in 
time to see the man exit from it. The man, using a walking stick, 
strolled slowly down the street, greeting the other neighbors as he 
went. Getting a better view of the guy reinforced his judgement 
that the man as a wimp. He said, "He looks like a hippie with that 
long hair and beard."

Maria watched Ed as he stared at the man walking down the street. 
She cringed when he took a last sip of his beer and followed the 
guy down the street with his typical swagger With a negligent 
gesture, he threw the empty beer bottle in the front yard of the 
house next door. As she picked up the bottle, she muttered, "One 
day that man is going to meet his match."

Ed entered the bar and saw his new neighbor sit down at the 
counter. Stepping behind him, he put a hand on the man's shoulder. 
Much to his surprise, the man didn't cringe, but turned to look at 
him with a steadiness that was most unexpected. Ed said, "Howdy 
neighbor."

The stranger replied, "Hello."

"You moved in across the street from my place," said Ed, irritated 
that the man didn't know this fact. He felt like this was supposed to 
be something that the other guy should already know.

"Oh. Let me introduce myself. I'm John Carter." John extended his 
hand.

Ed grabbed the hand and squeezed as hard as he could. John just 
squeezed back. Ed said, "I'm Ed Biggers."

"Nice to meet you Ed."

"Nice to finally meet you. Let me buy you a drink," replied Ed. It 
was time to get a measure of the man. He offered the drink as a 
challenge to see what the man would order.

"That would be very nice of you. I'll have a coke."

Ed stared at John, fully expecting him to order a beer at least. He 
asked, "Coke? What are you? Are you some kind of wimp?"

"No. I just don't drink alcohol," replied John. 

There was a sternness in his voice that Ed found unsettling. It 
made him wonder if he was going to have to beat the guy and pour 
the drink into him. Deciding it was time to put the man in his 
place, Ed shouted out to the bar, "Hey, folks. We got us a wimp. 
He doesn't drink like a real man. He doesn't even drink a woman's 
drink. He actually wants a coke without the rum!"

Ed knew he had scored a point over the man when the majority of 
people in the bar burst out laughing at the announcement. Turning 
to Shirley, he said, "Hey Shirley, set us up with a couple of 
whiskeys with beer chasers."

"Don't forget my coke. Plain with no rum."

Shirley set a whiskey with a beer in front of Ed and a plain coke in 
front of John. Angered, Ed looked at Shirley feeling like she was 
undermining his efforts to put this guy in his place. He told her, "I 
said a couple. I'm buying the wimp here a man's drink."

Shirley shot back, "Ed, don't do this."

Ed repeated himself, "I said a couple. Now hop to it little lady 
before I loose my temper."

She relented and set the drinks in front of John. John picked up the 
shot glass with the whiskey in it. He sniffed it, nodded, and then 
set it down. With a smile on his face, John calmly stated, "I heard 
that some men drink in the hope that it will make their pecker 
bigger. I don't know if that's your reason for drinking. Since I'm 
already hung like a horse, I don't drink in the hope that it will 
shrink down to the size a woman can handle."

Furious at the implication that he had a small cock, Ed glared at 
John. This was a very real challenge and he was going to put that 
hippie in his place. Cocking his arm back, he was shocked when 
his balls suddenly felt like they were in an iron gripe. As he bent 
over, paralyzed in pain, he saw that the man had hold of his balls. 
Slowly, he collapsed to the floor as the desire to vomit washed 
over him. 

He never realized when John left, all that he knew was the pain in 
his balls was slowly disappearing. With great effort, he stood up 
and leaned on the bar. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he picked 
up the shot of whiskey and shot it back. He followed that with the 
second shot and then both beers. The look Shirley gave him only 
angered him. He spat out, "Don't say a word."

As he opened the door to leave, a number of people laughed. 
Glaring, he turned and looked over the room seeking the source of 
the laughter. The room got very quiet as no one wanted to become 
his next target. A very angry Ed left the bar and made his way 
home, swearing the whole trip that he would get revenge.

Ed woke the next morning feeling like hell from drinking too much 
the night before. Leaving the bedroom in his boxers, he glanced 
out the window at the house across the street and said, "You'll pay 
for that, you bastard."

Scratching his stomach, he entered the kitchen to grab a beer. After 
opening it, he took a sip from the bottle. The pounding in his head 
slowly eased and he returned to the bedroom. He slowly dressed, 
taking a sip of the beer between each item of clothes. As he was 
putting on his boots, he heard terrified screams coming from 
outside. Grimacing at the noise, he decided to check it out as he 
swore to himself, "Damn kids."

Walking out of the house, it was impossible to miss Maria's kid 
screaming. Heading in his direction, Ed stopped when he saw 
hundreds of rattlesnakes on the ground. Heart thumping, he stared 
at them in fear. He looked up in time to see John walk in amongst 
the snakes calmly and deliberately. The desire to shout out a 
warning died on his lips as snake after snake struck the man.  
Amazed at what he was seeing, he looked at John, noticing for the 
first time the huge red scar that ran down his back and the scars on 
his legs. This was the bravest thing that he had ever seen in his life.

He came out of his trace when John set the boy down next to Maria 
and turned to him saying, "Ed, would you please drive me to the 
hospital?"

The effect of those words staggered him as hard as a solid blow to 
the chin. This was the guy that he had tried to fight the night before 
and now he was trusting him to take him to the hospital. As he 
turned to get his truck, he shouted, "Sure, I'll get my truck."

Running back to his house, he realized that this guy was probably 
going to die before they got to the hospital. He fished in his 
pockets for his keys as he ran. Jumping in the truck, he started the 
engine and pulled out of the driveway. He opened the passenger-
side door once he reached the entry to Maria's front yard. 
Hobbling, John slowly made his way to the truck. 

Ed looked at all of the bites on John's legs. There was no way this 
guy could survive so many bites, but he sat there calmly in the 
truck. The ropes tied above and below the bites caused the section 
of the leg between the knots to swell. It was hard driving while 
watching the man, seated next to him, cut himself with the knife. 
The wounds oozed yellow and red. The yellow was the venom. 

When John wrapped the rope about his legs to force the poisons 
out of the cuts, Ed nearly swerved off the road. John didn't even 
flinch at what appeared to be a very painful procedure. Awed by 
what he was seeing, Ed said, "You're the bravest man I've ever 
seen. I know, I've seen quite few when I was in the army."

"That's nice of you to say. I feel more stupid than brave. I could 
have done this without a single bite, but I left my walking stick in 
the house."

Ed pressed the accelerator down a little more. The truck edged up 
to eighty miles an hour. Ed drove silently for a minute as he 
thought about how he had treated John the night before and then 
said, "I'm sorry about last night."

"Same here. I hope that we can become good friends." John was 
silent for a minute. Ed took his silence as a sign that he didn't 
really accept the apology. It was with relief that he heard John 
asked, "Can I ask you to do a favor?"

"Sure."

"Don't tell anyone what you see or hear in the hospital."

Wondering what he would hear, he answered, "Is that it? No 
problem, I won't say a word about it. Let's just hope the hospital is 
just as quiet about it."

John laughed and then said, "I've dealt with hospitals before. They 
are usually pretty good when they know that you desire a little 
privacy about such things."

When they reached the hospital, Ed stopped the truck right in front 
of the emergency entrance. After John stepped out and was in the 
care of a nurse, Ed parked the truck in the visitors section of the 
parking lot. He made his way to the emergency room trying to 
figure out what kind of guy he had just driven here.

Ed arrived just in time to follow John into the examination area. 
The doctor closed the curtain leaving John, Ed, herself, and the 
nurse crowded together in close quarters. Ed watched as the 
woman doctor examined the cuts on John's legs. She smiled and 
nodded, "Good job. It looks like you cut in the direction of the 
fangs and deep enough to get to where the toxin was deposited. 
Single cuts rather than X cuts. You did a very good job. Of course, 
I expected that of you after reading your record."

"Thanks."

She examined the tourniquet trying to place where she had seen 
that before. It took her a minute to remember a story about the 
Chinese miners working on the railroad and looked up surprised, 
"Chinese rope?"

"Yes."

"I doubt you really need the anti-toxin, but with that number of 
bites it's better to be safe than sorry."

Ed watched the exchange fascinated by the calm manner in which 
they discussed the treatment John had given himself. While he had 
worried about John dying before getting to the hospital, the doctor 
was doubting the need for the anti-toxin. He stared at John, 
disbelieving what he was hearing.

She reached behind her and removed a syringe from a tray carried 
by the nurse in the examination area. She injected John without 
major comment or warning. John asked, "Aren't you supposed to 
warn me that this is going to sting a little?"

"You've had more than enough of these to know what is going on!"

"True. I was just wondering if you had failed bedside manner in 
medical school."

Ed laughed at the joke, perhaps a little harder than appropriate, but 
he was still overwhelmed by all that he had seen. Nonplussed, the 
doctor stood there for a moment and consulted the folder 
containing his medical records. She asked, "Would you mind 
standing up for a minute and allowing me to examine you?"

"No problem."

"Could you please drop your towel so I can see all of you."

"No problem."  Dropping the towel, John stood there completely 
naked. The only thing left was a medallion hanging around his 
neck. Sitting slightly off to the side, Ed realized there were scars he 
hadn't seen before. He caught himself looking at the guys cock and 
felt a little embarrassed at examining another man's body.

The doctor proceeded to point out scars and recite the situations in 
which they were created. As she recited each situation, she paused 
for an acknowledging nod from John. Ed stared wide-eyed as he 
heard the causes of each scar. That horrible scar and burn had been 
the result of running twice into a burning building to rescue two 
kids. He had died as a result of the gunshot taken while protecting 
a total stranger.

Ed's attention returned to the conversation when he heard John say, 
"Darn, I was hoping for that. The least you could do for me is dress 
up in a sexy doctor outfit."

The nurse started laughing so hard that tears were coming from her 
eyes. Ed didn't understand what was so funny. The doctor 
explained, "Some people here think I'm an ice bitch."

John looked at her very seriously and shook his head. He said, 
"No, I don't think so. You aren't an ice bitch. You are a 
consummate professional at work. At home, I bet you are a very 
focused and considerate lover. I would bet that you are a natural 
submissive."

Ed looked at her speculatively for a moment and then discounted 
the possibility that a doctor would be interested in an old cowboy 
like himself. She was an attractive woman and any man would be 
happy to have a woman that looked like her.

Ed perked up when John asked, "Will I be confined to bed?"

"Only if you start to feel sick. Why?"

"Well, I was wondering if there were any kids in here that might 
appreciate having a story read to them," explained John. He looked 
over at the doctor in hope that he would be able to do that.

Ed couldn't believe what he was hearing. This guy was hurt, yet he 
was still thinking of others. How could he ever have believed this 
guy was a wimp? Ed knew that if he were in that position, he'd be 
bragging about how brave he had been and how much pain he had 
to endure. To quietly ask if he could read stories to kids was 
incredible.

John, in response to the permission granted by the doctor, laughed. 
"Great. I'll need a hospital gown and robe. I would hate to have to 
walk around like this or in my towel." 

The nurse reached around and handed him the requested items. As 
John put them on, the doctor asked, "So how did you get so many 
bites?"

"A child found himself in a little difficulty. I did what little I 
could."

A child found himself in a little difficulty? That was a lame 
description of what had actually happened. Ed felt like he had to 
clarify things a bit. He said, "Bullshit. This kid had walked into an 
area of rattlesnakes sunning themselves. There must have been a 
hundred of them. He was terrified and screaming. John came 
running out the house just dressed in that towel. Then he just 
walked in as calmly as can be, picked the kid up, and walked back 
out. You'd have thought he was just taking a stroll through a park. 
Bravest damn thing I've ever seen. Everyone else, myself included, 
was just standing there too afraid to move."

The doctor wrote that down into the medical record. She nodded at 
Ed and replied, "Sounds like John according to what I've read in 
here about him."

Turning to John, Ed felt like he had to apologize once again. He 
said, "I have to apologize for last night. I hope you can forgive me. 
I'll buy you a coke anytime you want."

This was the second time that Ed had apologized to him. John 
smiled and extended his hand in a warm handshake. He said, "I'll 
be proud to call you a friend."

The doctor looked up at Ed. She asked, "what was that about?"

Ed looked up at the ceiling for a minute and then replied, "I met 
him the first time last night and offered to buy him a drink. When 
he requested a coke, I'm afraid that I didn't react very nicely. I 
called him a wimp. When he made a smart-ass comment, I lost my 
temper and went to hit him. Let's just say, he won quite handily. I'll 
admit I was trying to think of some way of getting back at him, but 
damn he's no wimp. He's a better man than I am.  I was a real jerk 
last night and I'm man enough to admit it."

The nurse looked at Ed with more than a little interest. She had 
never heard a man give such an honest appraisal about himself in 
public like this. It turned her on and she moved a little closer to Ed 
so that her hip touched his.

Ed had never felt so uncomfortable in front of others and decided it 
was time for him to get out of there. Turning to John, he said, 
"Look, you're gonna be in here until tomorrow morning. I'll head 
out now and be back to pick you up in the morning. If you don't 
mind, I'll pick up some clothes for you to wear home."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that. My clothes are in the backpack. You 
can't miss it."

The nurse led Ed out of the examination area. Once out of hearing 
of the others, she said, "I'm Kelly. I have to tell you that no man 
has ever impressed me as much as you."

Shocked, Ed looked down at her and asked, "What?"

Smiling at this handsome man, Kelly said, "You're so honest. I've 
never met a man that would admit so honestly that he had done 
something wrong. Don't tell anyone, but that turns me on."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Never had a woman that 
was so beautiful ever said anything like that to him. Swallowing 
with difficulty, Ed said, "Look. I've got to be honest with you. I've 
always been a bully and until today I had no idea what a real man 
was like. John in there is a real man."

Licking her lips, Kelly walked out of the hospital beside Ed. As 
they approached his truck, she summoned her courage and said, "I 
have to tell you something and you might freak. I want to have two 
husbands and a wife. Today I realized that I want Dr. Hayes as my 
wife. If it doesn't bother you that I'm interested in that, I'd like to 
see you again."

Ed stood there for a minute considering what she had just said. The 
idea of having two wives wasn't that bad. He wondered what it 
would be like to have a husband, but set aside the idea for later 
thought. For now, he was interested in knowing this spunky lady a 
little better. With a shaky voice, he replied, "I'd like that. Would 
Friday night be okay?"

Looking through her purse for something to write on, she said, "I'll 
give you my number. Call me and I'll give you directions to my 
apartment."

He watched as she wrote down her name and number. Realizing 
that he had never told her his name, he said, "My name is Ed 
Biggers."

She slipped a piece of paper in his hand as she hugged him. 
Stepping back, she winked and said, "Call me, Ed Biggers."

Watching her walk back to the hospital, Ed stood there for several 
minutes thinking about the events of the morning. He slowly got 
into the truck and drove away from the hospital. Normally, he 
would have sped home, but this time he drove at a leisurely pace 
thinking furiously. He had never met anyone as brave as John. The 
guy was a hero and yet didn't boast or brag at all. His whole 
concept of manliness was turned upside down.

Reaching home, he parked the truck. There was the knife in the 
front seat that John had used to cut open his wounds. He didn't 
know who the knife belonged to, but thought that Maria would 
know. Picking up the knife, he headed over to Maria's house to 
check on Juan. As he walked up to the front door, he realized that 
he had never called upon her before. Rapping on the door sharply, 
he waited for Maria to answer. He wasn't sure what to say to her. 

Maria opened the door and looked startled to see Ed standing there. 
She said, "Hello, Ed."

"Hello, Maria. How's Juan?"

Surprised that Ed even knew the name of her son, she replied, 
"He's fine. How is the guy next door?"

Ed answered, "John is doing very well. They wanted to watch him 
overnight so I'll pick him up from the hospital tomorrow morning."

Not entirely trusting Ed, Maria didn't like the idea of him going to 
pick him up. She said, "I can get him tomorrow."

Looking off to the horizon, Ed answered, "No. I'll do that."

With increasing nervousness, Maria said, "I heard that you had a 
fight with him last night."

Laughing, Ed answered, "Yes, I did. He won it quite easily. Don't 
worry about me taking revenge on him. He's a far better man than 
I."

Maria looked at Ed, puzzled by his statement. She had never heard 
Ed say anything nice about anyone in her life. She shifted 
nervously and said, "Oh."

Ed held up the knife, only then realizing that it was still bloody. He 
asked, "Do you know who this belongs to? John was using it to cut 
the bites to remove the poison."

Making a cross, Maria looked at the knife and the blood on it. She 
answered, "It belongs to Jorge. I'll take it to him."

Ed handed the knife to her, handle first. With a hesitance that was 
rooted in not trusting him and not wanting to touch the bloody 
knife, there was an uncomfortable delay before she took it from 
him. Turning to leave, he stopped and said, "Do you know that he's 
reading stories to the kids in the hospital right now?"

"Who? Jorge?"

Realizing that he hadn't been very specific about who was doing 
the reading, he clarified it by saying, "No. John. I drove him there 
terrified that he was going to die. He gets there and right after that 
he's reading to the kids. Can you imagine that?"

Watching Ed carefully, Maria was unable to hide her confusion 
concerning his behavior. Ed didn't seem to notice and just walked 
off to the house next door. The front door was still wide open. In 
this town, that wasn't a problem unless a snake crawled into the 
house. Crime was almost unheard of around here. Everyone knew 
everyone and everything that went on in town. 

The water was still running in the shower. He went in and shut off 
the water. The quiet in the house seemed unnatural. It took him 
several minutes to realize that there wasn't the normal hum of an 
air conditioner running in the background. He stepped into the bare 
living room. He went into a bedroom expecting to find John's stuff 
in there. The bedrooms were empty. He went into the dining room, 
finding the desk with the computer on it. The sleeping bag and 
back pack were on the floor next to the desk. Speaking out loud to 
himself, he said, "This guy must be poor as dirt."

He knelt over the backpack and pulled out a fresh change of 
clothes. When he reached for the underwear, he felt a little weird 
about it. As he headed towards the door, he realized that he had 
forgotten to get some shoes for the guy to wear. He stopped and 
looked around some more before he spotted the hiking boots next 
to the desk. When he went to the desk, he looked at the papers 
spread across it. He couldn't even read the titles on some of the 
papers and said, "Shit, this guy must be smart as hell."

He grabbed the boots and headed out of the house. When he 
entered his house, he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. 
As he twisted the top off it, he realized what he was doing. 
Looking at the clock, he swore, "It's not even eleven in the 
morning and I'm drinking my second beer of the day. What is 
wrong with me?"

He poured the beer out of the bottle and looked around for 
something else to drink. There wasn't anything else to drink in the 
entire house except for the water from the tap. Letting the tap run 
for a minute, he filled a glass with the clear liquid and drank it 
down. It wasn't as bad as he remembered it, but he'd get tired of 
drinking in soon. He settled in a chair and called his boss. 

His boss answered the phone, "Livestock Auctions."

Ed replied, "Hello, Nevada. This is Ed."

His boss answered, "Oh, Ed. I heard about this morning. You done 
at the hospital?"

"Yes, sir." It didn't take long for news about an event like this 
morning to spread out over the whole county. That was one aspect 
of living in the country that most city folk didn't realize. 

There was a moment of silence. Nevada asked, "Anything wrong?"

"No, sir," replied Ed. He looked out the window at the house 
across the street. The guy that lived there surely knew something 
that he didn't. 

"We've got an auction tonight. You'll be here to help with the 
cattle, won't you."

Distracted, Ed answered, "I'm leaving for there now."

The drive to work passed quickly. He made his normal stop to pick 
up something to drink and left after purchasing a six pack of soft 
drinks. A look of disbelief spread across the face of the clerk as he 
rang up the purchase. He had never seen Ed buy anything except 
beer. 

Ed pulled into the auction yard and parked his truck in his normal 
spot. Going over to the corral, he caught his horse and saddled it. 
Settling into the saddle, he went to work pushing cows around the 
lot. The work was easy and he went through the motions 
automatically. Nevada had to call him twice to get his attention. 
Riding the horse over to where his boss stood next to his pickup 
truck, he asked, "Nevada, what can I do for you?"

Nevada looked around the lot, noticing the amount of work Ed had 
already done. He replied, "I didn't hear you come in."

Ed reached into the truck and pulled out a Coke out of his foam 
cooler. Worked the tab to open the can, he took a sip as Nevada 
stared in disbelief. Ed said, "Oh, I've been here for a while. What's 
up?"

"Are you feeling okay?"

Ed climbed off his horse and tied it to the fence post as he 
answered, "I'm feeling fine."

Nevada looked at Ed for a minute without saying a word. His eyes 
flicked to the can of soda and then at Ed. This was the first time 
since Ed had started working here that he hadn't come screeching 
into the lot with tires spinning. He had never seen Ed drink a can 
of soda. Even on the day that Ed had interviewed, he hadn't been 
half as respectful as he was today. He said, "I'll take your word for 
it. How long will it take you to finish up cutting the cattle into the 
pens?"

Looking over the yard, Ed answered, "About an hour, maybe less."

"You sure?"

Nodding to indicate his confidence, Ed answered, "Yes, sir."

Nevada said, "When you get done, you might as well get some 
food in you. We have a lot of work to do tonight."

"Sure thing," replied Ed as he mounted up. Turning his horse, he 
went back to work. Nevada watched as Ed deftly cut out four head 
of cattle and drove them into a holding pen. There were times 
when he had wanted to fire Ed so much that he could taste it. The 
problem was that Ed was the most reliable of the men that worked 
for him. It was a fact that Ed angered everyone at the lot, but he 
did show up. Shaking his head, Nevada went back into the office to 
prepare the papers for the auction. 

It was about an hour later that Ed filled the last pen. He rode his 
horse over the to corral and took the time to unsaddle it and brush 
it down. Putting out some feed for the horse, he went over to his 
truck. He opened another Coke and drank it down. It tasted a lot 
different than beer, but it wasn't half bad despite the fact that it was 
too sweet. 

Driving off to a diner of a truck stop down the way, Ed took his 
time getting there. Entering the diner, he seated himself at a table 
near the back. The waitress was rather surprised since Ed usually 
sat at the counter and flirted outrageously with the waitresses. 
Most of them detested the man since he was a small tipper and 
never said anything halfway nice other than to comment on how 
much they would enjoy going to bed with him. The waitress asked, 
"What will it be today?"

Ed looked up at her and answered, "I'll have the stew tonight and a 
glass of iced tea."

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "Sweet or unsweet?"

"Sweet, please," replied Ed. 

Standing there, the waitress waited for his normal come on line. 
When he didn't say anything, she went off to submit his order. She 
decided that he must be feeling ill today. Turning to the other 
waitresses, she shrugged her shoulders and made a face that 
conveyed her surprise at his behavior.

Ed turned and looked outside lost in thought. John walked through 
a hundred snakes for a kid he didn't even know. That was a brave 
enough, but then he heard all about the other things the guy had 
done. It was impossible that anyone could be so brave that he 
would regularly risk his life for total strangers, but he had seen the 
evidence.

The waitress set a glass of iced tea in front of him. He glanced over 
at her and said, "Thank you."

She stared at him for a minute and then went back to her station. 
The other waitresses joined her there and talked among 
themselves. When the stew was ready, one of the other waitresses 
carried it to the table. She set it in front of Ed and waited for a 
comment. Ed looked at the stew and said, "Looks good. Thank 
you."

After unwrapping the silverware, he started eating the stew. Taking 
a sip of the iced tea, he noticed that the waitress was still standing 
there. He asked, "Is everything okay?"

Frowning, she asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

Leaning back in his seat, Ed was quiet for a moment. It seemed 
like everyone that he knew was asking him that question today. He 
nodded and replied, "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern."

The waitress shook her head and left the table. Returning to the 
stew, Ed ate it savoring the flavor. This was the first time in years 
he had eaten anything without the taste of beer in his mouth. 
Shaking his head, he wondered what had happened to him this 
morning. He took another sip of the iced tea. Lost in thought, he 
didn't notice when they refilled the glass. He did overhear a 
waitress remark to another, "He might be acting nice, but he still 
doesn't know how to tip."

That comment made him consider how he treated people. Back in 
the hospital, John had been kind and considerate of everyone. He 
looked around watching how the other people in the restaurant 
treated the waitresses. When the table next to his left the 
restaurant, he saw that they had left a tip of several dollars. 
Watching the waitress pick up the tip, he noticed the smile on her 
face. 

He left a two dollar tip on a six dollar tab and returned to work. 
The evening passed quickly as he herded cattle into the bidding 
pen and then returned them to the holding pen. Tomorrow, people 
would come around and collect their purchases. It would be a long 
day without much real work.  

That evening he returned home and after sitting in the house alone 
for an hour, he realized that he didn't have much of a life outside of 
drinking. He headed down to the bar where, he sat in the corner 
drinking a Coke and watching what people were doing. 

Shirley came over to the table when he had finished his Coke. 
Afraid that she was going to get stiffed for the drinks last night, she 
said, "You owe me six bucks for the drinks last night."

Looking up at her, he realized that she looked a little frightened of 
him. He sighed and took a sip of his Coke as he wondered how 
many people were afraid of him. Being completely sober, he 
realized that he was seeing the world in a brutally honest fashion 
tonight.  He pulled out a ten and handed it to her. He said, "This 
should cover it and the coke tonight. I also owe you an apology for 
the trouble I caused. I am sorry."

Shirley didn't know what to say. When he stood to leave, she 
watched him with confusion and then looked around the room 
wondering if she was the only one that had heard him apologize. 
Everyone else was busy talking with each other and no one else 
had noticed. As he headed to the door, she called out, "Let me get 
you your change."

He smiled as he thought about the lesson learned in the diner and 
answered, "Keep it."

Shirley looked at the ten dollar bill, realizing that Ed had just left 
her a three dollar tip. He had never left more than a quarter. When 
she looked up again, he was gone.