Remembering Bwian...

I don’t know how or why this came to mind today, but I was remembering a friend from several years back. His name was Brian. He was a mentally challenged adult who had a hare lip and could not speak correctly. Brian could not say a word with the R sound. He replaced it with a W. So when he introduced himself, he would say, Hiya, I’m Bwian. And Brian knew just about everyone in Timmins. And he always had a wave and a smile for you. He was always at every hockey game, or baseball game. So one fine summer day I was sitting in my car on Third Avenue, at Pine, facing the bus station. The light was red and Brian was walking along the street saying hello to everyone. “Hiya Len. How’s Tewwy?

So as he was crossing the street, Brian suddenly stopped. Something had caught his eye. It was a pop truck, parked in front of Bucovetsky’s department store. Now back in the day, pop trucks used to have open sides. I guess this made it easier for the driver to reach the cases of pop and bring them into the stores. It also made things easier for Brian. He looked around the intersection and brought his finger to his lips with a big Shhhh sound. And he smiled. And then he ran over to the pop truck, reached in and stole a six pack of orange pop, turned and ran back along Pine Street.  I will never forget how happy he looked. I looked around and saw other people on the street watching and smiling. Several of us made eye contact and we all laughed. I guess it’s one those reasons I’ve always enjoyed living in Timmins. I haven’t seen Brian in years, but if I do I will tell him he has to buy me a coffee or I will snitch on him. Just kidding.