Now that I'm ninety I know a thing or two. Or three. You see - I can still crack jokes, even in my old age! And I don't care what you think of my joke either. If you didn't laugh it makes no difference because soon I'll be dead and buried, so I won't be able to hear you not laughing.
But that Benny, well, he's a different story. He can make a brick laugh! My cat's never got over Benny's first visit. He had the poor cat rolling around on its back, sneezing and puffing, laughing harder than it's healthy for a cat to laugh. And I never knew a cat could laugh until that day!
So what I do an hour or so before Benny comes is drink lots of hot milk. I heard it on the radio. If you drink hot milk before you go to bed, it helps you sleep. So I drink two or three liters of steaming hot milk before Benny comes. That way I'm feeling good and sleepy when he comes through the door. And a bit sick, but I put up with that.
"Hi Grandpop!" he says when he visits me. "How's tricks?"
"Not so bad!" I always say. Then he goes to my little fridge and has a look at the food. You see Benny's only seven years old and he's always hungry.
"Can I have a banana, please?"
"Sure, Benny, help yourself!"
"Thanks!"
He comes over to my wheelchair and starts to eat the fruit.
"The bus crashed today," he says.
"Why's that?" I ask.
"The driver couldn't stop laughing. He went right off the road and hit the side of a milk truck," says Benny.
"Anyone hurt?" I ask.
"Nope," he says. Then he looks at me curiously.
"Grandpop?"
"Yes, my dear little curly-haired, blue-eyed grandson?"
"Do you think I'll ever be cured?"
"Maybe," I say. "The doctors have all sorts of newfangled machines these days. You never know!"