Saint Pip

We called him Mister Pip. No one knew his real name. "Pip" was the corrupted French for "pipe," and because he always had his pipe in mouth or hand, and because he was thought to have come from French Quebec, that's what we called him. Mister Pip was what years ago was known as the "village idiot." In our small rural town, he stood out; we was short, had dark but graying hair and a little top hat and large suspenders, and never spoke---kind of a merger of Charlie Chaplin, Peewee Herman and Marcel Marceau. Even though he was mentally slow, he certainly could take care of himself. In fact, he was downright delightful. He would walk main street smiling, always smiling, and waving to folks. But Mister Pip's favorite venue was the downtown movie theater. Not a single showing day or night would he miss. He loved standing in line for tickets with the dozens of movie-hungry kids or adults, because that's where he could be the center of attention. He would perform what seemed to us children to be dazzling magic with his pipe, hat, and lightning-fast hands. He liked to coax a nickel from a kid, as he then would somehow transform it into a quarter as a gift to the wide-eyed youngster. Popcorn and candy he would buy, and freely give them to others. One time, he persuaded me and my brother to do a little jig with him, which merited each of us a quarter from him. Adult women and elderly men he would help from their cars and up and down the steps into the theater. He was never known to have angered nor acted improperly toward anyone. In short, all adults and children in town loved their Mister Pip, and looked forward to being with him on the streets and at the movie house.

One day, Mister Pip no longer appeared in the ticket lines or elsewhere. You can imagine how the townspeople then reacted. No one called for moments of pause in the ticket line to remember him. No one asked for any kind of report on his whereabouts or possible death. No one mentioned naming, say, the popcorn stand after him. No kids drew commemorative pictures of him. No mention of him was made in the church announcements.

God bless you, Mister Pip, wherever you are!

-Old Doc