"Noel, Noel...did I ever tell you the time I invented Hot Banana Cocoa"?
Johnny Moore hastily approached the store counter which I stood behind, my chin resting on the palm of my hand, propped against the cash register, as I watched Johnny unwrap his honey bun I paid for, in exchange for a story from his time in Vietnam.
My first instinct was to correct Johnny on my name (Joel, not Noel) but then figured if he hadn't listened to me the first three thousand times I corrected him, there was no chance of that light bulb turning on over his head this time either.
No, Johnny had never informed me that he had created Hot Banana Cocoa and he wasted no time telling me how he did.
"Me and my boy Dickens, was on patrol one time. He was from North Carolina. Nice Black fella. Small and skinny, like me, but man could he eat. So, me and Dickens, we were patrolling in the jungle one time and got lost. We was walkin' and walkin', trying to get back to our unit and then we said, "Fuck it. We tired" so we decided to stop and rest. So, we found a good spot between...uh...under these big ol' banana tree leaves. We sit down and whup out our canteens and our MRE's and our tin cups out. Dickens had to go so, he got up to take a piss. I done took out my hot cocoa packet and poured it in my cup cause I was fixin' to make me some cocoa, but then Dickens comes back real fast-like and he says "Shhh! I hear somethin'." He buttoned up real fast and we got our rifles and we peeked out from under them big old, hangin' leaves and we got out, hunched up real quiet-like."
At this point, Johnny had devoured honey bun #1 and  was now slowly walking toward the ice cream freezer, no longer in the middle of a 24 hour market store, but in his mind, back sneaking through the jungles of Vietnam. Holding an invisible rifle, eyes wide and roving left to right. He was deeply immersed into his story. Almost as much as I was.
"So, Dickens, he walks one way and I walk another way. And then, we look out and we see them; the Vietcong. A whole mess of 'em. And they was coming our way. I duck behind a tree and I hear them getting closer and closer. And then I look over to Dickens and I tell's him to "Hush! Be quiet and get down!". But Dickens, he see's them getting really close and goes to hide behind another tree. And then,...SNAP! We heard it. I looked over to Dickens to tell him to be still and quit steppin' on shit but when I look at him, he looking down at something around his boots and then he raise his head real-slow-like back at me and then BOOM!! The whole jungle exploded. I got blown too. I just felt myself flyin'. I tried to get up but I was so messed up and couldn't see shit, I tried to go back to where we was under the bushes, but, b'foe I can get up, BOOM!! Another big explosion! And that's when I blacked out. That's when I thought I was dead."
At this point, Johnny, abruptly stopped. Poured himself another cup of free coffee and on the way reached out for another honey bun, which he proceeded to unwrap and engulf with no objection from me. He took a bite, swallowed some coffee and continued.
"When I come to, I was on my stomach. It was so dark and I couldn't barely hear anything but ringin', I thought 'Well. That's it. I'm dead." But then, I started movin' my feet and I got up and what happen was the explosions had me buried under a whole mess of leaves and wood and mo' leaves. Them Vietcong must'a walked right by me. I dunno. So, I get up and I look's around and it's smoky and cracklin' and I got this ringin' in my ear and I got this really bad blurry vision, that I can't shake away. I looks around and then I look over to my right and I start's screamin'! I can't see my right arm!! I was screamin' and screamin' 'Oh lord, I lost my arm! I lost my motherfucking arm!!' and I start reachin' for it, like a dog chasin' his tail, goin' in a circle reachin' for it. And then I realized, I didn't lose my right arm. The sleeve had done caught itself on one of my ammo pouches back here in the back (as he pointed to his lower back). So, I was happy about that. And then I looked down at my chest. See? I had made this vest with bamboo and used M50 shells, We was all doin' it, and I was wearing it when Dickens set off them booby traps. Man, they was all sorts of things sticking out'a that vest when I looked at it. That thing saved my life! Still, I didn't like all them things stickin' out of it, so I took it off. Then, I looked around to find my rifle and stuff and I ended up back where me and Dickens had sat down to eat. And when I looked down, guess what? My tin cup was still sittin' there, Noel! Like nothin' had happened! And you know what was sittin' in that cup, Noel? A banana. A banana had done fallin' from the tree and into my tin cup with cocoa in it and I thought 'Huh. Hot Banana Cocoa.' And that's how I invented Hot Banana Cocoa.".

Say what you will say about Johnny Moore, remember him as you want, but I never charged him for anything after that night. If he couldn't afford it, I covered it for him and my opinion and the way I looked at the man, went from one of frustration and annoyance, to deep respect and admiration.
I asked him why he would volunteer, not once but, twice for Vietnam. His answer was delivered in the calmest of tones, all the while chewing on a pastry. And one I would never forget:
"Because my country asked me to. So, I did."