He never wore out his welcome with me.

I still remember the happiness of opening the door and seeing him standing on the porch. Some times he had a suitcase, but most often his possessions were in a paper bag.

He always dropped in. Not nearly as often as I would have liked, but more frequently than my mother wanted. Her hesitancy was because he and his bad habits and dirty laundry stayed for weeks.

A friend of my father's, Fred had very few ties and almost no family. Except us. He loved me with the kind of devotion that never sees faults. And I loved him without reservation, as only a child can love someone who dotes on them.

My first memories of him are from when I was not yet four. He was married then and his cantankerous wife, Imola, came to help my mother with my new baby brother. She most definitely didn't dote on me, thought I was spoiled and told me so. They lived with his parents and I couldn't understand why he seemed to love her. She was never, never in a good mood. They all moved away after a couple of years and when he returned to visit, he was always alone. Drifting.

In those days, before television, he and my father would sit around at night telling hunting stories. Usually how one had gotten away from them that day. All the while, he held me on his lap and included me in his world, if only with a hug or an occasional word.

When we were moving from the farm into the newly remodeled house in town, he sat on a stool in the back of our pickup and played "The Waltz You Saved For Me," on the piano. It was my mother's favorite song. No need to let a good piano and extra playing time go to waste, he said. I suspect it was to soften up my mother in hopes she'd let him stay longer.

Once in a great while, he'd call and tell us to listen to the Grand Ol' Opry because he'd been invited to sit in with some band and they'd promised to introduce him to the audience. Never happened, but I was sure it would next time. Not only could he make a piano talk, he could play the strings off a guitar.

Lookin' back, I didn't care how much trouble he was, but then I didn't have to wash his clothes and clean up after him. I was always glad when he came and cried when he left. He never wore out his welcome with me.