Earnest Ben cont.

The next time Ben saw Lucy he smiled again. His day was not going especially well, but he smiled. It made Lucy happy when Ben smiled.

They had given him the unpleasant pink pill again and it made his mind feel like a herd of elephants had gotten inside and were spraying his thoughts everywhere, the way they sprayed water on TV. All Ben could do was try to answer Lucy's questions, try to talk with her. He hoped he wasn't disappointing her.

Lucy had secrets. Been was good at noticing people's secrets. He knew that the tall brown-haired doctor was more than just golf friends with the thin old one, despite the fact that the old one was married and they were both men. Ben kept their secret because it made the doctors happy to be such good friends. Other people had secrets that were unhappy but Ben kept those, too. Telling would make people even more unhappy.

Ben knew one of Lucy's secrets. It was plain as day. Right away he knew she loved him. She wanted what was best for him. His mother and father wanted what was best for him, too. They told him so when they sent him here, told him they loved him. Now Lucy loved him as well. It made Ben happy, even with the pink pill.

When Lucy asked how he stayed so happy Ben just shrugged his shoulders. He always kept people's secrets. When she asked how he kept a positive outlook, Ben though about how to answer for a long time before asking Lucy if he could think about it longer.

Lucy agreed and told Ben that she would talk to him tomorrow. Ben kept on smiling and said he looked forward to it. Deep in his heart, in the place he kept his secrets, he wasn't sure if that was true.