( his voice drops quieter. )

My first friend, as most of the children at my school didn’t think kindly of orphans. But he didn’t mind.

( and it broke him of the spell he was certain to fall into. )

We were friends for a number of years, but. As fate would have it, of course. He fell ill. It was inconvenient for awhile, but ... ( there’s always a but. ) ... After some time, during the war, he fell comatose. On this date.