-When do you get used to the odor of chocolate air, I asked Peter, as we sat out on his deck during the late evening firefly show.
-This is Hershey goddam Pennsylvania, he replied testily. The town was built around the chocolate factory. If you don't like it, go to Utzville.
That's where they make Utz potato chips. Stick your face in an empty potato chip bag to imagine what houses, clothes, and children smell like, in Utzville.
-I'm not complaining, I told him, though in truth the breeze from "Chocolate Headquarters USA" was cloying as only proximity to industrial-sized vats full of liquified candy bars, can be. It was said the very soil in Hershey made chocolate puddles when mixed with raindrops, but I never happened to be there during the rainy season. I can verify, however, that Peter's homegrown medical marijuana was suspiciously sweet.
I was almost enjoying my last night before flying home to Seattle.
-Oh God I'm glad you called me to visit in the summer so we could watch the fireflies together, I said, lighting a new joint.
-I'm happy to oblige you by dying in July. I wouldn't want you to be inconvenienced, having to visit me during a snowstorm.
-And how great is it to be smoking dope legally!
-Technically it's only legal for me, but no one's around for miles. You're safe unless I decide to narc on you.
-All those times when getting high was ruined by the fear of being caught. I love this, now. With you.
-Oh please don't let my imminent death spoil your stoned fun.
He'd warned me there would be remarks like these. Said, ignore them.
So I spoke of the beauty of fireflies, and I recalled college memories, and our travels as lovers. I think chocolate came up in the conversation again: The magic brownies I baked for us and for our friend Jim. At some point, I coaxed a smile from him. At another, we held each other and cried.
I almost declared I'd never eat chocolate again, because I would associate it with our last time together. He'd have said that's ridiculous, don't do it on my account. But I just lost my sweet tooth forever after that last visit.
Another thing I didn't tell him was how badly I'd miss his friendship as I grew older and older, while he remained perpetually 45. That's because I didn't know it yet.
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