Ben's reputation had not been unknown to the authorities of the college when they were considering him for the post of watchman. When the decision had finally been made to hire him, one of the foremost conditions had been to extract a solemn promise from Ben not to become involved in any questionable behavior with the young coeds on campus. At the time, this had seemed like a joke to Ben. He couldn't imagine any young girl becoming interested in a broken-down old man like himself, but then the friendship had started with Victoria and the sight and smell of her and the soft gentle sound of her voice had brought back sweet memories of the past when he had spent night after glorious night with a seemingly endless stream of just such lovely young creatures.
Well, that stream had dried up, Ben thought to himself, first to a trickle and then fading away completely to a dry channel lined with the bleached rocks of hopeless memories. Once in a while Ben took some of his meager salary and went into town to rent a prostitute for the night, but with the little money he had, he didn't get much back in return. Besides, his mind had stayed stuck on the young ones ever since the days of his greatest glory when they had all been his for the asking. If it hadn't been for the company of his dog, Ben thought he would probably have cracked up long ago. His dog and the whiskey, his faithful life-long companions.
Whiskey had been his downfall and now it was a part of his salvation, the big man thought to himself.