BILLY - MY HERO

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For anyone reading this who knew Billy, you'd know that not one drop of that Whiskey would be going into Billy's body. When I was about eight or nine years old, Billy who would have been around eighteen was dating a young Irish girl called Mary, she had come over from Ireland to stay with neighbours of ours, with the intention of (I believe) staying. Billy was head over heels in love with Mary and of course, very happy.. and then boom - she decided for some reason that i don't know, to go back to Ireland and this left Billy a total wreck. Billy turned a rather 'normal' young man who, like most of us enjoyed a little drink, into a full-blown alcoholic, he went off the rails. He was spotted in the local park drinking with the 'methers'  he was like a tramp, he was fucked. Eventually he became so ill that he was, I believe, sectioned into a mental ward in a little hospital. I recall going to visit him in hospital, he was at that time 'crazy' he said some weird scary things to me during that visit that upset me and would scar me for a long time. Billy eventually came home and transformed his life. Not only did he get himself back into work but he stopped drinking, he didn't touch another drop of alcohol for the rest of his life. He eventually found love again with his Dot and they had two boys Leslie and Ben, he became such a happy man. He still went into pubs, he'd buy a round of drinks for whoever he was with but he'd always have his 'American Dry Ginger Ale' As far as I know, no one ever offered him a drink and if they did he'd never have accepted. Later on in life, I had done well for myself, I had a few vans driving about with my name on and one day,  a family friend saw one of my vans parked up, I was actually driving it this day, this friend gave me a shout out and said "You've done well Ian, nice one" or words to that effect and I went over to him and told him straight.. I may be doing all right but the one who's done the best out of me and two brothers is my Billy and I told him the story. Billy... You really was a HERO.