Elmer, "Walt" was a friend I knew when I lived in California. Despite being a 1960s throwback and a public rejection, Walt still lived with a smile on his face and a story in his heart. Walt loved telling stories and loved where he told them. Walt also loved to drink and by the end of the evening the bottle had met his lips one too many times. The old hippie ways went down in history for everyone else, except Walt.Elmer didn't like his real name. He liked being called by his middle name, Walter, due to the constant teasing they had during his childhood. Elmer shared the same name as the famous Warner Brothers cartoon character, Elmer Fudd. The small circle of friends that Wally and I were part of gave him several nicknames. Two stood out the most. Walt Walter Wally Wallester, all a nickname but a bit long and the other Sir Walter Wally. He liked being called the latter of the two. I called him Wallester, which he vehemently detested, to get a reaction from him. When Walt walked into a room, he was noticed. It wasn't his height. His normal average five foot ten inch frame didn't give him away. It was his behavior and the clothes he wore that turned heads. His twisted shoulder-length hair and long untrimmed beard surrounding his leathery skin would be the focal point of his audience. Walt was almost always smiling. His facial expression was one of comfort, not hatred. The people did not fear him. She chose to wear clothes reminiscent of the late sixties. His fringed brown suede vest would envelop layers of unmatched colorful t-shirts. His oversized Budweiser belt buckle rested on his hips, supporting his striped bell-bottoms that partially covered his black high-top tennis shoes in white. He wore his belt buckle not in the center of his torso but on the side, almost on his left hip. "Because I'm okay." he responded when asked about his fashion choice. Sir Walter Wally lived about twenty miles south of Berkeley, California in the small town of Castro Valley. His tiny second-floor apartment was just outside the center. The complex was old and out of code. The walls had been painted so many times previously due to previous tenants that it was difficult to tell what was a wall and what was refinished, because the two had merged together creating a single texture.