The LDS flirtatious boy

As time passes I always remember Orlando, a twelve-year old boy who used to be in my ward at church when I was a teenager. Orlando was a very charismatic boy who happened to have Down syndrome. Orlando always made the Sunday school much more interesting because he always had jokes about scriptures and funny ways to apply the doctrine. Of course the entire class always enjoyed having Orlando around, some of the girls were afraid of him because he used to run behind them asking for “A True Love Kiss”. Orlando used to be very funny while asking for a kiss, the way he ran exemplified a very well known French cartoon character “Pepe Le Pew” who was constantly seeking “l’amour” of his own. The thing I remember the most was when Orlando was convinced that the girls were flirting with him, even when they rejected. It is obvious that I enjoyed Orlando’s sense of humor while seeking for his true love. In addition, I always wonder how he came up with such a funny way to apply the scriptures to our every day life. For example, one day he came up with a LDS joke well known among Spanish speakers that talks about a vendor selling puppies to what he was saying – “Catholic puppies, Catholic puppies for sale”, then the following day the same vendor was saying -“LDS puppies, LDS puppies for sale”, on that day a cute little girl approached the vendor and asked- “Excuse me sr. why is that yesterday you were selling Catholic puppies and today you are selling LDS puppies?” Then the seller replied –“Because today they opened their eyes”. This and many other “white jokes” always makes me think of Orlando and his good sense of humor while I recall my magical teenage years.