Earth's the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg

Author:Elizabeth Berg [Berg, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2023-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Thursday afternoon, after school, Arthur was alone in the house. He paced in his bedroom, back and forth, looked out the window, sat on his bed, got up and paced again. What had Nola thought when she got the lilacs? And why was it that now, when he’d finally gotten a date with her, he was more unhappy than before?

Although unhappy wasn’t really the right word, he supposed. He was just nervous, and he’d have to wait for over an hour before he could go to pick Nola up. It was awful; he couldn’t stop thinking about what he might do wrong. This wouldn’t be the casual kind of encounter they’d had so far. This was a date. A lot was riding on it. He went to the bookcase for a collection of riddles he’d given Frank a few years ago; surely a joke would be a good icebreaker for after they sat down together, but the book was nowhere to be found.

His suddenly lovey-dovey parents had gone out for a ride in the country in his father’s new car. Frank had gone to be with Mary. What Arthur needed was a friend. Never mind that everyone liked Arthur; he didn’t really have someone he could call up or spontaneously visit. Frank had filled the role of brother and friend all of Arthur’s life, and now he began to wonder if he’d relied on his brother for too much. Soon Frank would be off to New York, and then where would Arthur be? Playing cards with Grimy? It occurred to Arthur that the first step in getting a friend was admitting you needed one.

He went downstairs and began pacing in the living room. Then, deciding he had to get out of the house, he went to the telephone and pulled out the directory. Only one Guldorp was listed, and Arthur sat on the little telephone bench and dialed.

A woman answered.

“Hello, Mrs. Guldorp, this is Arthur Moses, calling for Harvey?” he said.

“Who?”

“Arthur Moses?”

Silence.

“I’m a friend of Harvey’s from school? I came over not long ago?”

“Arthur, you say? And you’re a friend from—” She stopped speaking to address someone in the background. Her voice was muffled from having put her hand over the receiver, but Arthur heard, “Well, fine, then! Here!”

Harvey’s adenoidal voice came on the line. “Arthur?”

“Yeah, it’s me. What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Want me to come over?”

“What for?”

Arthur sighed. “I don’t know. We could read some comics.”

“Well, I did just get some new ones. Dick Tracy, Felix the Cat, Superman, and a few others. I’m done with the Superman ones. You want to read those?”

“Sure. I’ll come right over. Maybe we can do some other stuff, too.” In truth, Arthur had no earthly idea what else to suggest. A guy suffered from not being much interested in or talented at sports. He supposed it was good Harvey was the same way. At least going to see him would pass an hour. If Arthur stayed home, he’d wear the carpets out with his pacing.

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