The Code of Buddyhood by William Bernhardt

Author:William Bernhardt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: friendship, literary, college, literarature
Publisher: Babylon Books

Two

“Mark!” Bobby said slowly. Information was flowing into his brain faster than it could be assimilated. “Szasz? Is that you?”

“Right the first time,” Mark responded, grinning. He still had a great smile.

“I—“ Bobby realized his mouth was gaping and closed it. “I don’t believe it. Mark Szasz.”

“It’s me, Bobby, I promise. And this paragon of pulchritude standing beside you must be the lovely Siobhan.”

“Right. Here, let me take Janie from you.”

Mark raised his hands. “Oh, no need. We’re doing fine here.”

Siobhan squatted down to Janie’s eye level. “You haven’t been bothering Mr. Szasz, have you, Janie?”

Janie’s chubby freckled face drew up like a bow. “I like Unca Mark,” she said, clapping her hands together.

“Uncle Mark?” Bobby peered down at Janie. She usually didn’t like strangers—usually ran upstairs and hid from them in her bedroom. The Szasz charm must still work wonders. “How long have you been here?”

“A little over an hour. Must’ve been some party you two crashed.”

“Yes, wasn’t it,” Siobhan said, shooting a quick look at Bobby. “Where’s the babysitter?”

“Oh, I sent her home,” Mark said. “I didn’t see any reason for both of us to look after the same pretty little girl.” He continued bouncing her up and down.

Siobhan stared at him. “You sent her home?”

“Well, why in the world are we standing around?” Bobby said lamely. “Let’s all sit down and find out what you’ve been doing for the last ten years. Hell, eleven years. Has it really been eleven years?”

“So it seems,” Mark said.

“You two guys would probably rather reminisce by yourselves,” Siobhan said. “I’ll put Janie to bed and leave you alone.” She lifted Janie off Mark’s lap. Janie started to cry. Siobhan shushed her and tried to get her to stop. She put her nose next to Janie’s and made a funny face. “You’re up way past your bedtime, aren’t you, Janie-poo?”

Bobby caught Siobhan’s eye and looked at her meaningfully. “Sheeby, don’t leave. I’m sure Mark wants to catch up with you too.”

“No, no,” Siobhan said. “I’ll leave you alone so you can talk guy talk—reminiscing about all the beers you drank and all the buxom beauties you laid. You don’t need an old pregnant woman around.” She flashed Bobby a final nyah-nyah-you’re-on-your-own smile and waddled merrily up the stairs.

Bobby crossed behind the cherry wood coffee table and sat down on the sofa.

“There’s a chair beside the pool table, Mark.”

“I like the floor fine, thanks.”

“You old heartbreaker. Starting in on a four-year-old.”

Mark put his arms on the coffee table and placed his chin on his hands. “I bet you’re surprised to see me, huh?”

“Oh—I mean—well, yeah. True.” Sometimes Bobby hated the sound of his own voice. It seemed strange and unnatural.

“Well, Bobby, to tell you the God’s honest truth, I’m a little surprised myself. Even after I decided to go to the dorm reunion, I didn’t expect to drop in on you beforehand. But the more I thought about it, I realized it just wouldn’t be right for us to go separately. At Hume House, we were a team.

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