Don’t Make Faces

I was playing with Larry in the sandbox when he died. It just happened. One moment we were having a great time, and the next…

My friend Toby came over from the monkey bars. He asked what was up.

“Larry’s dead,” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes.

Toby sat on his heels and pushed Larry around in the sand.

“How do you know he’s dead?”

“I can just tell.”

“He seems fine to me,” said Toby.

I brought my face close to Larry. His luster was gone. He was just…there. All brown and…there. No life to him. I stood up and brushed the sand from my knees.

“No,” I said. “He’s gone.”

Toby patted me on the shoulder. Toby was a good friend.

“Will you come to the hospital with me?” I asked. “Maybe a doctor can help Larry.”

Toby made a face, but he tried to take it back.

“Sorry, man. I’ve got to get home for supper.”

I said, “Okay,” but I didn’t try to hide my disappointment. Maybe Toby wasn’t as good a friend as I thought he was.

I carried Larry to the hospital. Along the way I passed another park filled with kids a little older than me. Three boys ran over to see what I was carrying. When I told them my friend Larry had died they punched my ears and knocked Larry to the ground. They called me a little faggot. Then they went away.

I cleaned up Larry and I cleaned up myself and I continued on to the hospital, ears ringing. I cursed Toby for not coming with me. If he’d come with me I wouldn’t have been punched in the ears and Larry wouldn’t have been knocked to the ground. Toby was bigger than me, stronger too. They wouldn’t have bothered me if I was with Toby. But Toby had made a face he tried to take back. And he didn’t come with me. It was just me and Larry, and Larry was dead.

When I got to the emergency room, I told the nurse in the booth that Larry had died. She looked at me and then she looked at Larry and then she told me to take a seat and wait my turn. Even though Larry was dead I read to him from Highlights magazines and showed him the pictures. I thought it might bring him back to life but it didn’t. The other people in the emergency room made faces like the one Toby had made. Then a woman sitting next to me stood up and went over to the nurse in the booth. Then the nurse tunked on the glass and waved me over.

“Are you with someone?” she asked.

“I’m with Larry. We’d like to see a doctor.”

“And what exactly is wrong with Larry again?”

“He died.”

The nurse handed me a lollypop and then made a whispery phone call. I licked my lollypop. Then it occurred to me that Larry might want some too. Or maybe I thought it would bring him back to life. So I rubbed my lollypop on his chest. Then his chest was green. The nurse made a face. I made a face back because her face pissed me off. I thought she was different. Then a doctor in a white coat told me to come with him to an examination room.

“Let’s take a look at Larry,” he said.

I grudgingly passed Larry to the doctor and the doctor put him on a table. He shined a light on Larry.

“Can you tell me what happened?” asked the doctor.

“We were playing in the sandbox and Larry just died.”

The doctor rubbed his chin and said, “I see. I see.”

Then the doctor told me to stand back.

“There’s one thing we can try,” he said, and I said, “Okay. Anything you think might help.”

The doctor took down some kind of little machine from the wall. It was a cushiony tube type thing with a skinnier black tube attached to it. He put the big part of the tube around Larry and then squeezed the end of the little black tube. There was also some kind of gauge on the skinny black tube, and after a few squeezes the doctor read the gauge. Then he smiled.

“I think Larry is going to be okay. Did you boys eat lunch today?”

I was so happy that Larry was going to be okay it was hard to remember so I had to really think about it. Then I said, “No, we didn’t eat any lunch today.”

The doctor squeezed my shoulder and looked at me, but he didn’t make a face.

“Well,” he said, “I think Larry’s blood sugar was a little bit low. Can I borrow your lollypop?”

I passed the doctor my lollypop and the doctor rubbed it on Larry’s chest like I’d done before.

“I tried that too!” I said.

“And you were right to try,” said the doctor. “I think you may have saved his life. You’re a good friend.”

Then the doctor leaned close to my ear and whispered something but my ears were still ringing a little from being punched so I’m not exactly sure what he said. Something about having a pet rock when he was a boy too. Or maybe something about being careful. I’m not sure.

The doctor gave Larry back to me. I thanked him and then left. On my way back home I thought about all the faces people had made at me and Larry, and how Toby was kind of a dick. Then I thought about how nice the doctor was, and how happy I was to have Larry back, green chest and all. He sparkled in the sunlight just like he used to.

We had to go by the park with the mean boys in it, and they came running at me and Larry like they did last time. But Larry was alive again so I wasn’t worried. When they got close he knocked the shit out of them. He knocked the shit out of them a lot. I had to restrain him after a while.

When I got to Toby’s house I saw him playing in the back yard. He saw me too and then he waved. He ran into the front yard.

“How’s Larry?” he asked. Then he stopped running when he saw Larry. He made that stupid face again too. I looked at Larry and then I looked at Toby and then I waved Larry high above my head. I imagined he was like a Christmas tree, all green and red. I screamed at Toby that he was a piece of shit friend. Then I called him a little faggot.

“Larry is the only solid friend I’ve got, you worthless fuck.”

Then I laughed. I laughed because I thought calling Larry a solid friend was funny. Then I laughed just because. Then I couldn’t stop laughing. Toby ran into the house. After a while I grew hungry from all the laughing so I went home. It was almost suppertime. I didn’t want Larry’s blood sugar to drop again.

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Mel Bosworth is the author of When the Cats Razzed the Chickens (Folded Word Press, 2009). Visit him at http://eddiesocko.blogspot.com/