my entry for the ABC challenge
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"You've reached the voicemail of Charles Eppes. At the moment I can not answer the phone so please leave your message at the beep."
'Hey Buddy, it's Don. Eh... I just got home and I wanted to talk about dad's upcoming birthday. So, if you get this call me back ok? Talk to you later. Bye'
Don hung up the phone. As always after leaving a message on an answering machine he replayed in his head what he had just said. Satisfied that he hadn't rambled or forgot something he walked over to the fridge and grabbed a beer.
He uncorked the bottle and went to sit down on his sofa. He took a sip from his beer, closed his eyes and again he thought back to the message he had just left Charlie. Thought back to the first words.
Hey Buddy.
Who calls their brother Buddy when he's 30 years old? Don thought with a smirk. He hadn't even consciously thought about it for he had called Charlie that like forever. Don couldn't even remember when he had first started using that word. He must have been eight or something. He took another sip from his beer and let his mind wander, all the way down memory lane.
Don was laying in front of the TV, flat on his belly and his head resting on his arms. He wasn't allowed to watch TV in the middle of the day, but since his mom was upstairs busy with Charlie Don could do whatever he wanted, as long as he kept the volume down. Normally Don would rather play outside, but for this he loved to make an exception. Rocky Ranger. The only show on TV that would send shivers down his spine. And this was a particular good episode. Rocky Ranger had found and rescued a little kid in the wilderness who had run away from home, and together they even had managed to ambush the Bad Guys.
Don loved this, and although he would give everything to be that kid right now, his biggest idol would still be the Rocky Ranger himself. Being a free man, self-sufficient and although not working for the law he still managed to catch the bad guys each episode. He was tough, would not be messed with and still had it in him to take on a little kid and look after him.
This was what Don wanted to be, and when the Rocky Ranger called the kid 'Buddy', Don kept repeating that word to himself. Buddy. He tried to say it with the same low voice as the Rocky Ranger but noticing how he failed miserably he settled for imitating the Texan brawl and expressing the same look. His eyes half closed, and a piece of straw hanging from the corner of his mouth he practiced his new line in front of the mirror. After sufficient practice he decided to try it out on the best example of a helpless kid he knew. Charlie.
He climbed the stairs and walked to Charlie's room and after quietly opening the door he found him where he had expected him to be. On his knees on the floor, scribbling on a bloc note. Charlie didn't appear to have noticed him, giving Don the element of surprise. He pushed open the door a little further and half-closed his eyes.
Then, all of a sudden, he said: 'Hey Buddy. Whaddya doin'?'
Charlie's head shook up and he looked at him with two large brown terrified eyes. He had dropped the pencil from his hands but the moment Charlie saw it was his big brother, Don could see the twinkle in his brother's eyes. He knew that that twinkle was almost always there when Charlie saw him, but for now Don decided to attribute that to his new phrase. It had worked. Content with the result he turned and walked out of the room, leaving little Charlie behind.
Don opened his eyes and took another sip from his beer. He hadn't thought about that for years, and until now he could have sworn he had forgotten all about it. But now he could remember how he continued to use that phrase over and over.
At first it was all just part of his Rocky Ranger impersonation. After a few days he had mastered the right tone and he had perfected his half-closed eye, straw hanging from the corner of his mouth-look to a level where he could impress all of his friends at school. But after a while the whole Rocky Ranger phase cooled down and Don dropped his act. The only reason he continued to use the word Buddy was the look on Charlie's face every time he used it. It worked like magic.
Don was twelve and now his mom considered him old enough to watch Charlie in the afternoon. This was the first time ever that she had asked Don to do this and Don was very proud. Feeling the responsibility he had promised his mom that he would stay near Charlie all afternoon and would not let him out of his sight.
Although he would never admit it to his friends, he liked spending the afternoon with Charlie. It gave him the chance to play the big brother role properly, teaching him the important things in life like playing ball and how to build a proper tree house. Charlie was always eager to learn new things and as long as there was no math involved Don and Charlie could work quite well together. Don showing Charlie the way things were done and Charlie trying his best to impress Don by carefully imitating him.
That afternoon Don and Charlie were at the backyard where Don was showing his little brother how to throw curveballs, when Don's friend Alfie walked in on them.
'Hey Don, they're destroying the old bowling alley! Come on, let's go look!' Alfie shouted and Don could see the excited look on his face.
Destroying a building, this was what twelve year old boys lived for! Don had almost run after Alfie when he remembered Charlie.
He turned around and looked at his brother, Dons glove on his little hands. Don knew that he couldn't take him with him, that would mean that he would have to watch him all the time, answer thousands of questions from the ever-curious Charlie but most important, Alfie wouldn't like it. None of Don's friends liked hanging out with little brothers, but certainly not with a little know-it-all like Charlie.
Don knew he had to make a decision. Leaving Charlie and breaking his promise to his mother, or staying with him and losing the chance of a lifetime. Don was still trying to decide when Alfie nudged him again.
'Come on Don, we have to go now otherwise we will miss it! Let's go!' Alfie urged.
Don went and sat on his knees in front of the still silent Charlie, trying the only card he could play with Charlie.
'Hey Buddy. I'm going away with Alfie, ok? Then you can go inside and do so more math, you like that don't you?' Don pleaded.
Charlie quietly nodded but didn't move. Don got up and maneuvered his little brother inside. When they got inside Don got to his knees once more and talked to Charlie again.
'So, you're staying inside and you're not going to open the door, alright? I know you can do that, because I know you're a big boy. You can stay home all alone, and it will be our little secret. Ok, Buddy?'
Don could see the sad eyes and decided to lay it on a little more.
'I know you can do it, Buddy! I would be so proud of you! All right, Buddy?'
This time Don could see the familiar twinkle in his brother's eyes, and Charlie nodded a little more.
Knowing he had succeeded, Don patted his little brother's head and then walked out through the door again. He felt a little bad about leaving his brother, but Alfie's enthusiasm quickly took over and Don ran after him.
Don sighed and opened his eyes again. He remembered how that evening his mom told him repeatedly how proud she was for watching Charlie all afternoon, while Charlie had kept a little quiet all night. Thinking back now he could remember more instances like that when he had manipulated Charlie to do what Don wanted.
The word Buddy had become just a nickname for Charlie and Don realized that in those days he had used that word without any meaning. Just Buddy, no strings attached, no ulterior motive. Just a name.
With another sigh Don got up and took the now empty beer bottle to the kitchen. Bringing back those memories had brought some bad feelings with them, and that was not what he needed on his night off. He reached in the fridge for another beer, opened it and brought it to his lips. Leaning on the kitchen counter he closed his eyes again while taking another sip from his beer.
It had been very long since Don had been home. He hadn't really missed it, being very busy all the time, but now he was getting closer and closer slowly a nervous feeling had been building up in his stomach.
College had been an escape for Don, a chance to finally be on his own and stand on his own legs, a chance he had grabbed with both hands. There, he was Don Eppes, the power hitter in the Stockton Rangers, friend of many and a good student. And he was proud of that. He was so busy that days, weeks even, went by where he didn't think about home, where his parents and little brother lived.
And now he was driving through the increasingly more familiar streets leading to the house to see his family again like he had promised his mom. Of course he would like to see them again, but he couldn't stop thinking about the life he was temporarily leaving behind.
Still thinking of college life he turned his car on the driveway and got out. Slowly getting his bag from the car he turned towards the door and saw that it had opened already. In the doorway stood his dad with a big smile on his face.
'Don! You're here!' he said.
Don couldn't help but smile back and approached him with firm steps. He dropped his bag on the ground and hugged his dad. 'Hey dad, how are you?'
After the warm welcome from his dad Don walked inside, now eager to greet his mom. He found her where he expected her to be, in the kitchen. She also was very happy to see him, and immediately hugged and kissed him. 'Good to have you home again, dear.' She said with a warm smile.
After putting away his bag and jacket he knew he had one last person to see. Charlie. 'Where is Charlie, mom? The solarium?' Don turned to the stairs and had almost taken the first steps when his mother stopped him. 'No, he's in the garage.' And she pointed to the door.
With a confused look Don set out for the garage door. He couldn't figure out what Charlie was doing in the garage, and opened the door.
The first thing he saw when he looked inside was blackboards. As was the second thing and third. He heard some scribbling in the corner and suddenly recognized it all; this was Charlie's new working space. The last time he had seen him he had still used the solarium for his work, but apparently things had changed. When he got a better look at his brother he could see more changes. The little boy he had seen the last time was still there somewhere, but it was different. First of all he had grown quite a bit and his hair was even longer than it was. But Don could see it in his stance, inside Charlie had changed as well.
Taking in the changes Don realized how long he hadn't seen his little brother. In those months they had been away from each other they both had changed, and it took Don a moment to come to terms with that. He suddenly realized how he had missed his little brother.
Out of seemingly nowhere he felt the urge to see his brother face to face, talk to him, hear from him. He walked closer and made his presence known.
'Hey Buddy. Here you are.'
Charlie immediately dropped his chalk and turned around. For a moment he seemed to have trouble recognizing his brother standing before him, but soon broke out in a big smile. Don could recognize the twinkle in his brother's eyes in a second and hugged him.
This time Don opened his eyes with a smile. He remembered how he and Charlie had spent a lot of time together that weekend, both wanting to catch up. For all those years Don had always felt at least a hint of resentment and jealousy towards Charlie but that weekend was the first time ever that Don was just glad to see his brother.
This brought him back to the present. If someone had told Don ten years ago that he would be seeing so much of his brother these days he would have called them insane. They had been so different for so long, that this mutual cooperation and comfort with each other would have seemed an impossible dream then.
But dream or no dream, it had happened and Don loved it. He liked to work with Charlie, have a drink with him, talk to him, come home often to have dinner with him and their dad, and even go to a ball game once in a while. Doing things that friends do. Pals. Buddies.
Because that was what Charlie was to Don these days, he realized. His friend, his pal, his buddy. Don smirked as he thought of that and emptied the last of the beer. As he put the empty bottle away he heard his cell phone ring.
He walked over to the table where he had left it and grabbed the phone. Looking at the number recognition he smiled and picked up.
'Hey Buddy.'