MARK
Since he and Roger met, Mark had been going to Roger's house almost every day. He'd already met Tommy and Maureen (Tommy had given him a wide smile and a "Hi, nice to meet you, Mark" and Maureen had given him a "You look funny…but I like you" then had waved her wand over his head, making him her friend) and he liked them both (though Maureen scared him a little sometimes since she yelled a lot and laughed loudly, which startled him). He spent a lot of time with Roger though because…well…he liked Roger best. Roger was as old as he was and lived right across the street. Almost every morning, Roger and Annie would go to their front door and knock, then ask if he wanted to come and play. Mark actually waited for them by his bedroom window and thundered downstairs whenever he saw Roger and Annie coming up the street. Every morning the sun was shining and the birds were singing and they could go to the park or ride Roger's red wagon with Tommy and Maureen or do millions of other things. Mark liked it very much in Scarsdale, even more than he liked Manhattan. In the city, they lived in a big old building with a doorman and it wasn't half as cool as a house (Mark was still getting used to the fact that when he opened the front door, he'd be outside and not just in a hallway). And in Scarsdale, he had friends. He didn't have any back in the city since he rarely went out and hadn't started school yet. He'd thought it was cool, just being in his room with his toys and playing by himself; it was only now that he discovered that playing with another kid was much much more fun, especially if that kid was Roger.
"'Kay, I'm the Red Bawon, and you're the Blue Bombew," Roger held the metal vintage toy plane high above his head and made funny 'plane noises' with his mouth. "Ready? EEEUUUURRGGHH…BSSSHHH! RATATATATATATAT!"
Roger waved the red plane over his head and dive-bombed it into the Lego tower they'd just built. The tower smashed to the floor and shattered into a million little Legos. Mark waved his own plane around in victory.
"We've destroyed Duke Dastardly's Evil Tower. Good job, Red Baron. Over," he mimicked how people did it on TV. Tommy laughed from Roger's bed. He was there reading a book. Maureen wasn't with them like she usually was because she'd gone on vacation with her Mommy and Daddy to somewhere called Pants (France). He looked at Tommy. Why was he laughing? "What?"
"I don't think you say 'Good job', Marky," Tommy answered.
Mark blushed. "That's what my Mommy and Daddy say when I do somethin' nice…or great…sowwy…"
Something always went wrong with how he talked whenever he was ashamed or nervous; he'd sound like Roger.
"No no no, don't be sorry. Pilots just say it in a cooler way, that's all.…" Tommy said.
"Like what?" Roger wanted to know. He picked up his plane and brushed it off then grabbed a couple of the Legos, held it high above his head and threw them down on the floor. It was a lot of noise and Mark winced. Roger liked noise for some reason. "BRRSSSHH! EEOOOOWWWW…BLAMMM!"
Mark was about to ask the same thing when he took a sideward glance at the window and saw something that caught his eye. Heshuffled towards the window and pressed his face onto the glass.Someone was walking out of the Davis' stone walkway and into a cab that was waiting nearby. He blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things, 'cause he sometimes did, like the aliens he thought he saw in his bedroom. His Daddy said it was his hyperactive 'magination.
"Hey, isn't that…?"
"Hey, stop it, Rog, you know how your Daddy doesn't like…" Tommy started to say at exactly the same time, but before either boy could finish, Roger's bedroom door opened and all of them turned to look. Tommy quickly sat up in the bed and Mark found himself to be mute. Roger was looking at the unexpected visitor with his mouth hanging wide open.
"H-Hi, Daddy," he said. Mark couldn't move as he stared at the tall dark-haired man in front of him. He'd only seen Roger's Daddy once or twice. The first time was when he'd eaten dinner at the Davis house and Mr. Davis had entered the kitchen, where he and Roger and Annie were. When they realized he'd come in, Annie had stopped laughing and so had Roger. Mark soon realized that he was scared of Roger's Daddy. Mr. Davis hadn't even said anything that night when he'd first seen him. He'd just stared at Mark as he got a bottle of soda from the refrigerator then had nodded, before disappearing from the kitchen. Mark was reminded of a wolf whenever he saw Mr. Davis, like the wolf that ate Red Riding Hood or the wolf that blew the Three Pigs' house down. Mr. Davis was gonna eat him up if he did something wrong, he bet.
"H-Hello, Mr. Davis," Mark heard Tommy say. He tried to say 'Hi' or 'Hello' too like his Mommy had told him to ('cause it was polite)but no words came out. Mark suddenly wanted to go home and hide under his bed, even if there were monsters there.
"Roger," Mr. Davis' voice was low and cold, unlike his own Daddy's voice. To Mark it sounded as if Roger was in trouble. "I have something to tell you."
"Am I in twouble…?" Roger started to say, but Mr. Davis held up a hand. Mark winced.
Oh no! he thought, He's going to spank Roger!
But Mr. Davis didn't. Instead, Roger quieted and Mr. Davis started talking again.
"Don't interrupt, son," the man said sharply. "Honestly, I think this is the best decision for all of us. I don't think you were learning anything aside from ridiculous stories and songs from that woman. Even your manners are slipping."
Mark didn't understand, but he could see that Tommy could. Tommy's eyes grew wide.
"Roger, I've asked Annie to leave. You won't have a nursemaid any longer. You're a big boy now and won't need one. As a replacement, I've hired a housekeeper, Mrs. Phelps…Roger!"
To Mark's surprise, Roger bolted from the room, slipping past his Daddy who was blocking the doorway, and ran down the hallway. Mark could hear his shoes on the carpet. Oh no. So it really was Annie whom he'd seen had gotten into the taxi a while ago. He hadn't been seeing things.
"Roger!" Mr. Davis turned around and ran after Roger. Tommy came next, and picked Mark up in his arms so they could follow, because Tommy knew Mark couldn't run because of his asthma. They caught up with them on the stairs, where Mr. Davis had gotten a hold of Roger, who was crying.
"Daddy, why'd you make hew go? I'm not bad…I didn'ts hurt hew…Daddy, why'd you make hew go?" Roger kept saying. Tommy set Mark down so he could stand on his own. Mark wanted to cry too, partly because he was scared and partly because he didn't want Annie to leave either. "Please, Daddy, I'll be good…I'll be good, I pwomise…please Daddy, bwing hew back…"
Mark watched as Mr. Davis held Roger by the shoulders. He expected Roger's Daddy to hug Roger because Roger was crying and because that's what Mommies and Daddies did; they made booboos and other nasty things go away. But Mr. Davis didn't do that. Instead, he got a hanky and wiped Roger's face with it.
"Stop it, Roger. This is not worth crying for," Mr. Davis said. Roger didn't stop. He kept crying and crying and Mark wished Roger's Mommy would come and pick him up instead, but then he remembered that Roger had no Mommy. Annie had told him Roger's Mommy was with the angels. Roger had never known her.
Mr. Davis looked up and Mark froze when he realized he'd seen both him and Tommy watching.
"Thomas, go home. And take Mr. Cohen home as well. If you need to call your nanny you can do so using the hallway phone…" Mr. Davis told them. Mark felt scared when Roger's Daddy said his name. Was he a mind-reader or something? It only made him a billion times scarier. Mark imagined a wolf that already knew what you were going to do before you even did it. He was going to get eaten for sure. He was dead meat.
"Y-Yes, sir, Mr. Davis," Tommy said, then went to go to the hallway phone. Mark just stood there like his feet were Superglued to the floor and watched Roger with his Daddy. He was so scared that he didn't notice that his pants were already getting wet and a small puddle was forming around his shoes.
Mark didn't see Roger for a while after that. Roger never came out of his house, and Tommy and Maureen didn't know what to do, so they stayed at Mark's house to play. It was fun and all, but Mark couldn't stop thinking of his friend. He remembered his little 'accident' in the Davis house and wondered if he'd only made things worse, even though Tommy had cleaned it all up before Roger's Daddy had even noticed. Was Roger lonely? Was he okay? Did his Daddy take him away? Mark's Mommy dropped by the house once in a while and once, Mark caught up with her.
"Mommy, Mommy, how's Roger? Is he okay? Is he, Mommy?" he asked, hopping around his Mommy's legs, his glasses falling to his nose as he did. Mrs. Cohen gave him a sad smile as she adjusted his glasses.
"He's sick, that's all, Marky. Don't worry, his Daddy and Mrs. Phelps are taking good care of him. You'll be able to play with him soon." She gave him a little pat on the head and a kiss on the cheek, but Mark wasn't comforted. Roger was sick? Mark felt awful about it.
He made an extra-special card for Rogerall day after his Mommy told him about Roger,to make him feel better, and decorated it with lots of dinosaurs (he liked dinosaurs), cars (Roger liked cars) and drew himself, Roger, Tommy and Maureen in. There was even a gray wolf crayoned into a corner that was about to be stomped by a huge T-Rex. He didn't know how to write yet, but he scribbled in what he thought was a 'Get Well Soon' and had his Mommy bring it over to the Davis'.
Soon, his Mommy allowed him to come with her for a visit.
Roger looked at Mark when he came into the room. Toys were all over the bed, new ones and old ones, and a train set was running on the floor. Balloons were tied to the bedposts. Mark's Mommy carried him over to the bed so he wouldn't step on all of the stuff on the floor, then left them alone ("I'll just talk to your Daddy a while, Roger, I'll be back. Mark, don't wear Roger out, okay, honey?"). Mark couldn't believe how different Roger looked. He was smaller now and looked like a balloon that had the air whooshed out of it. He pushed his glasses up his nose and just quietly sat there, his small hands on his lap and waited for Roger to start talking. He didn't want to start 'cause what if Roger didn't want to talk? He didn't need to worry too much though because Roger talked almost straight away.
"I'm sick," Roger told him sadly. "And I don'ts got Annie to make me feel better."
Mark scratched his nose. "I made you a card to make you feel better. Didja get it?"
"I likes it. I likes the caws and the dine-saws..." Roger smiled. "Thank you, Mahk."
"You're welcome."
Mark sat there for a long time. Neither one of the boys spoke.
"Annie was my fwiend," Roger sighed sadly. "Daddy took away my Annie. I don'ts got an Annie or a Mommy…"
Mark bounced a little on the bed. Roger liked bouncing."I'll be your friend," he offered.
"You're already my fwiend," Roger frowned.
"Then I'll be your best friend." Mark returned. He'd heard the term from Cindy and had thought the idea was cool,'cause you had your friends, then you had a best friend.
Roger looked confused. "What's a best fwiend?"
"It means…that…I'll share all my stuff…and I'll tell you all my secrets…and I won't go 'way," Mark answered, sharing how much he knew about being 'best friends'. He said the last thing about going away to make Roger feel better. He really wasn't going to go away like Annie and Roger's Mommy did. He was going to be there with Roger forever, even if Roger's Daddy scared him. To his surprise, Roger's face lit up.
"You won't go 'way like what my Mommy or what my Annie did?" he asked. "You pwomise?"
"Cross my heart and hope to die," Mark beamed. Maureen had taught him that just the other day, when she'd made him swear not to tell anyone that she'd finished all of the Cohens' ice cream stash in their freezer.
"I'll be your best fwiend too. And I won't go 'way, pwomise," Roger said. He started to sit up. "Y'wanna play?"
"Can I play with the train please?" Mark eyed the train set. He wanted to try it so badly. He'd be Engineer Mark, like his Daddy, and he was going to save all the girls who were lying down on the tracks with their hands and feet tied.
"Okay," Roger beamed. "I'm the bad guy…"
Mark couldn't wait to get home and tell Cindy about his own best friend.
TBC