Anything Could Happen (7 page)

“Wow,” said Austin. “I read that in high school. How come you don’t have to be there?”

“I’m not doing it,” Guy said.

“You’re not directing it?” Austin asked.

“I don’t direct everything the Pegasus does, Austin. I’d go out of my mind if I did. We have about a dozen people who direct for us. Most of them only direct maybe one play every couple years or so. I wind up doing quite a few, though. Somehow I’ve managed to get, like, three practically back-to-back. But it’s not normal, and it’s not enough to pay the bills. That’s why I work part time in the box office and even the concession stand. Gotta pay the rent.”

“Well, shit. I guess I thought directing was your full-time job.”

“I’ve got my fingers in a little of bit everything,” he replied.

“So I’ve heard,” Bodie said, returning with a glass of milk and one of ice tea. “Austin, your hands. You too, Guy.”

Deciding not to argue, both young men washed their hands in the kitchen sink while Uncle Bodie got himself a glass of milk. He raised the glass. “An old man needs his calcium.”

“You’re not old, Uncle Bodie,” Austin said.

His uncle snorted. “I’m as old as Moses’s toes and twice as corny.”

Austin and Guy burst into laughter. A moment later, all dug into the sandwiches. They were indeed quite good.

After that, Guy began to ask questions.

“A
LL
right,” said Guy, opening a small spiral notebook and clicking a pen. “Let’s talk about Todd.”

Austin felt a sudden rush of nerves. His stomach clenched. Clenched again.

“Let’s start with the obvious. Why Kansas City?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were best friends. You talked. Out of all the places he could have gone, why KC? There’s St. Louis. Columbia. Those are just the bigger cities that are close. Why not Chicago or New York or a hundred other places?”

Austin shrugged. “I-I… well….”

“And how about a cell phone? Doesn’t Todd have a cell phone?”

“Oh no,” said Austin, shaking his head decisively. “There’s no way his parents would let him have one, even if he had enough money to afford one on his own.”

“His parents wouldn’t let him? He’s twenty. How could they stop him?”

Austin sighed. “You don’t know his parents.”

“Not good?” Guy asked, beginning to write down some notes.

“No. Not at all. His stepdad is an asshole.” Austin clenched his fists. Tried to will them to relax. “He really screwed with Todd’s head. Sometimes Todd would come over to my place after some shit that man pulled, and he wouldn’t say a word. And every now and then, he’d just cry.” And just like that, the memories brought tears to
Austin’s
eyes. “God, I hated the man for hurting Todd. I would promise Todd that it would all be better once we graduated. We could move to Kansas City and find a place of our own, and he’d never have to see his stepdad again.”

Austin cleared his throat. Tried to get a grip on his emotions. It wasn’t easy. “His mom was cool when he was little,” Austin continued. “And his real dad—I can’t remember, really. Todd either—but I remember this cool giant of a guy. After he died, his mom married this real creep, and then she changed.” He looked up. Guy was staring at him, not saying a word. “That really messed with Todd too. That she remarried.”

“That’s pretty common, Austin. Kids don’t want their parents to marry someone else.”

Austin shrugged. Tried to shake off the memories. He couldn’t remember his own mother and father very well. “No. Things weren’t good with Todd and his parents.”

Guy nodded. “And the Internet? Did he have a computer?”

“Yeah. He had a laptop he got off of eBay. I helped him. It was a piece of shit, but it worked and Todd loved it. He had to use dial-up, or come to my place for the Wi-Fi, but he’d get on all the time.”

“So he had an e-mail address.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah. But he didn’t use it all that much. I was only two blocks away, so he could just run over if he wanted to talk to me. He wasn’t into Facebook. He didn’t go into chat rooms or anything like that. He used his computer to download stuff.”

“Have you tried to e-mail him?”

“Of course, but I guess he deleted his. I got one of those messages back that says ‘undelivered mail returned to sender.’”
Because he didn’t want to talk to me. Didn’t want me e-mailing him
. “I guess he hates me.” The tears were back.
Shit.

“You don’t know he hates you.” Guy reached out and laid a hand on top of Austin’s.

“Then why leave Buckman like he did? Why didn’t he return my calls? Why wouldn’t he talk to me? Why couldn’t we talk it out?”
Dammit. What was with all these tears lately?
Guy was going to think he was a big crapping baby.

“Well, he did catch you having sex with his girlfriend. That would be hard to talk out.”

Austin flinched.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to sound judgmental.” Guy squeezed Austin’s hand.

“You had sex with a woman?” his uncle asked, suddenly sitting up.

Austin shrugged. “
Once
. I wanted to make sure.”

“You wanted to make sure of what?” his uncle asked, voice cracking.

“That I was gay.” Austin rolled his eyes.

“And you needed to try some poontang to know that?” Uncle Bodie gave a shudder.

“I just knew there would be all those people saying, ‘So how do you know you’re gay if you’ve never tried it with a girl?’”

“I don’t need to try sticking my arm in a tree shredder to know I wouldn’t like it,” his uncle responded with a grunt.

“It’s okay, Austin. Don’t listen to him. I did the same thing. With a girl in college. It was my first time directing. She got this crush on me, and she thought she could change me, and I thought, what the hell? I never dreamed I would like Reubens—what with sauerkraut and corned beef and rye bread and that nasty Thousand Island dressing—and then I tried one, and now they’re one of my favorite sandwiches.”

Austin shook his head. “You know, sex with Joan didn’t exactly win me over as a big fan of heterosexual sex, but I can’t believe the two of you are comparing sex with women with Reuben sandwiches and tree shredders. It’s hardly a comparison, and it’s a little harsh. We are talking about my
friend
here. Now maybe comparing vanilla ice cream with sweet-potato ice cream….”

Guy opened his mouth as if to say something, then seemed to think better of it.

“What?” asked Austin, getting perturbed.

“You’re right. Sorry.” Guy looked down at his notebook.

“I’ve never been a big vanilla fan myself,” Uncle Bodie said quietly, patting his lap so that Lucille would join him. She did—happily. “Peter got me some sweet-potato ice cream at this Thai restaurant in Westport once. It was simply amazing.”

“I think we need to get back on subject, guys,” Guy reminded them. “Austin. Tell me some of the kinds of things Todd liked to download.”

“Well, he was always watching for stuff about science-fiction movies. Especially
Star Wars
. He even collected the toys. I got him a B-wing fighter for his birthday this year.”

“B what?” Guy asked.

“It was the really weird-looking spaceship from
Return of the Jedi
.”

“I’m lost,” said Uncle Bodie.

“It doesn’t matter,” Austin said, chuckling. It was all just another part of what made him love Todd, and he decided not to explain. “He likes
Star Wars
.”

“So maybe we should look for other sci-fi people,” Guy suggested. “There’s a group of sci-fi fans who meet in midtown once a month. They all showed up when the Pegasus did
Rocky Horror
. We can check with them.”

“Oh wow! You think?” Austin grinned, guilt and tears forgotten for the moment.

“What else?” asked Guy.

“Jokes. Funny stuff. Like those e-cards. You know the ones I mean.”

Uncle Bodie shook his head. “I don’t have a computer,” he said.

“They’re these little pastel-colored boxes with old-fashioned drawings, and they say all kinds of funny shit.”

“Sure. I saw one on Facebook this morning,” Guy said. “It was something like, ‘Is your drama going to have an intermission soon? Because I gotta pee.’”

“Yes,” Austin said, laughing. “And he likes LOLCats.”

“Hmmmm….”

“What is that?” Uncle Bodie asked. “I seem to be getting totally lost.”

“Silly pictures of cats with silly captions,” Austin explained.

“Kind of creepy,” Guy said. “They have the cats speaking this funky baby talk.”

“But
Todd
liked them,” Austin said, trying not to get defensive. “He loves cats. Well, any animal. But a cat was the only thing his stepdad would let him have. The creep wouldn’t even let him have a turtle.”

“A cat, huh?” Guy asked.

“Be careful, my boy,” Uncle Bodie said, leaning toward Guy’s ear.

“Was I about to stick my foot in my mouth again? Austin, I’m sorry. I have a knack for that. Just saying whatever’s on my mind.”

Like Todd
, Austin thought.
No sensor at all. Thought to mouth.
“It’s okay,” he said, and meant it. “You’re trying to help me find Todd.”

Guy shook his head. “You are too kind. Todd’s a lucky man.”

“Lucky?”

“To have someone like you loving him. Now tell me something else he downloads. Jokes aren’t much of a clue to help us track him down.”

“Well, there was his cooking stuff. He was always looking for some new recipe.”

“Todd liked to cook?” Bodie sat up straight. “Was he any good?”

“Oh, yeah,” replied Austin. “He wants to be a chef. He was always watching an online show with this woman here in Kansas City. She owns her own restaurant, I think. She makes… box food?”

“Box?” asked Guy. “I don’t understand. You mean to-go boxes?”

“No.
Box
. They’re these people from France or Spain or something like that. I
should
know, but—”

“Basque,” corrected Uncle Bodie.

They turned as one to look at him.

“Basque,” Uncle Bodie repeated. “They are a people without an official country. And the restaurant you are talking about is Izar’s Jatetxea—”

“That’s it,” cried Austin, jumping out of his chair. Lucille began barking as if she, too, agreed Izar’s Jatetxea was the right place.

“They live in both France and Spain… their home straddles both countries, if I remember correctly.”

“Uncle Bodie. How do you know all this?”

The old man shrugged. “It’s what comes out of living a long life. That and having a friend like Peter Wagner, I suppose.”

“Oh, this is just amazing!” He turned to Guy, barely able to contain his excitement. “I bet he’s been there! Maybe he’s there right now. He had this dream of going to Kansas City to see if she’d take him on as an apprentice or something. He’d watch that show and then would cook me and my grandparents dinner.”

“Well, how thoughtful,” said Uncle Bodie. “And you say he’s pretty good?”

“He’s incredible. Always doing something kind of wacky, like the time he made this pumpkin cornbread. Or he’d add rose petals to salads. Or those orange flowers? Sometimes they’re red or orange and they have this black-peppery flavor—”

“Nasturtiums,” Uncle Bodie said.

“He even made this sour cream stuff to go on waffles that tasted like roses. Wacky stuff, but it was always good. I don’t know what it was about this Jah-texas lady—”

“Ha-
tetch
-a-yah. Izar’s Jatetxea is the name of the restaurant,” Uncle Bodie corrected, while Austin continued over him.

“—and this Basque food—”

“—the chef and owner’s name is Izar. Izar Goya, I believe—”

“—was really good.”

“—and yes, it’s excellent food. Peter’s taken me there a time or two….”

“Of course,” grinned Guy. “Peter takes you all kinds of places.”

“He’s a prince,” Bodie explained.

“Even Gram liked it,” Austin continued. “And she’s pretty much a meat-and-potatoes kind of girl.”

“That’s true,” Uncle Bodie agreed. “Wilda was never an explorer. That’s why she stayed in Buckman, and I got the hell out of there.”

“Well, that and she was crazy in love with Gramps and had no
reason
to leave,” Austin said.

“Yes, she really got lucky with Frawley. He’s a man ahead of his time. They never gave me any trouble. Never questioned me. Never judged. Didn’t really talk about my life, either, but in those days it was practically giving me their blessing.”

“Uncle Bodie….” Austin looked at his uncle, eyebrow raised. A sudden idea had occurred to him, and once it had, he couldn’t help but ask: “Are you and Peter lovers?”

Uncle Bodie hooted. “Lovers? Me and Peter? Oh no. Peter’s not my type. He’s too young for one thing.”

“Boys. Boys!” Guy snapped his fingers. “I’m going to have to head for work soon. Austin. I think we’ve got something here. The sci-fi people and the Basque restaurant. I say we go there tomorrow for lunch.”

“Really?” It was all Austin could do not to start jumping up and down. “Oh my God!”

“What a wonderful idea,” said Uncle Bodie. “What if I call Peter and see if he’ll join us?”

“I told you that you’d meet him sooner or later,” Guy told Austin. “It seems like sooner is the name of the game.”

Austin began to pace and wring his hands at the same time. “Oh God, oh God. What if he’s there? What if this is all it takes? What will I do? What will I say?”

“If you’re smart,” said Uncle Bodie, “you’ll drop to one knee and propose.”

“Propose?” Austin giggled.

Guy stood up suddenly, closed his notebook, and put his pen away. “I’ll knock on your door around eleven or so tomorrow and we’ll head on over. Does that sound okay?”

Austin nodded eagerly. “Yes. God. Tomorrow.”

“We’ll be ready,” Uncle Bodie said.

Guy nodded to both of them and turned to leave, then stopped. “Oh.” He gave a laugh. “I hope you have a picture of Todd. To show people?”

“Sure.” Austin smiled. “In my cell phone. Want to see?”

“No!” Guy shook his head. “I mean…. No. You can show me tomorrow.” And then before either of them could say a word, he was out the door.