Tales of the City 05 - Significant Others

won’t let me.”
    “Don’t be silly, darling. Just the cherry.”
    “It has red dye,” said the boy. “It’s poison.”
    Frannie looked confused, then faintly indignant, setting the glass down. Served her right, thought Booter. What did she expect from a couple of bulldaggers raising a child?
    Little Edgar said: “Mom wants to know if you guys still have that two-person tent.”
    “I am not a guy,” said Frannie, bristling.
    The boy studied his grandmother for a moment, then turned to Booter. “It’s the one Anna and me set up in the orchard last summer.”
    Booter nodded. “It’s in the potting shed. On the shelf.”
    “Can we use it?”
    “May we use it,” said Frannie.
    Booter ignored her. “C’mon, I’ll help you get it down.”
    They walked together to the potting shed. “So,” said Booter. “Your mother’s going camping?”
    “We’re all going,” said the boy.
    “Well, you’ll need more than one tent.”
    “I know,” said Edgar. “We’ve got a pup tent for me and Anna.”
    Booter pictured this unwholesome arrangement and got a bitter taste in his mouth. “Where are you going?” he asked.
    The boy gave him a guarded look, then shrugged. “Just camping.”
    When they reached the shed, he found the tent, telling Edgar: “I think those plastic rods are all present and accounted for. You’d better get your mother to check.”
    The boy hefted the bundle and said: “I can check.”
    “Good,” said Booter. He reached behind a row of flowerpots and retrieved the plastic dinosaur he had found there two days earlier. “This is yours, I think.”
    The boy nodded, taking the toy. “Thanks,” he said. “This one’s my favorite.”
    “It is, huh? You know the name?”
    “Protoceratops.”
    Booter steered the boy toward the door. “They were big fellas,” he said.
    “No,” said Edgar. “This one wasn’t.”
    “Well, maybe not that one …”
    “They were only six feet long and three feet high. Their eggs were only six inches long.”
    “I see.”
    “I’ve got some of the big ones too. Wanna see ‘em?”
    “Not today, son.”
    “I could bring ‘em over here. You wouldn’t hafta come to our house.”
    “I’m busy, Edgar.”
    “Why?”
    “Well, I’m going on a trip this afternoon. Just like you.”
    “Oh.”
    They walked across the lawn in silence. He was afraid Edgar might follow him back to the house, but the boy blazed his own trail when they reached the tennis court, squeezing through a hole in the privet before crossing the orchard to Halcyon Hill.

Call Waiting
    C HARLIE DIDN’T BOTHER TO IDENTIFY HIMSELF. “WELL, has he called?”
    “How could he,” Michael answered, “when you keep calling to find out if he’s called?”
    “Bullshit. You’ve got Call Waiting.”
    “Well … he hasn’t. O.K.?”
    “He will. What are you gonna tell him?”
    That was the burning question, all right. What would he say? I like you, Thack. I’m attracted to you, and I think we could have something here. But I think I should tell you before we go any further that I’m antibody positive.
    Yeah, boy. That was the stuff of romance, all right. Who wouldn’t be turned on by a line like that?
    “I’ll play it by ear,” he told Charlie.
    “What about the river?”
    “What about it?”
    “Why don’t you take him there? You said he’s never been.”
    “I can’t afford it, Charlie.”
    “Ah, but I have a place.”
    “Since when?”
    “Since my Shanti volunteer went to Boca Raton to inseminate a lesbian.”
    Michael laughed. “Great. Thanks for clearing that up.”
    “Well, it’s a big compliment, actually. Who’s asked for your semen lately?”
    “Charlie, what the hell are you talking about?”
    “O.K. Arturo—my Shanti buddy—has this great place in Cazadero. Only he can’t use it now, since he’s gonna be a sperm donor.”
    “Right.”
    “He took the test two weeks ago, and it came back negative, so the girls went into a huddle and sent him a plane ticket. Which leaves this great cabin completely empty. And I can’t use it, since I’m going ballooning.”
    “Well, that’s really nice, but …”
    “Just remember it, that’s all. When Thack calls.”
    “If, Charlie.”
    Michael’s Call Waiting beeped.
    “There,” said Charlie. “Right on cue.”
    “Hang up,” said Michael.
    “No way. I want a report.”
    Michael sighed and tapped the button on his receiver. “Hello.”
    “Hi, it’s Brian.”
    Against all reason, Michael’s