Page 29 of Rhymes with Metaphor
“I’m sorry, but I’m not privy to New Bug’s dalliances,” said Martin.“Nor do I want to be.”
Chapter 8: The QDOG Results
The next morning, whilethey were making coffee in the kitchen in their bathrobes, Martin asked Reg for another favour.
“I want to take Juliet to the Rail Museum and then go for a walk on the nature trail.Will you stay here with New Bug?”
“Why does he need a babysitter?He can’t even climb stairs without falling asleep.”
“He’s still sick, Reg.And you don’t need to keep him entertained or anything.”
“You owe me one.”
“Thanks, Reg.”
“Have a fantastic time railing Juliet.”
“That remark is in exceedingly bad taste,” said Martin.
“So was your request,” said Reg, and he left to get dressed.
The truth was, Reg had planned to watch tennis on the living room’s flatscreen TV, alone.Juliet, however, had rousted Joel from his bed, herded him downstairs, and installed him in a reclining position on the couch in front of said TV, forcing Reg to sit on the adjacent recliner.
“Have fun,” said Juliet.
Reg changed the channel to the Madrid Open.Flip was playing in the quarter-finals against a Belgian qualifier Reg had never heard of.Quarter-final matches were a big deal for Flip, and he usually sent Reg a reminder to watch.But he hadn’t been in touch with Reg since their latest quarrel.
Flip walked onto the court with his racket bag over his shoulder.He was sporting a buzz cut, and Reg wondered if he’d done it out of spite.Flip had always known he was handsome, but he’d never been fully comfortable with looking like a teen girl’s idol.As it was, he’d had to deal with a lot of unwanted attention from women.Sometimes, Reg had had to deal with Flip dealing with that.
Something was off with Flip today.He was hitting more unforced errors off his backhand side than usual, and Reg wondered if his old injury was playing up.At the commercial break, he glanced at Joel and saw him watching.
“Do you want more root beer?”said Reg, looking for an excuse not to stare at Joel’s body.
“Yes, please.”
Reg got him a can out of the fridge.When he returned, the match had resumed.Flip’s play was definitely off.He should have been wiping the court with his opponent, but he was struggling to stay in the match.At the changeover, Flip asked the umpire to call the trainer, then he sat with his head bowed, looking at his feet.The trainer came and pulled off Flip’s wristband, and the camera zoomed in on his wrist.Flip wore three bracelets when he played: A copper malachite one for luck, a purple and green braided leather one to commemorate his quarter-final win at Wimbledon two years ago, and the platinum cobra bracelet Reg had given him when they were nineteen.The same one that featured in the sketch Reg had made of Flip and that was hanging on the wall in his loft.The one Joel had seen when Reg had brought him home.
