Page 1 of Frog

Chapter One

ITWASpouring when I walked outside to use the pay phone. I was so close; I could stop or just catch another bus depending on how he sounded on the other end.

“Hello?”

Not Cy, someone else, and it was noisy wherever his phone was. I checked my watch—eight o’clock on a Friday night. He was probably at a club or a bar or even dinner. I was interrupting.

“Hello?”

I cleared my throat. “Uhm, sorry, I… is this Doc’s phone?”

“Doc?”

“Sorry, I mean Cyrus.”

“Yeah, this is his. He just had me answer it ’cause he’s putting things away in the fridge. Who’s this?”

I swallowed instead of hanging up like I should have. “This is Weber, and I—”

“Weber who?”

“Weber?” My name was repeated distantly.

“Hey, Cy, do you know anybody named—”

“You know what,” I started to say at the same minute there were sounds on the other end of the line, muffled, and then a quick bang, like something dropped, maybe the phone.

“Weber?” He sounded breathless, and my name, because he was the one saying it, sounded amazing.

“Hey.” I smiled into the phone even though the water was coming in under the booth and soaking through the bottoms of my worn cowboy boots. “Sorry to be interruptin’ whatever you’re doin’. I wasn’t thinkin’.”

“You’re not interrupting anything. Where—”

“Are you at a party?”

“No, I’m just at a friend’s house, and we were about to have dinner.”

“Then I’ll let you go and—”

“It’s just a big group, Web, it’s nothing,” he assured me. “Where are you?”

I was starting to shiver. “Not far, so I thought I would—”

“Yes—” He cut me off. “—come see me. I’ll go home right now.”

“Oh no, you—”

“Web.” He caught his breath. “Please. Meet me there.”

“I’ll meet you in the morning,” I told him, because I realized how exhausted I was, and I wanted to shower and shave before I saw him. I always showed up looking like hammered shit, in clothes I had slept in for a week. He deserved better.

“Weber, I’m sorry, okay?”

“Nothing to be sorry for.”

There was a long silence, and after a minute I got it. I wasn’t that bright, but even I could figure things out. “I’m not punishing you. I just look like hell, and I’d like to look better this time. I promise I’ll be there.”

“You promise?”