Read Some Men Are Lookers: A Continuation of the "Buddies" Cycle for Free Online Page A

call the police?”
    Nobody wanted to. Cosgrove took off his jacket and showed Carlo how the vest could be worn inside-out for a sporty checkered look. Suddenly he seemed exhausted, dazed by a long day and a long opera. He sat next to Carlo, and Carlo slowly unfastened Cosgrove’s tie.
    “I wonder if I should ever wear a tie,” said Carlo.
    “You’d have to,” I observed, “at
Gtterdmmerung.”
    “I’d best stick with
Friday Night Wrestling.”
    I went down for another sandwich. Up again: no Virgil.
    “I’m getting really concerned,” said Cosgrove.
    “He never, never does this,” said Dennis Savage. “He always comes straight—”
    Key in the lock.
    Virgil walks in, and everyone is invisible to him but Dennis Savage.
    “I was at the hospital,” said Virgil. “You wouldn’t go, so I did. I saw him die. I had to tell lies. I gave him messages from you that you should have said yourself. I made them up.”
    He was advancing on Dennis Savage.
    “There was everyone there, and all he wanted was you. He held my hand and asked me, ‘When will he come?’ That’s what he said. Are you so proud now? He died away, and you did nothing. That’s how you treat your best friends.”
    Chénier on oath, Dennis Savage said, “You know it isn’t.”
    “I know what I see. Everyone asked you to go, and no, no, you wouldn’t.”
    They were face to face. Dennis Savage tried to put his arm around Virgil’s shoulder; the boy threw him off.
    “Who was in that hospital?” Virgil cried. “Who would it take to get you there? If you don’t care about everybody, you don’t care about anybody!”
    “That’s not—”
    Virgil gave him a shove, and another shove.
    “Who’s going to come when
you’re
in there?” he said, his voice rising. “Who should care about
you?”
    Dennis Savage grabbed Virgil, but he broke free again.
    “Shouldn’t you see this death?” he shouted. “It’s
blood
and
shit!
That’s how you go, because I saw it
happen!
And no one even to say, ‘I’m sorry you’re dead today.’ That’s what
you
gave him!”
    Virgil shoved him again, this time so hard that he went down; but Carlo was up, Cosgrove’s tie in his hand. He reached for Virgil,and Virgil leaped away, shouting, “This is not with you!”; but Carlo is a one-man crowd when he wants to be, and he surrounded Virgil and snapped the tie around his skull at eye level and tied it up and spun him around, all this so fast we others scarcely saw it happen. Virgil was sobbing and Carlo was spinning him; none of this made sense. Bauhaus gaped. It was some sort of picture, an action yet to be reckoned, sketchy, snarky, who knows? Dennis Savage was getting up and Carlo had pulled Virgil close, gripping him around the torso and arms so he couldn’t move, whispering in his ear. Blinded and immobilized, Virgil bore it as Carlo carefully loosened his hold and gently pushed him toward Dennis Savage. Virgil stumbled. Dennis Savage caught him, and took care of him, and all was still in the room.
    After a long while, Dennis Savage unfastened the tie and took Virgil into the bedroom. Carlo went with them; I don’t know why.
    “Tuffy didn’t see my suit,” said Cosgrove.
    We were sitting on the couch.
    “Aren’t you hungry?” I asked.
    He was silent.
    “How did you like the opera?” I asked.
    “Thank you for taking me there. It was really nice.”
    His voice caught on something, and I held him for a while. True: Everyone around me does cry. To distract him, I talked about
The Ring
. I answered his questions—Brünnhilde loses the Ring to Siegfried because it wants to be with the more powerful person; and Brünnhilde wants Siegfried dead, even though she laves him, because he hurt her and her love has magnified the hurt. She was very desperately threatened. Androids may be dead fish, but they shield us from our passions.
    Carlo came out of the bedroom, looking a bit pale.
    “Is he all right?” Cosgrove asked.
    “It’s quiet now. They’re