I curled up on the couch next to Levi. We both began
singing the Buggy and Floyd theme song at the top of our lungs.
“Gah! I’m so excited!” I reached out to playfully punch
Levi but stopped myself, not wanting to actually hit a man
while he was down.
The special was an hour long, so we got double the Buggy.
It was a surprisingly poignant episode. Generally, Floyd was
getting Buggy out of whatever wild fiasco he’d gotten himself
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into. But within the first five minutes, Floyd left Buggy. “I
can’t take your tomfoolery!” he exclaimed.
“Who’s Tom and who’s he foolin’?” Buggy replied, to the
laughter of the studio audience.
“You’re a grown man, Theodore.” Floyd used Buggy’s
proper name for the first time I could remember. “It’s time
you act like it.” And he walked out.
“Wow,” I exclaimed. “I can’t believe Floyd did that.” I knew
they were fictional characters, but this was so unlike them. I
wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep watching. I liked my memories of them as the funny, quarreling duo.
“I know,” Levi said in a quiet voice. “I mean, it’s a miracle
Floyd didn’t do it sooner. He can be so crotchety.”
I paused the DVD. “Did you just use the word crotchety?”
“Ah, yeah.” He looked at me incredulously. “All Floyd does
is complain about Buggy and pretty much all of society. He’s
always making little comments about how he doesn’t understand the way certain things are. Sure, it’s funny, but the
fact he’s had enough of it isn’t that surprising.”
“You have to admit that Floyd has a point most of the time.”
Levi started laughing. “Oh my God. Yes! How am I only
seeing this now?”
“Seeing what?”
He pointed at me. “You’re Floyd!”
“I’m what?” My mouth was open. I couldn’t believe Levi was comparing me to some crotchety old British man.
“You’re always making these observations like ‘Why does
Keith think he’s superior just because he can tackle a guy?’ ”
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“That’s a valid observation,” I defended.
“And ‘Why do people say L-O-L — aren’t they supposed to
be laughing? Have we become that lazy of a society?’ ”
“Like that doesn’t drive you crazy.”
Levi was really laughing now. “It all makes sense why you
like this show so much.”
“So does this make you Buggy?” I shot back.
“Well, he is hilarious.”
“He’s also a complete bumbling fool, so I guess . . .” I sank
back in the seat.
“Okay, okay.” Levi grabbed the remote from me. “We’ll put
the show back on. Don’t want to get your old-man undies in a
bunch.”
This time I did hit him.
“Ouch.” He rubbed his shoulder.
“Blimey if I could help it.” I gave him a goofy grin before
turning back to the TV.
We watched as Buggy and Floyd struggled without each
other. It hit close to home in a way. Buggy was caught in the
rain while a depressing song played as he roamed around
aimlessly. I started to feel tears sting the back of my eyes. I
couldn’t believe an episode of Buggy and Floyd was going to make me cry.
Floyd rounded the corner with a large gold umbrella. He
paused as he saw his former best friend. He walked slowly
toward him.
Levi grabbed my hand.
Floyd covered Buggy with his umbrella.
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“It’s London,” Floyd said. “You know you need a brolly
year-round.”
Buggy smiled shyly at him. “You’re right. Blimey if —” He
stopped himself.
Was this the end of Buggy’s punch line? Levi and I
exchanged a look.
Buggy continued. “No, what I want right now is a brolly to shield me from the rain. But what I need is me best friend.”
Floyd put his arm around Buggy. “Blimey if I could’ve said
it better me self.”
They headed back to their flat to open Christmas presents. There were a few more comical moments, but the entire
episode left me reflective, pondering the difference between
what you want and what you need.
Levi and I sat in silence for a few minutes while the credits
played.
“Well.” Levi finally spoke. “That was unexpected. It was
sort of deep.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It was good, though.”
“It was . . .” Levi stared off into the distance.
I turned on the TV to watch the countdown to the New
Year. We made small talk about the various singers and
actors on TV.
Then it came to the countdown. Levi and I held out glasses
of sparkling cider and clinked as confetti rained down in New
York City.
“Happy New Year!” I leaned over and gave him a hug.
“Happy New Year!” His smile quickly vanished. “Hey,
Macallan?”
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Something about the tone of his voice set me on edge.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want — I mean, do you need me to take you to the
winter dance?”
That wasn’t what I was expecting. Although I really didn’t
know what I should’ve expected.
“You know how I feel about high school dances.”