Friday, August 16, 2019

Bobbo #2

Bobbo approached Brooke and Max in the park, covering his eye with his hand. “Hey, guys,” Bobbo said. “Sorry I’m late. I had to finish something up.”

“Hey, Bobbo, how are you?” Max asked and then looked up at Bobbo. “What’s wrong with your eye?”

“Nothing. It’s fine. What do you want to do today?”

“I kind of want to continue talking about why you’re covering your eye,” Max said. “Don’t you, Brooke?”

“Yeah. Kind of. I would like that,” she answered.

Bobbo rolled his eyes and took his hand away. A large bruise covered his eye and it was half closed. Max and Brooke looked hard at the black eye and then fell over laughing. “It’s not funny,” Bobbo said. “It hurts and my face is how I make my money.”

“You don’t have any money. How’d you get it? Get hit by a doorknob again?” Brooke asked.

“Yes, I was bending over and, once again, someone opened a door and wham, right into my face.”

“Really?” Max asked, not convinced.

Bobbo hung his head. “No. Someone hit me. On purpose.”

“Who? I want to shake their hand,” Max laughed again.

Brooke stood up and went over to Bobbo. “Oh, I’m sorry, Bobbo. Seriously, who did this?”

“Veronica. You know, that shrill girl in home room.”

“The one who has the book about how much she likes or hates her classmates at any given moment?” Max clarified.

“Yeah, that’s her,” Bobbo confirmed.

“What’d you do?” Brooke asked, crossing her arms.

“Nice of you to blame the victim,” Bobbo said.

“Victim? Pfft. I know you, Bobbo,” Brooke said. “What’d you do?”

“I…” Bobbo hung his head lower. “I farted on her.”

“Oh my God,” Brooke rolled her eyes, threw up her arms, and walked away from Bobbo.

“You farted on her…kudos by the way, very classic…so she hit you?” Max exclaimed. “That’s not a fair trade. The fart doesn’t hurt anyone but
he could’ve done some real damage with her punch. You need to get back at her. Tell her that and say the only fair thing is to let her take a punch from you.”

“How do you even fart on somebody?” Brooke asked from several feet away. “Did you just run up to her and sit down on her? Why do we keep boys around even?”

“Go back to her place and explain that you should get to hit her or something equal to her hitting you,” Max said. “You just can’t go around hitting everybody who farts near or on you.”

“Yes, you can,” shouted Brooke from nearly across the park.




“Hey, Veronica,” Bobbo approached the brown-haired girl. “Max says I have to get even with you.”

“Even with me? Why?”

“You punched me. All I did was fart on you. That’s not an even trade.”

“I don’t care. Now leave.”

“Sorry. I have to do this,” Bobbo walked up to Veronica with his fists clenched.

“It’d be a shame if I had to blacken your other eye and maybe knock a couple of teeth out,” Veronica said, not even looking at Bobbo. Bobbo stopped moving and unclenched his fists. “I’m going to that shaved ice stand; do you want to come?” she asked.

“Sure,” Bobbo shrugged.

Bobbo and Veronica walked to the shaved ice stand a few blocks away. They got their ice and sat down on a bench. Bobbo got a grape and blueberry swirl and Veronica got mango. “Why’d you fart on me?”

“It’s weird hearing you say fart,” Bobbo said. “I just did. I had to fart and you were there.”

“That’s not a good excuse,” Veronica said. “Why do we even keep boys around?”

“That’s what Brooke said. Hey, when we’re done here, do you want to go to the comic shop? It’s just across the street. I like looking around at things I can’t afford.”

“Sure, I’m not doing anything.”




Max and Brooke walked by Veronica’s house. “Where’s Veronica?” Brooke asked.

“Where’s Bobbo?” asked Max.

“You don’t think they’re…” Brooke raised her fists and did a boxing move.

“They better not be. Not without an audience. I wonder where they went.”

“I’d say the old quarry. That’s the place to be if you don’t want people watching what you’re doing,” Brooke said.

“How do you know that?”

“It doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s go.”




“Bobbo!” the comic store guy exclaimed when Bobbo and Veronica walked into the store.

“Hey, Jason,” Bobbo answered.

“The new Blast Man is out. Want me to get your copy?”

“Sure, why not. I have the money on me,” Bobbo said.

“Blast Man?” Veronica asked.

“It’s a superhero. He died and was given power to shoot plasma blasts from his hands from the Devil to fight evil,” Bobbo explained.

“The Devil gave him power to fight evil?”

“Yes, in this comic the Devil is good and God is a villain. That’s why Satan was banished from Heaven. God likes watching us suffer,” Bobbo explained.

“How long has this comic been around?”

“Since 1992,” Bobbo took the issue that the comic store guy held back for him. “See? It’s on issue 319. I have every issue.”

“Every issue? All 319?”

“Plus, the 24 annuals, the five specials, the short-lived spin-off series Blast Man Chronicles, the zero issue, the half issue, and the weird Blast Man and Frankenstein graphic novel.”

“Wow,” Veronica gasped. “Can you show me?”

“You want to see my Blast Man collection?”

“Sure,” Veronica shrugged.

“Okay,” Bobbo and Veronica went to the counter to pay for the comic.

“Where’d you get that black eye, Bobbo?” the comic store guy asked.

“She hit me.”

“He farted on me.”




“We’ve looked for them at the old quarry, the abandoned school bus, and the junkyard and there’s no sign of them,” Max said. “This is our last hope.” Max and Brooke stood on the porch of Bobbo’s house. Max knocked on the door. After a few seconds, Bobbo’s mom answered the door.

“Is Bobbo home?” Brooke asked.

“Yeah. He’s in his room with that girl, Veronica.”

“What?” Max and Brooke pushed past Bobbo’s mom and ran toward his bedroom.

“Sure, come on in,” Bobbo’s mom said.

“What’s going on in here?” Max and Brooke charged into Bobbo’s room and saw Bobbo and Veronica sitting on the floor with stacks of comic books sitting around them. “Uh, what?”

“We’re reading. She was interested in learning more about Blast Man,” Bobbo said.

“Weren’t you going to hit her back?” Brooke asked.

“He clenched his fist like he was going to,” Veronica said.

“Veronica talked me out of it.”

“She threatened to blacken my other eye.”

“And knock out teeth. Don’t forget knocking out your teeth. That’s my favorite part,” Veronica smiled.

“So, everything’s good?” Brooke asked.

Bobbo and Veronica looked at each other. They both shrugged. “Yeah, we’re good,” they said in unison.

"Well that’s…lame…” Max sneered.