The short three months of awesome summer vacation flashed by before Bobo had fully started getting used to the free time everyday. There was still a little homework from his grandma, but without school work, he was able to cope with it easily. Sadly, this period of heavenly time ended before Bobo had even started to fully appreciate the vacation. And now, Bobo had to go through another nine months of school before the summer came around again. And to make things more tiresome for Bobo, he was going to junior high, where everything was way more complicated than elementary school.
The first month of junior high had gone by at a snail’s pace for Bobo. He got lost in the maze of classes at least twice a day, due to his exceptionally bad sense of direction. He received dozens tardies from going to some random classroom that he thought to be his class, or circling the school desperately. Most of the time Bobo made it to class without being late was pure luck.
Getting lost in mazes made Bobo feel very uncomfortable. Bella, popular as she was, had no trouble getting around. Whenever she got stuck, she would ask some guy for help, and that would do the trick. With Bobo, it was different. No guy or girl would help him, and the few people that would all had different classes than him.
One particularly bad afternoon for Bobo in which he got lost four times in the seven periods they had, Daddy Chang announced something.
“Everybody, this Saturday is a very important night for my career,” Daddy Chang said solemnly. “We will all be dining at a formal restaurant with a wealthy business customer of mine. We will be finalizing the details of his purchase of fifty backhoe loaders, twenty track excavators, forty all terrain forklifts, and biggest of all, one hundred wheel pavers.” Daddy continued, looking especially at Bobo, “Now, I want both of you children to be on your best behaviors. A-hem, BOBO!”
Bobo was slightly offended, but still accepted the advice. He was exceedingly anxious about the formal dinner, for he was not used to being serious.
The short one day of waiting felt like a year to Bobo. When it was time to go to the dinner, his dad gave him a suit to wear. It had an itchy and stuffy white shirt, a thick black formal jacket, and slightly long dress pants. His mom also made him wear a checkered tie. After blowing off most of his sweat and warm air stuck inside the white shirt by hugging his fan for five minutes, he went out where his family was waiting, slightly impatiently. Bobo’s dad had on a similar stuffy suit, but Bella and Mrs. Chang were different. They wore matching light dresses that were thin enough to let air in yet kept most of the cold out too. Bobo envied them, and wondered, “Why didn’t tradition allow men to have a healthy breeze ‘round their privates?”
When they arrived at the restaurant they were slightly early, and had to wait a while for Dad’s customer and his family, the Jeschers. When the four Jeschers got out of their big Mercedes sedan, Bobo felt his face rise in temperature. A very attractive girl that was Mr. Jescher’s daughter, walked right behind her very bulky brother wearing a tight suit that showed off his big muscles. But his face was lopsided and oddly squashed. His features were a total opposite of the good natured face of the Jescher daughter, Elly.
The children were given a separate table from the adults who wanted to converse without interruption. That meant Bobo had to sit with the mountain-like brother, James, while Bella and Elly faced them.
The courses were all delicious. There was a little chatting, but Bobo was scared of James, who had an evil personality to match his face. After the courses were finished, Bobo got slightly more used to his dining mates. He started being his casual self again, making jokes that had Bella and Elly laughing a bit too loudly for polite manners. But James just scowled at Bobo when a joke came out. And at one time, James even made a sudden violent movement that caused Bobo flinch so much he toppled out of his chair. Both girls laughed again, although James’s scowl subdued the noise a little. When Bobo untangled himself, Mr. Chang gave him the “eye,” but Bobo didn’t care too much. He just pretended to be crying and said, “My dad just gave his ‘eye,’ and now I’m gonna be in BIG trouble!!!” Everyone except James cracked up again, but they were abruptly stopped by a weird sound. Swish-Thunk! James could not take anymore of Bobo’s jokes and punched him. Bobo fell out of his chair for the second time, moaning. Elly came immediately to his side. Bobo was okay but dazed. (Bobo was surprised but happy to see Elly’s face close to his.) Mr. Jescher looked totally ashamed of his son as he restrained James from attacking Bobo again. He said to Mr. Chang, “I promise to punish this uncontrollable son and force him to behave. You can count on me for that.”
The dinner ended with the mood considerably heavier than it was when it started, even though the discussion for the construction had been successful. But in the parking lot, Bobo snuck up behind James and jabbed both thumbs into James’s sides, right above the hip bones and yelled, “TASE, LOSER!!!”
James went straight as a board, and had a small spasm and yelled in surprise. When James tried to catch him, Bobo, ducked under his swinging arms and ran up and squeezed in between Bella and Elly, trying to look round and innocent, just like in the Max incident. Everyone had seen what had happened and couldn’t stop laughing at the spasm James was having.
As the two families said good bye to each other, Bobo and Elly slowly approached and hugged. These two non-matching people had become good friends in one short night. Maybe a little more than just friends.
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