BUTCHY AKA SUNNY

 BUTCHY, A.K.A. SUNNY Robert Isenberg   May 10,2013

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Butchy was disgusting! Butchy lived across the street from me. He was not my favorite neighbor. He was very grubby, overweight and usually very smelly. I thought Butchy was living proof that man had descended from apes. I saw him almost every day. Usually, it was his feet that I saw, sticking out from under a car that he and my brother were meddling with. We seldom spoke. Our entire communication was the sneer Butchy cast on me.

Growing up, he was always Butchy. Years later, he opened a gas station that also repaired cars. He called it Sonny's. Why? I was never sure. He had a brother whom everyone called Sonny.  Perhaps, it was because of his brother. Anyway, soon after he opened the station. Everyone began calling him Sonny. I think he liked being called Sonny better than Butchy.

 The garage was perfect, because now, he could be as grubby, smelly and sloppy as he wished and be admired for it. The dirtier, the better!  When customers brought their car in and told Sonny their problems, they certainly felt they were talking not only to the owner, but to the guy, the man, the automobile genius.  Sonny  would open their car hood and after a few curses and tsk, tsks,he  would explain how long it would take to repair, "If he, could get the parts.” He was the man! He was after all, the automobile genius.

Who cared if he smelled? Who cared that he had a grease stain stretching from his hairy, hairy forearm to the top of his shirt and on to his left cheek? I envied his insolent confidence and his perpetual sneer at my automobile incompetence.

I had purchased my first automobile. I was the fifth owner of a very temperamental M.G.It never started in the winter and it overheated in the summer. I spent a lot of time at Sonny’s. Sonny called my M.G. a “sewing machine with wheels.” He seemed to save his snottiest sneers for when the M.G. would be helplessly towed into his station.

Spending so much time at Sonny’s, I began to notice his clientele. I noticed that quite a few of them were women, including Mrs.Seid. Mrs. Seid lived next door to me. She and her daughter Peggy had been a very meaningful part of my fantasy life.  I found both of them exquisite. I use to refer to them as flawless. Unfortunately, for me, my mother had a huge argument with Mrs Seid. I was not allowed to speak to any of the Seids.I suffered from long distance lust. Sonny always seemed to be a little nicer to the women who came in, especially to Mrs. Seid.

The years passed and Sunny having made quite a bit of money retired to Florida. My brother David and Sunny’s friendship seemed to have flourished over the years, even with the distance or perhaps because of the distance.

David decided to throw a party for both his old and new acquaintances. As soon as I entered David’s house, I saw him in a far corner with a drink in his hand. He was not speaking to anyone. It was Butchy or maybe he was still Sunny in Florida, I didn’t know or care.

It was time for me to put aside my petty resentments, it was time for me to grow up. It was time for me to go over and talk to whatever his name was man to man.

I accepted the challenge and in seconds, we were facing each other. I had no idea what to say, so I said “How are you?” He grunted a minimal inaudible reply and I continued with “ How do you like Florida?” This time only a grunt. I was at a complete loss, groping for something, anything to say, I finally said, “Wasn’t she beautiful?” He knew exactly whom I was talking about.  The sneer reappeared on his face. He said “I made love to Mrs. Seid.” I was frozen. I was speechless. I thought the only person I could possibly share this with was David. How could this magnificent woman with the prematurely grey hair and flawless skin have possibly laid down with a disgusting hair ball like Butchy, never mind letting him into her house?

I spotted David in the hallway welcoming some of his guests to the party. I rushed over to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the door.

“What is the matter with you? David asked. Can’t you see I’m busy!”

“David, I said, This is urgent. I was just talking to Butchy and out of nowhere he tells me that he made love to Mrs. Seid!”

David laughed and said “And you believe him?”

“I don’t know, somehow it definitely had a ring of truth, Why else would he be saying it, so long after it supposedly happened? It’s really impossible to accept that the incredibly lovely Mrs Seid would even consider him. You remember her, what do you think? Do you think it’s possible?”

David laughed again, “She was a pretty one, although, I liked the daughter better. I don’t know, maybe he fixed her car and didn’t charge her.”

The years passed. One day, I was busy working in my office when David called, “Butchy has been very sick, his wife just called and said, “It’s now only days. He won’t make it.”

“ Are you going down there?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, I can’t, said David. I have a critical meeting in Texas and I have to be in Texas all week.”

 “What hospital is he at”? I asked.

“He is at Miami General. Why?”

“Because, I’m going down there as soon as I hang up from you.”

“Good luck.” David said.”

I raced to the airport;I didn’t care what it would cost to buy a ticket without a reservation or the cost of renting a car. I had to know. I just knew he wouldn’t lie on his deathbed.

I found my way to the hospital and his room.  Butchy’s wife Dora was sitting by his bedside, her eyes were red from not sleeping. She thanked me for coming as I walked towards Butchy’s bed. Butchy had tubes coming out of everywhere. He looked like he had lost 50 pounds. Once again, I had no idea what to say. I couldn’t say how are you. A floor nurse had spotted my entrance. She came rushing in and said, ”Please don’t try to talk to him, his situation is very critical.”

Butchy looked up. He sneered that old familiar sneer. He motioned to the nurse to hand him some notepaper and pen. Butchy scribbled something down on the paper and with trembling hand folded it up and handed it to the nurse.  He then touched the nurse’s hand holding the note and with his other hand pointed at me. The nurse gave me the note and I left.

I didn’t open the note till the flight attendant brought me two small bottles of red wine. I finished one of the bottles, and with trembling fingers, I opened the note. It read, I did and you didn’t!!!

                     Robert Isenberg December 14 2012