My Daddy "The Fonz"

Chapter 7/Part 3: Back Home Where We Belong

Fonzie's POV:

Why the heck would Bobby just up and vanish like that? I wasn't even yelling at him! Okay, I was yelling around him. Maybe that's what scared him off. Maybe I am a no good bastard who scares little kids. Well, I guess I can't just mope around. I better go searching for him. Shame is I've already scrounged around the entire shop with no sign of him. Chachi helped too. Still nothin'. I'm starting to wonder if Bobby got run over or something. I sure hope not. Then I'd really be screwed.

Here's the thing–I've always kept my cool–until now. Now all I seem to be able to do is hyperventilate until I puke my brains out. Did that twice already, in between wanting to sh*t my pants and cry like an infant. Chachi has to catch me before I fall on my face. I've never felt like this before. "Thanks lil' coz," I say with a half smile to show I can handle it. I grit my teeth to keep my balance. I think it starts to work, but Chachi helps me out the door of the shop anyway. I think in this situation, Chachi deserves the "cool" award more than I do.

"What now?" Chachi asks.

I look at him with a stunned look. "How should I know? I've never lost a kid before." I pause and tap my mouth. "I guess we need to retrace our steps."

Chachi raises his eyebrows at me. "Yeah, sure, Fonz, except we already did that. Three times. Have you tried calling around town? We can't keep looking around in the same spots. Bobby would have shown up by now. What does he look like again? I didn't get a good glance before he took off. You didn't give me a chance to get introduced while you were yelling at me."

I scoff at his obvious teenager attitude. "Short. Fuzzy brown hair. Cute little button nose. Round f-f–" I act as though I'm about to sneeze, but in all reality, I just wanna hide my face in shame and wipe my gobs of sweat. Did I mention tears? Those too. Men don't cry–at least not in front of each other. It just ain't right.

Chachi senses this and pats my arm. "Aw, it's okay pal. I know we'll find him. Give me some names to find in your black book. I can start calling people."

My shoulders grow tense. No one touches my black book. No one. Not even in a crisis such as this. "You know about my black book? You stay away from what ain't yours."

"Okay, fine, then what do you suggest?"

I ponder this question and mull it over as I spin the ring on my finger. "Bobs only knows a few people. And he's too much of a scaredy-cat to go out in the dark and pouring rain–yet he's not inside so..." I remember whenever I would get lost as a kid, I would simply pick a direction and eventually I would find my way back to the place I needed to be. Perhaps this strategy could work now. Stiffening up, I resolve to use the spark of resilience I've packed away inside me for safe keeping. Like a newly fired up engine ready to cruise for miles, I take Chachi by the crook of his arm. "Alright, I say we go...south...just until we find him."

Chachi pauses. "What if he's not south? What then? That would take ages. How about we go somewhere that's familiar to him? Where's the first place he would go that's not here?"

Maybe Chachi's onto something. Bright kid, ya know. Takes after me. "Then I guess we'll check out Arnold's."

Chachi sighs. "It's 9'o clock already, Fonz. Arnold's is closed by now."

I'm really starting to get irritated with this kid. "Fine. We'll just head over to my place. If he ain't there, I'll get a search party going."

"That's a start I suppose."

I shake my head at Chachi's hesitance, but we are at least finally getting somewhere.

As we go along the road on foot to my place a few blocks away, we both use flashlights to see. Thankfully, it's not raining as hard as it was before, which I guess is a plus.