*Flash Fiction* “Call Me Tony”
“Call me Tony”
“Your name is Charlie.”
“Yeah, I know but ‘Charles, Charlie, Chuck – they’re stupid names. So now I wanna be called “Tony.”
“Why?”
“It sounds cool.. Like I am Italian. And it’s the name John Travolta called himself in that Disco movie.”
“Disco movie? Is that why you’re dressed up in that elaborate costume?”
“It’s not a costume…these are the clothes I wear when I go out clubbin,’ Mom.”
“You look like a gigolo.”
It felt like a slap in the face.
She was obviously angry.
After all – she had named me after her father. The one she had lost prematurely before the Second World War.
“How about I call you Tony-Charlie?”
“Aaak! No, Mom! !”
Tenderly she smoothes the lapel of my polyester suit.
“Have fun…”Tony.” Don’t get any girls pregnant.”
My face crimson with embarrassment I dash outside.
Ah, who the Hell am I kiddin’? I thought walking to my car.
I was always gonna be – just “Charlie. “
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I met a guy that claimed His real first name was “Buckshot” and another who claimed His name was “Sparky”.
These are both excellent names, and yet when giving a name for carry out dining or Coffee, I frequently use the name “Guenther” because they don’t know who I am, and it’s just a bit of fun to break up an otherwise
uneventful day.
WHen I was in Junior High there was a guy there named “Gaylord” and Gaylord had an unusually large forehead.
Gaylords forehead was much more than pronounced frontal gibbosity, it was bordering on Bizarre freakazoid
feature leading to a Dysmorphic disorder.
I felt sorry for Gaylord because He never fit in nicely with the typical asshats that attended My little Junior High in Carthage Missouri and they felt they had the right to tease Gaylord mercilessly until this poor kid committed suicide.and that brought the total number of kids that year to two that took their own life, the other was devastatingly poor and He hanged Himself. I’ve always felt if I’d just intervened in some way and been a better friend to these misfits, that perhaps their outcome could have had a more palatable ending.
I liked you using “Guenther”as a name when you order coffee. Your comment about Gaylord’s demise was just tragic. Unfortunately, kids can be downright cruel. I remember being picked on a lot because of my weight in elementary school. For several years I was missing a neck and had several double chins. As one friend put it if I laid down – I’d probably roll on a flat surface! Thank you for reading and commenting, David.