Frankentown Read Free Page B

ended up being alcohol.
They thought of Steve as their pupil. The drinking provided another excuse for them to continually hang out, for in his company, Frank could drink his troubles and memories away, and Allen would just be ‘partying’.
    Steve never treated either of them as mentors, but rather as equals , in the hope that one day it would be reciprocated. This in turn made Frank feel a little younger, more vital.
Steve always had this energy about him.
He was well aware this was just an illusion and only treated him this way when Allen was not around.Allen had a wife and two kids in high school. Frank was jealous; not having had any family for years himself, and unintentionally sabotaging every single relationship that came along, friendly or otherwise.
    In return, Allen looked up to Frank and often wished he hadn’t rushed into having a family himself.
      It made Frank particularly nauseous when Allen used the phrase “sowing wild oats” when referring to Frank’s single status as an item of fortune.
    His father established Frank’s last name at the university years prior as a well-respected, but evil paleobotanist and a professor you don’t want to have.     Frank’s younger brother Lyle, who was always his dad’s favorite, studied archeology in his father’s footsteps. They both went missing one spring in the early nineties on a dig in southern Peru.
Only his brother returned,
and with zero recollection.
Trauma from head injury, they said.
    The authorities theorized that they were probably attacked by bandits, because Frank’s dad, Walter, was too cheap to get a guide to show them through the safe parts of the land and thus stuck out like sore thumbs.
    Frank took another swig from the now two-thirds empty bottle.
    “Guys, I have been thinking about it, and I’ve concluded that in order to prevent us from throwing up all over this lab, and making the cleaning lady’s hair stand on end, we should hit the streets to obtain some nutrition.” Whenever they were drunk together, they continuously driveled like a pack of pompous idiots.
    There was only one choice that could guarantee a shield from student’s eyes, and besides, it was friday night and Telegraph avenue will be crowded as hell.
    Within half hour a walking cliche of a pimply twenty-something in a red baseball hat arrived at the bottom of the biology building. Steve volunteered to go get the pizza. The pizza boy left with a generous tip, confused about why Steve said anything about Boston. When he asked the pizza guy about his cap because he noticed the Boston “B” emblem on his cap, the kid was puzzled. The kid delivered a large hawaiian pizza and left with a generous tip, justified only until the unwarranted discovery of jalapeños several minutes later.
    Thankfully Frank was quick-witted enough to advise against leaving the building until they sobered up more for fear of being seen by faculty, or worse, students. Students nowadays were entwined in online social networking and anything remotely incriminating would burn its way online and spread like wildfire.
They could all lose their jobs.
After losing so much in his life, healthy amount of paranoia became a part of Frank’s outlandish lifestyle.
      But not really.
Both Allen and Frank were already tenured, so Steve was really at their mercy, but in the safe.
    The squid-in-the-bottle wasn’t doing any favors to their appetite, so they agreed to take the pizza to the top of the southern campus media building.
      They technically weren’t supposed to be there, as they had nothing of UC business to be doing here, but it was a popular student hangout with a great view and some of the teachers and students mingled here on friday nights.
      Steve made right for the stairs. Fortunately the building had an elevator which saved Frank and Allen from a heart-attack; for Steve it was a mere brisk climb up the stairs. Steve ran up the stairs, and got there faster than the lift took to come down