“Uh, huh,” Bobbie responded eagerly. “And did he give you his name?”
“Yeah. That and the clown-handle he was trying out. He was working with either Cenzo the Clown, or Enzo the Extraordinaire, since his name is Vincent. I told him both of those were lame.”
“Oh my God!” Bobbie screamed. “Buck! Buck!”
Well, that was unexpected.
“Hey! Bobbie! What’s going on? Are you okay?” Lace yelled. Was the woman having contractions? Lace worried about her friend’s health, even though her pregnancy had been uneventful so far except for a lot of morning sickness in her first trimester.
“I’m good, but…” Bobbie began laughing hysterically again. “Sorry. I… Honey. Come here.”
Clearly, she was talking to her husband Buck.
Bobbie gave one last, very loud giggle. “I’m putting you on speaker, Lace.”
“Uh, okay.”
When Lace heard the slight click, she greeted Buck. “Hi, Buck. Is Bobbie in danger of going off the deep end? Maybe a seizure or something?”
“I’m not sure, Lace, but I’m about to find out.”
Lace could almost see the big man turning to Bobbie and putting his hands on her shoulders.
“Bobbie, honey. Are you going to explain? You’re worrying me and Lace.”
“I… You…” Bobbie managed to catch her breath. “Just ask her who she met today,” she squeaked.
Buck’s sigh sounded loud over the line. “Okay. I’ll bite. Who did you meet today, Lace?” he placated.
“Uh, you know. Same old, same old. Doctors, nurses, other patients, a clown,” she added to see if he could shed any light on Bobbie’s gleefulness.
“Wait. What?”
Now she had Buck’s attention. Lace would roll with it.
“I met a clown. An honest to god, dressed up clown. And before you think I’m a lunatic, I only told Bobbie Ithoughthe was cute under all the make-up. I didn’t try to jump his bones or anything. And… Wait, Do clowns even have bones?”
Buck had started chuckling during her monologue, and was now moving into full blown guffaws.
“Okay. What am I missing here?” Lace was beginning to get pissed.
Buck managed to get himself under control. “His name wouldn’t have been Vincent by any chance, would it?”
Lace could still hear Bobbie howling with delight in the background.
“Uh, yeah?”
“Well, how about that. The cretin took us up on our bet.”
“What cretin? What bet?”
That was her limit. She’d had it. Somebody needed to explain things, and soon, or she was going to lose her shit.
“Your clown, Lace?” Buck posited.
“I’m listening,” she responded tartly.
“That’s my big brother, Vince.”