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The letter from the All Valley Tournament committee sat on Terry’s desk for two weeks before he actioned it. It wasn’t like him not to deal with such things immediately, but he wanted to hear John’s thoughts before he gave them a piece of his mind. But he hadn’t seen or heard from his best friend since the day of tournament, and that was months ago. He needed an answer, and more than that, he needed to hear John’s voice.
He picked up the phone, his fingers dialling the number without thinking about it. He played with the Newton’s cradle on his desk as the phone rang and rang. Then the answering machine played its pre-recorded message.
“Hey Johnny, it’s been a while. How the hell are you? Wait, don’t answer that. You must’ve seen that letter too. Those All Valley assholes think they can kick us out of the tournament and destroy us? Just say the word, and I’ll crush them!” Terry smacked his fist down on his desk. “It’s only one lousy tournament, Johnny. There’s others. We need to aim higher than stinking local matches. You and me, Johnny, we were destined for greater things! Believe me, this is just the start! I guess you mustn’t be home, so gimme a call when you get back. I’ve got things to take care of but I’ll always make time for you, remember that. Cobra Kai never dies!”
Terry put the phone down, crumpled the letter up into a ball and tossed it into the trash can. He had a stack of other things to deal with. They hardly interested him at all, but it would pass the time until John called him back.
*
Terry thought it was odd when John didn’t return his call that day, or the next. A whole week went by with him telling himself John would surely call tomorrow.
And then he had to go off on a business trip. That should have occupied his mind well enough, but drinking and smoking with the representatives from the company he was negotiating a deal with just made him think of whose company he’d rather have.
Back in his hotel suite, he sat down in one of the trendy art deco revival armchairs and picked the phone up off of a bamboo end table. It was late, but maybe John would pick up anyway.
It went to the answering machine again.
“Hey John, guess you must be busy. Did you get my last message? Don’t worry if you didn’t. Have you had any thoughts about the tournament? I hope it’s not getting you down. You can always talk to me, yeah? Listen, I’ve got some ideas if you want to contest the ban. When I’m done with them they’ll be begging us to come back, let me tell you. Or if you just want to say screw ‘em, I’ve got other ideas. I know you didn’t think we were ready for the Sekai Taikai, but that’s an option. There’s also the national competitions. Dynatox is doing great, so this is the perfect time for me to step away, hand the reins over to some young upstart for a while. Whatever you want to do, Johnny, I’ll be there with you. Call me, and we’ll do lunch. Or dinner. Hell, we can do both! Speak to you soon!”
As soon as he hung up the phone, Terry’s smile quickly slipped off his face. He felt suddenly very alone in the darkened hotel room.
Maybe he’d taken John’s friendship for granted. After what they’d been through while they were in the army, Terry had just assumed they would continue to be close forever. John had always been pretty undemanding, of his time, and of other things, so Terry found himself feeling stupid and maybe he’d backed off a little too much.
And now, Terry missed him so much that it hurt. If he was honest with himself, he’d felt that way for a long time. Had he not made it obvious how much it broke his heart to choose Dynatox over Cobra Kai? He didn’t care about any of those waste management executives, not a fraction as much as he cared about Johnny.
Maybe he should have told him that? What if John got all depressed thinking that it was all over, and even his best friend didn’t care any more? God, he would have said something if he thought it’d make a difference. He hoped Johnny was all right, wherever he was.
He’d call John again in the morning. And keep calling until he picked up.
Terry lost count of how many times he tried John’s number. It was always the same. He wondered what John was doing, was he very busy with some other life that he’d made for himself? Or was he sitting there listening to Terry’s messages, too depressed or angry at him to pick up?
He wasn’t sure which option he hated more. Obviously, he wanted John to be happy. Obviously. Why would he want anything else for the man he loved more than anyone else in the world? Terry could find a way to make him happy, didn’t John understand that? He’d indulge his every whim if only he let him. It’d be far better than any small bit of happiness John could find for himself.
After a while, Terry stopped hoping to hear John’s voice at the end of the line. He knew he would only get the answering machine.
But one day, he was surprised.
The number was no longer in service.
*
Terry looked peered around the bulky screen of his brand new top of the range IBM computer when someone entered his office, and when he saw it was only an intern he looked back at the screen.
When he finished what he was doing, he looked to see what the intern had left on his desk. A phone book with a piece of paper marking a page.
It had been so long since Terry had set the boy that task that it took a minute for him to remember.
Gripped by excitement, he seized the phone book and flicked to the marked page. Seeing the name John Kreese circled in red pen brought him an unbelievable amount of happiness.
The other part of the intern’s task was to check the obituaries. As time went on, Terry’s mind went to some dark places, and he feared John’s might have too. So Terry felt a great deal of relief to see that John was alive and well and in the phone book.
The computer’s screensaver kicked in as Terry tried to decide whether to call John immediately, or leave it for a while. The Dynatox logo only had chance to bounce across the computer screen a couple of times before the phone was in his hand. He wasn’t surprised when he got the answering machine.
“Johnny! It’s been such a long time! I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to. Call me whenever works for you, night or day. And don’t be shy about leaving a message if I’m not around. Let’s catch up some time, yeah?”
Terry was still smiling when he hung up this time. He hadn’t mentioned karate or Cobra Kai this time, in case that was what was stopping John from calling him back. But he couldn’t stop himself from sounding overly enthusiastic. Maybe he should have played it cool. But even after all these years the thought of John filled him with excitement. He just hoped he’d call back this time.
*
“Guess where I’m calling from, John? The beach! Isn’t that amazing! Now you’ve got my cell phone number, I have no excuse for missing your calls when I’m out!” Terry laughed. Someone always answered the phones at the office or at his home if he wasn’t there, but it made him feel better to tell himself that he’d missed calls from John like John had missed all of his. “Would be nice to see you, catch up. I’ve cut my hair, you wouldn’t recognise me! Anyway, must dash!”
Terry held the cell phone in his hand and looked at it, waiting for it to ring.
Maybe it was broken? No, he’d received several calls on it earlier.
Still, it was very tempting to throw it into the sea. He picked up a rock and hurled that instead.
*
Terry had gone through multiple cell phones, upgrading to the newest model whenever they came out, but he always made sure to keep the same number. To make things easier, he told everyone. But really, he was waiting for John to call. Sometimes he despaired, but he told himself that John would call when he was ready.
This new cell phone kept a log of how many times certain numbers were called. Terry had manually deleted the call history a couple of times because it had to be counting wrong. Just like he’d fired the therapist who suggested he was indulging in unhealthy and self-destructive behaviour. What did she know? She didn’t understand his and John’s relationship.
He had been trying to call less lately, not because of anything the therapist had said, or the way the cell phone counted his calls to John double at least. John clearly needed a bit of space. But at the same time Terry didn’t want him to forget about him. Yes, it was time to try again.
For some reason, today Terry found himself struggling for words.
“Call me back, John. I miss you.”
He pressed the hash key to delete the message and tried again.
“It’s me, John,” he said breathlessly. “Do you ever miss me?”
No, worse. He shook his head. He deleted it again.
“I guess you’re not gonna call me back, huh? Do you hate me, John? Is that it? Or do you just not fucking care?”
Delete.
Terry hung up this time, and gave himself a moment to compose himself. The wind blew his hair into his face and he pushed it back in irritation. Screaming at John wouldn’t get him anywhere. When he called again and was asked to leave a message, he kept his voice as cold as he could manage.
“You know who this is. Call me back. Or don’t.”
Satisfied, Terry hung up. He told himself he wouldn’t try again if he heard nothing from him, but he knew he was lying to himself.
*
“Hello, who is this?” John answered gruffly.
Terry’s heart skipped a beat. Finally, his prayers had been answered. “You really should get caller display, Johnny,” he said.
“You know I haven’t got any time for that fancy crap, Terry.”
“You’d be able to avoid my calls better if you did,” Terry said, laughing nervously.
John laughed too. “Now why would I want to do that?”
Something twisted in Terry’s chest at John’s outright denial. But he wasn’t going to ruin this, not now that John was actually talking to him after so many years. “It’s really good to hear from you, Johnny.”
“All right, what’s this about? What do you want?”
“You.” Terry shocked himself with that plain declaration. John didn’t immediately say anything, which made Terry panic. “Oh come on Johnny, don’t be like this.”
“I don’t know what to say.” The softness in John’s voice told Terry that he understood what he meant.
“We’re too old to be playing games. Just say you want me too?” All Terry’s confidence had eroded by the time he got to the end of that sentence. He could only hope that John would find the waver in his voice endearing.
There was a beeping sound on the other end of the line. “I have to go,” John said.
The beeping got louder and Terry blinked. When his eyes opened again he was lying in the middle of his bed, his alarm going off on the nightstand. As he reached numbly for the alarm clock, it dawned on him. That wasn’t real.
Margaret and Milos heard the scream from all the way downstairs. They exchanged a glance, a wordless agreement that they wouldn’t rush to their boss’s aid unless he directly requested them, and went on drinking their tea.