Free Bingo Brown's Guide to Romance by Betsy Byars Page B

stayed home behind locked doors.
    â€œNot yet,” Bingo said. “I wonder where she can be. Wentworth said she was coming.” He paused. “He could have been lying. He could have just said she was coming so that I would run in the house like a fool, shave, put you in a clean jumpsuit, and spend the rest of the afternoon running to the window.” He sighed. “But—so far—Wentworth has been truthful—almost too truthful.”
    He went back to the sofa.
    â€œNow, where were we? Ah, the package has arrived from the Acme Supply Company and, look, Jamie, it turns out to be a flying machine. See, now he’s on the flying machine. He gets on the flying machine, and he’s supposed to be looking for Road Runner, but he starts enjoying the flying machine and he—”
    Ding-dong.
    Bingo gasped. His heart leapt to his throat.
    It couldn’t be Melissa. Already! He hadn’t heard her come up the steps. How had she slipped up on him? Had she been hiding in the bushes?
    It wasn’t fair. He needed time to get himself composed. His plan had been that as soon as he saw her coming down the street, he would compose himself.
    Now she was here and there wasn’t time to put the plan to work.
    Ding-dong.
    Bingo leaned forward so he could look out the window and see who was at the door. Perhaps a miracle had occurred and a delivery man …
    It was Melissa.
    Involuntarily, Bingo’s arms tightened around his brother.
    Melissa was not aware that she was being watched. She fluffed out her hair and put her hands in her pockets and took them out and straightened her collar and put them back and took them out and smoothed her hair. Then she thought better of it and refluffed it.
    Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
    Two of them! This meant that she was getting tired of the single ding-dongs and soon she would tire of the double ones. Then she would come to the window, peer in to see if anybody was home. And she would see him, frozen with fear on the sofa.
    Bingo got up at once and started for the door. He held Jamie in both arms. This way he didn’t have to worry about an embrace. An embrace could obviously not be accomplished without dropping or crushing or in some way endangering his brother’s health.
    â€œComing!” he called, feigning nonchalance. He was grateful for Jamie. Anyone facing a perilous situation—and Bingo considered himself an expert on those—should hold a baby. They made wonderful shields.
    He reached around Jamie and opened the door.
    â€œOh, Bingo!” Melissa said. “Your brother!”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHe looks just like you!”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œHe’s just darling!”
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œAnd he’s got freckles! You didn’t say he had freckles. Those little spots are freckles, aren’t they?”
    â€œWe’re hoping.”
    â€œAnd Bingo!”
    â€œWhat? What?”
    â€œYou’ve got glasses.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI know you didn’t get glasses so you’d look sexy, but … but you do.”
    â€œOh, really?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI thought they made me look … a little studious.”
    She looked at him a moment, studying him closely.
    â€œThat, too.”
    â€œSexy and studious?”
    â€œYes.”
    There was a silence. Bingo couldn’t speak. If he could have gone through the entire dictionary and chosen any two adjectives out of all the adjectives in the entire world to describe himself, those were the two he would have chosen.
    He should have gotten those glasses years ago. He should have gotten them in nursery school. But then if he had had them all along, his appearance would have been taken for granted, while—
    Melissa cleared her throat. “Is it all right if I come in?”
    â€œOh, yes, of course.”
    She glanced both ways before entering, as if his living room were a busy intersection. “Your parents aren’t