copyright © 2001 Jeff Goode

Buteonine

by Jeff Goode

Cyril and Owen sitting out on the front porch. Owen is reading the newspaper.

OWEN
Did you see where they did a study, and come to find out 80% of people surveyed consider themself to be “of above average intelligence”?

CYRIL
That sounds a bit high.

OWEN
Seems like a lotta folks got the wrong idea about theirself.

CYRIL
Well, you know folks.

OWEN
Work in a feed store, don’t I?

CYRIL
Always like to think they’re smarter than they really are.

OWEN
Like to think they’re smarter’n the next fella is what it is.

CYRIL
You got that right.

OWEN
Like that one fella. ‘Member him?

CYRIL
What fella’s that?

OWEN
You know the one I’m talking about.

CYRIL
I reckon I might, if you’d go on and tell me.

OWEN
Now don’t start with me.

CYRIL
I’m just saying, I ain’t a mind reader, if that’s what you’re thinkin’.

OWEN
I know you know who I’m talkin’ ‘bout.

CYRIL
If it’s who I think it is, then no I don’t.

OWEN
You was standin’ right there when it happened.

CYRIL
That wasn’t me. I was down to Clifton that day.

OWEN
Oh, that’s right, you was.

CYRIL
On account o’ the new Starbucks.

OWEN
I must be thinkin’ of somebody else.

CYRIL
Sophie wanted to try one o’ them cappucinos, and it being our anniversary and all.

OWEN
Took her to town, did you?

CYRIL
No, we didn’t go to town till we got back home.
They share a bawdy laugh.

OWEN
That’s Italian, you know.

CYRIL
What? Starbucks?

OWEN
Cappucino.

CYRIL
You don’t say. What about Starbucks?

OWEN
That’s Battlestar Galactica.

CYRIL
Learn something new every day.

OWEN
Ain’t that the truth. Anyway, that’s the fella.

CYRIL
What fella?

OWEN
The one I was telling you about.

CYRIL
Oh. That’s who I thought it was.

OWEN
He sure thought he was a heck of a lot smarter than he turned out to be.

CYRIL
Buteonine.

OWEN
Now don’t start with me.

CYRIL
I’m just sayin’ that’s the fella, ain’t it?

OWEN
That’s the fella. Called me buteonine.

CYRIL
No call for that.

OWEN
Didn’t even know it was a word.

CYRIL
He musta knowed it was a word. Used it in a sentence, didn’t he?

OWEN
I’m talking about me.

CYRIL
Oh, you. Didn’t know it was a word, huh?

OWEN
Didn’t know you needed a word.

CYRIL
You got that right.

OWEN
If I come across a fella bein’ all buteonine, I’m gonna come right out and tell him to his face: “You’re just like a buzzard.”

CYRIL
“Buzzardlike.”

OWEN
That’s right.

CYRIL
“Buzzardish.”

OWEN
That’s right.

CYRIL
“Downright buzzardesque.”

OWEN
Now don’t start with me.

CYRIL
I’m just sayin’, it’s like you said.

OWEN
Point is, we got plenty o’ words right here in plain English, without we gotta go makin’ up new ones in Latin.

CYRIL
(scoffs) Buteonine.

OWEN
I mean, that’s all well and good if you end up in a emergency room feeling kinda buzzard-like, and you wanna make sure the doctor understands your condition. But other than that? Just day to day? Walkin’ down the street?

CYRIL
Or sittin’ at the bar chattin’ up a fella’s girlfriend while he’s in the washroom?

OWEN
Now I told you how she was dressed.

CYRIL
Can’t blame you for tryin’.

OWEN
Can’t a fella pay another fella’s gal a compliment without we gotta have words?

CYRIL
How is Sarah, by the by?

OWEN
Gettin’ on good. Homesick, time to time. Misses the city.

CYRIL
That’s natural. Take her down to Clifton, why don’t you?

OWEN
There’s a idea. Get us one o’ them cappucinos.

CYRIL
Extra foamy.
They share a bawdy laugh.

CYRIL
You know, Owen...

OWEN
What’s that?

CYRIL
Now hear me out...

OWEN
Don’t start with me.

CYRIL
I’m just sayin’, what if that was all it was, was a compliment?

OWEN
What was?

CYRIL
What the fella said.

OWEN
A compliment? He called me a buzzard.

CYRIL
He called you buteonine.

OWEN
It does sound purty, now you mention it.

CYRIL
The buzzard is a noble beast.

OWEN
The buzzard? I think you’re thinking of somebody else.

CYRIL
Desert beast. Stately. Noble. Lord of the sandy skies.

OWEN
They eat you when you’re dying, for cryin’ out loud!

CYRIL
No, sir. They wait. A buzzard will not eat you till you’re all through dying. They’re patient, that way. Polite.

OWEN
I still don’t like ‘em circlin’ over me when I’m starvin’ to death.

CYRIL
Well, what do you want they should do? Wait a couple days for the rot to set in? They wanna get you while you’re fresh, don’t they?

OWEN
I reckon so. Guess there ain’t no harm in that.

CYRIL
That’s right.

OWEN
So a buzzard’s got taste. Discretion.

CYRIL
Got a certain buteonine quality.

OWEN
I still don’t see as that fella meant it as a compliment.

CYRIL
You don’t think so? Something about the way he said it?

OWEN
Something about the way he said, “Get a dictionary” when I asked him what he meant.

CYRIL
He was a smug one, that one.

OWEN
He thought he was a helluva lot smarter’n all of us.

CYRIL
You got a dictionary, didn’t you?

OWEN
Mavis had one behind the bar.

CYRIL
That old hard-bound “Webster’s” up on the cupboard? That thing is so old, I didn’t know it still had words in it.

OWEN
Well, it did. “Buteonine: Of the nature of, or resembling a buzzard.”

CYRIL
Boy, I bet he was smug.

OWEN
Oh, that fella thought he knew just about everything.

CYRIL
Bet he didn’t know you could beat a man to death with a hard-cover book.

OWEN
No, I reckon that’s one thing they didn’t teach him in college.

CYRIL
You learn something new every day, I guess.

OWEN
Ain’t that the truth.

CYRIL (musing)
Buteonine.

"Buteonine" IS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED, TRANSMITTED, PRINTED OR PERFORMED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR


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