Friends Like These: My Worldwide Quest to Find My Best Childhood Friends, Knock on Their Doors, and Ask Them to Come Out and Play by Danny Wallace Read Free Book Online Page A

AMODIO!
    Remember them? I did!
    CAMERON DEWA!
    SIMON GIBSON!
    Cameron! The Fijian kid! And Simon! The scruffy one!
    PETER GIBSON!
    CHRISTOPHER GUIRREAN!
    Peter! And
Chris!
My first-ever best friend from my days in Dundee!
    And they just kept coming… the names, and the memories. Twelve in total, in an address book I’d intended to update regularly
     but only ever really updated every year or two, or when Mum and Dad had decided it was time to up and move on… but these guys
     had meant a lot to me. They
must’ve,
to have made it into the Book…
    I smiled, and laughed, and flicked through it again.
    Twelve names. Twelve great names.
    AKIRA MATSUI!
    The Japanese kid who’d come to our school! He was brilliant!
    LAUREN MEDCALFE!
    Wow—a name I hadn’t thought of in
forever.
    Where were these guys now? What were they up to? Were they happy? A thought suddenly struck me.
They’d
all be about to turn thirty too. How were
they
dealing with it? Did they feel like me? Like they… weren’t quite
ready?
    I closed the Book and looked out of the window. The storm had stopped some time earlier, but the day had given up the fight
     and evening was knocking on the door. I looked at my watch. Lizzie wouldn’t be home for hours. But I was in such a good mood,
     now… I wanted to go out.
Call
someone.
Do
something. Tell them about finding the Book. Ask them about
their
childhood friends.
    But who?
    Things didn’t
used
to be like this. The Book proved that much. The Book was from the days when everything was exciting and new and friends were
     pretty much all anyone cared about. I used to have a wealth of them, people I could call on a whim and see in a
moment.
Who’d populate the parks, playgrounds, streets and benches of this fine country. What had happened? Where had we all gone?
     We used to be able to spend
days
together, not just
minutes.
We never had to
arrange
anything, just
turn up.
Never fix a date, or shift a meeting, or consult the diary. Never “make time” or “reschedule,” or “no-can-do” or “raincheck.”
     Friends came first—or
used
to come first—so what had happened? Why wasn’t I with a friend right
now?
    Yeah, we all grow up. We all get busy. But we
all
need friends.
    I
would
meet with a friend today. I had
plenty
of friends. I
knew
I did. They were right here, inside my poncey little BlackBerry. I clicked on “Address Book.” I started at the
A
’s.
    Adam.
    Yes! Adam! I could call Adam! Adam would do just fine! I called Adam. I waited for the ring tone. His number had been disconnected.
    Okay. Not Adam.
    I scrolled down. The
B
’s. Ben. No, he moved to Spain. Another Ben. Didn’t he move, too? On I scrolled.
    C.
    Carl. CARL! I hit Call.
    Call Carl, I thought. That was quite funny. I laughed to myself. A second passed.
    “Hello?”
    “Carl! I thought I’d call Carl!”
    I laughed.
    Carl didn’t.
    I continued.
    “So where are you?”
    “I’m in Manchester. Where I live.”
    “Okay!”
    I hung up and scrolled down faster, furiously trying to find someone—
anyone
—who might want to see a Wallace…
    H, I, J, K…
    Kyle! Kyle! Yes!
Kyle!
    Wait a second. I met him in Uganda.
    L! M! N!
    Neil! What about Neil! Or Noel! Neil or Noel? The choice was too difficult. I went on instinct. I dialed Neil.
    It rang. No answer.
    I scrolled on…
    O!
    I know
no one
whose name begins with O.
    P!
    I know
too many
people whose names begin with P.
    Q!
    I know
one person
whose name begins with Q, and he’s a nincompoop.
    R!
    Yes! Rob! What about Rob? ROB! I hit Call and leaned against the wall.
    “Yo yo yo! Rob here. I’m not around at the minute. Why not leave a message and I’ll get right back to you?”
    The beep did its beep and I couldn’t help myself.
    “ROB IT’S DANNY HOW ABOUT WE HANG OUT DANNY WALLACE I MEAN GIVE ME A CALL LET’S GO FOR A DRINK I’M FREE RIGHT NOW CALL ME
     I AM WAITING!”
    I paused for a second, couldn’t think what else to say, and hung up.
    A moment passed.
    I