The Willies | Page 2

device, a smooth, palm-sized piece of coal, and looked at its underside. It read "Pritchard, Oswald". Hugh smiled and pressed the thumb-shaped button on the phone's side.
"Hi, Os," said Hugh.
"Hi, Hugh. Just calling to see if you still want to get together with Ted and me today."
"Yeah. That would be great."
"Where'd you like to go? Shopping? There's that new extension on the mall down near--"
"God, no. I don't want to go to a mall. Not today. I've seen too many ads already this week." Hugh rarely told anyone about the full extent of his memory, leaving friends to fill in the blanks about his sensitivities. He put the phone down on the chair and paced around on the grass. "Could we do something else?" he said, addressing the black lump.
"Like what?" said Oswald's voice from the phone's speaker.
"I dunno. Something... different."
"Hey, I know. There's an exhibit at the zoo today, some special thing they're doing. I can't remember what time it's at. Why don't you grab a paper and call me back? We'll meet there."
"Okay, sounds good. Talk to you in a bit." He reached forward and pressed the phone's button again to shut it off.
He shuffled in his pyjama-bottoms and T-shirt through the apartment and out into the walkway. As he expected, Mr. Clarke next door was away for the weekend: his newspaper still lay in front of his door. Clarke can live here and go on vacation, Hugh thought, I can barely even afford the living here part. He'd figured a place of his own would make him feel like he'd arrived, but the subsequent financial difficulties just made him more aware of how much further he had to go.
Assuming he was going somewhere. Assuming he would 'arrive' at all.
He shook his head. More useless Sunday thoughts. He shuffled through the chilly air to his neighbour's door and grabbed the newspaper. Its headline declared "First Panda Clone at Zoo Today". He lowered his head, squinted his eyes at the article, then folded the newspaper back up and dropped it on the floor. He didn't need the paper anymore: the damned article was in his head for good.
~
Hugh crossed the street to the subway platform. The Green Rocket, the eco-friendly transit line that ran along the harbourfront, was much maligned for its cost, but Hugh preferred the sharp contours of its new silver and green cars to the old Red Rockets that still clattered through the city.
The streetcar pulled up and the doors opened. Oh no, he thought, the car was packed with people, family-type people with noisy crying children and, worse, excited children. The ride to the zoo was a long one, and now he regretted letting his friends talk him into meeting them there.
~
Hugh remembered the admission being much cheaper. But then, the last time he'd been to the zoo he was in a stroller. He pushed through the turnstile and walked quickly through the crowd gathered inside the entrance until he reached an edge where he could get his bearings. A boy bumped into him, then said, "Sorry, Mister." Hugh wondered when he'd become a "mister" without noticing.
On the other side of the crowd stood a pair of men, one tall and gangly, the other with a physique like a tree trunk. The tall one spotted Hugh and waved, his face opening into an overstated smile. He gave a 'come over here' wave to Hugh as he tapped his partner and to point him out.
Hugh's patience wore thin as he navigated his way through the crowd, buying passage with 'excuse me's. He forced himself to smile when he reached the other shore and got within speaking range.
"Hel-lo," said the lanky one, leaning down to kiss Hugh on either cheek.
"Hi, Os," said Hugh, embarrassed by the kisses, reciprocating with a back-slapping hug. He turned to Oswald's partner, Ted, and extended a hand to him. Ted took it in his large square fist and gave a healthy squeeze. There was some trick to handshakes like Ted's that left his hand mechanically unable to respond, a withered piece of pink spinach with which to announce himself.
"They're not bringing the panda out for another hour," said Ted, releasing Hugh's hand, "so let's look around the rest of the zoo till then." He didn't wait for the others to respond before turning and heading into the park, and they followed. Ted wore a tank top. Why, Hugh wondered, do all back-hairy men wear tank tops? Tufts of fur covered him right up to the arbitrary level on his neck where he clear-cut with a razor every morning. The top of his head, however, was lightly ringed with black chick-fluff.
Oswald ran up beside Ted and put an arm around his shoulder. His tall frame topped with a thick pile of wavy blonde