The Willies | Page 2

out for him.

The phone rang inside. Saved from himself, Hugh ran in and found the
phone in a corner of the couch. He picked up the little 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