The Willies by Hamish MacDonald

Author:Hamish MacDonald
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2013-01-26T16:00:00+00:00

~

“Hi, honey. I’m going to be home late tonight. Hope you had a good day. I’ll talk to you when I get home, if you’re still up.” Simon hung up the payphone and turned around to face Hugh, two thumbs in the air.

“That’s a short leash you’re wearing,” said Hugh.

“She wouldn’t understand. I’ll explain it to her when I get home. We had to grab the opportunity in front of us. And I think we did pretty well today.”

“Yeah, but I’m pretty bothered by the things they said, particularly that Lamont guy.”

“Think about it, Hugh. Whoever’s responsible for us had to be some kind of genius. Don’t you think they’d have figured all that stuff out?”

“It’s still hard for me to imagine that any of this is real. Think about it, you and me—” Hugh followed Simon to the bar. He’d never been here before, but he’d heard about it. It figured, he thought, that Simon would take them here to be seen just moments after being discovered. He had to admit that it was nice, featuring a handsome wood bar with dim lamps along it. Simon waved to the bartender and ordered a vodka martini, extra dry, with a twist of lemon. Hugh didn’t have a favourite drink, let alone one whose description he’d rehearsed, so he wasn’t sure what to order. “Uh, I—” he stammered, noting the bartender’s impatience, “just a, uh, rye and ginger.”

Simon turned around on his chair and surveyed the room. It was still Happy Hour for the local suits. When their drinks came, Simon paid the inflated price, then led them to a booth. He took a sip of his drink. “So,” he said.

“Yeah,” replied Hugh.

“Five years.”

“Yeah, five years.” Hugh had no intention of making this easy for Simon. “Forgot my number or something, eh?”

“What about you, Mister Memory?” Simon breathed. “Look, that was pretty awkward, what you did at the wedding. Fleur wasn’t too happy about it. And honestly, neither was I.”

“I was really drunk. I didn’t know what I was saying,” said Hugh, stirring the bubbles from the side of his drink, staring into it.

“I think you did, Hugh.”

“Honest, Simon. It’s the only thing in my life I can’t remember. I blacked out, and I really have no idea what I said. Was it something bad about Fleur? Is that why she wouldn’t let you talk to me?”

“No. You didn’t mention her. You said something about us. You said—”

“Hey! The clones!” said one of the patron suits, dragging over two of his buddies. “I saw you guys on the hotbox today. Fellas,” he said, addressing his friends, “these guys are clones of each other!”

“Uh, no,” said Hugh, “we don’t know that.”

“Yeah, we think we might be clones of someone else,” added Simon.

“If we’re clones at all,” said Hugh.

“Oh, c’mon. We clicked through to those test results. There’s no way you’re not clones.”

“Okay,” said Hugh, “we’re clones.”

“See, guys, isn’t that cool? Let me buy you fellas a drink.”

“I’ve got no problem with that,” said Simon.

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