Return to Pleasure Island

sculptures nearMagicLand. He clutched his right thumb nervously as he stood and waited in thereception area for Orville to come and get him. The secretary had taken his nameand buzzed Orville, and now kept sneaking him horrified looks. George's familywere the only of their kind to leave their homeland and join the soft ones, andhere at Ops, there were any number of low-ranking babus who'd never heard tellof them.

  Orville was all smiles and effusion as he breezed through the glasssecurity-door and pounded George on the back. "George! I'm so _glad_ you camedown!"

  He took George by the arm and led him away, stopping to wink at the secretary,who looked at him with a mixture of disgust and admiration.

  Orville's office was buried in a twisting maze of door-lined, fluorescent-litcorridors, where busy soft ones talked on telephones and clattered on keyboards.He led George through his door, into an office as big as George's cabin.

  Orville paced and talked. "Did I say I was glad you came? I'm glad you came.Now, let's talk about Bill. Bill's happy. He's got what he wants. A son. Hedoesn't have to take care of Joe. It's good for him."

  He paused and looked at George. George nodded.

  "OK. There's a problem, though. You want a son, too, only Bill won't allow it."

  It didn't need any comment, so George kept quiet.

  "My thinking is, Bill's so busy with Tom, he wouldn't really notice if you werethere or not. You're an adult, you can take care of yourself. Do you see whereI'm going with this?"

  George assumed it was a rhetorical question.

  "Right. What I'm thinking is, there's no reason that both of you shouldn't haveyour own son. This is Pleasure Island, after all. No one should be sad onPleasure Island. You've worked hard and well for us for a long time here. We cantake care of you."

  George felt an uncomfortable sensation in his stomach, a knot of guilt likerising vomit.

  "I thought about having another cabin built in the woods, but that's no good. Ithink that you and Bill need your own space. So let me bounce my current thoughtoff you: we'll put you up in the new Monster's Arms, that's the hotel we'rebuilding for HorrorZone. It's way ahead of schedule, almost finished now.There's a penthouse suite that you can take for as long as you like. It's onlytemporary, just until you and Bill have had some time to raise up your sons.Then, we'll get the whole family together back at the cabin."

  The guilt rose higher, choking George.

  "Don't worry about eating, either. I've briefed the house chef on your tastes,and he'll send up three squares every day; everything a growing boy needs." Heflashed a grin.

  "And forget about Bill. I'll smooth things over with him. He'll see that it'sfor the best."

  Finally, George had something to say. "What about Joe?"

  Orville had been almost dancing as he spoke, enchanted with his own words. Hepulled up short when George spoke. "What about him?"

  "I want to live with him again," George said.

  "He's gone, you know that." Orville pointed his fingers alongside his ears."Hee-haw, hee-haw. The monthly ferry will take him to the mainland tomorrow."

  "I don't care about that," George said. "I want him there."

  Orville said, "I don't think that's such a good idea, George. You're going awayto concentrate on _you_ -- Joe's a handful, even now. I don't want youdistracted."

  George said, "I want Joe."

  Orville stared at him. George set his face into a blank mask. Finally, Orvillesaid, "If that's what you want, that's what you'll get."

  #

  George didn't have anything to fetch from the cabin, and Orville thought itwould be best if he spoke to Bill alone, so he sent George to the stables to getJoe.

  The donkey stables were beyond Ops, at the very edge of the island, opposite thedocks where the ferries brought new boys in. A different kind of boat dockedthere, large utility freighters that brought in everything the Island needed andtook away braying, kicking herds of jackasses.

  The donkeys shifted nervously in their stalls. George smelled horse-apples andhay, and heard fidgeting hooves and quiet, braying sobs. He wasn't clear on whathappened to donkeys when they went back to the mainland, but he had an idea thatit wasn't very pleasant. On the Island, donkeys were prizes, a sign that a boy'severy wish had been gratified. What happened afterwards wasn't something thatthey were encouraged to think about.

  He walked down the clean, wooden aisles, peering into the stalls, looking forJoe. Finally, in a dark stall in the very darkest corner of the stables, hefound him. A large, pot-bellied jackass, who leapt up and brayed loudly at himwhen he clucked his tongue at it.

  "Joe?" he asked softly.

  The donkey brayed again and kicked at the stall's door. It was alreadysplintered from many such kicks. George opened the catch and was nearly trampledbeneath Joe's hooves as he ran out and away, braying loudly. George chased hisbrother. He didn't start very fast, but once he got going, inertia made himunstoppable.

  He cornered Joe at the door that led out to the Island. The donkey was kickingat it, trying for escape. George locked his strong right arm around Joe's neck."Stop it, Joe," he said. "I'm taking you out with me, but you have to stop it."

  Joe's eyes rolled madly, and he struggled against George, kicking and biting.George waited in silence until the donkey tired, then used a bridle hanging onthe wall to lead Joe out of the stables.

  When Joe saw Orville waiting for them, he went wild again. George caught him bythe hind leg and dragged him to the ground, while Orville danced back with astrange grace.

  Orville grinned and said, "I guess he doesn't like me very much." He cameforward and darted an affectionate pat on Joe's haunch.

  Joe brayed loudly and George kept his own counsel. Orville led them down autilidor and into an electric tram with an open car. George led Joe in and heldonto his neck while Orville sped down the utilidor. He drove up a service rampand out into HorrorZone, then to the doors of the newly completed Monster'sArms.

  #

  George and Joe lived in the Monster's Arms. Every morning, Orville paid them avisit and snuck looks at George's thumbs. They were intact.

  George wanted to have a son, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Orville'svisits grew shorter, and Orville's manner grew more irritated. Still, George hadno son.

  One day, he waited until Joe was napping, and slipped out through theiron-maiden elevator, right down into the utilidor.

  The tram driver recognised him and took him out to the cabin. The last mile ofthe utilidor was dusty and disused. George leaped off the tram and walkedquickly to the cabin, his heart racing. It had been so long since he'd seen Billand little Tom. He missed them terribly.

  The little cabin was even smaller than George remembered it, and it looked sad,sagging and ramshackle. He hesitated at the door, then, feeling a stranger,knocked.

  There was movement inside, but no voices, and the door stayed shut. Georgeopened the door.

  It was a disaster. The kitchen cupboards were smashed in, the little tableknocked over and splintered, the bedding scattered and soiled. Deep shadowscollected in the corners.

  "Bill?" George called, softly. A shadow stirred, an indistinct figure within itsdepths.

  "Bill, it's George. I missed you. I need to talk with you. I'm confused."

  The shadow stirred again. George crept forward, peering, his old eyesnight-dimmed.

  Bill huddled in the corner, wracked and wasted. He stared up at George througheyes filmed with tears. He held up his hands. They had already begun to shapethemselves into hooves, but George could still see that both his thumbs weregone. His ears were pointed and long.

  "Oh, Bill," George said.

  His brother let out a braying sob, and George saw he had no tongue.

  #

  Orville came looking for them the next morning.

  "Where are the sons?" George asked him, while stroking the donkey's head in hislap.

  Orville smiled a slightly abashed smile. "I'm keeping them safe. I didn't thinkthat Bill was in any shape to take care of
them."

  George said, "I'll take care of them. Bring them here. Joe, too -- he's in theroom. I'll take care of them all."

  Orville smiled his abashed smile again, then gave George an ironic salute. "Yes,sir," he said. He patted Bill's haunch and smiled to himself.

  George didn't know how to respond to irony, so he held his brother more tightly.Eventually, Orville went away, and then came back a while after that. He drovean electric cart. In the front seat, three sons bounced -- Tom, bright andcurious; another, strong and big; a third, whose little pot belly jiggled as hetalked and talked and talked.