Give the Hippo What He Wants Read Free

roaring as it crashed down the channel to points unknown.
    Looking down, Thal saw a cluster of men gathered at the base of the ladder that the guide was descending. They stood on a stone shelf many feet below, torches flickering as they gazed up at him.
    Reaching out, Thal grabbed one of the rungs set into the wall. He swung a foot onto a lower rung and climbed down, taking care because the cold metal rungs were slippery with moisture.
    The pink hippo floated down alongside him, apparently held aloft by a tiny red parasol. “Easy does it,” said the hippo. “Wouldn’t want you to fall and break your neck.”
    For the first time, Thal talked back to the creature. “Shove it up your ass,” he said...and as soon as the words left his mouth, he wondered if he was finally starting to lose it, talking to something that wasn’t there like that.
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    *****
    â€œThese men have all traveled the railroad like you,” the guide told Thal when he’d reached the shelf. “They will take you to your next stop.”
    Thal looked around at the three dirty faces surrounding him. One of the men, a tall, bony guy with curly red hair and a beard to his chest, looked familiar.
    â€œAre you going, too?” Thal said to the guide. Though he’d never gotten a clear look at his face under the hood of the cloak, and the two of them had hardly said a word to each other the whole trip, Thal felt comfortable following the guide and wanted him to go the rest of the way.
    â€œGood luck,” said the guide, and then he scaled the rungs in the wall and disappeared back into the tunnel.
    â€œSo,” said the red-haired man. “We’d better get moving. We’ve got a long way to travel tonight.”
    Thal stared at him searchingly, becoming more convinced that he had seen him before. “Do I know you?” he said, trying to imagine what the man would look like without his long beard.
    The red-haired man’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. “That’s a good question,” he said, and then he turned and hiked off along the shelf.
    The other two men followed, and Thal trailed after them, still combing his memory for a trace of the red-haired man. For some reason, Thal had a feeling it was important he remember who the man was.
    The hippo confirmed it. “I know who he i-is!” the Choker sang tauntingly.
    â€œWho?” whispered Thal, trying to keep his voice low enough that the men couldn’t hear.
    â€œThat’s for me to know,” said the hippo, “and you to find out!”
    Then, the hippo bobbed in with lips puckered and planted a sloppy kiss on Thal’s cheek. Though he knew full well that the creature was only imaginary, Thal felt the smack of the lips as if they were real. When he wiped his cheek, he could have sworn that his hand came away dripping with slimy slobber.
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    *****
    Hours later--it seemed like hours, anyway--Thal found out who the red-haired man was...and quickly wished that he hadn’t.
    He made the discovery when the four of them (five, counting the hippo) stopped for a rest in the desert foothills they were crossing. It was the first break they had taken since leaving the sewers many miles ago, and Thal was grateful for the chance to sit down, even if all he had to sit on was a boulder.
    As Thal slouched in an exhausted daze on the rock, the red-haired man walked over and offered him his canteen. Thal was so parched that he couldn’t refuse.
    â€œStill can’t quite place me, can you?” said the man as Thal took a drink. “Maybe you could use a little hint.”
    Thal lowered the canteen and took another good look at the guy. “All right,” he said. “Like what?”
    The red-haired man leaned closer, eyes twinkling in the moonlight. “Pink hippo,” he said, lips curling in a smirk under the shaggy beard. “Does that ring a bell?”
    Thal frowned, realizing that he