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on.
    “Joe?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Sorry, I thought you’d gone. I just wanted to say sorry, you know? About Iggy…he didn’t mean anything. He just gets a bit funny sometimes. He gets a bit carried away.”
    “Right,” I said hesitantly.
    “All that stuff he was saying…? He was just messing around.”
    “Messing around?”
    “He’s got a weird sense of humor.”
    “Yeah?”
    “I know it’s hard to believe…”
    She was right about that.
    “I just wanted to apologize,” she said. “I feel really bad about it.”
    “It’s OK,” I found myself saying. “Don’t worry about it.”
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah…no problem. As long as he’s not really going to cut my throat…”
    She laughed, but it wasn’t a very reassuring laugh. It sounded kind of forced.
    “Who is he, anyway?” I said.
    “Who—Iggy?”
    “Yeah.”
    “He’s just…Well, he’s no one, really.” I heard her sucking in smoke. “He’s just a friend of a friend…you know…just someone I know. Anyway, listen, I’m really sorry he gave you a hard time. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you…”
    “Sorry?”
    She laughed again, but more naturally this time. “I don’t mean like that…I just meant if you wanted to go somewhere, you know, have a drink or something.”
    “Oh, right…yeah…yeah, that’d be nice.”
    “You don’t have to—”
    “No…I’d really like to.”
    “I could buy you a doughnut.”
    “Yeah…”
    “Great…OK, where do you want to go?”
    “I don’t know…Where do you live?”
    “Anywhere in London’s fine with me. Is that all right with you?”
    “Yeah…How about the zoo?”
    “The zoo?”
    I could have kicked myself. It was such a stupid thing to say, and I had no idea why I’d said it. I mean—the zoo? What’s the matter with you? I asked myself. She asks you out for a drink…and you tell her you want to go to the zoo ?
    “London Zoo?” Candy said.
    “Yeah, but—”
    “That’d be great. I’d love to go to the zoo. I haven’t been there for ages.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah…the only thing is—”
    Here we go, I thought.
    “—I’m a bit limited for time.”
    “Oh…well, that’s OK. We don’t have to stay long—”
    “No, I mean date-wise. I’m a bit busy at the moment…The only day I can get away is Tuesday.”
    “This Tuesday?”
    “Yeah—is that going to be all right?”
    “You mean the Tuesday coming…after this weekend…in a few days’ time?”
    “Yes, Joe…the Tuesday after the Monday after the Sunday—”
    “Yeah, all right. I was just making sure…”
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah.”
    “So?”
    “What?”
    She laughed. “Can you make it on Tuesday or not?”
    “Yeah,” I said, without even thinking about it. “Yeah, Tuesday’s fine. Where shall I meet you?”
    “Outside the main gates?”
    “OK—what time?”
    “Not too early…”
    “Twelve?”
    “Sounds good.”
    “Twelve o’clock, Tuesday morning, outside London Zoo.”
    “The main gates.”
    “Right—the main gates. Do you want my cell phone number just in case—”
    “Hold on.”
    The phone got muffled again. This time I could hear doors slamming in the background, raised voices, heavy footsteps…
    “Candy?” I said. “Candy—”
    “Joe,” she whispered quickly. “I’ve got to go—”
    “What’s happening?”
    “Nothing…I’ll tell you later.” Her voice was scarcely audible now. “See you on Tuesday—OK? Make sure you’re there.”
    “Yeah, but—”
    The line went dead.
    I stayed in the phone booth for a while, trying to unscramble my thoughts…replaying the conversation in my head, going over and over what Candy had said, what she’d meant, what it all meant to me, and how it made me feel…
    That was the hardest thing to understand.
    How did I feel?
    She’d lied to me—I was pretty sure of that. She’d lied to me. She was hiding things from me. And I had no way of knowing who she really was. Was she the harsh-sounding Candy who’d