Free Divisions (Dev and Lee) by Kyell Gold Page A

She’s still talking to Lee’s father there. “You ever miss that activist stuff?”
    “Mmm. Sometimes.” Lee rubs his whiskers back. “Especially when I see those, like, Families United people…that name’s ironic.”
    “Ironic how?”
    “Oh, nothing. They just…they’re trying to prevent people like us from having families. And…” He sighs. “Some stuff about Mother. I’ll tell you later.”
    I have a pretty good idea then what he wants to tell me, but I don’t pursue it. “You could try to get involved again. Down in Chevali, I mean. There’s a group that’s contacted Ogleby about getting me to speak.”
    “I remember.” He flicks his ears. “Why haven’t you?”
    “Me?” I wave a paw. “Timing never works out, I guess. Ogleby doesn’t give me details.”
    We listen to the murmur of conversation in the room, and I think about how different my relationship with all my relatives is. I used to be the quiet one, the one who didn’t really have many stories to tell next to Gregory’s accomplishments, the one everyone asked, “What are you going to be doing when you’re not playing football?” Now I’m the one with the stories, the football player. The football star.
    The gay football star. With my boyfriend. I kind of want to put an arm around him, but I don’t know how people would take it. Probably it would piss off Gregory, which almost gets me to do it right then, but he’s not the only one in the room.
    “You remember that Brian moved to Chevali, right?”
    Lee’s words break my reverie. “Of course,” I say, but I hadn’t put the pieces together. Brian’s in Chevali. He was Lee’s best friend in Lee’s activist days. Probably Brian is involved in the gay rights scene there. “There’s other activist groups, though, right? You don’t have to be involved with him.”
    “Aww.” Lee gives me a foxy smile. “You’re not still jealous, are you? You know you won, right?”
    “I didn’t know it was a competition.” I shrug and lean closer. “Anyway, I don’t think you’d run off with him.”
    “Good.”
    “That doesn’t mean you have to look him up. He’s still an asshole.”
    He turns away from me, looks back toward the party. “He’s just idealistic.”
    “Yeah,” I say. His ears are splayed, so I work to keep the growl out of my voice. “An idealistic asshole.”
    “He might be a good connection. But if it bothers you,” he says, and trails off as he watches his father smile at Auntie Za. It looks like his father’s tail wags, too.
    “Probably,” I say, not saying that I’m bothered more by the reminder of his last visit to Brian, “but you know. You do a lot of shit that bothers me.”
    He flicks his tail against the back of my legs. “I like you bothered,” he says. “Also hot.”
    “No sneaking around rooms this time,” I mutter, even lower. “Gregory’s staying in his room with Marta.”
    “Thanks for the invitation, but Father found a hotel room for us. The luxurious Quality Lodge.”
    I turn, but he’s not looking at me. “It does sound better than our mildewy basement, but come on. I could put you up at the Hilton or something.”
    He shrugs. “It’s okay. They’re cheap and they don’t surcharge for foxes.”
    “Does anyone really do that?”
    “More expensive hotels do.” Lee makes air quotes. “Euphemistically called the ‘scent equalization surcharge.’”
    “Even with the Orwell laws?”
    “You’re allowed to discriminate if you can show a compelling economic reason that non-discrimination would hurt you.”
    “Hmph.” I lean over and daringly nuzzle one of his ears. “I think you smell terrific.”
    He flicks it and leans back against me. “I am glad none of your relatives commented on it.”
    “Nobody cares about smell in this day and age.”
    “Says the guy who doesn’t smell musky all the time. I guess if they’re expecting a fox, they’re okay with it.”
    I nudge him. “We work with foxes and skunks and