DoubleDown V Read Online Free PDF

what was happening.  “Darn.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Come find me next time.  I’ll be here.”
    She didn’t commit to that as the calling started to pull her back toward her house.  She wasn’t sure she wanted to see him ever again.
    But part of her knew she absolutely wanted to.
     

 
     
     
     
Chapter 4
     
     
    Karen’s father was named Parker.  Parker Samson Richardson.  Her friends sometimes wondered if his parents liked comic books or something, since the name seemed so weird, something out of Spider Man or the X-Men , maybe.  She tried to pretend it was nothing special, perhaps a tribute to some long-forgotten relative or something.
    He was forty-one years old when Karen was seventeen.  She knew he loved her, even though sometimes it was hard to tell by how he treated her.  He smiled and laughed with Tina, but with Karen, he was more reserved and serious.  He expected more from her.
    One day when Karen was alone with her mother, she asked, “Why does Dad treat me so hard?  Why does he love Tina more?”
    She immediately regretted the question when she saw the hesitation and heartbreak on her mother’s face.
    For a moment, there was only silence.
    “Truth be told, your dad loves you as much as Tina, if not more.  He just knows you’re the one who could follow in his footsteps and work in fields that he respects.”
    Her mom looked around to be sure Tina wasn’t nearby.
    “He doesn’t really expect much of your sister.  He still loves her, but he’ll be happy if she manages to just find a job—any job—and have a happy life with somebody who cares for her.  He wants more for you, and he wants to help you be all you can be.”
    Karen absorbed this and never spoke of it again.  She tried to look at her dad with new eyes, but somehow he never seemed much different.  He seemed so hard to please.
    On top of that, she knew his secrets.
     
    *   *   *
     
    On May 30, her world changed. She woke early to the sound of commotion in the living room below.  She glanced at her watch: 4:42 a.m.
    A gray haze hung outside her bedroom window, waiting for the sun to rise.  A hint of bright red lights periodically flashed through the gray.
    Police?
    Tina was still sleeping.
    “Please, help him … .”
    Mom’s tiny voice was full of fear as it hovered and found its way from downstairs.  Karen ran to the stairs and saw two men dressed in white, moving her father, who was lying on a stretcher.  He was moving a little, but mostly what she would remember later was that he was crying.  He moaned from pain and tears fell down his cheeks.  Karen had never seen her father cry before.  He was dressed in his Frosty the Snowman pajamas, a Christmas gift from Tina two years earlier.
    Mom was standing beside the stretcher, one hand on Dad’s shoulder.
    “Tell me he’s going to be okay.  Please.”
    Tears were rolling down her cheeks as well.
    “We’re taking him to Highland Hills, Mrs. Richardson.  They’ll do their best.”
    “I’ll go as soon as I get dressed.”
    The paramedics took Dad outside.  Karen ran down the stairs and watched with Mom.
    “What happened?” 
    “I don’t know.  He woke up and said he needed help.  He could barely move, saying the pain was much worse and he couldn’t stand it anymore.”
    “He’s had pain?”
    The ambulance pulled away with its siren wailing.
    “I have to get dressed and go.”
    “Mom, tell me. What pain?”
    They both started up the stairs.  “I don’t really know.  He’s had it for a while but wouldn’t go to the doctor.  Kept saying it would go away.”
    Mom rushed to her room and called back, “I’ll phone you when I know.”
    Karen watched as her mom got dressed and then left after giving her a quick hug.  She sat in her father’s favorite La-Z-Boy armchair and waited for her mother to call.
     
    *   *   *
     
    It didn’t take long for the diagnosis.  Parker Samson Richardson had cancer.   A lot of it.
    The doctors guessed