Taking Charge Read Online Free PDF Page A

myself,” Eddie
replied.
    “So, how are things with you? The house in such a
state you needed to move in here?” Robyn questioned.
    “Very funny,” Eddie responded, concentrating on
eating.
    “Auntie Pam says you need a bypass,” Robyn
continued.
    “So they say. You know the clever guys with the funny
white coats and the glasses. They all wear glasses round here. I
don’t know if they need them, I think they just wear them to look
smart,” Eddie answered, spitting pieces of meat into his beard.
    “They say you can’t have the operation unless you
lose some weight and start eating properly,” Robyn carried on.
    “Yeah, they say that too. Don’t know what their
problem is. McDonald’s has been the staple diet of Americans for
years and we’re all—” Eddie began.
    “Dying of heart disease caused by obesity. Enjoying
the food?” Robyn interjected.
    “Yeah, beats the green pasta stuff they tried to
force-feed me at lunchtime. It had bits in it. I don’t like bits,”
Eddie said, shaking his head and breathing in through his nose as
he devoured the burger.
    “That’s a shame because I spit all over that Big Mac,
pretty sure there’ll be bits,” Robyn informed him matter of
factly.
    Eddie clutched at his throat, turned bright red, and
began to regurgitate what he had just eaten, doubling over and
retching.
    Robyn took the paper bags from the table, screwed
them into a ball and, in one quick move, threw them in the
hazardous waste bin.
    “Jeez! You’re sick! What’s wrong with you? You trying
to kill me?! Get me a nurse! Nurse!” Eddie yelled as he began to
splutter and gasp for breath.
    “I don’t need to try and kill you; you’re doing that
all by yourself, eating this crap and not getting up and about. If
you don’t do as the doctors say, they’re not going to give you the
operation because they don’t think you’ll survive it,” Robyn
blasted, looking at her father with fury in her eyes.
    “Who cares? I don’t want an operation! They’re the
ones who want me to have an operation. Do you think I want to be in
here? Get me some water! I want this taste off my tongue!” Eddie
ordered, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
    “So you’re just going to lie here, eating shit and
watching TV? What about the roadhouse? What about the Panthers?”
Robyn questioned.
    “Oh, what about them? Roadhouse has been going
downhill for years, the same with the Panthers. No one cares any
more, why should I?”
    “Oh, I see, you want sympathy for the sorry ass state
you’re in, do you? Well too bad, because you’re getting none of
that from me,” Robyn told him.
    “No one asked you to come.”
    “Actually, they did. Auntie Pam begged me to
come.”
    “She always was an interfering…” Eddie began, wiping
his tongue with the tissue.
    “You think I want to be here? You think I wanted to
leave England and travel nine hours across the Atlantic? I have a
great job and a place and a life back there. Here I’ve got Auntie
Pam and twin cousins who look like they belong in a remake of The
Omen. And then there’s you. A fat, ungrateful, angry old man who
wants to fester in a hospital bed when he has what could be a
profitable business and what could be a successful ice hockey team
sitting in his lap. Stop behaving like an idiot. You have no idea
what it’s like for me to come back here!” Robyn yelled at him.
    “How dare you speak to your father like that? You
always were stubborn, you get that from your…” Eddie began.
    “From you, Dad. I get it from you. Now listen to me,
if I hear that any more fat-loaded meals have passed your lips, I
will come in here and see to it that the doctor with the best
glasses wires your jaw shut,” Robyn threatened.
    Eddie glared at her.
    “I’m going to get the roadhouse back on track, I’m
going to manage the Panthers, and I’m going to get the house ready
for you for when you come home,” Robyn told him.
    “You can’t…”
    “I can, Dad. Don’t underestimate