Tricky Business Read Online Free PDF

two-thirty.”
    â€œBear!” said Estelle. “Bear! Bear! Bear!”
    â€œYou need to get out of that job,” said her mother. “You’re gonna kill yourself.”
    â€œBear!” said Estelle.
    â€œOK, honey,” said Fay. She picked up Estelle and carried her into the living room, where she turned on the TV and VCR and shoved in a videotape of Bear in the Big Blue House, which Estelle watched a minimum of five times a day. Estelle stood directly in front of the TV set, perhaps six inches away, waiting. When the bear appeared, she said, “Bear!”
    â€œShe shouldn’t stand so close,” said Fay’s mother. “Those cathode radiations, you can get brain cancer.”
    Fay went into the kitchen, filled a small Winnie-the-Pooh bowl with Froot Loops, brought it back and set it on the coffee table. She picked up Estelle and set her down next to the table.
    â€œFwoops!” said Estelle, spying the cereal. She reached into the bowl, carefully selected a purple Froot Loop, and put it into her mouth. When she had swallowed, she began selecting another.
    â€œThat cereal is nothing but chemicals,” her mother said. “Those things can kill you.”
    â€œMom, I’m really, really tired,” said Fay. “Let me just get some coffee, OK?”
    She headed back to the kitchen, trailed by her mother, who said, “Your hair smells like cigarettes. You need to get off that boat.”
    â€œMom,” said Fay, “like I told you, I’ll get out of this as soon as I can. I really, really appreciate you staying here with Estelle all these nights. I’m hoping the boat thing is only another few days. I don’t like it any more than you.”
    â€œI don’t see why Todd can’t take the baby at night if you have to work,” said Fay’s mother.
    â€œHe won’t.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œBecause he’s an asshole.”
    â€œThere’s no need for that language,” said her mother.
    â€œOK,” said Fay, “he’s a shithead.”
    â€œFay!” said her mother.
    â€œOK, then,” said Fay, “he’s a dickwad.”
    â€œDIT wad!” said Estelle, toddling into the kitchen. “DIT wad!”
    â€œNow look what you’ve done,” said Fay’s mother.
    â€œGo watch Bear, honey,” said Fay. “Bear is on TV!”
    â€œBear!” said Estelle, toddling back out.
    â€œTodd is that baby’s father,” said Fay’s mother. “He has a responsibility.”
    â€œIf he had any responsibility,” said Fay, spooning coffee into the Mister Coffee filter, “I’d still be married to him. Truth is, I don’t even know where he lives right now. With some bimbo, probably. I’m not gonna leave Estelle with him.”
    â€œIs that caffeinated?” said her mother. “That caffeine can give you a heart attack.”
    â€œMom, please, ” said Fay.
    â€œAnyway,” said her mother, “you won’t need me tonight, because that boat isn’t going out in this weather.”
    Fay looked out the window. “I have to call in and check,” she said.
    â€œIt won’t go out,” said her mother. “It’s a tropical storm out there. Tropical Storm Hector. Bob Soper said it could be fifty-five-mile-per-hour winds.
    â€œWell, I still have to call.”
    â€œWell, it shouldn’t go out. Winds like that, you could get killed.”
    Estelle toddled in, holding out her empty Winnie-the-Pooh bowl with both hands.
    â€œFwoops!” she said.
    â€œOK, honey,” said Fay, reaching for the Froot Loops box.
    â€œPure chemicals,” said her mother. “You should give her fruit.” She bent down to Estelle, and, in the hideously unnatural high-pitched voice that many older people use when addressing babies, said: “Gramma give Estelle some nice prunes!”
    â€œDIT wad!” said