Working Wonders Read Online Free PDF Page B

personal space.
    ‘Oh, sorry.’ Gwyneth immediately retreated and dusted herself down. ‘I knew that weekend assertiveness course was a bad idea.’
    They looked at each other.
    ‘It’s completely impossible,’ said Arthur.
    ‘You get your own office,’ she replied. ‘And a budget. Your own team. And access to corporate catering.’
    ‘Access to what ?’
    ‘You know, those mini prawn thingies. And sausages and stuff like that.’
    ‘When would I get those?’
    ‘Whenever you like. Every day.’
    Arthur stared into space and said a brief farewell to the diamond mines of southern Brazil.
    ‘Well, I guess I’m your man.’
    ‘I know.’
    She stood up and held out her hand. He shook it. It was soft and warm and … oh crap. He fancied her.
    ‘We’ll be working together quite a bit,’ she said.
    I was afraid of that, thought Arthur.
    ‘Great!’ said Arthur.
    ‘Oh, and by the way,’ she called out to him when he was nearly free, ‘I’m afraid you have to tell Ross.’
    ‘Tell Ross …?’
    ‘That you’ve taken over his job.’
    Arthur marched back into the middle of the room.
    ‘I’ve what ?’
    ‘Well, how did you think it was going to work? It was you or him. It’s you. Now, tell him.’
    ‘I have to fire him?’
    ‘No, you have to give him some sweets. Yes, you have to fire him. You’re in charge.’
    Arthur backed out, feeling white in the face, with deep and profound misgivings as to what he’d just agreed to do.
    ‘Right … Yeah … I’m in charge.’
    Being in charge, Arthur decided the best thing to do straight away would be to take a quick slip through the side door, drive into town and go for a little walk. This was going to take a while to sink in, and he fancied a quick look at the size of the problem he was going to be dealing with. Plus, wandering through towns and cities, reading their infrastructure and examining how they were put together had had a calming influence on him for years.
    It was a chilly grey morning, and now most people were locked into their offices for the day it was incredibly quiet around the shopping precinct. He walked across the pedestrianized street. This had been meant to improve the city. Instead, it had provided a good ground for people to fight each other, and hanging-out areas for the local youths. Dilapidated brick stands of pot plants filled with phlegm and cigarette butts stood forlornly at intervals, and the garish shopfronts told their own story: ‘Everything for ninety-nine pence’, ‘Pricesavers’, ‘Remnant Kings’. Plastic products nobody wanted spilled out of their fronts. Two hulking teenagers in sports gear were kicking around a tin can, watched appreciatively by four or five others. One just sat on the ground, eyes glazed with cheap cider, or worse. Underneath the centre were miles of deserted, dank underpasses that most people were too scared to use.
    Arthur circumvented the youths carefully and wandered into the run-down shopping centre to ponder what to do. It felt … This was what he was supposed to want, wasn’t it? To run things his way. More money. Power. Responsibility. Surely he should be more excited than this?
    Truthfully, all his life Arthur had waited for things to come to him. It saved too much boat-rocking. God, Fay had practically had to jump him the first few times they’d met. And this … what were they expecting? After all, he hadn’t meant the thing with the photocopier. What if they expected him to be that macho all the time? And how the hell was he going to fire Ross? He scratched the back of his neck. Christ! Maybe he should just stick to this leaving idea. He’d almost got his head around it, after all. In fact, the very thought of having to run this project was bringing him out in a cold sweat. It would be bad for him. Bad for his health. Bad for everyone. It would end in ruins and they’d shunt him to the back office and …
    Deep in thought and staring at the ground, he didn’t even notice Lynne