The Otto Bin Empire Read Free

reminded him altogether too much of his daughter, or rather his daughter as she had been seven years ago – Jodie was now twenty-five, engaged to be married, her life all in order.
    Sal was intelligent and pretty and fun, but if she continued upon her current path there appeared only one way she was likely to go, and Clive didn’t want to think about that.
    Jodie was intelligent and pretty too, but she was no longer fun, at least not with her father, and Clive didn’t want to think about that either.
    â€˜What you’ve done to Mum is unforgivable,’ Jodie had hissed over the phone. Those were the days shortly after he’d left Rosemary and taken to the streets; the days when he hadn’t admitted he was homeless; the days when he’d answer the phone that vibrated in his top pocket, even though he’d turned it to silent and vowed to ignore it. He could never help checking who was calling though, just habit, and he didn’t respond to work colleagues or friends, but when the caller proved to be daughter Jodie or son Joshua, he felt compelled to answer. Well, in those days he had. He’d long since turned the phone off and it lived in the bottom of his backpack. The battery would be flat by now. He had the requisite lead and could easily have charged it at one of the Neighbourhood Centre’s outlets. But he hadn’t.
    â€˜I presume you’re shacked up with her, whoever she is and wherever she lives, neither of which I give a damn about personally, but you could at least do the right thing by Mum,’ Jodie had continued, her anger pulsating in his ear.
    â€˜And what exactly would that be, Jodie?’ he’d asked calmly. ‘Your mother kicked me out, remember? She had every right to, of course, and I don’t blame her, but she madeit quite clear she doesn’t want me back. If I attempted to make contact I’d be interfering in her life.’
    His composure had only increased his daughter’s anger. ‘But no-one knows where you are, for God’s sake. Josh says you won’t tell him either.’ Jodie was a young woman who liked to be in control and her anger was born of frustration, the current situation having rendered her powerless. ‘You can’t just disappear from the face of the earth – it’s irresponsible.’ No reply from her father exasperated her further. ‘You do realise that, don’t you, Dad? You’re shirking your responsibility!’ More than accusatory now, she was damning. ‘You’re running away, that’s what you’re doing!’
    â€˜Yes,’ he’d agreed, surprised that the answer really might be that simple. ‘Yes, I believe you’re right.’
    That was when Jodie had finally exploded.
    â€˜Well, stay with your girlfriend, see if I care, but don’t bother turning up at my wedding. I don’t want you there, do you understand me? Josh can give me away. You’re no longer my father.’ She’d hung up then, and Clive had had the feeling that she’d probably burst into tears afterwards. He regretted the fact but felt incapable of doing anything about it. The apparently irreparable schism that now existed between him and his daughter only heightened his sense of being adrift in a world of his own making. There was nothing he could do about anything really.
    Josh wasn’t as condemnatory as his sister. Twenty-seven-year-old Josh had tried very hard to be the voice of reason.
    â€˜Look, Dad, I know the marriage is over and you’re not coming back,’ he’d said over the phone, ‘and I know that’s the way Mum wants it. But to break all ties with everyone … I mean with us, your own family … with your friends and your business … Hey, man, no-one knows where the hell you are … I mean, that’s not healthy … You need some form of human contact … Well, I know you’ve got your new