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Back The Enemy Save as PDF
Chapters (69)
  1. Table of Contents
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
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  8. 7
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  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
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“Pat. Patrick. Don’t care what you call me. I want you to teach me everything you know. How to fight like that. I’ll help you. I’d be like your servant. I’ll look after your weapons for you. Sharpen them. Carry them into battle. You know, like when you look after a knight, like a . . . What do you call it? A caddy.”

“Paddy the caddy?” said Achilleus. “All right. You got yourself a job, soldier.”

57

Callum pressed play on his boogie box and ABBA came on. “The Winner Takes It All.” His mom’s favorite song when she was feeling sad.

“Dancing Queen” when she was happy. “The Winner Takes It All” when she was sad.

She always said that you needed sad music when you were feeling down. “Last thing you want is someone trying to cheer you up. You want to know that someone else is as miserable as you are and knows how you’re feeling. Lets you know you’re not alone.”

Callum wasn’t exactly feeling sad. Inside he felt quite calm and peaceful, really. But he didn’t want to listen to happy music. He remembered how his mom would sit on the sofa and put her arms around him and not say anything. Just the two of them sitting there.

His mom was often sad. Sometimes she’d stay indoors for weeks on end with the curtains drawn. Not wanting to see anyone. Not even answering the phone. Callum had to be the man of the house then. He had to look after her. So they’d sit and listen to ABBA together. He supposed that’s where he’d got his fear of going outside from. From his mom.

Her friend Marion had told him that his mom suffered from depression.

He wasn’t sure it really helped giving names to things. His mom was just his mom. And he was just himself. Callum.

The piano intro ran around and around, and then the blond one started to sing. He could never remember if it was Agnetha or Frida. His mom had the videos. Callum could picture them clearly. Thinking about them now made him smile. He turned the volume on full and sat back in his chair as they sang about the winner getting everything and the loser feeling small.

He pictured that bit in the film Mamma Mia when the mother—what was her name? The actress? Something weird. She sang the song by the sea.

Greece looked nice.

Callum had never been abroad. Not with his mom being how she was.

Meryl Streep. That was it. Definitely a weird name.

He picked up his Coke from the floor and popped the top. His last can. He’d been saving it for a special day. Well, there would be no more special days after this.