Creative Work DISTURBED BY IMPENDING FATHERHOOD, DAN ESCAPES TO HIS CHILDHOOD BEACH. HE MEETS A BOY & HIS DOG; THEY ARE UNUSUALLY FAMILIAR...
THE BEACH, LATER THAT DAY, DAN HAS JUST RECEIVED A TEXT FROM HIS GIRLFRIEND
DANNY Why isn't she here?
DAN She's at work
DANNY Why don't you go away together?
DAN It's complicated
DANNY Grownups always say that when they don't want to tell you something.
PAUSE
DAN I did something, we did something, that made something happen.
And now, she wants me to do something else.
But I'm not sure.
DANNY It's a bit mean, making you do something you don't want to do
DAN What if it's good for me, like brushing my teeth?
DANNY She wants you to brush your teeth?
DAN It's more… we had an accident and she's in more trouble than me. But we both did it.
DANNY Was it like playing football and it accidentally goes through a window and one of you kicked it but one of you was in goal, so it's both your fault?
DAN Pretty much, yes.
DANNY Have you got to pay for a new window?
DAN Oh yes.
DANNY Why don't you split it between you?
DAN She really wants a new window, and she says she'll pay for it on her own.
DANNY But you broke it together.
DAN Yes – and if I don't, she won't play football with me any more.
DANNY Is she any good?
DAN Yes.
DANNY Was she in goal?
DAN Yes
DAN INTERNAL MONOLOGUE
When she told me, I decided not to panic. I remembered O level maths and analysed the situation. I made a table – not a real one, just a chart – and wrote down; ‘money, responsibility, loss of freedom, end of life as I know it'.
When Claire saw it she went mad; said it proved I had no feelings and her and the baby'd be better off without me. That really hurt. I was livid by Bristol.
It takes time to get used to things. She's got all these hormones egging her on: I've only got me.
PAUSE
DANNY Is the window still broken?
DAN Yes. We've not told anyone
DANNY You should; you need to sweep up the glass, someone might cut themselves.
DAN Fair point.
DANNY My Dad once put a window in all by himself.
DAN He was good like that.
DANNY He got a book from the library.
DAN I better take you back.
DANNY Let's stay here
DAN Mum & Dad'll be worried
DANNY I stay out loads
DAN They worry loads
DANNY No they don't
DAN Come on
FX DAN WALKING OFF
DANNY Hey, can I have a go of your car?
DAN You can't drive! Your feet won't reach the pedals
DANNY I can steer: I'm really good on the dodgems
DAN Dad doesn't let you drive
DANNY You said I gave very good advice.
DAN You're nine years old
DANNY I haven't broken a window! And I don't think other people are me!
C'mon Sheba
FX DANNY AND SHEBA RUN OFF
DAN Danny!
DANNY And I bet you set your own bedtime
DAN DANNY!
LATER, ON THE WAY HOME DANNY SEES HIS DAD & GETS OUT OF THE CAR
DAN Danny ran to his Dad, delighted to see him.
I saw him throw his arms around him and cling to him like he was holding onto life itself.
I remembered the scratchy feel of his tweed jacket, his strong forearms that could fix cars, throw balls, open jars
Danny looked so small next to him; he was just a kid, not even half grown. I wondered if I would be taller than my Dad, but I didn't move in my seat.
It was a moment for the two of them. I'd said my goodbyes already.
He had shrunk with the illness, and I had grown, of course. He didn't want to be buried in his best - 'waste of a good suit' - but Mum didn't like the strange satin offered by the undertakers. Pyjamas, that he'd lived in for months, were the obvious choice, but a little informal, in the circumstances.
He was dressed in a jacket and tie with the collar pinned behind his neck, so you couldn't see how much weight he'd lost.
I kept his tweed jacket.
In the pockets were a handkerchief, an old ten pence and an excerpt from a dog's ear.
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