A tribute to all Dads.
Daddy, I've that word so many goddamn times in my life.
"Daddy, Daddy! Why are you weaving? Where are you going? Pwease don't weave me Daddy!" cried a small four year-old boy. He wore blue jeans shorts, red Velcro shoes, and a somewhat big black short with a little skull in the middle. His hair was short and neat. His baby blue eyes pierced his father's heart.
"Look son, I love you and always will but your mother and I jus can't be together anymore." The man looked at his son with a hardened expression.
"But you'll be back wite?" the little boy asked hopefully.
"No son, I won't. I'm sorry." The man placed a pocketknife in the little boy's hand and drove off. The man left behind his son, crying, clinging to the pocketknife, screaming- Daddy.
"Daddy! What are you doing home so early?" exclaimed a 16-year-old Hispanic girl. She was tan, with wavy Mocha hair. She wore olive green skinny jeans with a matching sweater vest and a white shirt underneath. Her onyx eyes were wide in surprise as she watched her father's face redden with each passing second from catching his perfect innocent angel kissing that scum on his shoes she called a boyfriend.
"Courtney, I've told you a million times! I do not want you dating that, that DELINQUENT! You could so much better Angel. Why do want to break my heart by going out with that thing!" the father pleaded and searched his daughter's face for an answer.
"Because Daddy," the girl looked to her boyfriend. The little boy was 16 years-old as he stood in his girlfriend's room with the window wide open bringing in the slight summer breeze. His hair now in a green Mohawk; several piercings graced his face on his nose, eyebrow, and ears; and a dog collar around his neck. A bigger but the same black shirt with a skull in the middle was worn, along with blue jean shorts, and red Converse. The boy regarded the father with distrust and a slight hatred and his hand instinctly reached for the pocketknife in his front pocket. "I love him. He makes me happy," she finished simply.
The girl laid her head on the boy's chest and smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, protecting her from the cold and smiled his own smile as he looked down to his Princess. The father recognized those looks. The father sighed in defeat as he realized the young couple was in love and he could do nothing to stop it.
"Fine you have my permission to date him. But I don't want to find the both of you kissing again," he tried to finish sternly. The girl squealed in delight and ran to hug her father. "Thank you Daddy! I love you"
"Shit I'm late!" the young man is a 26 year-old man now, running down the halls of a hospitals to the maternity wing. As the man reaches the room, he waves to his mother and his wife's family. The second he is through the door his wife simply says from her position on the bed, "You're late."
"I know and I'm sorry Courtney. But the station didn't have any guys to cover my shift last minute so I had to take care of a last minute arrest," he finished lamely stowing away the pair of handcuffs in his hands to the same front pocket as an old but never forgotten pocketknife. HE walked over to his wife and for the first time saw his newborn son.
"You're a Daddy now," he wife said softly.
"Yea…" said the man as he took his sleeping son and held him for the first time. 'And I'm gonna be a damn good one too,' he thought happily.
"Daddy higher," a small four year-old boy commanded. The little boy was the spitting image of his father but with his mother's onyx eyes. The two were at the park, having fun on the playground. The sun was beginning to lower and the father bought his son an ice cream and held his son's hand the entire way home.
They came home to meet his pregnant wife cooking dinner. After a big plate of Mac and Cheese with dinosaur chicken nuggets and the always-hated broccoli, the boy went upstairs for his bath. He hated baths but his mother insisted so he allowed him to bathe him while he played with his rubber ducky. The boy changed into his pajamas and watched TV until his father came in to tuck him in. The boy already had a story picked out and ready for the father to read. The story ended too soon for the boy but he didn't protest when his father tucked him into bed and said goodnight.
"Goodnight Daddy. I love you," the boy said before he started to sleep. The father kissed his son's head before walking out and turning off the lights but leaving the boy's rocket night light on.
The father walked to his room and sat on his bed with his wife. He placed his hand on her already big stomach and smiled.
"Are you ready to be a Daddy again Duncan?" his wife asked smiling.
The father smirked and said "Hell yeah. But this time I want a girl."
The night wore on the couple fell asleep but the man left their window closed but the curtains open. The moon shone bright upon their bed but shone brightest on the closet where deep within lay a forgotten shoebox. The shoebox had been placed there four years ago and it contained; several piercings, a dog collar, some green hair dye, and an old dusty pocketknife all lay forgotten. And one word ran across the top of the shoebox.
Daddy
Fin
