John held onto his father's neck with the little strength he had left, his eyes drooping closed. It had to be at least past eight thirty, and he was exhausted. So exhausted that he wasn't even listening to Mimi and uncle George's conversation with his dad. On a normal fully awake occasion he would be interrupting every chance he got, since it bothered Mimi and that was always fun. But now he was even paying attention!
Alfred pleaded with Mimi and George. They were so intent on not letting John go anywhere with his father. Mimi more so then George, who seemed somewhat at ease with the idea of John having an outing with his father.
"No! I will not allow him to go with you," Mimi said simply, crossing her arms defiantly.
"It is just one day Mimi, we would just be going to Blackpool to do a bit of shopping, and maybe visit his gran. She hasn't seen him since he was just a couple months old," Alfred tried to explain without waking up his son who had only just fallen asleep.
"Mimi, it might be good for him to be with his father, you know, give us a day off?" George tried to explain. Mimi glared at him.
"Alright, do whatever the two of you want! I'm going to bed!" Mimi said loudly as she stormed angrily out of the room. Alfred looked at George, pleading with him silently. George just chuckled lightly and ran his fingers over his head, like someone with hair might do.
"Well its fine with me, take him in the morning, but bring him back a bit early since he has school on Monday," George said standing up and stretching. "You can sleep in the spare room, down the hall." George walked over and took John, who reluctantly let go of his father.
"Good-night daddy," John said lamely before passing out on his father's shoulder.
John stood next to his father as they waited for the tram, all but jumping up and down. His small hand held onto Alfred's hand as if his life depended on it. For some reason he felt that if he let go that his father would leave again and go back onto the Queen boat. He couldn't remember which Queen, but he knew it started with an M.
"Come on John, it here," Alfred said pulling lightly on his sons hand. John bent down and picked up the small backpack that he had packed that Mimi had packed for his day trip. It only had his jacket and glasses in it, but he wasn't going to even take them out anyway.
"Are you going to pick up Mummy?" John asked as the two of them boarded the tram and took a seat.
"No, its just you and me kid," he answered. John shrugged and watched the people on the train. He always liked to watch the people on the busses, so this wasn't much different. They always seemed so much different then Mimi, Uncle George, or even his neighbors. The bus people were usually "working-class," as Mimi put it, and had a distinct smokey smell. He didn't really know how to explain it.
"So how do you like it with Mimi and George?" Alfred asked trying to start a conversation with his son. Which wasn't the easiest thing in the would since John had the attention span of a fly.
"Their alright, Mimi is really strict, but Uncle George reads to me every night before bed. He does best voices. And sometimes he sneaks me sweets. And I visit mum, and she visits me," John said as he looked out the window, watching the scenery pass slowly.
"And your in school?"
"Yes! I know how to spell my name, and your name, and mum's name, and Mimi's name, and Uncle George's name but just the George part not the uncle part, and I can also spell cat, dog, boat, tree, walk, eat, food," he counted off all the words on his fingers and seemed to go on and on. "And Liverpool, and house, and war, and city, and thats it. I think."
"You can spell my name?" He said rather impressed.
"Yes, um," John stopped for a moment and thought, his face scrunching up a bit, "Elf, E-L-F?" Alfred laughed at his young son, who had lived his life thinking that his father's name was Elf.
"Close John, its A-L-F," Alfred explained, to John's great disappointment.
"Where are we going?" John asked, done with spelling. He didn't want to seem stupid in front of his father, and spelling wrong wasn't smart, it was dumb.
"One short pit stop at your Uncle Sydney's house, then we're going to Blackpool."
A/N: Thank you very much to my reviewers! I love ye'! Just a little tidbit, I know that its not completely historically accurate, and even though nobody said anything about it...it was bothering me. So I had to tell you...Thank You!