Thank you for reading my story, I hope that you enjoy it. Love Mica xx, Yorkshire England. All email comments good or critical welcomed. Please note that all email comments from an invalid email address will be deleted immediately and will not be read. Rude or abusive comments may result in blocking. Please note that I am a British female and I write in British English and vernacular, so for me a fanny is the correct term for female genitalia, a pussy is a pet cat and the ass is a bum or arse.
Work had been a drag, the afternoon just seemed to last forever, but eventually it was time to leave. Luckily Fridays were an early mid-afternoon finish, and the bus was not too crowded and I had a seat to myself. The rain had eased a little but still put a real dampener on my walk home from the bus stop, my umbrella not doing much against the swirling rain that seemed more horizontal than vertical, and I realised that it was probably only one degree above being snow rather than rain. At least I now had three days off, not due back in until Tuesday, it was my four day week, I had one every month, and this was it. The weather could do what it liked, I didn't care. Not till Tuesday anyway.
I unlocked and flicked the heating up, I only left it on tick over when I was out, just to keep the frost out. My coat went on the back of a chair in front of the radiator, it would soon dry and could be hung up properly in the cupboard under the stairs, for now it needed to get warm and to be rewarded for keeping my clothes dry on my journey home. As I looked in the fridge to decide what I would eat my door bell bonged. Odd, who could that be, did the God Botherers come out on cold rainy winters evenings I wondered.
I peeped through the sight glass, oh, it was Dad.
I opened the door and ushered him inside.
"Hello Dad, come in quick before the cold comes in too." I shut the door behind him and realised he had a bag with him.
"What are you doing here Dad, I wasn't expecting you. Have you had a row with Mum," I asked pointing at his bag.
"Hello baby, no, nothing like that, your Mum has gone to see Gran and Uncle Steven down in Worcester and will be gone till Tuesday or even Wednesday, so, rather than be on my own, I thought I would pop and see you. If you had plans, that's okay, I can always go back home"
"Don't be silly, if I had plans, which I don't, I would change them. I only have one bed though."
"That's fine, I'll kip on the sofa, I am not much of a sleeper anyway."
Mum and Dad live on the other side of town, having downsized to a modern new estate after I left, me being the last of the children to fledge. Their house now was a very modern three bed in a small estate. I didn't go and visit often enough, I knew that, but I did usually facetime them once a week for an update and general keep in touch, not sure whether my brothers did or not, I just know I did. Dad said his new house was so well insulated it probably cost less to heat than my smaller older place. He was probably right, but I couldn't do anything about my housing situation, not unless I won the lottery, and as I didn't play the lottery, winning it was unlikely.
We hugged, as you do, and I asked him if he wanted a cup of tea. He nodded and I put the kettle on and grabbed a couple of mugs off the mug tree on the work surface. Milk out of the fridge, luckily I had some, I usually bought filtered milk, it lasted ages, and I had been known to sit down in the evening with a glass of milk and curl up in front of Netflix.
I made the tea and gave a mug to Dad and went and sat on my sofa, Dad sat next to me.
"So," he said, "anyone special?"
"Nah, not at the moment, I am in no rush to fill my life with someone that has needs and wants additional to my own. If I meet someone and that happens, then it does, if not, then it is no drama."
"Oh okay. You know I have been with your Mum for nigh on thirty years and I still love to fill her needs and wants."
"As long as she cleans your underpants," I laughed.
"Yeah, there is that. That washing machine is a mystery, there are so many options and then there are so many types of stuff to put in it, powder, liquid, sheets, bio, non bio, colour catchers and so on and so on."
"You forgot the fabric softener," I added with a smile.
"Exactly and all I want is clean underwear. It is unfathomable, it really is. Your mother does it without even a thought."
"Maybe, but you are the same with your work, you understand metals and how they interact, what makes them harder, what makes them softer, what materials you would use for an engine and what you wouldn't. I don't and I doubt Mom does either. It's horses for courses Dad, horses for courses."
"I suppose, but at the end of the day I just want clean pants."
"True, but I guess you could go commando and not wear undies."
"Good grief."
We sat and drank our tea and talked about how Gran was getting older, now into her seventies, and even though Uncle Steven lived locally to her, the questions of how much longer she could continue to live on her own were being asked.
"We are a long way away Dad," I said, "Worcester is what, a three or four hour drive."
"Yes it is, and that is if the traffic is okay."
"What about you and Mum, I mean you are not getting any younger either."
"Well, thank you Natalie Jane, are you trying to get me and your Mum into a home so that you can have your inheritance?"
"Ha ha, mind you, that is a thought, the money would be useful, perhaps I could buy a car."
He dug me in the ribs and then turned the dig to a tickle, "not any time soon girl, dream on."
I managed to stop the painful laugh that Dad's tickle gave me and turned to Dad again. "I was being serious Dad, you do need to think about your long term plans, and for Mum too, as one of you will die before the other and you will need plans in place."
"Maybe, but we have life insurance, and that is as far as I want to go with this morbid subject."