Father And Daughter

I was looking forward to our family holiday, but I wondered if Dad felt the same...

- Glenda Young

IT’LL be fun!” I heard Dad say on the phone to Grandma Pat. “We’re both looking forward to it,” he added.

Dad glanced at me and caught me listening in.

“Can we talk about that later, Pat?” he asked.

As soon as he hung up the phone, he slumped down on the sofa and let out a really long sigh.

“What’s up, Dad?” I asked him.

“Nothing, Kitten,” he replied, shaking his head.

I glared at him, hard. “Dad!” I cried.

“You promised –” He laughed and held his

hands up in mock surrender.

“I know, I know. You’re too old to be called Kitten now.” He laughed. “But some old habits are hard to break.”

Dad was the only one who still used my baby name, and he seemed to keep forgetting to call me by my proper name of Kitty.

I tried not to be too upset with him when he used my baby name, because it was the name that Mum used to call me, he said.

“Don’t you want to go on holiday with Grandma Pat and Grandad Jack?” I asked him.

“Going on holiday with them isn’t the problem,” he explained. “It’s just that . . .”

He paused, as if he wanted to say more but felt that he couldn’t in front of me.

“Well, I’m sure that the caravan will be nice and cosy with the four of us in it,” he said. “And the holiday park looks nice, Kitty. There are two swimming pools, a crazy golf course –”

“How do you know, Dad?” I asked.

He patted the seat next to him on the sofa.

“Come here, love. I’ll show you the website on the laptop and we can have a look around the holiday park online.”

“Will we be able to see inside our caravan?” I asked.