TAMPONS | PHAN

three; march

m a r c h

"So what are your plans this weekend?" asked Dan's dad over breakfast Saturday morning. He was a middle-aged man with greying brown hair, and tired blue eyes.

"I dunno," replied Dan, getting a spoonful of cereal and letting it fall back into his bowl. "I'm going to Mitch's tomorrow and I guess I'm not really doing much today." he added to satisfy his Dad's desires.

"Not too much homework then?" asked his Dad and Dan shrugged.

"No just a couple of things," he replied at last.

"Make sure you get on that Dan, second last year of school, you don't want your grades to slip." he said and Dan sighed.

"I know, I know" he said and his Dad chuckled, unfolding the newspaper with a satisfying crinkle. Dan continued to eat his cereal, scrolling on tumblr while his Dad had his coffee and read the paper.

"Why don't we do something today then, together like old times," said Dan's Dad, breaking the silence. Dan looked up from his phone startled.

He got on well with his Dad, they always had. but after everything that had happened with his Mum... Dan's dad had to work a lot more leaving dinners the only time of day when they saw each other- even then Dan's Dad occasionally missed them due to work constraints.

"Remember that time we woke up really early and went fishing?" asked Dan at last and his Dad's eyes light up.

"Yeah! We listened to Muse the whole way, and we stopped at the bakery to pick up cinnamon buns." added his Dad with a grin.

"We didn't even manage to catch anything!" Dan added with a small snort.

"But your mum thought we did!" Dan's Dad said elatedly. "Remember her face when she saw that bass we picked up at the shop? She actually thought we had skinned it ourselves!" They laughed and then were silent for a moment, caught up in memories of the past.

After Dan had finished eating, he got changed quickly, pulling on his clothes - black jeans and a grey jumper- before meeting his Dad in the front hall to pull on his shoes.

"You want to drive?" asked his Dad and Dan shrugged, shoving his phone into the front pocket of his jeans.

"Sure." he said and Dan's Dad tossed him the keys to his Volkswagen, which his work had given him as a complementary gift for accepting the job.

The air outside was crisp, and puddles of water lined the pavement as they headed towards the car park. The air overhead was heavy, and the sky was full of thick grey clouds.

"Looks like it's going to rain." said his Dad glancing worriedly up at the sky. As though his words had jinxed the weather, the sky opened up and a torrent of rain fell down soaking through Dan's clothes in an instant.

He followed his dad, splashing through the puddles until they reached the safety of the car. The rain thrummed down on the tin roof and Dan's dad reached over to turn up the heating to dry off their soaked clothing.

"What do you say we go see a film?" asked his Dad with a smile. Dan nodded, and turned the keys in the ignition as they headed off to the cinema.

-

"So how did you like the film?" asked Dan's Dad when they were back in the car. He had taken over the driving, and Dan sat in the passenger seat checking the missed notifications on his phone. It was still raining heavily and the windshield wipers worked furiously to keep the rain off the glass of the car.

"It was good." replied Dan simply. Truth be told he hadn't exactly enjoyed the movie, but it had been the company of his Dad that had made it worthwhile.