Under the City Lights

Daddy's Little Girl

Getting used to something has its disadvantages.

I wasn't so sure how to approach my father as I exited Felicity's room that night.

He and I were exceptionally close, and we rarely found ourselves upset with each other.

The only time I reckoned he got upset with me was during my 11th birthday.

My sister brought out a nicely baked chocolate cake she made for me as she and my dad sang me a happy birthday song. I sat on one of the chairs of our round dining table wearing a huge grin on my face.

I blew the candle out after making a wish, and we all ate what my father made: a large pan of lasagna, a bowl of spaghetti, large bottles of soda, and my favorite vanilla ice cream.

It wasn't a sad birthday despite me having it celebrated with only two people. Besides, they were my family and they were the best company I could have.

I made my way outside with Felicity carrying some huge plates filled with assorted food on each. We gave one of the plates for each of our neighbors who lived on either side of us.

Across the street, I spotted a wandering old man with a potato sack wrapped around its body as a means of clothing, carrying nothing but a stick he used to balance himself up. I could have sworn I just saw Dobby the House Elf, but he was a real live person.

His watery pale blue eyes stared up at me and I felt bad for the old man. I ran for the house, took a small plate and filled it with some lasagna and spaghetti. I also brought him a bottle of water I pulled out from the fridge.

I ran back outside hoping that the man didn't leave his post, and right I was, on the house from across the road, the old man sat by a grey wooden fence.

My foot rubbed the surface of the asphalt until I was in front of the old man. The weather was cloudy and there was barely sunlight but he still squinted as he looked up at me, a small pale kid with thin jet-black hair hidden under a baseball cap, holding out food for him.

The man's small and wrinkled lips moved as it formed a small smile. His eyes were on the verge of tears, and he accepted my offer gratefully.

We didn't speak to each other as I could have not known how to make a conversation with a lost old man who just suddenly wandered off into the streets of the village.

I went back inside and thought about the old man's clothing. My heart goes out to the old beggars and I couldn't bear the fact that one of them was here wearing an old fucking potato sack.

So I rushed to my dad's room, ruffled at his clothes in a closet and pulled out some of his old shirts that were still wearable. I took out some of his old jersey shorts as well. They were a bit worn out but they still looked okay. I placed the items in a plastic bag that I took from the kitchen and rushed back outside, handing it to the man.

Felicity called out to me and I had to run back. My dad was still in the kitchen eating away on his second plate of food, and we joined him with desserts.

Later that evening, my dad caught the sight of a messy room that I had left and I totally forgot about it. He asked Felicity and I about it and I admitted the truth.

I got reprimanded for what I did, and I probably deserved it because I didn't even ask permission. He got really upset with me and made me clean up the pile.

That night he talked to me and apologized, but I knew he didn't have to because I disarranged his neat wardrobe without proper excuse. He told me, though, that maybe the sudden anger and punishment he gave was a result from the feelings he still had after he and my mother separated two years ago, and I understood that completely.