PAUL

Star Trek worked like a dream, we hardly heard a peep out of Danny all evening. We don't like to use the television as a babysitter, he'd gladly sit in front of it all day if you let him but it's good for him to do other things. On this occasion it was the more peaceful course to take, the lad gets so excited about seeing his big brother that you can't reason with him, so it's better to distract him. Sarah was overly agitated all evening. She doesn't react well when plans change at the last minute and she worries about Danny. I made her gin and tonic rather heavier on the gin than usual and persuaded her to go to bed early, promising to stay up until Johnnie came in. It sounds like a dreadful thing to do but I could see, looming over the horizon, a future that involved confrontation between Sarah and Johnnie, when he finally did get in and no doubt a lot of anxiety in between. This way Sarah didn't worry so much and I got to watch the Matrix box set that Johnnie bought for me last Christmas.

Johnnie finally pitched up at about 1 in the morning, reeking like he'd been bathing in stale beer and fag ash. I chucked his clothes in the washing machine for him, even Sarah would have realised something was up if she had come across them and she'd probably have assumed that he'd been out on the piss and driven home. That really wouldn't have gone down well. All things considered, I went to bed satisfied that I'd done my good deed for the day and managed to salvage a potentially explosive situation. Maybe I was a little smug but I think I was entitled to a little self-satisfaction at that point.

Johnnie and I were both up early the next morning, earlier than Danny which doesn't happen often. He cooked, which was just as well, when I cook people start clutching their stomachs before they've even tasted the results, I don't think anyone has great confidence in my cooking ability, least of all me. Sarah very occasionally trusts me to prepare dinner but if she does, it is only under the stipulation that the meal is vegetarian. I can get away with beef if it's good enough quality that it can be eaten bloody but chicken and pork are definitely out. Johnnie on the other hand is pretty accomplished in the kitchen. I don't know where he gets it from considering I'm a culinary disaster and Sarah's food, whilst edible, is, at best, unimaginative. We had proper porridge, bacon and fried bread and a rare chance to sit and chat. I'm not good at father-son bonding, it's easier with Danny, the simple things are still guaranteed to please. Johnnie is an altogether more complex character to figure out but I try.

'Do you want a coffee Johnnie? I reckon I can make one without poisoning either of us if you're lucky.'

Standard opening gambit I know but I'm always quite proud of myself when I manage 'small talk' successfully.

'If you like Dad. If you're going to use real coffee then remember to put the plunger in the cafetiere - it generally tastes better without the grouts.'

'So funny, I may just collapse with laughter...'

Truthfully it would have been funny if I hadn't once tried to use ground coffee in normal mugs. That was way back when Sarah and I were dating, we'd invited her parents to dinner, which Sarah cooked, she'd learnt enough about my cooking to avoid that pitfall. Unfortunately, she assumed it was safe to ask me to make the coffee, which it might have been if her father hadn't spent much of the evening describing the awfulness of instant coffee. They had bought us a cafetiere the preceding Christmas; it had happily languished in its box for the intervening period but I felt honour-bound to try it out this evening. The only trouble was, the glass section and the plunger were packed separately and, ignoring the plunger, I proudly swilled the coffee around in the glass section with some hot water, poured it into mugs and served it, wondering what the big deal about cafetieres was. I soon found out and it was a while before Sarah could persuade her parents to come round for dinner again. We get treated to that story every time we see them now so it is one that Johnnie knows well. Coffee made, successfully this time, we sat down at the kitchen table,

'How are things at home then? Work going well?'

'Yeh, not bad thanks Dad. The flat suits us both really well. We've got lots of space and it's really well finished and all that. Trish loves it there. Work's busy as usual, I've been flat out recently, picking up loads of overtime which is good money to have in the bank.'

'Sounds like you're busy all round then. Good of you to take the time to come home.'

'No problems, it's nice to get back every now and again.'

We sat in silence for a while, both of us having exhausted our meagre supply of small talk. I was expecting him to wander off somewhere else but he stayed put, twisting his coffee mug round and round in his hands. I wondered what he wanted to tell me.

'Johnnie...'

'Look Dad, I haven't been entirely honest with you and Mum. You know I'm working in the pub right?'

'Yes, your mother doesn't though.'

'And you're not going to tell her?'

'No. But you should you know. She wouldn't be all that disappointed and it would make your life a hell of a lot easier.'

'You know that's not true Dad. It might make things easier but she'd be gutted. She's still not given up on me becoming a big-shot somewhere. Fat chance of me launching a glittering career from behind the bar.'

'Nothing wrong with working in a pub, though I'm not sure you'd want to do it forever.'

'Course not but I don't have much choice right now.'

'There's always some choices Johnnie.'

'Yeh, I know but Trish...'

At that point a small face appeared over the banisters,

'Johnnie's home!'

He's got immaculate timing that kid. I wondered what it was that Johnnie was going to tell me about Trish. Pregnant was the first word that leaped to the forefront of my mind but I thought that to be unlikely. I hoped so at least, Danny is enough of a responsibility, I was hoping that grandchildren would come into the equation considerably further along the line.

'Yes he is Danny, have you had a wee this morning?'

'Yes. Johnnie's home!'

'Washed your hands as well?'

'Yes! Johnnie's home!'

'I know! Come on down then and we'll get you some juice and Johnnie might make you porridge if you ask nicely.'

That was Danny's cue to come bombing down the stairs and straight into his brother's arms,

'Good morning Johnnie. You make me porridge for breakfast? Please.'

'Of course I will mate. Don't squeeze so hard you daft boy, you'll knock me over.'

Giggles all around at this as Danny intensified his efforts to crush all of the breath out of Johnnie and they went hand in hand into the kitchen. I followed them into the kitchen, watching Danny dog his brother around the kitchen, constantly underfoot. Johnnie is really very patient with him, he very rarely loses his temper and is happy enough to have Danny as a permanent fixture during his visits home.

'Have you got the time to come swimming with us this morning Johnnie?'

Johnnie didn't get a chance to answer this one.

'Yeh. Johnnie's coming swimming with us. We're going in his car. Aren't we?'

Danny was so eagerly earnest, it was hard not to crack a grin. Johnnie and I failed miserably.

'Shall we go and pack our kit then squirt? I reckon we'll go in Dad's car though, mine's a bit small for the three of us and it's full of my stuff.'

I could only imagine what the inside of Johnnie's car looked like and didn't want the experience so it was a relief to hear Johnnie heading Danny off.

'I'll tell you what. You sit at the table sensibly and eat your porridge and I'll go and find your swimming trunks and a towel and shampoo. Then you need to do a jigsaw or something for half an hour before we go or you'll get in the pool and sink straight to the bottom.'

That brought an indignant exclamation, 'No, I won't. I'll float on the top. Don't want to do a jigsaw.'

Johnnie to the rescue again.

'If you don't want to do a jigsaw I know what we could do after breakfast.'

'What? Watch a DVD? Star Trek? Lots of battles.'

'No. Mum said you've been writing a Christmas story at school as part of your project. I thought we could finish that off and type it up onto the computer. We can print it off then.'

I approved of the hook in the end of that, printing things is a bit of a bug bear of Danny's.

'Oh. Well, OK then. You helping me?'

'I'll help you with the spellings and help you think of what to say but you have to do all the typing and lots of the thinking, OK?'

'Deal.'

So I left them to it and, after the porridge had been eaten they sat for half an hour, heads bent together, going over the Christmas story which Danny duly typed up, printed out and presented to me with great ceremony.

Christmas Story *

The angel Gabriel goes to visit Mary. He said you are going to marry Joseph the carpenter and have a special baby. Mary was happy.

Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem. Mary rode there on a donkey and Joseph walked, it was a long way.

When they arrived there was nowhere for them to stay and the baby was going to be born soon. One kind innkeeper said you can sleep in my stable with my old ox.

The baby was born and Mary called him Jesus and put him to bed in the hay.

The shepherds came to visit and brought him a lamb. Three wise men followed a star to visit Jesus and brought him gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The sky was full of angels singing God bless us every one.



* Written by Sam Pinnock 12/06