His Father

He called today to say he wanted to pick our son up on Friday at 9am.  I hurriedly rushed him off the phone not wanting to listen to his pathetic, futile excuses for not arriving the previous weekend.  There was a time when I would have refused him the pleasure of spending time with my precious ten year old, but  my son wants to see his father and who am I to revoke that?  My son deserves a father whether he be a good or bad example.  Only time will show my boy the kind of father he really is and by then he will have built a resilient wall for his thoughtlessness and constant disappointments.  He knows his father has a "problem" but I have been careful not to use the word alcoholic in his presence because I also feel it is something he needs to work out for himself, and I dont want him to feel I am stigmatizing and labelling his father.

So Friday will come and off they will go to the shops; my son knowing that anything he wants he will have bought for him by his father. 

Friday

The phone rang at 8.50am. My son answered it, I hadnt heard it. It was his father telling him he was caught up at work and would phone him as soon as he had finished.
My son went back to watching his programmes, phone by his side. 
Today is Saturday and we have heard nothing.
By 1pm I knew he would not be phoning or indeed visiting. His phone was switched off unable to receive my texts or phone calls.
This man was present at the birth of his son, one of the first to cradle him and swore to be a great father.
This man cried at our wedding supposedly incapable of controlling his emotions of joy.
Where are his emotions now?

No doubt at the bottom of a pint glass.