The Day He Left Us




Mandy Horne


 
© Copyright 2024 by Mandy Horne



Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-sweater-sitting-inside-car-looking-out-the-window-4091189/
Photo by  Anastasia  Shuraeva at Pexels.

This is a true story extract from my full memoir, relating to the day my dad left. I have used alternate names throughout my full memoir as it includes individuals I did not want to identify by name. I am Donna in the story, at 5-years-old.


Squashed in the back of her grandad’s greeny-blue Ford Cortina with her nan (dress size 22) and younger sister Tracey, Donna counted the cars going past on the other side of the road as she day-dreamed the journey away. She felt travel sick and it helped to look out of the window and distract herself from the queasy and dizzy feeling she had. She was dreading going over the flyover as she knew it was on the road home, just as it had been on the way there. It was the worst part of the journey. Dad always made her giggle when he was in the back of the car with her as they approached the dreaded flyover, to take her mind off the fact that she hated heights and especially bridges. He’d make her close her eyes and wait for the funny feeling inside as the car went over the top and down the other side, like her tummy was being tickled from within by a huge feather. Today she feared that would just end badly.

Donna, Tracey, their mum, nan and grandad were on their way back home from what had been quite a fun week at Pontin's holiday camp in Pakefield. She'd made friends with a girl she met at the kids' club, Sharon, who lived in Kent. Sharon was the same age as Donna and they established early on in the week that they both had the same teddies, which helped them form an instant bond. Tracey also had the same teddy, but hers was blind, as she’d managed to pull one of his beaded eyes out, so mum had taken the other one out too, just in case Tracey swallowed it. Their mum said that would be dangerous.

Sharon was as light blonde as Donna was dark brunette. She was taller and slimmer than Donna and she was louder and funnier. Well that's what Donna thought anyway. Sharon had won the talent competition, singing ‘How Much is that Doggie in the Window’. Donna had only come third in the fancy dress. She hadn’t wanted to go in for it but her mum had insisted, making her wear her mum’s version of a Red Indian costume made out of tissue paper that Donna had had to walk in funny so that it didn’t tear. The camp’s photographer had managed to capture Donna’s unhappiness and embarrassment in the official photo of the event.

Sharon's mum and dad were really nice - it had made Donna miss her dad, who had been with them on last year's holiday there, but for some reason did not go with them this time. Donna supposed that he must be working; her dad seemed to work quite a lot of the time as he wasn't home much when Donna got back from school and sometimes didn't come home until after she went to bed.

The exception was Sunday nights. Her mum did the night shift at the care home she worked at every Sunday, so dad stayed home with her and Tracey. Donna cherished these nights. As Tracey was 3 years younger, her dad put her to bed fairly early, which gave Donna precious time with him alone. They would sit together drinking cream soda or cherryade, play cards or jacks, make origami animals, or her dad would just tell stories. She liked the stories best. Sometimes they would be about real things - memories - and sometimes they'd be fantastical stories out of her dad's seemingly crazy head. The memory stories made her feel warm inside, because he made sure they were always about her, and the made-up stories always made her laugh.

They arrived back in Elm Park in the afternoon that Saturday and Donna looked out of the car window expectantly as they drove around the crescent up to their house. Disappointingly, her dad wasn't there waiting outside. Instead, there was an unfamiliar red car parked in their drive. Donna saw her mum exchange a confused look with her grandad as they opened the car doors. They looked keen to see who the car belonged to. The front door was open and Donna could hear voices coming from the kitchen as they hesitatingly went through. And where was Toby, Donna thought? He would usually come bounding out to meet anyone who came to the house, barking from the moment someone stepped onto the front drive.

Tracey slipped her hand into Donna's as they both stood shyly behind their mum, whilst their grandad did the talking to a man in a grey suit. Donna recognised Sarah, a girl from her class at school, and thought that the other man and woman must be Sarah's mum and dad, but was puzzled by what they were all doing in her kitchen.

Her grandad asked the man in the suit questions and, whilst Donna didn’t completely understand everything the man in the suit said, she heard that the house was in the process of being 'repossessed' while they had been on holiday, so it was apparently no longer their house, and Sarah's parents were interested in buying it. She heard the man say that her dad hadn't been making payments on the mortgage for some time and that the men from the 'bailiffs’ came to see him in the week, but he had not been there and no-one knew where he was. He seemed to have disappeared completely.

So it's good that you have all returned as we can now finalise the transfer’, the man in the grey suit said, rather too enthusiastically.
‘The house is of course in joint names with you Mrs
Daking, so notice can be served on at least one of you and then we can get things in complete order.’ Donna’s mum was looking a bit shocked, like she was about to collapse or be sick.


Donna was very confused but knew enough to understand that things were not good; in fact they appeared to be very very bad. With these intruders in her home, Donna was feeling unnerved and lost and all the adults seemed to be focussed on trying to sort out something with the man in the suit. Voices were raised and Donna noticed that Sarah was looking as frightened as Donna felt, so she beckoned to Sarah and, together with Tracey, they slipped out of the room and went upstairs to Donna's bedroom. Once within the safety of the bedroom, Donna asked Sarah what she knew of what was going on.

We're here to buy your house, did you not know?’ Sarah said.

But I don't know why you are buying our house when we still want to live here. I think we should probably wait for my dad to come home, he always knows how to sort things out.’ Donna wasn’t sure she believed her own words, based on what the man in the suit had said, but it felt right to say it.

Well, my mum said that your dad has run off because he had a problem with drinking and gambling and he’s spent all your money so you can't afford to live here anymore.’ Donna was reminded of why she didn’t ever play with Sarah at school, as she looked angrily at this girl who didn't belong in her house and who had no right to say such lies about her dad.

She would see. They would all see. Her dad would be home later and he would be able to explain everything. She was sure of it. He wouldn’t have done all those wrong things and there was no way in the world he would leave her or Tracey behind. He loved them too much to do that, didn't he?

What Donna didn’t know at the time was that she would never see her dad again.


I’m 57-years-old, live in Suffolk, and have been writing poetry and stories for the last ten years, but have only recently been able to focus on making a career out of it. My writing relates mostly to experiences I have had in life: loss, mental health problems, and my interest in the environment. This I write in poetry, prose, short story and memoir format, but I am also writing a science-fiction novel with my partner. I have not published anything yet, nor won any competitions. I am hoping this will be a first!



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