Single father series

"Da-da"

I rubbed my face in attempt to wake up. I glanced at the clock on my night table... 5 in the morning. I lazily got up having a hard time maintaining balanced on my feet. That's what happens when you have only two hours of sleep.

"Hey, buddy, what's wrong?"

I took him in my arms, slowly moving around the room, humming some soft melody, hoping he'd go back to sleep because I know I desperately need to go back to bed. When he calmed down a little I thought that he'd drift off soon but no, he's eyes were big and open, examining my face. A curl fall onto my forehead and his small hand was up immediately, the tinny fingers stretching in the air.

"Aren't you an early riser?"

I figured he was hungry so I carried him downstairs to heat up some food for him. He was giving me a hard time. When giving him the bottle he wouldn't eat just let it spill out from the corner of the mouth but as soon as I took it away he's start crying. That's when I realised he was hurting because he's tooth is breaking through and chewing on the rubber of the bottle was soothing his pain. I was quick to get one of his pacifiers and replace the bottle with it.

"Come on, Andrej. Both of us could use more sleep."

But no, he refused. So I gave up for now. I'll nap when he does. I placed him in his playing box to quickly wash my face and brush my teeth, keeping my bathroom door open so I could look at him while doing this. Thankfully, he was steady. After eating breakfast in little pieces, whenever I managed to get a bite and in the meantime my toast got cold. I didn't even have time for my morning coffee.

It was now nine and he was showing no signs of sleepiness. I decided to tire him a bit with playing something more...energy consuming. So we passed the ball to one another. He was crawling around all the time to take the ball and send it back to me. He even tried to eat it twice... Then I took the Legos. We were building something. Too late was it when I noticed myself really getting into this, thinking and planning on the best strategy to build a boat. But whatever I had put up he'd push down so it breaks back into small pieces. He was soon bored of this. So I played some music and... danced. I know children love trying to imitate the people surrounding them, and he obviously liked the beat so be was moving his little behind along while arranging and rearranging his toys.

Around noon he was finally asleep. And a minute later I collapsed onto the couch for a desperate sleep time.

***

"Hi, mum! Thanks for doing this; I know it's a last minute call. What kind of a babysitter calls five minutes before she was supposed to arrive in order to cancel?"

"Don't be silly, it's my grandchild. Maybe something came up..."

"So, you know where the food is and the nappies and the onesies-"

"I've got it covered, Harry. Now go, you have a busy day."

"Bye, Andrej. Listen to grandma!"

I kissed my son's forehead before leaving. Today is a big day. It's been a year since I've had an exhibition. I forgot how much I loved and hated this rush I felt. It's five, I've had no sleep, it starts at eight and nothing has been set up yet. I arrived soon and immediately got to work. I wanted to keep it simple, open area, white walls and pictures around. The place was alright, 4 halls meeting in one smaller square. I decided to place my pictures in groups: each hall being one group, sort of dividing my paintings in phases, all leading to grand four. I placed my personal favourite up first.

It was a mermaid. I imagined her tall and I think I did her height justice. Her tail was light green, vibrant green, her skin olive and her hair long, thick, wild. Around her was darkness of the night, ships sinking in the distance, sailors drowning, waves raging on the open sea, water dark and bubbly, the light the Moon cast barely noticeable due to the heavy clouds. The only light was her. But the light was destructive, disturbing the darkness' peace. But it drew attention, it was a temptation that was too hard to resist. It is as if it were calling you, the beautiful voice holding a tight grip around you, inviting you into your own ruination. It took me a a long time to finish it, I kept redoing it and I don't think I've done it justice.