DAD..........?

Rick looked up to see if his "partner"...

Don Bionic,

Studying his stats sheet for the daily Hockey contests...

his head enfolded in his new Ipod....

The emanating hard rock music was so loud...

it could even be heard from the other room.

Slowly,

giving Lily one last head scratch....

He got up...wondering why anyone would be calling on the home line....

EVERYONE used cells nowadays...

Damnit......

I told Don not to move the bloody coffee table again....

Man ...that hurts.....

Soon I won't have ANY toes left....

"Hello..?

"Uh...hi....uh...is this Rick?

Rick Copp?"

"Yes ... who's calling...

Rick.....it's me......

Your dad......Jonathan......

Uh, I am going by the name Dach...now...

A breathless silence ensued for an uncomfortable period of time....

Rick?

Are you there?

"What do you...of all people, want now?

26 years...and not a word.....

I never even saw what you looked like...

got to know you at all....

I was born...you were gone...

What now?

"I have to be in Edmonton for the Valentine Day long weekend....

and I was hoping you could give me a little time to get to know a bit about you....I haven't heard a word from your mother in all this time....she just kept cashing the child support payments until you turned 18...and then nothing...

Not even a word when I sent you the ten grand on your 18th birthday ....

Just in case you needed some financial help to go to University...

If that was your intention...

My only answer was when the cheque cleared...

I have no idea what you even do for a living, if you are married...have children...

My current wife can not have children due to a disease she caught while very young...

So, I guess I was hoping you could make some time available that weekend for the old man....

"What old man.......whose old man......

Certainly not mine......

You are just a strange voice from out of the wilderness to me...

How do I even know this is even my real dad?

Or some kind of trick...or prank....

"Luke.......I am your father"

Kind of out of this world shit...

where are you calling from, anyway..."

"Sweetbread Texas....

it's about 25 miles from Houston...

I, uh.. I have a partner...Chuck..in some oil business down here.."

"Oh...so now you are a Yank?"

"No...I have dual citizenship...?

"What....commitment problems there too...

Was that what happened...you chased the money....

Or did you just run....from us?

Mom hasn't said a word about you in 20 years..."

"How is Sandi....

do you guys get along well..

Do you live together..?"

What is with all these questions now...after all this time...

It can't be that you really care...

What's going on?"

"I am coming to town for Valentine's...like I told you...to see some old friends....

I still have a few living there....

And a couple of partners from the first time I got involved in oil...

I am a Petrochemical Engineer...

Graduated from the U of A..

And I was hoping...

Like I said...

really hoping to get to meet and spend some time catching up with you...

You don't have to bring Sandi...

Or even tell her if it is a problem..."

"Catching Up.....

seriously...did you just say catching up.....

Catching up to what....

I DON'T KNOW YOU!"

"Well...

I was hoping you would let me change all that..."

"And I was hoping to have a father...

Mom never remarried...

All I even knew about ...hope...

it was...it is.. the entrance to broken dreams..."

"Please Rick...

Let me finish...

Wendy and I are flying up there Wednesday the eleventh...and leaving Tuesday the sixteenth.....

We are staying at the old McDonald Hotel...

"I guess your "friends" haven't been keeping you current...

It has been Fairmont Hotel Macdonald for years...

I guess you yanks must have bought that too..."

"Doesn't matter Rick...

had I had to make the reservations...

I would have known that...

Wendy handles all my reservations, meetings, flights....she's the perfect personal assistant....and I don't have to pay her..."

"Yeah.....I would expect that...."

"I do pay her...handsomely...

You get what you pay for....

And she is good at her job..."

It was a joke...

"Just a sec.."

"WHAT...?

my "dad"..

No shit...right out of the blue...

Yup...never talked to him before...

and if you would turn that damn music down...

You could have answered the phone...

And I could still have never talked to him..

Yeah...You too!!!

No...I really don't know why he is calling...

It seems he wants to find out my "life story"..

and condone his...

Aaahhhh....I'll listen..."

Jon....

or can I call you that?

"Sure...why not.....

I actually prefer it when I am not working..."

OK..

I am back....

my ..uh...roommate..was just calling me...

How old are you anyway....

45..... I married your mom right out of college...

We were sweethearts since high school...

but I promised her...

and her family...

I wouldn't ask her to marry me until I could provide adequately for her...

I was offered a job just before I graduated..."

"Well....

Mom never graduated...

She's been working in the same dentist's office for the last 20 years..."

"Rick...

You can't blame me for that...

I did my best to encourage her to finish her last semester...

But she...we...were too happy with our life...

And I had to move up to Fort Mcmurray for work..."

"why didn't you just leave her then?"

"Rick...

I loved your mom...

When I left...

there were big family problems....

I didn't even know she was pregnant...

And I sure don't want to cause any problems...

but you want to know how I found out...

An official Paternity Test results...

A Decree of Divorce...

on abandonment charges...

And a Court ordered Child Support Payments..

Which was $500 a month less than what I paid her every month...

and it all came through the mail...

in the same envelope even...

less than 16 months after I was transferred down here...

How she knew my address...?

she has never even spoken to me..."

"Aw right....Aw right....

This is all an old movie to me...

and I hate old movies...

what do you want...I gotta go soon...

Lily needs her walk..."

"You have a dog...

What kind?...

How old?...

"I really don't have time for this...

Why don't you just tell me why you called..."

"I would like to meet with you and see how you are, what you are up to...

how Sandi is...

We could start with a meeting...anywhere..

couple of hours...I thought"

"I don't know....

I really have to think about this for awhile....

Why don't you call me when you get into town and are settled in...

but I won't meet with your wife...

if I do.........

FLASH FORWARD TWO WEEKS...

"Hello...Rick?

"Yeah..."

It's your dad...I am in town...

I was wondering what decision...or decisions...you may have made..."

"Yeah....I have made a decision.....

Is your wife there...?"

Yes.....Wendy is in the other room...why?

"I want to come to your hotel...

right now...

and I want to see you in private..."

"Really..Rick...

This is the start you want to get off to?"

"No...

not anything against her....

I just need to be able to concentrate on you...

and your story...?

"I wish you would stop calling Wendy... her...

You even respect your dog enough to call her Lily....

but give me a moment...."

"Are you there?"

"Yes.."

OK...

she is going to go shopping at West Ed mall...

I have been telling her about it for years...

we had planned to go...

But this is much more important...

When were you planning on coming...

Can I send the car...?"

"No...I drive...I am twenty six...remember?

How about two hours?"

"Sure....

I am in suite 1811...

But don't forget..

You have to mask up...

and...

"Dad.....I mean Jon..

We have been living with tough regulations for a year now...

I am quite aware of what is required"

Thanks...

I'll see you in two..."

When he heard the knock on his door...

He was quite surprised...

He had requested the concierge to make him aware of his son's arrival...

"Rick...come in...come in...

No one told me you were here..?

"Yea...I asked them not too...

"Well....come in...

Would you like a drink...?"

"A drink with my old man...

who would ever have thought this day would come...

Sure....whaddya got?"

"Just about everything...

what's your poison...

Sorry...

Old habits and all that..."

"just a beer would be fine...thanks"

"Make yourself at home....

Jesus...you are taller than me...

and I am 6..3....

And Sandi was so petite...

"Well...

Your looking better than I expected too..."

"So...

What now...?"

"I have given this a lot of thought...

In fact that's about all I could think of for the past two weeks..

I didn't say anything to Mom...

First...

Let me explain something...

when you left us...

I became a loner..

Mom still had to take some courses to become the Office Manager...

and we couldn't find or afford, a proper babysitter...

So I stayed home a lot...

I wanted a computer...

We couldn't afford one then...

so I started off by delivering papers after school...

then got a job at Uncle Bob's garage..

for three years...

till I finished Junior High..

I started at $2.35 an hour...

And I finished at $2.75 an hour...

forty cents over three years...

and that bugger was a millionaire...

Anyway...

I finally got my computer...

Mom showed me all about it...

and I finally got a friend...

I could never play sports, go to parties, dances or join anything in school...

I always had to be at work or home right after...

I never had my first "Relationship" until I was twenty...

And at University...

here...

Not because of you...

Because I wanted to be...

And I am....

A computer programmer...

I never fished...

I never hunted...

I never even went camping..

Oh...

Mom would take us to Parks and Museums and places...

but we never "Camped"...

I never learned how to cook a fresh fish...

or anything...

over a fire...

hell I never even knew how to clean one...

I never learned how to throw a ball..

football or baseball...

I never went on trips....

I have never been out of the country...

I have never ridden a horse...

All we did was watch TV...

go to movies and restaurants...

have our own birthday parties...

Mom has this one assole owner who has been after her for years...

and she hates him....

Everything I have ever done...

Was because I finally decided I had to make it possible to do what I wanted...

And I am doing pretty well...

I can or have done all that shit now...

Yes...I have a dog....

and a boyfriend...

We live together....his name is Don...

I am gay...

I found that out when I went to university

so I have no kids....

and you will have no Grandchildren from me...

Consider that the price you paid for living your life...

Now you know about me...

If Mom should ever want you to know about her...

or talk to her...that is up to her...

We are through here...

thanks for the beer...

and Goodbye...

Don't ever call me again...

"Dad....?

I don't think so...."

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY NEXT?????????