Long Distance
By Missy

****

Her phone was ringing off of the hook.

Lenny groaned; she loved to make him worry, without even trying. He was ready to hang up when an exasperated voice answered,

"Hello?"

"Skye!"

"Dad! I'm so sorry; I was just giving Marie a bath..."

"It's OK; I know when it rings more than twice you're off with one of the kids." He draped himself loosely across the kitchen table, scowling as Laverne hefted his feet off of the table.

"So, what's new?"

***

His first real apartment as a single father was tiny, hovel-like, with two rooms. Until Skye was three and they moved he had cooked off of a hotplate.

It had been a nightmare of dirt when he had first moved in. Funny, that he had never noticed how dirty something was until he had fathered Skye. Now everything he saw was a germ pit.

For the first time in his life, he knelt and scrubbed a floor, until his fingers were raw and it shone.

And Skye wobbled onto it, taking her first steps all over the shiny surface.

****

"Nothing major." A muffled noise, "Brandon says hello; he took the kids to the Brooklyn Zoo this afternoon; OH! Tell me that you got my flowers and my email and my gift."

"Yup! And ya always know what I need. Frankie lost my guitar case last week."

"Mom said he did! I'm surprised you didn't hang him from the rafters for that."

"Nah, it's a pardonable offense around here. Especially when you can get a week's worth of clean floors out of it."

"Hah! I was going to ask how business has been."

"Almost too busy; we had to hire a couple of Laverne's cousins to help out."

"Oooh; hunky cousin Antonio?"

A long pause passed before he said, "I know you ain't related, but don't say stuff like that."

She grinned, "I only do it because it drives you nuts."

***

"Daddy, when I grow up, I'm gonna marry David Bowie."

Lenny choked on his shake, "Sweetie, David Bowie's..." He paused, "Not the kinda guy I think you'd wanna marry."

She pouted, "But he plays the guitar, just like you."

"That's right. But, he..." Lenny was ready to bring up a list of reasons why marrying David Bowie might be a bad idea for a five-year-old girl, but he was mollified, remembering his own crushing childhood rejections.

And seeing her mischievous little grin out of the corner of his eye.

***

"Besides, Anonio freaks me out. He kinda looks like a guy your mom used to date."

"Which one?"

He groaned as she laughed.

"How are the twins?"

"Frankie's got a band together already. They're calling thselves." He snapped his fingers, "Flaming Snot? Flipping Fish?"

"Fire-Balls?"

"Yeah! With a dash between the Fire and The..." Another long pause, "I'm gonna kill that kid."

"How's Andy?"

"Planning on college. Following Kaitlyn around." A heaviness in his voice told everything.

"Someone's gotta buy that kid a clue."

"Don't you think I wanna?" Lenny asked rhetorically. "The prom's coming up soon. If they don't go together, it's going to be like death to him."

***

Laverne's camera shone exceedingly brightly as she took yet another picture. Her subjects winced back from the flash, pained by its refracting light.

"Come on, I want everything to look nice for your last Daddy-Daughter Dance."

"Mom, I can't see anything but bright white. It's like goin' into the light!"

Lenny tapped her shoulder, whispering, "You sure you wanna go to this? You are seventeen..."

"And I still want to be seen in public with you." She kissed his cheek, straightening his tie. "'Sides, you only put on a monkey suit for really special occasions."

He grinned to himself as they joined hands, leaving the house.

***

"Anyway, How are the kids?"

"Leon keeps pointing to your picture on the table and going 'Pop-pop!'."

Lenny smiled to himself, "You tell them I love them, OK?"

"They know, they know."

***

"It's taking too damn long!!"

Laverne yanked Lenny back by the arm, "Len, you can't help them now!"

"Marie happened in five seconds," He paced, agitated, "The twins took two days, sure, but they were twins. Three days is crazy for one baby!"

"Len!" Laverne hissed, pulling him down into a sitting position beside her, "It's the year 2000, the medical profession is very advanced, and I'm sure everything will be fine!"

Lenny groaned, "I ain't sure, I just ain't sure."

Laverne coddled him gently as Brandon emerged from the operating room.

He carried a tiny blue-swathed bundle.

Lenny leapt to his feet, "What's goin' on?"

"Ssh!" Brandon whispered, "Skye's fine, she's asleep," He held out the bundle, "And here's your grandson."

Lenny gasped, delighted as his grandson was placed into his outstretched arms, "Hey little guy," He said softly. Unfocussed blue eyes stared up at him from the bundles.

"The nurse is gonna want him back in a minute, but I wanted you guys to see him."

"He's perfect, Len!" Laverne whispered, "Looks like you...What's his name, Brandon?"

Brandon smiled, "Meet Leonard Davis."

***

A sudden crashing noise and a bit of shouting interrupted their mutual reverie. Skye sighed, "Sorry Dad, I have to go; Marie just spilled something over..."

"No problem; I'll email ya tomorrow."

"OK! We'll try to be there for the Fourth." A long pause, "Daddy..."

She rarely called him Daddy; he tuned in instantly.

"I love you.."

He sniffled, "I love you too, Pumpkin."

"Night-night," She said, just as she had when she was three.

"Night-night." He returned, as he had in those lean days of her infancy. It had been protection against the coldest reality; Karen's leaving.

Instead of her sleepy breathing, a robotic dial tone ended their conversation.



The End!

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