A Father Pro Tem

Written by Uncle Pan

Frank Balfour here. I'm forty years old, unmarried, and work mostly from my home. I own a lot of real estate which I inherited from my father. I make a good living from the rent my properties bring in, plus there are a number of businesses which pay their rent directly into my account each month. In addition, my father left me a rather hefty stock portfolio which makes a nice supplement to the rental income. As a result my time is my own to do with what I damn please, except on the first day of each month which I pretty much have to devote to visiting my rental properties to collect the rent.

On this day I was in the living room, watching television with only a loose pair of shorts on, no shirt, not even any underwear as it was hotter than hades out and my air conditioning was down. There was a knock on the door. At the very first knock I got up. Since I was dressed rather minimally I decided to peek out to see who it was before opening it. It was Julie Cravens, the eleven year old who lives down the street from me. We've known each other for years, she used to play with my daughter Amy before my ex-wife divorced me and moved my daughter to California, and so I decided to go ahead and open the door.

"Hi, Julie," I said as I opened the door, "come on in. However, you just may regret it. My air conditioner is out."

"Thanks Mr. Balfour," she said as she came in. "It is rather warm in here, isn't it?"

"Why don't you call me Frank?" I said with a grin, "we've known each other long enough so we should be able to dispense with formalities, like Mister and last names."

"Yes, Mr. Balfou. . . I mean Frank. "

"That's better. Mr. Balfour makes me sound like a school teacher, Frank has a much nicer ring to it, don't you think? So what brings you around on this steamy day?"

"Well, mom has to go to town and see her lawyer. Daddy is late with his child support checks as usual. And she was wondering if you would be able to look after me this afternoon, so she won't have to lug me along. There's nothing for me to do there except sit in his front office and wait. And I've read every magazine in his waiting room a dozen times at least."

"Why of course, Julie. You know it's always a pleasure for me to have your company. I'll call your mother and confirm I'm looking after you so that she can be on her way." I dialed the Cravens number, and when Loretta answered I confirmed looking after Julie and urged her on her way. When I hung up I again turned to Julie. "You know I'm always happy to have you visit me, Julie. You're like my own daughter. My little girl would be just about your age right now, so having you over is really the next best thing to having Amy here."

"Really? Where is Amy these days?" Julie asked.

"She's still in California with her mother. Agnes decided that men out there have more ambition than losers in Houston, like me."

"You're not a loser, Mr., uh . . . Frank."

"That's sweet of you to say that, Julie," I said, "but my ex won't hear a word of it. She may be right. She's got way too much ambition for my tastes. She thinks all life is about is going out and working your life away. Note that she doesn't believe in doing this for herself. She thinks that motherhood is a full time job, even if it only consists of cooking and keeping a clean house and a stable environment for her daughter. But she desperately wants a man with ambition to support her lifestyle of choice. I wish her luck."

"What do you miss most about your daughter?"

"Well, just her presence, her voice asking questions, her warmth as she used to sit next to me while she watched television, the look of concentration on her face, the way she would wrinkle her nose as she would concentrate and think things through, and of course, doing the fatherly things with her like helping cure her hurts, giving her baths and tucking her in at night. Of course, that was back when she was a little girl. She would undoubtedly be taking baths by herself these days, drat drat. But hopefully she still would enjoy being tucked in at night. That's a wonderful time for a father to get to know his daughter one on one."

"I know what you mean. I really miss my daddy, at least I used to at the time he left, I was six years old when he left. It's been five years now and I don't even clearly remember what he looks or sounds like now. But I still have an empty feeling when I think back on him." She wrinkled her nose in thought. "You know what?" she said.

"What?" I said right back to her.

"Here we are," she said, "two people with the very same problem, you without your daughter, and me without my daddy."

"Yes?"

"We should get together. You could be my daddy in the here and now. And I could be your daughter. That is if you would want me as a daughter?" ......(cont)

.......Read the entire A Father Pro Tem ....written by Uncle Pan.
Copyright © 2007-8 Uncle Pan. ALL Rights Reserved




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This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.


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