Most people only get gifts at Christmas or on their birthday.
But at our house we’re lucky, we’re special.
You see, my Dad works all over the world and only comes home for a week every couple of months. When he comes home he brings gifts home for me and my little sister and for our Mum too.
It’s a bit like having two lives.
There’s the life when there’s just the three of us. That’s when we have trips to the park with Mum and weekend visits to Gran and Gramps and we all eat whatever we like, whenever we like.
Then there’s the other life, the exciting one when Dad’s at home. We tidy up like mad before and then he comes back with our gifts.
Last time I got a battery operated fire engine with a siren and my sister Ellen got a blue fluffy rabbit and Mum got a bottle of perfume.
When Dad’s home, on those nights me and Ellen have our tea after school and then Mum and Dad have posh dinner after we’ve gone to bed. Mum looks different then, she’s not ours as much.
It’s funny because when Dad’s not there she feels lonely for Dad and when he is there we feel lonely for Mum.
I remember once, the year before last when Ellen had forgotten him and when he came home she screamed and wouldn’t go near him. That was because she didn’t know who he was.
Now I’ve got bigger, he says to me when he leaves.
“ Now David, you can be the man of the house until I get back.”
I used to like it when he said that, but now I know it’s silly because I’m not a man I’m a boy.