8th

Darren felt like he could touch a cloud. He’d always wanted to know what one felt like. Was it like his pillow, or more like his favourite dog from down the street? In fact, he even wanted to know what a cloud tasted like. Darren imagined the tastiest cotton candy anyone had ever eaten. He was certain he’d be able to reach one. Every time his legs sprung up from the castle, he stretched both arms in the air as tall as he could. For the moment, he ignored the other kids jumping alongside him. He was determined to grab a cloud right out from the sky.

He might have done as well, if Mum hadn’t called them all over for food. Not that Darren minded. All that jumping and thinking about cotton candy had made him hungry. All the children were sat on plastic chairs along a long table. Darren felt like a Viking, feasting at a grand table amongst all his friends. It was a glorious sunny day, but the coke was ice cold. Perfect. Normally, Darren was only allowed one fizzy drink per day in his special glass. But today, everyone was allowed as much as they pleased. And the glasses were much bigger than usual too.

The party hats eagerly fixed to each child’s head made the patio look like a town meeting for garden gnomes. The grass had been cut and maintained to precision and had the look of a velvet, green carpet. It was soft enough to fall and play on, but still rough enough to bounce a ball over the piggy in the middle. Darren had won most of the games they’d played that day. Darren had pinned his tail closest to the rear end of the donkey, the piñata had fallen at his swipe and the ordinarily efficient it had failed to capture Darren all throughout tig. Despite Emily’s success during kiss chase, Darren still felt like the winner there.

It had been a long and impeccable day. Darren didn’t want it to end. The kids had been hurried up the stairs into his bedroom while some of the adults were up to something in the kitchen. They’d tried their hardest to keep it a secret, but Darren had it figured out. It always went the same way. Presents in the morning, friends arrive midday, food and games for most of the party and then the cake before everyone goes home. Now, the time had come for the reveal of the birthday cake. It had been Thomas the Tank Engine icing last year and Tweenies the year before. Darren’s predictions raced through his head. Scooby Doo? Tom and Jerry? Pokemon? Some of the other kids were guessing cartoons he didn’t watch, so he chose not to listen.

He looked out the window. Mum had organised such a brilliant party yet again. The bouncy castle was bigger than last year’s and more of his friends had been invited too. So far there was just one thing missing from the perfect day. And then, suddenly, as though his wish had been answered, he was here. Darren could see him opening the gate. It was giving him some trouble. Darren usually had to give him a hand with the lock. Eventually, he watched as the man elected to climb over the gate instead, which he did clumsily. By now a few of Darren’s friends had noticed and were gathered around the window. They all laughed together as Dad fell from the top of the gate and onto the gravel driveway.

His Dad was funny like that. Always knocking into something, tripping over something else. Darren felt he was really lucky to have a Dad like a clown. Every day with him was like a party. As much coke and lemonade to drink as he liked. He didn’t have to eat fruit with him. It was cartoons all day, or games. Not homework. Non-stop fun. His Dad walked slowly, trying to keep his balance as he approached the house. All Darren’s friends were captivated wondering which stunt would come next. It took him an awfully long time to get anywhere near the front door.

Now that he’d got closer, Darren could see something in his left hand. It was a plastic bag that he had scrunched up. There can’t have been much in there, but Darren was pretty sure it was a present. Sure, everyone else had wrapped their gifts, but Darren didn’t really care about that. This was a gift from his Dad and that didn’t happen very often. The excitement that had come over him at 6.40am before anyone else was awake had just returned ablaze. Darren was just about to leap downstairs and tell everyone that Dad had finally showed up. Before he could though, he saw Mum rush out the front door. She looked upset.

Mum was always mean to Dad. He looked sad now. She called him Steph these days, not Dad, whenever she didn't think Darren could hear her. She seemed to be pointing back to the gate and was shouting so loud they could almost hear her words through the window. Dad raised his arms and waved the plastic bag in her face, but that only seemed to upset her more. Soon enough, Dad had a cigarette in his mouth and patted down his body for something in his pocket. Darren knew that meant he had stopped listening. It was a trick of his that Darren looked forward to replicating when he was old enough. By now, a few of the other adults had come out to speak. They all faced Dad. None of them were on his side.

By chance, Dad flicked his gaze up at the window and saw all the faces staring back at him. His face lit up into a smile and the cigarette fell out of his mouth. He waved and shouted something at the top of his voice, but Darren couldn’t make out exactly what he’d said. The only word he did hear was the word he’s not allowed to say. It’s a grown-up word, Mum had told him. Darren had never seen Mum react positively to that word and Darren laughed at how angry it had made her even now. It had seemingly enraged all the other adults too.

Darren’s laughter was cut abruptly short however. The other grown-ups had won. A few of them were pushing Dad back towards the gate and the sight was so upsetting that Darren immediately began to cry in front of all his friends. They were bullying Dad. He just wanted to come to the party. Darren’s party. Shouldn’t he have been able to choose who could come and who couldn’t? Darren had been taught not to push people. But there were all the adults pushing Dad. It wasn’t fair.

The rest of the party was horrific. Darren just wanted the day to be over. He cried all the way through the cake and didn’t eat a crumb. Mum had wrapped up what was left for him to have later, but later never came. When his friends had finally left, he went up to his room with his new toys and refused to speak to Mum. The cars were too robust for it, but the toys he could destroy, he did. He didn’t want any of them anymore. He wanted to know what his Dad had brought him. It was probably the best present of the lot. He found it easy to hate Mum, which only made him even more distraught.