Destination Chile

‘Here we are,’ Ben said, after two flights of stairs and my heels twice skidding on dubious stains. The front door to his dad’s flat was ajar so Ben nudged it open with his foot.

‘Hello?’ he called out, not looking at me.

My eyes took a moment to adjust to the gloom, even though it was a surprisingly bright winter’s day outside. Smells of greasy food, fags and stale beer drifted past us, making my stomach turn.

‘Dad?’ Ben called out again. His voice sounded distorted and echoed off the bare walls.

‘In here, son, mind how you walk. I wasn’t… I wasn’t really expecting visitors.’

We followed where the flustered-sounding voice was coming from and walked down the dim, narrow corridor to the closed door ahead. As Ben turned the handle I felt my stomach knot with a sense of anxiety at what was on the other side. With a heavy shove the door burst open and inside the equally dark room was the kitchen-slash-lounge. In the centre, looking as if he’d just heaved himself up from the sagging sofa, was his dad, dressed in a tatty dressing gown and little else. He had brown hair, a lighter and dustier colour than Ben’s, which had tufted into strange peaks, and a lit cigarette dangling from his wrinkled lips. He was nothing like the father figure I’d imagined. I hoped my intake of breath was muffled by the blaring noise coming from the television.

‘All right, son! I was just about to start cleaning.’ His dad quickly took the three strides to the tiny kitchen and began hastily chucking empty cartons and glass bottles into an already overflowing bin. The washing up hadn’t been done for a very long time. Congealed sauce marked chipped dinner plates that were piled haphazardly next to a couple of takeaway boxes near the greasy tiles.

‘Hey, Dad.’ Ben’s voice was flat and I could tell he knew it. I suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here. I wanted his father to still be a figment in my imagination. What is it they say about men turning into their fathers? The thought seemed as alien as Katie Price becoming Prime Minister.

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