Daddy

The young couple on the train this afternoon have two young children. They have an expensive-looking pram and their children are wearing new clothes, but there's evidently not a lot of money left over for themselves. The mother balances her small son on her knee. She is tired and rather pretty with long hair - it's been a while since it was coloured, and the regrowth looks about the same age as the baby. He is thin and unshaven with dark hair. When we reach a station he gets out of the carriage and stands on the platform. When the train pulls away again he sits across the aisle from his family listening to a Walkman and flipping through a newspaper while his daughter calls, "Daddy! Daddy!" Eventually she walks over and makes eye contact by pushing up between her father and his newspaper.

"Daddy! Daddy! Next time we come here, will you buy me this?" She points to a picture on the box of the doll she's carrying. He nods absently. "Oh, thank you!" She wraps her arms around him and gives him a big kiss. At the next station, he rushes outside for a smoke while we wait for the signal to change.

"Can I have my pony?" Mum looks down at her daughter.
"No, honey. We're getting off in a minute."

Dad gets back in the carriage as the doors close.
"Can I have my pony?" He fiddles in the duffle bag looped around the pram handles.
"Jake! I just said no!" He hands the girl a toy horse.

Mum hoists the baby onto her hip and starts gathering up their bags. She coaxes the little girl into the pram. As they leave the train she is carrying the baby and pushing the pram. He stops on the platform to relight his cigarette and follows a few metres behind them, still listening to the Walkman.