Absent Parent

The screaming is intense, much more intense than usual. Crap Dad rinses the flannel he’d gone to get and returns to the dinning room. Lolly is very distressed, her face is various shades of purple, he mouth wide open and the tears are starting to form and roll down her cheeks. She continues to scream.

Crap Dad tries to comfort her. He asks LML what has happened, she looks at him blankly. He scans Lolly but can’t see anything. He continues to try and sooth her but the screaming just gets louder. “Has LML hit you? Show me where it hurts, baby.” More screaming, her face changing colours like an over excited chameleon.

He checks again, asking, “Does it hurt here?” Then he sees the marks start to appear. Millimetres to the the side of her right eye four very small welts start to appear. Evenly spaced they can only mean one thing, he scours the table and floor, “Where is that fork?”