Rock Me Gently
Is there a soundtrack to dreaming? Like, with nightmares, you get heavy metal or Boyzone. As I slept, it seemed like the mellowest of Southern California were playing. I dreamt of my father. As a very young child. I was holding his hand at Eyre Square. A bus passed and I suddenly realised I could spell… I read aloud the ad. On the side:
*
PADDY
*
He was delighted Not only because it was the first word I spelt but it was his name. A more cynical view is my first word happened to be the Irish whiskey.
But nothing dims the warmth of that moment. I felt completely joined with him. Years, experience, life dented the union so many times, but only superficially.
The phone dragged me up. I couldn’t see the time, mumbled, “Hello.”
“Jack, it’s Sutton.”
“What time is it?”
“La
