Your child will remember this day forever

“Great! You’re here! You couldn’t have come at a better time,” says the daughter. She takes her father by the hand and leads him outside to the back garden. “Whoa, whoa! What’s going on here!” says the old man. Don’t you want to know why I come to visit you…”. The woman has no time for any objection. She pulls on his arm as if he were an old Belgian horse that is too tired to move.

“Do you see what happened?” says the daughter. They are standing in the garden. That has to be said. It’s a neat, large French garden. Neatly trimmed hedges, several winding gravel paths. She looks at him with wide eyes. The father is stiff from the long ride. He had hoped for a cup of coffee with freshly baked cinnamon apple cake.

“Take a good look around you!” instructs the daughter. He takes the glasses off. They are not comfortable glasses. The fitter is light. Yes, it is. It is made of high-quality titanium. According to the optician. But the thin metal cuts into his nose bone.

“Are your eyes that bad?” the daughter wants to know. “Or is your memory deteriorating?” He puts the glasses on his head. She has been doing that more often lately. Suggesting that he is deteriorating. His eyes, his hearing, his memory, his stamina. His last visit to the doctor gave no cause for concern or panic. He may be eighty next, but he is still in an excellent condition.

She tugs at his arm again. What does she want? Why so hasty, so restless? He is not dying, is he? Can't they just go back to the house? Back to the kitchen, the coffee, the apple cake?

“Look! Right in front of you! What do you see?” the daughter wants to know. He sees a shed. A beautiful, solid shed. Quartz grey. Hardwood. Why do they need such a new big outhouse? After all, there are two of them now that the children have left home? Does she have a new hobby? Do they have plans to give shelter to homeless people? Asylum seekers? Has his son-in-law started collecting cars? Vintage cars? Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Oldsmobile?

The daughter opens the door to the shed. The father is pulled into the brand-new space. He notices the bright light. He smells paint.

“Only the best is good enough!” says the daughter. The man looks around. There are no cars in the shed. And judging by the furnishings, they are not in a storage room either. It looks like they are in a living room. The armchairs, the coffee table, a plasma TV on the mustard green wall, houseplants, hanging lamps.

The father does not have time to look around calmly. The daughter grabs him by the arm and pulls him into a new room. “All the walls are made of high-quality wood,” she says. “The chalet stands on a foundation of concrete blocks. Even the roof is insulated,”

The man stares at the bed, the bedside tables. Then he looks over his shoulder. Outside. As if he is expecting someone to arrive.

“And have you seen this yet,” she says. She pushes the father into the narrow hallway. He protests but she doesn’t listen. They enter a utility room. “Look, a heat pump! Everything here is energy neutral. There is underfloor heating, a dust filter, a water softener.”

He doesn’t dare ask, but could his daughter be going through a divorce? Doesn’t she want to live in her own house anymore?

“That’s all yours, dad!” says the daughter. “Your own little house in our garden. You’ve taken care of me for so long. You’ve meant so much to us, I think it’s time we reverse roles. You’re coming to live with us. We’re going to take care of you from now on! You don’t have to worry about anything these last few years.”

The father is no longer standing next to the daughter. He has walked to the door of the shed. Then he spots someone. He waves and gestures that the visitor can come to the quartz grey building.

“Are you here? Have you finished looking yet?” says the daughter. “Do you want to know how the shower works? The refrigerator?”

“Ah, there you are,” says the father when a woman enters the house. She wears a motorcycle helmet. “May I introduce you to my new girlfriend? I met her last year. I wanted to tell you. But I didn’t get the chance. We’re going on a world trip. On a motorbike.”