On my way to the park tonight I
started thinking about an incident from home long ago. It must have been the
mid or early fifties when this happened. I don’t know what triggered it. Perhaps
it was going through the old photos that Brian sent me that made me think of it,
the ones I just recently put on the blog.
I also don’t know what made me think
of dad but he popped into my mind.The image that came to mind was of him getting ready for work. He was out in the kitchen with his shirt collar rolled under to prevent it from getting soaked. He was shaving and we were watching him. He liked to look at himself in the mirror so he studied himself as he shaved. We were very young and I don’t remember who else was there; probably Phyllis or Terry. He had almost finished shaving when we all said “Da, why don’t you grow a moustache? “ He answered with his usual ‘don’t be daft’ but we kept pestering him. We told him he would be handsome with a moustache. He loved that.
After a few more “don’t be dafts” he
told us to go into the front room and stay out of his way. We did just that. In
those days we did as we were told. After
a few minutes the door opened and he stuck his head around. He had that impish
look on his face and he had------- a moustache!!! He had dark hair and he had
shaved it down to a Clarke Gable type of moustache so it was clearly visible.
We all squealed in a mixture of delight and confusion. We had never seen him
like this before.
We told him how good he looked and
how he was like a film star; Errol Flynn was big at the time. He lapped it up
as he walked around with occasional stops at the mirror in the front room to
admire his handiwork. He was beginning to like it. We were delighted and
squealed even more, much to his delight.
“Turn around Da and give us another look” we said. He was very obliging, he did as he was told
and showed us every possible angle.
This was a new Dad and we wanted to
keep him like that because he was different. Although we didn’t know what
dashing was at the time the word summed it up. We had a dashing Da who had just
stepped off the screen.
We should have known that It was too good to be true and he wouldn't keep it , our exhilaration was short-lived and, alas, it was not to be. In spite of all our protests he shaved it off, picked up his keys, put his lunch under his arm and left the house for work.
I don’t know if anyone else remembers
this but I remember it as if it were yesterday. We should have known that It was too good to be true and he wouldn't keep it , our exhilaration was short-lived and, alas, it was not to be. In spite of all our protests he shaved it off, picked up his keys, put his lunch under his arm and left the house for work.
This is the main reason why; years later in Houston when Eileen was living with me she loved to sit and chat to me while I got ready for work. As soon as I was ready to shave I would hide behind the mirror ,cover my face with shaving cream and then stick my head out. She would scream and run around the house with me after her. It never failed. She loved every minute.
It always reminded me of that evening so many years earlier
