“Nothing’s going perfectly for me,” Mabel sighed. “My stepdad keeps on nagging me.”
“What’s your name, love?” Charles asked, perching beside the little girl.
“Mabel,” she replied, a little brighter. “And you are?”
“I’m Charles, and your mother and I are going to live together. From now on it’s you, me and Mum one happy family!”
Soon enough, Susan and Mabel moved into Charles’s flat in Manchester. The stepdad owned a spacious threebedroom apartment, and Mabel got her own cosy bedroom. Charles was a decent chapalways slipping her a lolly or a new toywhile her real dad, Peter, only rang when he wanted a word with Susan.
One evening Susan told Mabel that Peter had started a new family and they’d moved out. The news hit Mabel hard; she still loved him. Susan could shout at her and even give a swift smack on the bottom, but Peter never once raised a hand. Mabel remembered vividly how, during the divorce, Susan had screamed at Peter, even threatening to hit him. The words that stuck in Mabel’s memory were Susan’s final verdict:
“Don’t think you’re the first to give me a set of horns; you’ve been wearing them as long as a stag!”
After that, Susan packed her things and they went to stay with Grandma Joan. Mabel couldn’t understand where Peter’s horns were supposed to behe was bald as a cue ball and had not a hair on his head. From then on Mum and Dad were truly separated.
Charles stayed sweet until Mabel started Year 1. She wasn’t a fan of school, but she liked to cause a bit of mischief at break, so the teachers often called the parents in. Sometimes Charles had to stand in for Susan. He took his role seriously, even helping Mabel with her homework himself.
“You’re nobody to me, so you can’t teach me!” Mabel would mutter to Uncle Victor, echoing something shed once heard from Grandma.
“I’m actually your dad now, because Im the one who puts food on the table and gets you dressed,” Charles would reply, deadpan.
When Mabel turned ten, Peter drifted back into town. By then she knew exactly what “giving someone horns” meant. “He probably liked his other missus more, which is why he left,” Susan had once whispered. Peter asked for permission to see his daughter, and Susan agreed. Their reunion was pleasant enough.
“How are you getting on, love?” Peter asked.
“Not great,” Mabel admitted. “My stepdad keeps yelling at me.”
“Who do you think he is to shout at you?” Peter retorted, a little angry.
“Even Grandma says its nonsense, and he never raises his voice at me,” Mabel exaggerated, hoping her dad would look after her.
“Fine, Ill sort it out,” Peter promised.
On a stroll through the local park they discovered that, of all the rides, only the merrygoround was for kids alone; every other attraction required an adult, and Peter refused to join. Mabel hinted that her birthday was looming and shed love a new smartphone. When Susan asked Charles about it, she reminded him that he never shouted at Mabel, yet he seemed to ignore her.
“Dad’s a proper stingy old man!” Mabel exclaimed to Charles. “I wanted to go on the rides, but he wouldn’t let me, and the only thing he bought me in the park was an icecream. Just a walk, thats all. Charles, youre better than my dad.”
“Lets make up for Dads mistake and spend the weekend at the indoor play centre,” Charles suggested.
The plan fell through when Charles had to dash to work for lunch, so they headed home instead of the water park. He also brushed off every hint about a new phone.
“Tatie, Charles has lied to me!” Mabel sobbed to her real dad. “He said wed go to the play centre, but all we did was climb ropes. He told me I didnt deserve anything moreno waterpark trip, no smartphone.”
Even though that was the biggest fib, it had a magical effect on Peter, who bought Mabel a cheap smartphonestill a smartphone, just a budget model. He laughed it off when she complained, but he kept his promise to fulfil the childs wish, albeit with a £50 handset rather than the latest flagship.
“Could you tell us why you were so excited for your birthday?” Charles asked.
“Im dreaming of getting a dog!” Mabel piped up.
“Not that kind of dog, love. Youd have to walk it every day and youre already lazy enough!” Charles quipped.
Mabel went into a hysterical fit, grabbed the phone and shouted to Peter, “Dad, please take me away from them! Charles is just teasing me!”
Soon the whole family was shouting over each other. While the chaos unfolded, Mabel was sent off to Grandma Joans house, and Susan arrived with a box of belongings, announcing she was divorcing Charles.
The adults eventually saw through Mabels little schemes. Peter returned to his wifeshe was pregnantso there would be another baby on the way. In the end, Mabel didnt get the shiny new smartphone shed hoped for, no dog, and Grandma Joan swore shed never allow a cat in the house either.
