My father, The Great Man

My father, The Great Man
My father was a pretty cool guy, I found. He was funny and awesome, loving and caring.
He was tall with short black hair, big shoulders and a little beer belly.
He was the life of all BBQ’s with his practical jokes, bellowing laugh and fantastic steak cooking skills.
The greatest thing I found about him was the way he loved his wife. Everything, he did everything he could for her, made her feel valued and beautiful every single day. Mum would be standing in the kitchen cooking up a stew, her long hazel hair glistening in the sun as the afternoon light shone heavenly through the shutters and he would sweep her off her feet. Up into his arms she would go, she was small in his arms like a sleeping child. Mum couldn’t smile more at this as he insisted he finished the cooking.

Yet sometimes things go a miss. Sometimes he might slip up and maybe get a little too drunk or dig himself into a big hole of tiredness and stress as his work piled up. But being a lawyer had its perks for him occasionally as I one day found out and his biggest slip up was right in front of me.
Mum had sent me over to his firm to go home with dad after soccer training as she was busy with my younger sisters’ ballet concert. I was to wait around out the front for him as I wasn’t really allowed amongst all the busy barristers, nor would I want to be. Having no public toilets around was pretty annoying and that was my main motivation for I was hungry and thirsty entering the big court house. As I entered the toilets I also saw a women enter father’s office. I made little thought of it, but when I had exited the toilets and entered dads’ office, only to find her half naked and straddling her did I begin to feel a little concerned. Her Business skirt slightly pulled down, and her back was bare. Dad poked his head around the girl to see who was there, “Son! What are you doi...” I apologised later for cutting him off but I couldn’t help it. From my slight dehydration, hunger and shock from what was before me… I had fainted. I wasn’t out for long though, maybe twenty seconds, it wasn’t long enough for the girl to fix her tangled hair and dads’ face was still bright red.
I had regained consciousness but my head was aching, I must have smacked it on my way down. It was a little while before they had noticed I was awake. They were having an aggravated, whispering argument. In my dazed confusion I couldn’t really focus on what they were saying exactly, I think it was over her keeping her job at the firm. I really didn’t know what to expect, with the inevitable conversation that would be coming with dad about what I had seen. Would he be mad or stern? Would he beg me not to say anything? Or try to reason with me and justify his actions? All I knew is that I wanted to get out of there. I didn’t want him to see me lying there looking up at him with disappointment and anguish. I was raring to run out of the door but as I leant up I had caught dads’ attention and we made eye contact. “Son, are you ok?” He asked franticly as he knelt down to me, “You smacked your head on the wall pretty hard,” His voice was crackly from being nervous.
“I’m fine” I said with a short tone. I really just wanted to get out of there. I turned away from him, shunning him to show my emotion. He pulled away and I saw my opportunity to escape from extreme awkwardness of the situation. I turned the handle and leapt out, pelting through halls, my shoes smacking loudly on the limestone tiles. I can’t remember if he called out to me or not, I was just running away. Where and when had his decency left him? When had it started? Why was he doing it? All this contemplation was too much for a thirteen year old boy. I waited outside for him to come out. I waited about ten minutes, outside on a bench. We both hopped in the car and drove home in silence. Not a word was said for the twenty minute drive home. We got home and dad instantly changed, from paranoid and awkward to tender and lovable in half a second. He rushed over and picked up mum, her legs around his waist and they gazed at each other. I straight away flashed back to the office room, the image clear in my head of the random receptionist atop my dad.
My sister came over also as he put down his partner. “Daddy, daddy I had my performance today!” She said as an excited nine year old does. Their conversation continued as I stood watching from a distance. I was zoned out, my mind still plagued with questions. How can he change so quickly? Does he transform every night like this before he walks through the door?
I never said anything, or told anyone so I’m assuming no one knows. I doubt the coward told his wife or told his mistress that he couldn’t see her anymore. We never had that conversation that I assumed was inescapable, he simply never confronted me about it. Everything went on the same after that. Dad was still steak cooking champion and funniest guy around but I knew the terrible secret behind that great man.