Scene 1
too young to know anything of death
get sent upstairs when someone
knocks on the door on a Saturday
Scene 2
too young to come back down until you’re told eavesdrop
auntie are you sure you’re OK?
dad I’m fine
Scene 3
see your dad return from hospital after overdosing
the kind of overdosing where the body forgets itself slowly
how to walk how to speak how to swallow
Scene 4
watch your sister hugging the would-be futurefather of her child
go to the other room computer television
a comedy impressions show and a joke
about someone’s stature
laugh harder than you should have or wanted to
Scene 5
go back to the front room
recount the joke about stature to the seated family
dad I know we heard are you OK?
say you’re fine
see your dad’s face like an empty box
Background character notes
you thought you knew how men
were meant to grieve
you thought all men were punished by their fathers
you thought all men grieved like small Greek women
in black who say the bread still needs to be baked
you thought men simpy carried on
when your dad unfolded in front of you
nobody had taught you how to fix him back together
and then he died
heavenfaced 