Framed

My dad, right-ask anyone this, they’ll all say the same, my dad can fix anything. Toyota. Hyundai. Ford. Even Nice Tom’s mam’s diddy Daihatsu Copen (top speed 106 mph), which is about the size of a marshmallow so you need tweezers to fix it.
And it’s not just cars.

Like the time when we were at Prestatyn and Minnie wanted a swim but I wouldn’t get in the water because it was too cold. She kept saying, “Come in. It’s fine once you’re in.” and I kept saying, “No.”

Dad got up, went to the trailer and came back with a kettle of boiling water. He poured the water in the sea and said, “Dylan, come and test it. Tell me if it’s all right or does it need a bit more?”

I said, “No, that’s fine now, thanks, Da.”

“Sure now?”

“Sure now.”

“Not too hot then?”

“No, just right.”

“Give me a shout. If it gets cold again, I can always boil up some more.”

Then Minnie splashed me and I splashed her and we stayed in the water till the sun went down.

He fixed the sea for us. Now that is a thing to be admired.

My big sister, Marie, never came in the water even after Dad fixed it. She said, “Have you any idea what sea water can do to your hair?” And later on when we were playing Monopoly in the trailer, she said, “Did you really think that one kettle of water could warm up the entire Irish Sea?”

I said, “Not the whole sea, obviously. Just the bit we were swimming in.”

“Yeah, like that would really work,” said Minnie. “Let me explain the physics…”

“Minnie,” said Mam, “Euston Road. Three houses. Two hundred and seventy pounds, please.” Typical of Mam, by the way, cleverly changing the subject like that.

Obviously I know now that the kettle didn’t warm up the sea, but that’s not the point. I got into the water, that’s the point. Dad looked at that situation and he thought, I can’t do anything about the physics, but I can do something about Dylan. So he did.