The Cover Age, Chapter 7

Three months earlier.

Clive is sitting at home, listening to the radio. His daughter is playing in the other room. He knows he should be in there with her, that this is precious time, but this is the way it is, as it has been since she was born, before that, even. It’s the weekend, one of her sporadic visits, since the divorce. It’s all scheduled out, every visit, as mandated by the court, and yet Clive can’t help but view the results as random. He has trouble concentrating, maybe. He still can’t believe any of it really happened, that he has a daughter, that he had a wife, that it has all come to this.

It’s still early. The radio show is between songs, the hosts are bantering. Clive always wondered if he could have gotten a job like that. Never seemed very hard, and clearly the results aren’t asking for much. But he was never good around other people, or didn’t think he was. Even as a disembodied voice, the problem would be the same. It’s all a lot of babbling, the kind you can pay attention to and tune out at the same time. He sits immobile, frozen. He hears his daughter, in the other room, better than the radio that’s right next to him.

They’re talking about cruise ships. Fantastic, he thinks, something I’ll never get to experience. Apparently they’ve been quarantined? Okay, well that makes them mildly interesting. He pays attention, just a little more. His daughter, four years old, sounds like she’s climbing something. He should probably look into that, make sure she’s safe.

He doesn’t get up. Is this quarantine business a big deal? Should he be worried? The hosts don’t seem to think so. Just another blandly amusing topic for them.

He hears a crashing sound. He rushes to the other room, finds his daughter on her back, and the minute she sees him, she cracks a huge smile and starts laughing, and he joins right in. He’s probably as bad a father as he’s been told, repeatedly, explicitly and otherwise, but he doesn’t care. His daughter gets back up and he asks what she was trying to do, so she shows him, and tries to do it again, and he doesn’t stop her. Of course he doesn’t. Why would he?