‘So like his Father’ Copyright © 08 Cameron Hawke Smith

(Based on Odyssey Book 1, 328-364

It began with a party. They weren’t really
Torquill’s friends, you know,
city slickers, show-offs, too full of themselves by half,
not at all my type, on the make,
some of them probably after my money.

They had this ghastly DVD on, something
imported from the States,
all about the Iraq War, full of violence. Unnecessary.
Well, my husband was there of course,
senior officer.

I couldn’t bear it. NormalIy, I stay upstairs
in my room with the girls, but the noise
was appalling and
I couldn’t do with being reminded….

I put on a sensible outfit,
With that sort you never know,
I asked them to switch it off, after all
there were plenty of other films to chose from.
Why do people who make films
always have to wallow in blood and horror?
It was just too much for me to deal with -
being reminded of my husband, my dear husband.

I think they might have agreed, but it was
Torquill who stood up to me. He said
I had no right to blame the film-maker. He
wasn’t responsible for what happened in the war,
It was just the way it was.
People always wanted to see the latest stuff.
I needed to get a grip of myself.
He said ‘your husband wasn’t the only one
to die in Iraq’. He actually told me to go back
upstairs. In my own house. It was better for me
to stay up there with the girls
and do my embroidery. It was
a man’s business
to decide what should be done and he
was in charge here.

I must say I was hurt, I didn’t attempt a reply.
So I came back up with the girls, and cried and cried
for the thought of my husband, until at last
I began to feel a little proud of Torquill.
He was growing up.

So like his father.