1st piece - no title yet! Still evolving

Story created as part of the course - using a video we were shown take one of the characters & write about them.

It had been a busy morning, getting Katy ready for school always made him feel joyful. They both loved words, books & stories, which became a way of living their lives. This morning had been all about how a princess should look. Katy was going through a pink phase , & although he felt pink was just not his colour when she had pulled his now long hair back & put a pony tail band on it he had given in as he was at this moment her prince.

He had dropped her off at school, caught the bus & was on his way to work  having been in the forces gave him almost a delight to have a “timetable” for each day,  weekends were hardest. His job was still partly based in the military although having reached work & seen that Katy had put a pink pony tail band in his hair he was very glad that there was no Sargent Major to dress him down over it! It didn’t really go with his combat coloured jacket that had so many useful pockets, but it did keep his long hair away from his face. Very few parents spoke to him  he was one of 3 fathers who dropped off their children the other 2 had posh cars, wore suits & yet he walked, got on a bus & still wore his old battered camouflage jacket that had seen better days.

Graham had lost a lot on his last tour.  As a bomb diffuser with a dog his job was pretty scary, but so long as Sam was with him he never had any fear until that awful day 3 years ago.  Neither Sam or Graham saw what came at them it wasn’t a mine or an IED  - but an inbound missile. Graham had lost most of a leg removed from the knee, so wore a prosthetic made him walk with a bit of a tilt, but worse Sam his bomb sniffing dog who always travelled everywhere with him, had been killed on his last tour too. He felt the loss of Sam more than that of his leg - (that final tour he'd lost more than just a leg he'd lost his pal as well.)

He had left the army only 3 years ago They had spent so many years together but apart through her work (interior designer) & his (bomb destroyer with dog in the army) only to find Susan had already found a lump in her breast. Now 7 months had passed from that awful painful day when he lost the love of his life his wife Susan had battled hard with cancer over the last 18months. Sam, Susan, leg, Katy Graham had a lot of loss to cope with & he had to now bring up his little girl alone

His job was mundane in some ways, which is why he wore his tatty old jacket it also protected him just in case a dog tried to take him down. He trained the Police & army on dog handling,  & was a 1^st class dog handler. Not one dog ever misbehaved if he had control. Watching the new dog handlers try to coax their dogs to run, sit, bring or take down brought back memories of Sam. Perhaps there was a forces dog nearing retirement?

He was internally bereft an ex military man alone with a 6yr old daughter both still stunned by the death of the mother /wife His mother had come to try to help for 3 months but she was tired, & she had already done the bring up of children - now it was a once a month weekend visit to her & his Dad with Katy

Financially the house was paid off but it was only a 2bed semi. It had been decorated to Susan’s taste & looking at it now it seemed “wrong” he wasn’t into fancy wallpaper he preferred a painted wall plain easy to repair if needed. But he couldn’t make a change yet it was too soon.

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This is as far as I have got so far: 

End of “story” Points for later addition to “grow”

·        He had PTSD

·        They Only had Katy  Susan couldn’t have another child after Katy so it made Katy very special.

·        He didn’t know what to do for her, for Katy who was only 4yrs old when he got back from the hospital with his new prosthesis which scared her as he took it off at night  Susan had turned it around into a game, & now Katy often takes his prosthesis away from him, making him hop like a rabbit.

·        He had nightmares & Susan would gently cuddle him awake

·        Susan lived the nightmare he gave her all his love but it wasn’t enough to beat the cancer.

·        Money house paid off décor not quite his taste

·        Pictures of Susan all over the place nearly all of the laughing, either with Katy or graham or both.

·        Some from their wedding 12 years ago

·        Took a long time to conceive hence him seeming to be an “older Dad”  once had been asked if he was the Grandfather!

·        Clothing he needs new clothes as the clothes he has fitted him before he left the military  but he had put on weight recently having a gammy leg didn’t help.

·        Better clothes might make him more “acceptable” at the school gate, & now he had completed the medical for the DLA he knew he was going to get an automatic car soon how Katy would love that

·        Katy intelligent. Knows what to say when. Takes after her mother in running to her daddy when he has a nightmare as she can’t stand the noise of him crying could this make her something in her adult life?

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Author's Note

This is my first ever piece of fiction writing.

Reviews

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Looks like a good start for sure.