Mr. Fernandez lay back on his couch, taking deep breaths of fresh, clean air that wasn’t tampered by his son’s smelly feet. His daughter Abigail came into the room and spotted him lying there, eyes closed, breathing in deeply. His eyelids darkened as a shadow fell over him, and he opened them to see Abigail standing smugly, hands on her hips, towering over him. “Why do I have the feeling that something went wrong?”
“Yeah,” her dad admitted in defeat. “Carmen and George were... not as good of a caretaker as you were.”
“Oh, really?” she asked, bending forward to eye her dad closer. He gulped as the sudden woosh of her speeding face sent a small breeze in his direction. He could smell the lotion she used on her skin - mandarin orange. “Does that mean you’re in need of a new babysitter, Daddy?”
He chuckled nervously. “I guess so,” he said, looking up to her hopefully.
“Well I’m awfully busy,” she declared, standing up straight again, her full size imposing on her dad. “I can go get Natalie if--”
“No no, that’s OK,” he blurted out, wary of giving his youngest a chance to look after him.
“Now now, Daddy,” Abi scolded, picking her father up between her thumb and pointer finger, bringing him up close to her face. “Don’t you remember what I said about interrupting me?”
He took a deep breath, staring into the bright, wide eyes of the 30 foot face before him. “Yeah. Sorry. But really Abi, I love you more than you’ll ever know, and I’d really appreciate it if you’d be my guardian again.”
She giggled at his solemness, barely thinking about their predicament from the day before. “Of course I will, I’m just messing with you. I’m glad you trust me again,” she said with a smile, and leaned forward to give her dad a kiss. There was no way to kiss him on the cheek or forehead, so he was instead enveloped in the pink plushiness of her lips, folding around him roughly as a slight sucking force was given. A loud--to Mr. Fernandez at least--plucking noise came about as she released the kiss, some of her lip gloss still sticking to her dad. “So, what do you wanna do then?” she asked. “It’s only 2, and I have no plans for the rest of the day, I can take you anywhere.”
“It doesn’t matter to me, honey. Whatever you feel like doing, hopefully something relaxing.”
“Something relaxing it is! I have just the idea then.”
She puts him down and turns to leave before he complains. “Wait, where are you going? Take me with you!”
Abigail sighed, and turned to pick her dad back up. “If you insist.” She cheerily bounced her way to the stairs and headed to her room. She placed him down on her desk, and instructed him to turn around.
“Wait, what? Why are you changing?” he asked, confused.
“Daddy, just do what I say,” she ordered. He obeyed much quicker this time. He heard the shuffle of clothing behind him, until suddenly: “OK, it’s safe.” He turned around, and a triangular piece of white fabric stared right back at him: her bikini bottoms. He quickly looked up at her to avoid staring for too long at his daughter’s lower area.
“Um, are we going to the pool again?”
“Even better: the beach!” she said excitedly, clasping her hands together.
“But you don’t have your license yet, Abi, how are you going to get us there?”
“I’m gonna drive. I know I don’t have my license, but I want to go to the beach, and you can’t take me. It’s a nice day out, there’s still hours of sun left, and I wanna work on my tan. I need to look after you, and you already said you wanted to spend the day with me, so we’re gonna go to the beach Daddy whether you like it or not!