"Dad, can I have an ice-cream?"

 "Maybe when we get to the seaside. We'll be there soon enough'"

 "But dad, we haven't left yet - we're still in the garage. We have been the last 2 hours."

 "Oh. Oh Tom, I do wish your mother was still here, she was so much better than me with these things."

 "It's ok dad. It's not your fault. She's probably around the house somewhere. She won't have just vanished."

 "You're a good kid Tom. I wish that I'd been as as bright as you when I was your age."

 "Dad - you are my age. We're both 45."

 "Shit."

 Tom got out of the car and opened the garage door, flooding the damp car-hole with light. He looked at his watch - it was  2pm. He peered at dad. It was no good, his condition was definitely deteriorating. Of course he knew Pelman wasn't his  real father, but this was the arrangement that suited both of them best.

 "Come on dad. Let's get you inside. Banicek is on in 20 minutes."

 Pelman's face lit up like a powderkeg.

 "Findus Crispy Pancakes?"

 Tom smiled: "It's a deal. Come on, big guy."

 Pelman got out of the car and scuttled alongside Tom on all fours like a faithful terrier. Tom sometimes worried what the  neighbours thought of them, but they had no neighbours, so he soon put it from his mind.

 He looked up at the sky above, blank and terrifying. He dug his hands into his pocket and hurried inside, Pelman bolting in  through the man-sized catflap. Tom switched on the radio, the television and the stereo. He needed NOISE!