But didn’t own a car.
Sometimes the bus
ran late.
Sometimes everything simply went wrong.
“He really is trying,” Julian said.
“But Theo still waits.”
“Yes.”
Theo sat beside the window every Thursday.
Watching the parking lot.
The first time Julian volunteered, Theo’s father didn’t arrive.
Julian sat down beside him.
“I didn’t know what to say. I’m an accountant. I have no idea how to talk to five-year-olds.”
“What did you say?”
“I asked what his dinosaur was called.”
“And?”
Julian smiled.
“He looked at me like I was an idiot and said T. rexes don’t have names because they’re too scary.”
I laughed.
“Then he told me I could be a dinosaur too. But I had to be the daddy one because I was big.”
“And you’ve been Daddy Dinosaur ever since.”
“Apparently.”
I told Julian what Charlie had said.
