Dilip stretched himself awake after what seemed like an eternity of sleep. He had woken-up alone which, in itself, was unusual these days. London was a fatigue, he decided. Perhaps it was time to return to Bradford, but would he be welcomed back? Perhaps not, given how he left. He would think on it.
He had been drinking last night with his good friend, Abdel. Together, they had wasted lots of money on over-priced, poor quality food and drink in the West End, before separating, Abdel back to Peckham, and he back to Muswell Hill. It had been pleasant enough, but the sex, drugs and alcohol lifestyle was beginning to wear him down. Twenty-eight years old, and he had become everything that his parents would consider disgraceful. Whereas previously he had totally disregarded what they thought, he was now beginning to think that they had a point.
The phone rang, and Jasmine was on the other end, wishing to meet up later for afternoon tea. Well, that was novel, so he agreed. The idea of tea was quite appealing, not Jasmine’s usual offer of destroying line after line of cocaine, and then each other in bed. Tea. He had best get moving as he had a lot to get through before then.
By the time he sat down with her, he had already guessed that maybe she was pregnant, so it came as no great surprise when she told him exactly that, and that he was the father. That came as no surprise either. What really did surprise him was that she wanted to keep the baby, and even more so, that he found he wanted her to do so, and wanted to be a dad.
They sat in silence for a while before they started stumbling over words like losing all the drugs and getting married and where to live. In the space of a few hours, Dilip found that he had completely changed the course of his life. He felt something that he had not felt for a very long time. He was happy.
Fraser
August 2023