I remember my fathers smile, he was always smiling. He use to say to me "keep smiling Jacob, keep smiling even if you haven't got anything to smile about, so when people try and make you sad, they'll see you smiling, and then they'll see that nothing can get you down". My father was always saying things like that, wise words and witty phrases. I use to ask him how he always knew what to say, how he always knew what to say to keep me smiling, keep my happy. I remember one time when I was nine I begged and begged him to tell me how he was so smart, but he just laughed and smiled and told me that he wasn't anymore special than any other dad. But I didn't believe him.
Back then my farther was my superhero, while other kids dressed up in spider man and batman costumes I always begged my mother to by me daddy's clothes so I could look just like him. She use to say to me "what about the superman shirts and the wolverine mask, that's what all the other boys your age are Waring, your gonna feel left out" she always sad things like this with a puzzled face. I guess she didn't understand how a boy of nine would wanna wear plain t-shirts and navy blue jeans all year round. But dad knew, and he didn't mind. Now I look back I guess he must of liked having his own miniature size him, dressed up just like him, with the same bald fade hair cut, trying to walk just like him. But I loved it, I wanted everyone to know that he was my farther with just one look.
Not only was my farther the greatest man alive, he was also in the army. He was a solider, but in the mind of a nine year old boy who worshiped his farther, the meaning of solider took on a whole new meaning. To me him being a solider carried with it other properties, he wasn't just a solider but a super solider, just like those guys I saw in them movies when I was younger. In my mind my farther ran through land minds, killed a hundred bad guys with his pocket knife and captured the bad guys leader single handed. Yeah, to me he could kill Arnie and Rambo with his glare, my farther was the greatest.
My favorite thing to do with my farther was get ice cream, I loved ice cream, especially when my farther was with me eating along side me. I always got what he ordered, which was usually chocalateflavoured ice cream with cookie bits in it, which also happened to be my favorite anyway. I guess looking back now he probably ordered it for my benefit, he probably didn't even like it, but that's the sort of man my father was, he would put my needs before his. But I'll never forget that Monday when we went to mama Bertha's ice cream store. It was a Monday that would ruin all Mondays for the rest of my life, it was a Monday that changed my life. I've never eat ice cream since that Monday, I tried once years ago, but i couldn't stomach it, all the memories of that day came back and I vomited it out.I cant even eat cookies now without remembering that Monday.
It started like any other trips to mama Bertha's. Since dad wasn't on tour with the army for another three months he spent allot of his time at home, usually waiting for mum to come home from work or waiting for school to finish so he could pick me up and we would do something, which usually involved ice cream, the cinema, the park, or a trip to town. But this day he decided to take me to mama Bertha's for ice cream. He was at the gate at three o'clock and I came out about three minutes later to find him waiting for me with a smile. I remember how happy I was to see him that they. I ran as fast as I could and leaped into his arms, he hugged me for a while and put me back down on my feet. "you wanna go to mama's for some ice cream" he said happily with his hand scruff up my hair. Of course he already knew the answer to this, but he waited patiently for my "yes". And of we went, down that road, the road that I took my last steps of childhood, never to see again.
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