Don't forget, dad. I won't, I say.

(I might, I think. And wouldn't

Your mother just love that).

So I set the alarm early with multiple

Reminders on phone and fridge

Already logged in ready for

Tickets to go on sale.

Floor, front row

Middle

Not cheap

NOT cheap but

The look on your face

When you see I did it and

Your love comes flooding back

And you see that I really went and did it

Even in this economy and the inflation and

And the Cat

Whose slinky shadow

Forever darkens my days

Knocks over my coffee

All over the keyboard

Her glance sleepy,

Casual, cruel,

Evil.

The screen freezes.

So do I.

By the time

The phone logs in

All the tickets are gone.

The damned Cat

The damned Cat

Licks her front paw

And curls up at my feet.

It's not her fault. (Which doesn't

Mean I don't want to hurl her into the Sun).

Instead I scratch her ear. She's all I have even

With all the scratched upholstery and broken crockery -

Her mild disdain better than everyone else's constant disappointment.

I look at the frozen screen, thinking

About the phone call to explain

The tears, the I told-you-sos.

The Cat purrs as I think

Maybe just maybe -

Maybe next year.