So when the phone rang on one cold December morning, I was in my bedroom. Mum answered it in the kitchen, and I casually made my way into the living room. I made sure my brother was too busy building an army of little plastic soldiers and Dad was cooking, TV on at the same time. Perfect. I sat down next to the phone and masterfully followed step two and three.
“…coming down over the holidays,” said the strangely familiar male voice on the other side of the line.
Who was this? Definitely a grown man, of which I knew a few—mostly friends of Mum’s and Dad’s. Or family. Had I seen him before? Maybe he visited us when I wasn’t home?
“Okay,” Mum stated dryly.
“Can I come and see him?”
“Sure you can!”
“I thought I could maybe take him round to Jane’s and make a day out of it, if that’s cool?”
“Well, why don’t you ask him? He’s old enough to tell you if he wants to.”
“Yeah…sure…”
There was a hesitation in his voice.
“Janny, sweetie! Come over here!”
Called Mum out loud whilst holding the phone away from her.
I froze.
This wasn’t one of those nine-times-out-of-ten conversations. They were talking about me. This man wanted to come see me, take me to Jane’s and make a day out of it. Someone’s planning on making an appearance soon and my presence is apparently required.
I’m in the spotlight and I don’t like it.
Anxious all of a sudden, I still managed step five impeccably.
“Where is he? Janny! Someone’s on the phone for you!”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to speak to this man, but for some reason he wanted to speak to me. Why though? To say Merry Christmas? Happy New Year? My birthday was coming up soon so maybe he wanted to get in super early to wish me all the best. Maybe school? What if it was one of my friend’s dads? I had a hard time matching the voice with a face. Yet, it didn’t feel completely new.
“Where’s the boy?! He was here a second ago. JANNY!”
Mum was relentless. They usually are.
“Mum…”
“There you are! Someone is asking for you.”
It’s your dad.
Quiet Paragraphs 
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