I had a cup of tea with my old man today. My treat. It's been a while since we last had a chat.

He walked in about 7 minutes late. He had called promptly on time to apologise that he'd be running late. He apologises again as he takes the mask off his face.

I got my time-keeping from pops. He keeps time, and so do I. We haven't seen each other in a little over a month, me and him. We live in the same town.

Small talk, how are you doing blah blah blah...The waiter takes our order. Pause.

I notice my dad has grown old. The lines on his forehead have become thicker and he cares even less about his fashion sense everyday. Retirement just has its way on men. In a way, that's probably his mark of freedom. Love that for him. It stopped bothering me a long time ago.