What is the time if the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the five?” “Five o’clock, far.”

With teary eyes she says, “Far, I miss mor!” “I know you do,” I tell her as I brush a strand of brown hair behind her ear. “It’s okay to miss mor, and you should miss mor, darling. But you should try to miss her in a nice way. You don’t have to miss her and get upset. You can miss her and be happy.”

FIVE O’CLOCK BY ALAN EMMINS 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 10

“Is this our car, far?” Liv asks, pointing out of the living room window at the Peugeot I have just hired. “Oh, that’s a really beautiful car, far.”

I laugh as I kiss Liv on the cheek. It is a shiny new car but it is a long way from beautiful. More like something a pharmaceutical salesman might drive.

We are going to Gitte’s parent’s summerhouse for a few days. When they heard I was off work this week and that I would not now be taking Liv to England as I had planned, they offered their summerhouse so that Liv and I could spend some time together.

“I told them you might think it a bit weird,” Gitte told me on the phone. “But it is ther…