I was tired from the road trip, and drifted off to sleep pretty quickly. I awoke the following morning to the aroma of food cooking, and it smelled pretty good. I rolled out of bed and headed downstairs, to discover Katie busy at the stove, frying eggs and seasoned potatoes. She was wearing my apron, but nothing else. She noticed me and smiled.
"Good morning, Daddy!" she exclaimed. "I'm making breakfast for you. I was just about to come and get you up."
I glanced at my watch, and saw it was only 7:00 o'clock. I would have much rather gotten a few more minutes of comfy-cozy bedtime, but she was making a nice gesture, and it was our first real time together in her new house.
"Good morning, Pumpkin." I replied.
"I hope you don't mind," she continued, "but I went through the cabinets to see what I could make, and got some more spuds from the cellar too."
"No, that's fine." I said with a nod. "It smells good, but I don't typically eat breakfast. I should have told you that, but I wasn't expecting you to make me anything. I'm sorry, Katie."
A look of disappointment crossed my daughter's face.
"You mean... you don't want anything?" she inquired. "I made this especially for you, Daddy."
"Thank you, Sweetheart." I responded. "I will have something to eat. I just said I usually don't eat breakfast. I won't be able to eat much though, so why don't we share it?"
"Oh that sounds great, Daddy!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together and nodding happily at the suggestion.
She returned to flipping the eggs and potatoes in the frying pan, as I got a couple of plates from an overhead cabinet. She slipped a generous portion of fried potatoes and an egg onto my plate, and put the rest on hers. She removed the apron, much to my delight, and we sat down at the small table on one end of the kitchen as she smiled broadly at me while I began eating.
"How is it Daddy?" she inquired eagerly.
"It's very good, Pumpkin." I answered truthfully. "Eggs are eggs I suppose, but these fried potatoes are really good. What did you put on them?"
"Some lemon seasoning, poultry seasoning, and some basil." she explained. "I found some coconut oil in the cupboard and used that. I couldn't find any bacon to make grease to fry everything in."
"I don't eat it." I explained. "This is delicious though, thank you."
Katie beamed.
"Only the best for my daddy!" she gushed. "I'm so happy to get to live with you. I know what kind of a person my mother is, and the people she brought around the house, but I was stuck there, you know? I didn't have any other place to go, except someplace just like it or even worse.
"I found that if I was 'nice' to her boyfriends, they'd treat me better. Sometimes they'd even give me money, but I know it was all because they thought I was stupid and could take advantage of me. It worked though, so I went along with it. Mom's an idiot, so I guess they thought I was too. They were nice enough, but only because they thought I was a slut. You're different though. I haven't been around someone like you before. You don't do nice things just to get sex in return."
"But you're not." I guessed, as I finished the food on my plate.
"What, stupid or a slut?" she queried.
"Either." I said with a shrug. "Take your pick."
"I did sleep with a lot of them," she admitted, "so I guess I am a bit of a slut, but I'm not stupid. Henning is a small town, and there aren't a lot of people I could hang out with. I just don't know how to act around people, and I guess I don't have a lot of common sense. Mom took me out of school in the 8th grade, so that's why everyone thinks I'm dumb. I've spent countless hours online though; watching videos and learning all kinds of things they wouldn't have taught in school anyways, but there's a lot of simple stuff I don't know, like what podunk meant."
"You're just slow." I explained. "Maybe even a bit childish, but there's a difference. You did learn things early on, so I think you can catch up. I'll work with you."
"Thanks, Daddy." she said with a smile. "I'd like to learn how you grow your own food and stuff. I'm a good cook - at least I'd like to think I am - but I'd love to be able to pull something out of the ground that I cared for, and fix it for dinner, you know?"
"Oh yes." I replied. "I like having a garden. I'll teach you. I have a gardening channel online. Would you like to be part of it?"
Katie's eyes widened.
"Really? You mean it?" she asked excitedly. "I'd love to, Daddy! I don't know how to use a camera though. Or how to act in front of a camera."
"I'll teach you." I promised. "Using the camera is pretty easy; there's s a few rules to follow, like not jerking it around and stuff, but it's pretty easy. As for being on camera, just be yourself. Don't try and act or anything. Just be natural. As you get more comfortable being in front of a camera, you can start using different facial expressions. We'll do some test runs and I'll let you know if you're hamming it up or anything.
"Just remember, don't say, um or uh. If you need to gather your thoughts, just pause for a moment. It will do two things. First, it will let you regain your composure, and second, it will let what you just said sink in. That's why preachers are so effective in delivering their sermons.
"Next, don't ask a statement. Don't say something like, 'So I decided to go for a walk? And I saw the most amazing thing? A hoop snake in the path in front of me? And it rolled up and came at me?' You get the picture? Never raise your pitch at the end of a sentence unless you are actually asking a question. It's really annoying. Just state things, okay?"
"Okay." Katie responded.
"Finally, don't say 'right' in place of 'okay,' and don't respond to a question with 'yeah' or 'sure,' before you give your response or explanation."
"How'd you learn all of this, Daddy?" she inquired, as she stood up and took the plates over to the sink.
Just then, she happened to look out the window.
"Hey Daddy, there's a fox outside!" she called out, completely forgetting about her curiosity regarding my knowledge of public speaking.
"That's Ralph." I replied casually. "He probably wants some food. The cats must have eaten it all while I was away. I'll go look."
"Aren't you going to put some pants on first?" she asked.