[ RF ] A man offers you a cigarette . You see the man , to your surprise , to be your Dad .

*Car broken down again. Going to have to walk it*. I watched as the bar slowly crawled across the top of my phone, sending the message. It slowly moved towards the 1 % battery icon and as it reached it the screen clicked off - dead battery. 
 
 `` Fuck!'' I hit my steering wheel, unsure if it had sent or if my wife would send the next couple of hours staring out into the snow wondering when I would be home. 
 
 I pulled on my gloves and pushed open my car door, the snow blasting it back immediately and making me heave it open with all my strength. This was a shitty, shitty day. 
 
 It had started poorly, the icy roads making it hard to get to the factory, but then fate had decided to make it worse as half the night shift had n't shown up and they'd decided to shut down. No fucking luck for the poor bastards who'd made it there, no fucking pay either. 
 
 I'd called Mary to let her know I was coming home and so she'd be expecting my in the next forty minutes or so. Now my phone had decided to die I had no idea if she knew that I would be late. Just what I needed, my pregnant wife worrying. 
 
 The roads were appalling and when my car had begun to stutter I had prayed to any deity out there to just get me home. No one was listening or maybe they did n't care and two minutes later, with an expensive sounding clunk the engine stopped and I coasted to a halt. Living in the cheap part of town meant being able to eat after paying rent but it also meant shitty quiet roads and I held out little hope of being able to hitch a lift. 
 
 My winter coat was too thin for this, the cold penetrated through easily but I kept moving fast to try to stay warm. After twenty minutes or so my toes were numb and my nose felt like it would fall off and another twenty minutes later I was having trouble even feeing my legs. 
 
 The small shelter on the side of the road offered little protection but I decided to rest a moment out of the wind anyway. At one time it looked to have been a bus shelter but no busses stopped there and the timetable holder had been ripped from the wall. 
 
 The snow eased a little and I wondered if pushing on was better than resting but a voice to my side surprised me. `` Pretty awful night.'' 
 
 I jumped and looked over, in the corner a man huddled in with a warm looking coat on. A burst of light lit the night as he touched the lighter to his cigarette and he held the pack towards me, the lighter still lit. 
 
 I could finally see his face clearly. `` Dad?'' I gasped in amazement. `` But... but you're...'' 
 
 `` Sure am kiddo but on a rough day like today I thought I'd come and see my boy.'' Cold forgotten I threw myself at him and buried my face in his shoulder. He laughed a little and hugged me tight, it was definitely him, the smell of his aftershave, the old sheepskin coat, that laugh. 
 
 At last I let him go and he was smiling his quirky smile, he still held the pack out and I took one. It had been years since we'd smoked together, years since he'd died. He held up the lighter and I took a drawer, the rough tobacco of his camels hit the back of my throat and it felt like old times. 
 
 `` Why are you here Dad? How is this possible?'' 
 
 He looked down and guilt flashed across his face. `` I'm sorry kiddo, I'm here to take you in.'' 
 
 `` What... what do you mean?'' 
 
 He sighed and turned fully to me. `` It's too cold out here and you did n't make it home.'' 
 
 I jumped up. `` I have to make it home Dad, what are you saying? Mary and the kids are there, she's *pregnant* again Dad!'' 
 
 He took another drawer of his cigarette and then dropped it and crushed it underfoot. `` She did n't get your message, in about an hour she's going to call the police worried and in about three hours they'll find you here.'' He gestured to where I had been sitting and I looked to see a huddled figure, already being slightly covered by the drifting snow. 
 
 `` I ca n't die! What will they do without me Dad? How will they survive?'' I stepped backwards, away from my body and he stood up and walked to me, putting his hand on my arm. 
 
 `` You tried son. That's all we get, one try. Some folk get a long time, others do n't. Your time is up.'' 
 
 I looked at him and then tried to look back at my body but the snow seemed to be getting worse. I could n't see anything now except him and the snow around us but it was n't cold. it was warm. 
 
 `` I'm sorry son.'' He pulled me close and held me tightly and the world faded away.
