Stuck in Traffic/Dilemma/The Weekend

I woke up in the morning with a stiff cock in an empty bed. I had to piss in the sink, because I couldn't get it to point down into the toilet bowl. I had a wash and brush my hair, then went in search of Ellie. I wondered what she was wearing at first, then realise she must have rooted out one of my T-shirts. She was sitting cross legged on the couch watching some cartoon on TV, so I put some toast in the toaster and asked her if she wanted cornflakes or cornflakes for breakfast. She settled for cornflakes.

After breakfast I gave her my phone and told her she needed to ring her mother. She said she didn't know the number, but I still had the piece of paper with it written on. Mum was obviously up and about, but I guess babies don't let you lay in. Of course I only heard one side of the conversation:

"Hi Mum."

"Fine."

"Yeah, cornflakes, yuck."

"John."

"Yeah, he's much nicer that horrid man you bought home last week." "Like a little house on wheels, in the middle of a field." "I dunno, you want to speak to him?"

She handed the phone to me. There were lots of questions I'd like to have asked, like why did she pimped out her eight-year-old daughter for a start, but it was mostly just mundane stuff: "yes Ellie was fine. No, she was no trouble. Yes I could keep her until tomorrow." She gave me her address and I promised to deliver Ellie home in time for Sunday lunch.

I get the phone back to Ellie. "Yeah fine. Love you too," she said before hanging up.

I found Ellie's rather crumpled dress and gave it to her. "Go and get washed and dressed, we need to go shopping," I said. "You need something else to wear and I need groceries. In the supermarket we went upstairs to the children's clothes section. Ellie hunted through dresses while I picked her out some panties with "DADDY'S GIRL" on the back and a heart just above the crotch on the front. She picked out a yellow sundress with a kind of elasticated top and a short flared skirt. I gave her one of the pairs of knickers she went off into the changing room to try them on.

"What would you like for dinner," I asked as we pushed the trolley up and down the aisles. She was twirling around in her new dress, but she'd seen the barbecue stored by the van, so I bought a steak for myself and some burgers and sausages.

Going shopping with a little girl was a novel experience for me. Ellie was a pretty, vivacious girl and I noticed that she attracted admiring glances from some of the men in the store, especially when she decided to do a handstand and show off her new knickers. We had lunch in the cafeteria. I had a pasty and she had a burger and chips in spite of my pointing out that we have burgers for dinner. When we got back to the van, I poured myself a beer and Ellie some of the fizzy pop we just bought and we sat outside in the sun.

"Do you really like me," Ellie said out of the blue.

"Of course I do."

"I know you like doing the sex stuff, but do you really like me?" I was going to answer but then she carried on. "Some of the men who do sex with me don't really like me, it's hard to explain but they start off all friendly and saying nice things, but then, after they finish, it's as if I don't exist any more. The worst ones are the ones who like to squirt all over my face. I hate that, when it gets in my hair and my eyes. I don't mind swallowing it…"

"Come and sit on my lap," I said, holding out a hand. She took my hand, swung around and ended up sitting sideways across my lap with her head against my chest. I put my arms around her and gave her a gentle hug. "I never met a girl like you before," I said. "That first time in the truck, that was just lust, and maybe a few times after that. But now I've got to know you better, well, if I had a daughter I wanted to be just like you." I paused for a moment. "Except the having sex with strange men thing."

• The Weekend