The Cool Daddyʹs Shop

How often have children wished for a different mother or father when a parent is being particularly annoying? Young Emily is no different. Her daddy can be so aggravating – as when he starts singing aloud in the middle of the street, for example. But in this fantastic story, daddies can be replaced when they become too irritating. There is a “daddy shop,” which only opens in the middle of the night, and natural daddies can be replaced with an assortment of new daddies. When Emily’s father suggests that she replace him with a daddy more to her liking, she eagerly agrees. Emily brings home a new daddy, leaving her father at the shop. Ironically, no one in the family notices that there is a new father until he asks for herring, something Emily’s real father never eats. When Emily’s mother realizes that a switch has taken place, she demands that the girl get back her real dad. However, Emily’s dad is not in stock – someone else has taken him – so she takes a different one. In a surrealistic series of events Emily tries various fathers, ultimately coming to the realization that no one could ever replace her real dad, whatever his faults.