Moncton — Hub City man Cameron Smith, 38, is allegedly too pressed for time to sign his 9-year-old daughter’s school permission slip. Miraculously, though, the man is always, always able to make the trip to NB Liquor just seconds before it closes for the night.
Smith’s daughter, Riley, said she asked her father repeatedly to simply mark an “X” on the piece of paper that would allow her to go skating with her classmates on Friday. “I asked him to sign the paper,” recounted the child, “and he said, ‘Whatever happened to forging?’ I don’t know what that means. I just want to go skating!”
Our reporter spoke with a mildly intoxicated Smith as he was putting on his boots Wednesday evening, getting ready to go to the liquor store.
“Look, I’m a busy guy,” he said while struggling with the laces. “So I don’t sign every single piece of paper Riley brings home. So what? Does that make me a bad dad? Where the hell is my wallet?!”
A Manatee reporter followed Smith as he stumbled into ANBL just seconds after 8:59 p.m. Several employees rolled their eyes as the man bee-lined toward the beer cooler.
“That guy is here every night, getting his 2-4 of Alpine,” said employee Jeff Norton. “He brings the exact right amount of change in his pocket so he can just throw it at the cashier as he’s leaving at 9 on the dot. It’s kind of funny, really. He never has his I.D. but we don’t question him because he looks like he’s around 50 and we just want to close up for the night.”
Smith said that if he gets the time between beers tonight, he will consider signing the permission slip.
“But she’d better not expect it every time. She needs to learn that the world doesn’t revolve around her.”