I wrote another short story The Commentary

[Ruby92]

His father had watched every World Cup since 1966. He knew this because his father had told him so, repeatedly, in the specific tone of a man who considered this an achievement.

Now they sat together on the same sofa they had always sat on, in the same room, watching a match his father could no longer follow properly because the movements were too fast and the screen was too bright and he had stopped being able to remember which team was which colour.

But he still said yes whenever his son came over to watch.

At half time his son asked: do you know what the score is?

His father said: does it matter?

His son thought about that for the whole of the second half.

[Jeffy]

Does it matter is the line this whole story builds toward and it lands perfectly. The question completely reframes everything that came before it

[Mia86]

The specific tone of a man who considered this an achievement is a very precise portrait of a certain kind of father in a single clause

[Cass82]

He still said yes whenever his son came over to watch is the emotional core of the story. Everything else is detail around that one fact