BABBLES AND THE SHOELACE

My Babbles has the nasty knack

Of keeping monkeys on his back.

There’s Sarah, Amy, Ben and Justin,

Friends forever, quite high falutin’

But of my tale, I should cut the slack.

‘Coz it’s often said, I lack the knack.

Of uttering words, that should at least sound right,

When situations need some light.

Arrrghhhhhh!

And my voice, they say, is shrill and grating.

Now, mind you, folks, I ain't complainin’,

But for you to get a better picture,

I must assure you, it ain’t a lecture.

So stay by me, you won’t be taken aback.

Here when I go ‘bout this guy named Jac.

He’s by far,

The suavest of gentlemen, quite becoming.

Clean shaven, cleft chin, hair thick n’ curlin’.

With his dog, he lived a life, content,

Nothing breaking, and no one's yelling.

But every morning, around half past nine,

His brekkie done, it’s to the office then.

This Jac would grunt; and then he’d mourn.

Like in the dumps, look sad ‘n forlorn.

There was a pattern to the sounds he made,

First a groan, quite even-paced;

Then soft complaining to the doggie face,

Who sits up close, canine stoic, watching him,

To hear his story, to feel his pain,

Empathy being Babbles’ middle name.

What’s the fuss? I hear you ask!

Wait! I’ll tell ya, and right soon.

You gotta have patience, that’s a virtue, puulease.

It’s the daily agony of tying his shoelace.

Awww Pah! Going to work?

Every morning I hear you cry.

“I hate tying shoelaces.”

It’s become your morning woof.

Pah! I’m sorry I can’t help you, not a whit.

That Mama ain’t doing a thing, not one bit.

Behind the pillar, her nose protrudin’

She stands aside, jes watchin’.

Why do things get knotted, Pah?

LISTEN NOW.

And hold your peace.

When you return from golf or office,

You gotta ‘UNLACE WITH HEED.’

But everyday, with tearing speed,

You pull, you tug, you jerk, you wrench!

Sure it’s gonna be twisted through.

Listen to mama. She speaks true..

Here you can have my favorite lioncub,

Of my bandars, choose Ben or Justin.

That should make you happy, Pah!

He’ll do the cheerin’ and get you smilin’.

We always gotta share our stuff.

That’s how mama shows her love.

Your story ain’t new, Pah.

Take a look at the world right now.

Folks do things in haste, then repent at leisure .

These silly folks out there,

Always in such a hurry to party.

Are they masked? No way.

Breathing loud through gaps in tooth,

Coughing, sneezing...all forsooth,

And Covid shoots up agine, in leaps and poofs.

****

Finally Jac’s done his shoes,

He stands up straight, then wiggles his toes.

His morning mission, fait accompli,

To the downtown office, there he goes.

Babbles wags his tail, a happy bark,

His bandars, still perched on his back,

He says: “There you go!

Your choolace sure is lookin’ good!

Every breath you take, every choolace you tie,

Whether tight or loose,

‘Tis a gift of GRACE!

Coz unlike some, YOU’VE AT LEAST GOT SHOES.”

Jac, now starts his car, and drives away!

Babbles woofs his goodbye, as if to say.

“You are a goo’ boiee!

Just as mama tells me.”

Now Pahh, try to show your smiley face.

Sure makes mama, pleased as pickles.

Hey wait, take your wallet, there’s your keys.

AND….

Don’t forget your mask, Pah!

See ya’ at noon! Tout de suite.

***********

TIME AFTER PAH LEAVES

Mama is now free to wander,

To ponder on the quirks and slings of life,

And be THE WRITER.

‘Twas her favorite pastime, in case you wonder.

And so she penned her thoughts, alone in her corner.

The Fall of Man (the title of her story)

Or

Jac’s Ladder

The story, here and now, goes this way.

Pretty prosaic, if I may say so. Ever since the woman enticed

Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, it’s been going downhill for her.

Women have this extraordinary talent to multitask. At the very

onset of Creation, when tempted by the evil one, Lady Eve

visualized power, knowledge, beauty, wisdom all at once in her

head along with the delicious forbidden fruit.

As delicious as a stolen kiss.

But Adam? He forgot everything he had been told and straightway chomped at the fruit for all its worth. He had to show his girl, he was not chicken.

It tasted heady. That’s when all the trouble started. Expelled forever from his first beautiful home. This made him always wary of her.

And so it was one fine evening, when Elia spotted her man carrying the tall ladder to the live oak tree, inclining it on a long sturdy branch. Then, with the finesse of Spiderman, he climbed to the very top rung. When comfortably positioned, he started sawing at the very same branch with a fury hitherto unknown, little realizing the danger of the falling ladder, and him along with it.

What could the loving wife do now? She hissed first and then, she laughed. Jac was visibly annoyed and hacked a bit harder. He wanted some quiet time where he could be useful around the home. Some yard work was just up his alley- totally satisfying.

Babbles was watching. He was the Voice of Reason. No monkey business with him.

“Eliamama, just give it. Give him his peace and quiet. But for heaven’s sake move out from below.”

But Eliama wouldn’t budge; but gave him the look, the eye- by

which many women have fallen into the pit. She stood there

watching, foreseeing the mess she had to clean up.

All the fallen leaves and broken branches. Her serve.

Eli mused as she penned her wise tale.

It’s the metaphorical ladder to wisdom in the wrong hands.

For him.

It’s looking upwards, arms akimbo, sans surrendering her

will. For her.

Finally it’s all about choice,

On how to relinquish.

On how to mend our ways,

For the battle to end.

Before it sadly ends for either,

In a wooden box,

Six feet below, in the nether.

It’s in our hands,

So right NOW,

Praise ye the Lord,

Giving thanks everyday!

Let’s make the journey,

A rip roaring fun ride.

To forgive is divine,

To err is humine.

**************

Elia was done for the day. She closed her book and retired for

the night.

Day the Second.

She had her next tale to scribe. For posterity.

Wonder Watch to the Rescue

Another lovely day was drawing to a close.

Jac decided he wanted to eat a healthy omelette for dinner.

It wasn't the best time to ask, for wife Elia was going tap tap

tap on her phone.

For it was her creative hour.

Not even a storm would dare disturb the rapid flow of the

stream of consciousness onto the screen.

So he went outside to the Moringa tree in the garden and

plucked a tender green branch full of luscious leaves.

“I’m going to make a Moringa omelette,” he said.

“With freshly hand-plucked red chili 🌶”

“Ahhh, good,” came her disinterested reply. “That should taste

good.”

Elia had absolutely NO desire to pretend to jump up from the

sofa and say, “Oh Sweet, I will make the omelette. You just go

stretch out on the sofa and read the paper. Like all men do.”

This was a home with equal rights to everything.

Stripping the tender leaves off those delicate twigs wasn’t her

thing this late evening. It was his idea, and he could have all of it.

Besides all her cooking was done, executed, finito, kaput during

the morning hours.

Now Moringa was the present craze in the US as the new health

food and it cost a hefty sum for its dried powder. Just as they

brandmarket turmeric, cinnamon, chai, and cumin as exotic life

savers.

From a side glance, Elia could see him shaking the washed

leaves vigorously using a towel.

Shake, shake shake...Every dull kitchen routine was turned into

an intense bodybuilding workout.

Never mind the water spray now falling on bewildered Babbles,

and on the floor. He shook the leaves really hard.

Everything Jac did, is done in extremes, let me warn you.

And it was at that very moment, his Apple watch came alive.

The excess shaking had sent an alarm button.

He got a notification.

From his watch.

"Looks like you've had a fall. Should I call an emergency?"

Now here you have a 'watch' pretending it’s a caring wife.

Should Wife#1 Please stand up feeling a twinge of envy?

Please stand up? Like Slim Shady.

The options came up on the watch for Jac to click on.

‘No, I'm okay.’

‘Yes, please call at once.’

‘Yes, I've had a small fall. But I'm okay.’

Jac pressed the first option. ‘I’m okay.’

He felt a bit embarrassed that Apple 🍎 was monitoring his

movements in the kitchen. What if it is transmitted to

Cupertino, and flashed on a big screen?

Nowhere is a good man free.

It’s surely not macho making Moringa omelette late evening,

while the wife is lolling on the sofa.

Nevertheless the task was completed with a flair. The half

stripped Moringa branch now stood tall in a vase.

Dinner was served.

The omelette was delicious. 👏🏽👏🏽 There was plenty for the next

day. Moringa fritters as an evening snack.

Hey! it’s Sept 2021-

Talk about more survival with God’s unending mercy.

Jac and Elia were returning after a PCR testing for international

travel. The inordinate delay at the clinic taught them to have

patience like not one, but many monuments. And a truck

rammed into their car from behind just when Jac was

negotiating the free way.

The young truck driver, Logan apologized a lot, the cop Mike

who showed up pretty quick, smiled a lot, and Jac and Elia

grinned a lot.

Her back hurt a bit from the impact but she chose to ignore it.

With Jac, everything had to be ignored.

Except when it came to tying shoelaces.

Elia made sure she did a stretch and raise her hands to the sky,

Shouting to the sky above–A Hallelujah! Thank you Lord for all

your love.

But sad to say, the next day, they missed their flight.

Much to Babbles’ delight.

His PCR sample, from the tube, had spilt,

And so the test was incomplete.

But even that did not faze mama one bit.

Still she raised her hallelujah!

Feeling in her heart a new restoration,

One like she had never felt before.

So at 5 pm when Jac got back,

His shoelace stripped, his shoes tucked off,

Babbles watched him, as quiet as dog,

Elia poured him some hot cinnamon chai, from her grandma's

classy tea pot.

No guessing what she served as lil’ bits.

You may ask as your last plea,

What did she have for evening tea?

(1815)