A different ‘once upon a time’

A wolf, who wanted to feast on them, blew the straw house down but the piglet ran to the house made of sticks. The wolf blew the house down and the piglets ran to the brick house, where they were all safe, because the wolf couldn’t blow this strong house down.

“Isn’t she cute!” exclaimed the lovely Snapdragon, which is a remark you would expect of a mother.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for a four-year-old to make political analogies,” I answered.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “Or are you just being an idiot again?”

“It’s not what I mean,” I said. “It’s what she means. It’s as clear as daylight. The ANC government is the wolf, who wants to feast on us, the citizens and taxpayers of SA.

“They want to expropriate our property and, as usual, it will be the poor and the middle class – which is a form of poverty nowadays – who will suffer the most; those of us who live in informal settlements, in humble homes made of corrugated metal sheets and reclaimed planks.

“As always, the rich will be fine and we will have to look at them to save us. Even if it means they exploit us in the process.”

“Yes,” said Snapdragon. “An idiot, as always. I’m not surprised.”

“What else could she mean?” I asked. “It’s the kind of political stories she loves. You should have heard the story she told me last week.”

Cyril was a little girl who, for some unexplained reason, wore a red EFF hoodie. He tried to deliver services to the citizens of the country but on the way he was confronted by Ace. And she speculated that we desperately need a “lumberjack” to save us from corruption and looting.”

“That’s not what the story is about!” shouted Snapdragon.

“Of course it is,” I mansplained to her. “It’s unmistakable. Cyril even told Ace: ‘My, what a big mouth you have!’”

Snapdragon said something which I can’t repeat here and stormed out of the room.

Please keep me in your prayers this weekend. It’s not always easy to be married to a beautiful, truly eccentric woman.