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Bringing up SUNSHINE
SUNSHINE is not yet 16 months old, and has only five teeth. He has recently learnt how to walk, in spite of innumerable falls, tries to show off this newly acquired skill to all and sundry. His vocabulary is very limited. "Mum-mum" is anything that is edible. "Kaar" is any motorised vehicle. From where Sunshine lives, the road is only visible through a small gap between two houses in front of his own. Using a combination of "kaar" and sign language, he tells his dad, Joao Anton de Marna, to take him to the road. Dad, as you may have guessed, is unemployed like so many other Goans. He is glad for something to do, and for once, he does not mind being ordered around. A minute or two later, father and son are on the sidewalk watching the traffic race along the CHOGM road. Dad is bored stiff, but Sunshine is certainly not stiff as a board. He is one blur of motion. The arms are waving about and sometimes wind-milling. The legs are bicycling as if Sunshine was trying to keep up with the turning wheels on the road. The head moves, as if it's mounted on gimbals. As for the rest of his body, Dad is struggling to keep it in his possession. Just then, the local scribe gets off a bus and walks up to the duo. "Hello Sunshine," he says to Junior, then to Dad, "Are you lot waiting for a bus or what?" No Sir, it was Sunshine's idea. He is watching the world go by. He is probably wondering where all the traffic comes from, and where it all goes. And why both ways? I am just the victim of his curiosity. Unlike the cat which became a victim of its own curiosity. At this, the scribe patted Joao Anton de Marna on his back and said, "You know Joao, you have just given me an idea for a middle in one of the local dailies. So I'll be off and start writing it. And seeing how you are unemployed, I will split the cheque the editor sends me with you. How about that?" With that he walked away. Joao Anton de Marna was skeptical. He had heard this kind of talk before. All he had got so far were promises of a job and commiserations for his unemployed status. But, this business of splitting a cheque was a new one on him. Strangely, it reminded him of his Grammar teacher at school. She used to often rap him on his knuckles for splitting his infinitives. A few drops of rain on his head and Sunshine's yells brought him back to the present. Sunshine may not be very articulate but that does not mean he is dumb! He knows what those first drops mean. He was yelling and pointing at his home. As father and son entered their home, the rain came down in earnest. Normally, this would have given Joao Anton the blues. But for some reason, he remembered how his dad always said, "Son, it takes both the rain and the sunshine to make a rainbow." Sunshine had fallen asleep, so his dad put him down and lay down next to him. Soon Joao Anton de Marna was fast asleep and he dreamt. The sky was clearing and there was a rainbow across it. From horizon to horizon. And sure, as God made little children, there was, at each end of the rainbow, a post-dated cheque. |
Here
is the return of Anthony J Simoes