A Day in the Life...

It’s both startling and astonishing how the weather behaves strangely nowadays. In the initial days of March, when summer was supposed to be ushered in gradually, the rains came pouring in, like an unexpected visitor whom one does not know exactly how to receive—-had it came for a bountiful afternoon chatter over bristling cups of coffee or had just got to stop by due to a vital intent? And now while May slowly loses its days to another month, the rains are hard to come by and the temperature rises even when night falls so deep into midnight, when it is supposed to be cool and breezy outside, and of course in the living room. Strange weather, really. So the ground are so dry nowadays that some afternoons ago I decided to weed out the backyard with unwanted growths, having no troubles whatsoever with muddy soil that get stuck in the slippers I wear. I had once popped the idea of landscaping the whole area with Bermuda grasses to my wife—-about a week ago—- but even I had sco...

THE OTHER DAY—-I am not sure anymore what specific day it was—-I was lying half-sleeping in the sofa while the TV was mighty on with cable news, and the day was early in the afternoon, just about the time when one could feel a pleasant silence enveloping the air all around, allowing the best moment for rest or relaxation. Aside from the sounds from the TV, I could hear the mingling voices of two of my youngest children, Bobi (who is just over four years old) and my baby girl Bebet (the youngest among four of my children and who is now over three years old, making her eligible for pre-school this coming June). Inyang—-one of the two house help that we have—-is often busy at this time of the day, washing dishes and the kitchen rags outside or sweeping the front yard—-so I have to set sight on the children as much as I can. Bobi took out a board game and I heard him coaxed Bebet towards playing it on the living room floor. It was a very simple board game, one that was branded after...