Lovely little Princess given more spelling teasers this morning at the Wadi table. Whispered stabs at the words, bowing and twisting her head. Damnable English, truly. It was really, really hard. And she was stupid too, dumb. Princess knows what they say about her. Not smart at all; she cannot believe that. Once again reports of belittlement at school, a play- or classmate disparaging her father’s country. It was poor. Africa as a whole was poor. Princess knew that was not so. There was gold, silver and other stuff in Nigeria; the teacher said so too, backing up Princess. Not poor. Daddy had gone back to his country a couple of weeks ago and Princess missed him a lot. Six months before the frizzy-topped, flat-nosed, over-sized—she knows the word for it is “fat”—darling had asked a question at the Wadi table. A hard question she couldn’t figure herself. How do you be Malay?... That was hard alright, exceedingly difficult to answer. How indeed? Giving a possible three step process that would help her with the challenge, you might begin with…. Regularly picked on. Made to cry. Princess had no friends. Nobody likes me. Her Mummy was fat too, very fat. Like a lot of Malays, but extra in her case. She would die soon, Princess knew. Princess’ favourite doll was Vanilla—long slim limbs, high cheekbones, nice combed hair. From the newspaper advertisement on the Wadi table Princess recognised and liked Cinderella (was that how you spelt it!?), Elsa from Frozen (that was a film) and Ariel from Under the Sea (likely another film). Pretty Goldilocks angels all with wings, a tiara, and the third low cut velvet blue gown. Real princesses. They were the best...You remember the big tall Sixth-Former whose family ran the Milk Bar on Vernon Street wanting to ruffle a frizzy top, don’t you. Buying lollies he asked you to let him and once at school he told another big and tall Sixth-Former to feel the kid’s hair. The closest Spotswood got to an African back in the 60s. Greg McGorlick was dark-haired too, but straight like everyone else in his case. Correction: GARY McGorlick. Unforgettable. Had Gary been a masked Wog too, one of ours in fact? What kind of Scot was that? What was the tartan for the McGorlick clan? One of the biggest guys in school, football and basketball notable, who gave extra lollies in the bag.
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Frizz (updated Nov23)
Lovely little Princess given more spelling teasers this morning at the Wadi table. Whispered stabs at the words, bowing and twisting her head. Damnable English, truly. It was really, really hard. And she was stupid too, dumb. Princess knows what they say about her. Not smart at all; she cannot believe that. Once again reports of belittlement at school, a play- or classmate disparaging her father’s country. It was poor. Africa as a whole was poor. Princess knew that was not so. There was gold, silver and other stuff in Nigeria; the teacher said so too, backing up Princess. Not poor. Daddy had gone back to his country a couple of weeks ago and Princess missed him a lot. Six months before the frizzy-topped, flat-nosed, over-sized—she knows the word for it is “fat”—darling had asked a question at the Wadi table. A hard question she couldn’t figure herself. How do you be Malay?... That was hard alright, exceedingly difficult to answer. How indeed? Giving a possible three step process that would help her with the challenge, you might begin with…. Regularly picked on. Made to cry. Princess had no friends. Nobody likes me. Her Mummy was fat too, very fat. Like a lot of Malays, but extra in her case. She would die soon, Princess knew. Princess’ favourite doll was Vanilla—long slim limbs, high cheekbones, nice combed hair. From the newspaper advertisement on the Wadi table Princess recognised and liked Cinderella (was that how you spelt it!?), Elsa from Frozen (that was a film) and Ariel from Under the Sea (likely another film). Pretty Goldilocks angels all with wings, a tiara, and the third low cut velvet blue gown. Real princesses. They were the best...You remember the big tall Sixth-Former whose family ran the Milk Bar on Vernon Street wanting to ruffle a frizzy top, don’t you. Buying lollies he asked you to let him and once at school he told another big and tall Sixth-Former to feel the kid’s hair. The closest Spotswood got to an African back in the 60s. Greg McGorlick was dark-haired too, but straight like everyone else in his case. Correction: GARY McGorlick. Unforgettable. Had Gary been a masked Wog too, one of ours in fact? What kind of Scot was that? What was the tartan for the McGorlick clan? One of the biggest guys in school, football and basketball notable, who gave extra lollies in the bag.
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