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2 Small Friends Marvelous Mbulo Summer time, life is hectic, mother, father, boys and girls, all busy. Hoeing, weeding, ploughing and sowing. Natural sounds of different tones addressing the mood of the season. As a young boy, left on a patch yet to be cultivated, questions raced through my mind. I accused God but at the same time found myself appreciating the tender love and care that my mother gave me each day. Life without her would be a nightmare. As I sat supported with stones, I admired the people around me, standing, bending, walking, and throwing; they were as busy as bees and I wondered what it was like to be under such pressure. The crowing, chirping and mooing I heard made me wonder if the animals and birds shared the same sentiments. Maybe it was just my loneliness. Maybe those in the fields were wishing they were like me spending the days seated, propped up with stones, and I wished I was like them, spending the days working in the fields from sunrise till sunset. As I filled myself with these thoughts, not knowing what would become of me, a chameleon appeared on a low branch of a tree next to me. ‘Do you want to scare me, dear creature?’ I asked in a silent voice. It looked at me and started changing colours, as if it was trying to talk to me. It turned red, ‘Danger,’ I thought, then green, ‘That’s for food,’ I surmised. Next it turned brown, and I thought ‘no, no, this one is for cover.’ It was like the chameleon was telling me something and we, chameleon and boy, were delighted when we discovered that we could understand each other. In no time a moth appeared and my dear friend turned green and stretched his long tongue, and into his mouth went the juicy insect. I marvelled at such skill and said ‘Okay, show me some more.’ It looked at me as if saying ‘Slow down pal.’ Around me a colony of ants seemed busy too. With a frown on my face I took a closer look, different colours started to emerge. ‘Marvelous,’ I said to myself. I started giving them names, the named ones disappeared and reappeared, what on earth was going on? I mused, while appreciating nature all around me. The army of ants changed direction, now up, up the tree. ‘Hey, why change direction? Aren’t we having fun, plus there is danger 3 there,’ I tried to warn them. Up, up, sideways and down the branch they went. I looked on and my eyes met the eyes of my old friend, he was green in colour again and his eyes were full of delight as if I was the one who had brought him lunch. Using his sticky tongue, my tiny unsuspecting friends were picked off one by one. I watched and my friend chameleon paused for a moment, I thought he was saying ‘hang on, there’s still more.’ Giant footsteps emerged from behind, my friend chameleon turned red. ‘Why change of colour, pal?’ I asked. My mother had come to pick me up. I waved bye. ‘See you tomorrow,’ I said in silence. What a day, well lived, plus a unique encounter. I knew it was all for me, me alone and not to be shared with anybody since no one would understand me. Tired from concentrating and assuming this was a story to nurse, I slept soundly on my mother’s back. ...

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