SUGAR

Sugar and spice and all things nice, that’s what little girls are made of. 

They are beautiful sweet little creatures who are just too cute for words, and who have all the characteristics of the perfect being.  Many brothers would disagree with that little verse.

My thoughts are like a passenger travelling in a train which has many stops.

My first stop brings to mind my schooldays which are many more years ago than I care to recall.  Primary school actually ... my  best friends and I belonged to that elite group, and it was our greatest joy and most daring challenge to see how many boys we could annoy to the point of aggression.  Pulling faces in class, throwing papers around, only to look as innocent and sweet as possible when old Mrs Rex turned round to face the class again.  Of course, the boys were the first guilty-as-sin culprits who retaliated after being baited, and because only BOYS would be so bold and daring to be disruptive, especially in HER class!  The appropriate punishment was naturally meted out!   Ah, the joys of being a sweet little girl!

My train of thought whizzes me to another station in my childhood :

Roses are red, and violets are blue

Sugar is sweet, and so are you

I remember that one of my most treasured pastimes as a little girl, was to page through Mom’s autograph album.  The sweet messages which were written by her special friends and family, never failed to take me on nostalgic trips to the romantic land of her childhood and youth.  Messages signed by some of her teachers; other messages were from her beaus ...  We had many enthralling discussions about them – Nick was the one who was called for duty during the Second World War, never to return home again.  Another’s heart was broken because she chose Dad above him!  And for many others, I spun many romantic tales around the authors of these messages.  I wonder happened to her autograph album?

The next stop brings me to the sugar bowl :

One of our many mischievous actions, was to “steal” sugar from the sugar bowl without Mommy knowing.  Stealthily we would creep to the kitchen and scoop the sugar-spoon full of sugar directly into our mouths, and rush out again – only to hear Mom’s warning voice from inside : “ I can see you taking sugar!”  We were convinced she could see through walls, and it was only much later that we realised that she could hear when the spoon was hastily dropped back into the sugar bowl!

Sugar is sweet ...