The Story Of A Pot And Two Kettles

Marriage is like a phone call in the night: first the ring, and then you wake up. ~Evelyn Hendrickson

The sharp shrill of the telephone sliced through the silence of the predawn like a ninja yielding a sharp sword. I flipped myself onto my back and said a silent prayer with my eyes still shut for a kind soul to pick up the call in the living room.

Mervin was the ultimate saviour of the day to make the hundred-metre dash. It was the usual morning call from my father-in-law for Angel and Mervin to wake up and prepare for school. But the moment Mervin hanged up, he flopped back onto my bed.

Ten minutes later, when i managed to drift out of my sleep again, I was literally nagging them to get out of the bed and start preparing. After five minutes or so of my incessant nagging, they slid out of the comfy bed reluctantly and began to get ready like a snail running a race. It was then my duty to “cheer them on”.

“Why can’t you all always wake up on time?”

“Do you have to take so long to get out of bed?”

“What is taking you so long to prepare?”

“Why must you always be late?”

“……”

After almost half an hour, they were finally ready to set off, not forgetting to remind me to wake up and prepare to go to work.

I mumbled a muffled “OK” and “bye” before I drifted back to sleep.

It was an hour later when I finally jolted out of my sleep and got ready for work.

I was almost an hour late when I reached the office.

……