His Name Reflects the Sun 

From the day he was born, it was startlingly evident that he was one-of-a-kind.

With a personality that shone (is it any wonder  - his name is the name of the sun god), his turn of phrase often took one’s breath away – because one was usually laughing so hard! I still recall his pointing at a passing flatbed truck and exclaiming, “Ooh…..’nanga’ (naked) truck”!!

He joined a playway at the tender age of two. Three short days later, he stepped off the bus and nonchalantly handed a piece of cotton wool to his father. It contained one of his teeth that he had knocked out when he fell off a decorative toadstool that he had determinedly climbed – only to slide off a few seconds later – headfirst!

Allow me the privilege of recounting the annual day show.

I will never know why a rabbit should be a virulent shade of pink, but who are we to question the wisdom and sagacity of a kindergarten teacher? So when the great day dawned, his parents proudly escorted their (virulently) pink rabbit/son to the hall, handed him over to his sagacious guru, and settled comfortably into their appointed seats to witness the magic onstage.

The curtains opened to a fanfare roll of drums, to reveal a wonderland of farmyard animals. I strongly suspect the staff in charge of this event were either colour blind (did I mention the virulent pink rabbit costume?) or rainbow besotted, because what we witnessed put a psychedelic fairy tale to shame. There were green cows, purple dogs, cats in various shades of orange, sunflower yellow bears and, of course, a number of other rabbits in equally rabid rosé! Suffice to say, I wistfully regretted leaving my sunshades in the car.

But I digress.

The curtains slid open and the show began….the Farmyard Dance. The animals swung into action and did their best to follow the prompts of their mentor who was seated on a chair, her back to the audience. They dipped and bowed and hopped and swooped, much to the delight of their maters and paters ensconced in the auditorium.

That is…..until our hero got bored.

Have I mentioned that the protagonist of this narrative is an extremely creative persona? It is also a disturbing law of nature that homo sapiens blessed with this singular trait, are incapable of performing mundane, repetitive chores. Now do keep in mind that the antics on stage had already been repeated ad infinitum, in the name of ‘practice’, prior to its showcasing on the said doomsday. So you, dear reader, can well imagine how fretful our imaginative imp already was when he was unceremoniously marched onto that offending landscape.

Now what happens when a two-year-old bored terrorist is trapped in a strictly structured nightmare? Elementary, dear Watson – he strikes out, determined to make a difference!

Step one – change the step. So there was the entire class timidly responding to their leaders intimations, when suddenly one blushing (I refer to the hue of his outfit) bunny starts ‘sweeping’ the stage. These vigorous mime motions of his led to some startled critters eyeing him uncertainly because his assured actions have left them bewildered…..did this rose hued hare know better? Was their sacred mover and shaker (read ‘teacher’) in the wrong?

Be that as it may, such was the confidence that our magenta cottontail exuded, that a few fellow creatures switched abruptly from a swoop to a swish. Suddenly, to the excitement of the enthralled onlookers, there was an exhilarating dance-off happening! One set of performers were still determinedly emulating their beloved boss, whilst the remnants were, with equal and enviable persistence, quite literally following in the footsteps of their brand-new debutante director!

Now, dear reader, as if this wasn’t a disastrous enough scenario, our Braveheart chose that exact moment to hit yet another passé pause. He’d had enough of sweeping and so stopped what he was doing to look around for another distraction. Whist he was doing that, you can well imagine what the scenario was around him. His forlorn followers, having lost their intrepid leader, were milling around aimlessly, whilst the other faithful few, kept up with their pre-taught antics!

In the midst of all this chaos, our champion’s searching gaze fell upon the biggest lad on the stage that he could find. His eyes lit up with unholy glee and, before anyone could stop him, he charged the hapless victim and, placing a hand on his chest, gave him a mighty push, followed by a bloodcurdling “ha ha” that would have been the envy of any wannabe villain.

It only took a nano second for the victim to miraculously transform from a harmless lilac pooch into a raging bull. Before you could say “Thundering fiddlesticks”, a rose rabbit and an indigo hound were rolling around the stage knocking down everything and everyone that came in their way, so that the scene now closely resembled a bowling alley with the pins/peers flying in every direction!

Oh dear! What a mess! Bedlam on the stage and shrieking staff.

In strong counterpoint to this, was a hushed hall full of mesmerized guardians, not quite certain whether what they were witnessing was pre-ordained or a twist of fate.

Their perplexity was brought to a swift end when a Goliath appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the meddlesome mite and quite literally physically hauled him off the stage!

As for his parents? The curtain closes on 2 adults convulsed with laughter, helplessly leaning on each other and completely delighted that their shining star (did I mention that his name reflects the sun?) had saved the day by introducing a modicum of excitement into an otherwise stultifying performance!!!