The
temperatures had dipped into danger zone; the snow piled up with wicked
mockery. Simply put, the average speed was 5km/hr. Sadly, the average speed on a ‘happy day’ is
60 km/hr on that road. And by ‘happy day’ I don’t mean warm days nor do I mean
days with no snow. Indeed, that’d not be
Canada...at all. So what am I bitching about if this is Canada?
Listen, buddy, if that’s what you think!
A
good day is a day when temperatures are between -10 and -20 and the snow only
10 cm thick. For folks in the tropics, you’d think I’m a crazy fellow for
calling such a condition a ‘good day’ condition. Look, here, the temperatures
dip down to over -35 and snow piles up to more than 30 cm. So you now know what
I’m talking about. That’s about it.
Now, I’d just driven to the clinic to have a
check-up with my doctor. Everything went well and the jolly fellow, the doctor
I mean, took only 30 seconds to tell me what was wrong and scribbled some
prescriptions.
So I walked out of the clinic, to the car and
to those roads again. It was a nice drive until I was almost one kilometer from
my place. I’d stopped at the T-Junction. Bad idea! Well, it’s a good idea given
the fact that that’s what traffic regulations require. The old man winter and
his son snow thought otherwise. After the stop just like any good citizen, I
tried to turn right but the tires only spun around.
“You
gotta be kidding me!” I said and got out of the car.
With
no doubt, I was emotionally torn between feeling sorry for myself and being
angry at the weather.
“Stupid
weather!” I finally blurted it out.
“I’d
focus my energies on how to get the car out if I were you!” a voice said from
behind.
It
was a familiar voice so I slowly turned.
“You
gotta be kidding me!” I said.
Standing
behind me were the two old men. Yes, the two Garangs! Of all the days they had
to show up on that day. They were dressed up like FBI agents in a Hollywood
crime drama. Neat, I mean!
“Need
some help?” John Garang asked.
“Duh…isn’t
that obvious?”
“Some
sense of humor, eh?” Dad said.
“What
exactly have I done to you two?”
“We
didn’t cause the snow nor did we make your car to get stuck in the snow,” John
Garang said.
“Let’s
suppose I go to my acquaintances and tell them that my dad and John Garang have
been visiting me…”
They
all laughed. I felt insulted.
“Was
that funny?”
“Kuirthiy,
this happens to you all the times even when you tell your friends about
something you heard from people who’re alive.”
“I
don’t understand!”
“Do
all your friends take you seriously all the time?” dad asked.
