Dr Fixit (4461 - 4470)

 

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our steps to the flooded street

and put purposefully forward our feet

into the heart of human habitation.

Rapid answer met my friend’s every question.

As we strode towards the heart of town

on the grimy sidewalk, the sound

around us thickened with toots of horns

and roaring engines of vehicles; and tons

of humans selling and buying on the roadside.

On parking motorcycles, stickers greeted the eyes

 

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of my aide. They were also on passing trucks and cars.

In fact, banners with messages starred

prominent positions and my aide was eager

he read and understood them. Splashed on the bumper

of a four-by-four was: ‘MONEY HAS NO MASTER’.

Before explaining, loud and long was my laughter.

‘A master is a head and not the tail.

A master is indeed a male.

A master owns the house and the servants

are all under him. They run the errands

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‘he shares out to them; he pays the wage.

He is the book and every servant the page.

Money is the currency used by humans

to buy and sell.’ I gave a knowing glance

to Crookedmouthit. Instead of the point

I thought he would get, he did grunt

and said: ‘What made you laugh that hard?’

‘Oh,’ I said, ‘my mind is that of a bard.

A line of few words could evoke massive pictures

in me that take me long into the future

 

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‘or distant past. Who wrote that terse note

must have lost, being broke, a vital vote

notwithstanding his long line of kith and kin.’

My aide repeated the phrase and did beam.

As an accomplished teacher, I did grin

and then hit the nail on the head: ‘There’s a din

of euphoria around the person with wealth.

The phrase asks us to have sound mental health

and deal prudently with the cash in our vault

for if it’s frittered away it’s not money’s fault

 

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‘as we’re greeted with disdain from familiar folks.

Of course, money isn’t your mate. It sucks

when unceremoniously it leaves your gate

and all your friends, you realize, do hate

your name and any knocks on their doors;

they vomit trash from their sudden saucy jaws.’

The sun peeped above and by our internal clock,

it was midday. Hunger within did knock

and my eyes searched around for a comfy place

we could relax and refresh – my mind was a maze.

 

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I carefully charted my way through it.

We needed food but what best place to eat it?

Should we stroll to the bar of a posh hotel

just to add colour to my aide’s adventure tale

which was inevitable being his first time out

into human habitation or hang out

in an open spot where the street just

keeps staying in our view or thrust

forward till a cyber cafe we come upon

and we’d eat and surf the Net which I’d long

 

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not done since our script-recovery mission?

 The last option desperately sought my attention.

My aide would benefit immensely.

We would wallow in a world of words and intensely

I’d coach him and he would learn.

So for a cyber cafe I earnestly did yearn.

Then, I saw a sign pointing to a cyber cafe.

But our stomachs growled begging for toffee

and other similar things that our hunger

would quiet and then with the computer later

 

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events around the world we would browse

and these my aide’s interest more would rouse;

I’d teach him the English vocabulary

to garner more and soon he'd have mastery

of the language which the benefits

would be unquantifiable as the limits

of the knowledge available in English

we could comfortably explore and embellish

his native wisdom embedded in Antish.

Soon, in understanding he’d be super rich.

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The approach of a million ants would incite

the humans but two picking some crumbs were a sight

to watch by any curious humans.

The vendor as we ate the crumbs did glance

but a customer distracted her as for a pie

and a bottle of soft drink he did apply.

We picked the tasty crumbs and did dodge

under the showcase to avert any grudge

from the vendor and when done eating,

inside the fridge we did sneak in

 

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and inspect. An ice-cream cup

we found and on its plastic top

drilled a good hole and lapped one after

the other from it and in a matter

of minutes sneaked out and the heat outside

chased the cold that had enveloped the inside

of each of us in the chilly ambience of

the fridge. To a computer we strolled off.

It was a busy time of the day and the place

was filled and human butts did grace