"The Writing On The Wall"

"Mama come take picture!" Dumpie grinned, pulling me by the hand into his bedroom and over to the far wall to check out his latest artwork.

My first thought was "Shit" as I realised he'd used cheap indelible Indian bought marker pens to scribble on his newly painted pretty yellow bedroom wall.

My second thought was "Actually, that's quite good. He's drawn the little boy inside the big Mama character and....it's rather clever and profound!"

Then I came to my senses and realised that no, it was really, really bad, and wasn't going to help negotiations with our landlady one. little. bit.

(He hadn't yet pointed out the other two drawings on the other walls - one just a massive black scribble, and the other, an almost life-size drawing of Dada.)

It's just typical that he would have ruined his bedroom wall, which WAS pristine and rather well decorated. He could have at least done it on OUR bedroom walls, which are a two-toned patchwork in greyish-purple (the result when you skimp on that extra coat of base paint). We would have at least gotten a much-needed paint job out of it.

Luckily our landlady is a 'Dumpie-Lover', and totally enthralled with the little squidget. She has two adolescent children and a look in her eye which suggests she might have yearned for a third if her husband hadn't spent all their money constructing this rental house we now live in.

I reckon we send Dumps over there to come clean and explain things. He can also return some of the bamboo sticks he's nicked from their front porch while he's at it. Worryingly they are spear shaped on one end and he holds them aloft while running barefoot through the yard squealing like a little piglet.

Our landlady finds him amusing. It remains to be seen HOW amusing...