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Wood ants does destroy de best of intentions
Dem Boys Seh…
(Kaieteur News) – Dem boys seh sometimes de loudest praise singer does be de one singing fuh heself. Fuh years, Aunty P used to walk around de neighbourhood talking about how she keep de big house shining. Every crack paint over, every floor polish, every curtain straighten, and every visitor who pass by got to hear how de place never look better.
If yuh listen to Aunty P long enough, yuh would think she single-handedly invent broom, mop and disinfectant. Even after she move to another part of town, she still does post pictures and stories about de house. Every time a flower bloom or a window get cleaned, Aunty P quietly remind everybody that de seeds and ideas come from she days as caretaker.
Now dem boys got no problem giving people credit. If somebody plant a mango tree, dem deserve credit when mango start bearing.
But trouble start when de new tenants move in and invite Uncle Frank to inspect de house. De man begin finding things that wasn’t showing during de guided tours. Behind de fresh paint dem find wood ants happily operating a housing scheme.
Under some boards dem find structural defects that look older than de last election campaign. And in some corners, things that shoulda been fixed long ago suddenly start collapsing under closer inspection.
Dem boys seh it remind dem of a man who used to boast that he keep his motorcar in perfect condition. Then when he sell it, de new owner discover that half de engine was surviving on prayer, hope and a length of wire.
Now every house got lil problems. Even de best caretaker can’t prevent every leak, squeak and crack.
But if yuh spend years telling everybody how flawless de place was, people gon naturally ask why so many surprises appearing after yuh gone. Is either de defects develop overnight, which would be a miracle of reverse construction, or dem things were there all along and nobody look too closely.
Dem boys seh de lesson simple. It is easy to admire de shine on de front verandah.
It is harder to inspect de beams in de attic. And sometimes de real test of a caretaker is not how nice de house look when visitors passing, but what de next occupants discover when dem start opening cupboards and lifting floorboards.
As dem boys seh, paint can hide plenty things, but wood ants never join no conspiracy of silence.
Talk half. Leff half.
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