Chapter 27

Fun, Fun, Fun… and Frogs (Ribbit!!)

Memoirs of  Friday 2^nd– Saturday 3^rd of December 2011.

It tawse twilight and the kids wanted pizza and movie.

 

That night we had pizza. Someone (I’m not mentioning names) wanted me to start a food fight, but I said, “I don’t think so, because I’m the one who has to clean it up.”

“Oh, I love food fights! You know,” Michael replied.

“If I had as many cleaners as you must have had, well then that would be different, but I would feel bad that they had to clean up that kind of mess!”

“Okay! You’re on! Note for future! A huge fight at my Destiny’s home!” Michael giggled.

“And who’s cleaning it up? I laughed.

“Your horde of cleaners, which you’ll give a bonus to for cleaning up the mess, so you don’t feel guilty. All covered.”

“And how am I going to afford a horde of cleaners? I don’t even have one cleaner anymore. God; she was good!”

“Believe in me, my Destiny. You’ll see! I have my ways, you know,” Michael continued giggling as if he had a plan in place.

Of course, we had to watch Mickey Mouse Xmas DVD and then the Three Stooges collection. Michael convinced me to buy the Mickey Mouse DVD when I was at the shops along with the entire collector’s edition tin box of Charlie Chaplin. I already had the The Three Stooges as I loved them when I was a kid, too. We were all in fits of laughter throughout the evening, especially me, as I was the one relaying Michael’s childlike comments throughout the night.

After the movies were finished, at around nine-thirty, Damian and Kurtis went to bed. However Shea-lee  wanted to lie in our bed, so Arno suggested that Shea-lee pick a movie that we could curl up in bed and watch.

“Make sure you pick one that we will all want to watch!” Arno said to Shea-lee as she went out into the lounge to pick from our array of DVDs.

Shea-lee was taking too long, so I went out to help her choose one. “Shea-lee, sweetie, you better hurry up as it’s getting very late and I’m getting tired.”

“Okay, Mummy, can you help me pick? What about this one?” she said holding up a Barbie movie.

“Oh! Daddy won’t want to watch a Barbie movie sweetie; that’s why he mentioned picking a movie that we will all want to watch.”

I helped her look for a movie that Arno would like. My hand went to a movie that was in a different direction to where I was looking.

“This one! You have to watch this one!” Michael said.  Michael had picked The Princess and the Frog movie.

I laughed, “Shea-lee what about this one,” holding up The Princess and the Frog DVD, smiling.

“Mummy, you said to pick a movie that Daddy will want to watch!”

“It’s okay! Daddy will watch it, and you are running out of time to stay up and watch anything. Come on sweetie.” We jumped into bed.

“So what movie are we watching? It better be good!” Arno said interestedly.

“That’s a good choice Shea-lee,” Arno said sweetly to her, but at the same time giving me a Why that movie? look.

Shea-lee said, “I know, but I didn’t pick it, Mummy did!”

Arno turned to me and said, “Really!” as if that’s unusual. “I thought that with your being out there with her, you’d have picked an action movie or something!” Arno said to me in a you got to be kidding tone.

I replied, smiling, “It wasn’t exactly me. I didn’t look when I picked it. I just reached out and my hand went straight to that DVD. I said to Shea-lee, ‘We have to watch this one!'”

“That figures! I suppose it was Michael who picked it!” Arno commented as he looked into the air above him, as if to say it to Michael.

We all curled up in bed and happily watched the movie, even Michael was with us somewhere; I don’t exactly know how or where, but he was there. I fell asleep about a third of the way through the movie; not even MJ could keep me awake.

It tawse sunrise when all creatures came.

The next morning, Arno woke up early as usual, around 5am. He got up and went to make a coffee; on the way out of the bedroom he said, “There’s a live frog in our bedroom. The cat must have bought it in,” he said.

I was still in bed trying to sleep. Half-asleep I mumbled, “It’s a green frog.”

He replied, “No! It’s one of those brown ones!”

I yawned, “you sure? It was green, wasn’t it?”

“No it’s a live marsh frog!”

“I’ll find it!” Shea-lee came in and started looking for it. She didn’t find a live frog.

“I found it! She said. She picked up a green dead frog, stuck to a council land rates notice that was on the floor under my computer desk. Its  mouth was open. Strange!

“That’s not it! It was alive! Not dead!”Arno called out, now a little annoyed, as he must have thought we didn’t believe him.

I unenthusiastically got out of bed to help look for this frog that Arno said he saw. I grabbed the torch, and looked everywhere. No live frog. I looked under my bed. I found a dried-out marsh frog, dead.

“Mummy found a marsh frog!” It was blown up like a balloon. It was hollow— strange.

Arno called out again, “That’s not it! It was alive!”

Kurtis walked in, and there in the middle of the floor, was a live striped marsh frog. Strange! Shea-lee and I had looked everywhere and didn’t find a live frog and there it was in the middle of the floor. The two dead frogs looked like the frogs from the movie we watched last night. I heard giggling surrounding me. “Michael!”

“Yes, Destiny?” Michael giggled.

Prior to this very strange occurrence that baffled everyone, it tawse 4:30am and another little creature had already disturbed me.

What creature would do this to me, as I hate early mornings?

Of course, that would be a little child-like creature that people know as Michael Jackson. This little creature waited for me to stir in my sleep, and pounced like a cat after a mouse it was hiding from and wanted to catch, so as to play with it until the little mouse gave up and played dead—ust for the chance to get away.

So here I was, rolling over to return to a deeper slumber as you do, when Michael pounced, like a cat—he jumped straight into my head, with his essence covering me.

“Are you awake? I have a surprise for you. You’ll love it!” Michael whispered so sweetly as not to perturb me.

You know when someone’s sleeping and you need them to wake up, but you don’t want to startle the jeepers out of them? So you softly tap them on the shoulder, and whisper, “are you awake?” and then you watch attentively and carefully that they don’t elbow you in the face, as they are sleeping and dreaming. You repeat this until the sleeping person gives up and non-willingly comes to a conscious  state. Well, this is what dear Michael was doing to me at 4:30 in the morning.

He chatted to me about a surprise he had for me, and that we had to watch the movie from last night. Michael chatted while I was still half-asleep; something about green frogs and frogs like in the movie and that he had a special surprise for me.

I didn’t understand what he was jabbering on about, until later when we found the cartoon-like frogs in my bedroom (neither of which She-lee and I would have found if Arno didn’t see the live little marsh frog to begin with).

Hence, Michael giggled when we found these two cartoon-like frogs, and insisted for me to finish watching Princess and the Frog movie that I fell asleep to last night.

I’m not a morning person, but after this morning’s commotion of three frogs in my bedroom, I gave in to Michael’s request. I snuggled up on the lounge with Shea-lee and Damian (and Michael close by) and watched the movie.

Here I was, on my lounge laughing my head off, dancing, and watching the movie at 6  in the morning. I never dance. Here I am, dancing with Michael, Damian and Shea-lee at the beginning of the movie when the singing started and the characters in the movie were dancing.

Damian would instantly jump up, (so would Michael), dragging me up off the lounge to join them. But of course, Damian didn’t know that Michael was dancing alongside him.

I was dancing arm- in- arm with She-lee and then Damian, and then (somehow) with Michael… bizarre experience. Don’t ask me how this is at all possible, but it was such a surreal moment in time.

Shea-lee said, “Mummy, I never seen [sic] you dance! You are amazing! You are really a good dancer! You look so happy!” She smiled.

I replied to Shea-lee, “Michael is making me dance like this.”

“That’s so sweet, Mummy. Wait ’till I tell Daddy that I saw you dancing and how good you are!” Shea-lee said sweetly.

“Okay! I need to sit down. I’m puffed. It’s only six o’clock in the morning, and I haven’t even had my shower yet… and you want me to dance?” I said to the air (Michael) as I curled up under a cosy blanket on the lounge.

Shea-lee and Damian came and joined me, snuggling up under the blanket too, one on either side of me.  I do not know where Michael was sometimes; however, for most of the time, I could somehow sense him sitting to the left of me, giggling and ruminating (especially when he was interrupting with excitement, narrating his version throughout the movie to me).

In the movie, when the three characters are floating down the river on a raft together, Michael started singing again.

“He’s singing to me!” I said.

“What’s he singing? It must be a nice song because you can’t stop smiling,” Shea-lee giggled.

“Michael’s  singing:

The 3 of us,

The 3 of us, together forever,

The 3 of us,

You and me, and Arno,

The 3 of us, together.

I’m the Prince and You’re my Destiny,

You are my Princess.

Together forevermore.

Arno came into the lounge about two thirds the way through the movie. “What’s all the noise? I can hear you all from the other end of the house.”

Shea-lee said, giggling excitedly, “We’re watching the frog movie. The frogs are exactly like the frogs out of this movie. Come see!”

“What frogs?” Arno asked, intrigued.

“The frogs that Mummy and me found in your bedroom!” Shea-lee giggled. “The green one with its mouth open is Mummy! She’s the princess and the big puffed up brown one is Michael, the prince and you are the big crocodile.”

“Thanks! So you reckon I’m the crocodile!” Arno replied sulkily, pouting his bottom lip, slightly smiling.

“I’ll rewind it back to the raft part!” I reassured Shea-lee.

“Come and watch the movie Daddy! See, you’re the crocodile!” Shea-lee grabbed her daddy’s arm and plonked him onto the lounge beside her. “Daddy! You should have been here when mummy was dancing!” Shea-lee stated, looking at me and giggling.

“Mummy can’t dance. She has two left feet,” Arno replied, looking at me laughing.

“Mummy, get up and show him! She’s really good, Daddy!” She said proudly.

“No I’m okay. Let’s just watch the movie, quietly,” I announced, shrugging my shoulders looking at Arno as if it were nothing;  no big deal.

We settled down and watched the movie together; even Kurtis and Elly came and joined us, making it seven of us.

We all snuggled up quietly like seven tiny pink baby mice in a warm, cosy nest, and contentedly immersed ourselves in the movie; except  of course with a few giggles from me, as I was just reacting to Michael’s child-like comments.

Near the end, I got up and ventured to the kitchen with Michael in tow. I could still see the television from the kitchen. I was starving and needed something to eat.

“Porridge and a glass of orange juice!” Michael informed me. “You should have porridge and a glass of orange juice. It’s good for you.”

“One problem with that scenario: I don’t have any orange juice here,” I answered, mockingly, at the same time with a bright and breezy persona.

While Michael and I were happy debating my porridge situation and the nutritional value, Shea-lee and Kurtis abruptly stated loudly, “That’s not Michael Jackson. It sounds like Michael Jackson’s voice but that’s not him,” they pointed to the television screen.

“What do you mean?” I said, a little baffled at their comment.

“Look, that’s not Michael walking along the path, that’s someone else.”

“Mummy, why is that man singing with Michael Jackson’s voice?” Damian added.

“See! Look!” Shea-lee announced persistently.

I looked up to view the TV screen.

“Okay, I’m confused; it does sound like Michael’s voice. I don’t know, kids. I think maybe he just sounds like Michael. I don’t know exactly…”

The kids hurriedly started pestering me, hungry for breakfast as they put it: “I’m starving!” in sequence to the fact that the movie had finished.

So, I didn’t get the whole reason of why. All I felt from Michael was that he wasn’t content about it; that it wasn’t meant to be that way. I could feel his sorrow.

But then with the kids all filled with sheer animation around me in the kitchen, Michael chirped up and started serenading. I could feel his soul presence dancing all around me; like in one of those old movie musicals, The Sound Of Music and Mary Poppins come to mind. Like butterflies fluttering around you in a flowering field. Sounds corny, I know; but I can’t explain it any other realistically sane way.

Hey, we are speaking about the fact that I have the one and only King Of Pop dancing and singing to me in my kitchen. So, is there at all any pragmatic way to illustrate this mystical unique occurrence? I think not!

Trying to refocus on the breakfast situation; of feeding my tribe, I contently listened to Shea-lee jubilantly retelling the tale of our two little, perfectly bizarre frogs we discovered this morning.

I will tell Shea-lee’s version soon, as I recorded it on my phone (as we never wanted to forget this magical occurrence, and someone’s little perfect endowment that was bestowed upon us, by my dearest companion in the universe, straight from his heart, as a symbol, of his existence and love).

“Mummy, why are you spinning in circles? Are you dancing again?” Shea-lee looked at me with joyousness. “Daddy!  Mummy’s dancing again! Come and see!” She yelled from one end of the house to echo at the other end.

“Shea-lee, not so loud… come and dance with me!” I laughed, as I reached out and seized Shea-lee’s hand and started dancing and spinning her in circles. “Michael is singing to me,” I giggled a little bashfully.

“What’s he singing, Mummy? It must be a beautiful song, because it’s making you dance so lovely. You look very happy, Mummy,” Shea-lee smiled.

“He’s singing:

I’m crazy, crazy for you.

Your dreams will come true,

You are my princess, and I am the frog.

Dreams do come true,

Because I’m crazy,

Crazy for you.”

Michael sang and danced gleefully, with prowess and overflowing love.

“Shea-lee, save me! He won’t let me stop dancing and he won’t stop singing! He’s the crazy one, not me!” I laughed, in turn making Shea-lee and Damian laugh along with me.

Next thing, I looked through the microwave door. “Crap, the porridge is overflowing everywhere.” I opened the door and grabbed the container.

“Don’t burn yourself!” Michael doted.

The kids laughed at the mess the porridge had made, and the fact that there was hardly any porridge left in the container.

“Well that scraps that idea, of having porridge for breakfast! Doesn’t it?” We laughed.

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