Last night I was desperately upset as my kids were running high fevers and the chicken pox was really at its worst. I like to vent my woes on Twitter and the fantastic Sham picked up on my sad tweets and within 20 minutes wrote this story especially for my children. It is true…. Angels walk amongst us. I’ve never met Sham yet he went out of his way to do something to cheer my kids up. I count my blessings with unknown angels like him… Thank you Sham. You’re a star.
You can catch up with Sham on http://www.justshamit.wordpress.com
~Kamal

In lands far away, in times long ago, there lived a poor Prince and Princess. The Prince and Princess lived in a humble home in the Great City of NayRobee and were privy to nothing more than what the average man beheld. How then, you ask, were they a Prince and Princess when they didn’t live in a great big castle surrounded by a moat or if they didn’t have riches that would put politicians to shame? How were they a Prince and Princess if they did not command the armies of the Great City of NayRobee?

Ah, my little readers, the answer is but a simple one. The Prince and Princess were rulers of their imaginations and as a wise old toad once said, in the days when animals could speak the tongue of men, “Nations can be created out of imagination.” And these two, well they possessed a vivid imagination beyond any other of their age. They would draw and sing and dance and write and create joy for those around them by taking them into their world for brief moments of splendid time. For years in their youth, the Prince and the Princess lived a happy life full of colour and music and iPads and iPods.

However, like all stories told before this one, there comes a time when the dark clouds ominously roll in. One day, the Prince and Princess woke up to a strange fever. Their mother worried her hair white and immediately summoned for the healers. The healers spent hours scrutinizing the siblings before coming to the conclusion that they had contracted the pox of the chicken. The pox of the chicken was a much feared malady in those days as the infection was contagious and required quarantine from other children.

Now these were the days when the giantess that called herself HeydMystress still governed the land, scaring the good people of the Great City into submission. HeydMystress was the last of her ancient kind. She was from an age when giants walked with the dinosaurs but somehow she’d survived and started to build little camps where she would entrap the young ones of mortal beings in for seven hours a day making them study, study and study while all the youngsters wanted to do was play, play and play! The Giantess HeydMystress was a cruel old hag who no one could outsmart. After all, she had the experience that time lends old people. No matter how hard the youngsters of the land tried, they could never avoid these camps that she had set up. Since the Prince and Princess were taken ill with the pox, the Giantess had taken it upon herself to banish them from this camp and relegated them to stay home.

Now, in the feverish stupor that the Prince and Princess were, they began to scheme for they had exhausted all that their freedom had given them and were now lonely for their friends who were all trapped in the camps of the Giantess. So in dark rooms, under blankets with torches, they drew out intricate plans to get their friends out of the camps and into their homes. They cast little spells and voiced little technological incantations and before long they had opened up the portals of communication through their blackberries and iPhones. Now, the Prince and Princess sent out invitations on virtual carrier pigeons to all of the Great City’s boys and girls and proclaimed that they had been cured of their illness and were throwing a party like never seen before.

The Prince and Princess worked hard and built extravagant little structures from the few materials they had present in their abode. And before long, the sitting room was a setting of pure youthful fun. There were forts built out of pillows, there were slides made out of big wooden slabs, there was popcorn and candy delights and cartoons playing on the television. The stage was set. The Prince and Princess were in high spirits when their visitors began coming in. All of the Great City’s children were in attendance and the party was a great success. All those children in those close quarters created quite the din and so the windows were shut lest the Giantess hear and choose to investigate. It was nearing the end of the party when little Billy, the baker’s son, decided to ask the Prince and Princess how they miraculously recovered from their illness so quickly.

Upon this question, the Prince and Princess looked at each other, looked back at the room of curious faces, shone a torch under their chins and wiped the make up off their faces to reveal the pox of chicken still upon them!

“You’re all ours to play with now.” The Prince said silently

“No more going back to the camps for you lot!” shouted the Princess.

The kids in the room all looked horrified for a moment…before they started singing, dancing, eating and watching cartoons again for the rest of the summer. All in the company of each other.

No one ever forgets the cheeky ingenuity of the little Prince and Princess. And till today, the pox of chicken is a celebrated ritual that one must endure.

Be well little readers, be well.