CAPTAIN SAUSAGE

We're walking down the street, my two grandchildren and me, and we see all the usual things on the way, only this time five year old Issa asks ....."Who put that black plastic bag up that tree?"

I reply ...."I don't know", then I add ...."It must have been Mr Kafoops"


Next day, while walking down the street again, Issa asks ......"Who put those cracks in the footpath?" ..... then......"Who put that box against that tree?", ......and my reply is again ....."It must have been Mr Kafoops."


Day by day, when we went walking, Issa would ask things like ....."Who made those lines in the sky" ....."Who broke that tree" ....and I would reply ......."It must have been Mr Kafoops", and one day I add ....."Mr Kafoops must be a very busy fellow!"


When Issa said one day "I saw Mr kafoops walking past our house yesterday" I was so surprised that I forgot to ask him what Mr Kafoops looks like.


Issa still asks ..."Who did this" .....or "Who did that"....., and sometimes it's something I did, so then I answer......"Mrs Kafoops must have done it."


One day when I was at home with the children, I couldn't find Issa anywhere.

He had been there in the living room half a minute earlier, then, after I got something from the kitchen, he was conspiculously absent.

"He must have gone outside"  I thought, so I looked everywhere out there, going to the edge of the verandah to look along to the laundry steps, then making my way along the verandah so I could look around to see the side of the house.

Issa was nowhere to be seen.

Back inside I asked Mariama if she knew where Issa was, and she said "No".

I looked out the front window and couldn't see Issa.

I looked behind the sofa in the front room, and behind the sofa in the living room.

I looked in the toilet, and in the laundry.

The garage door was still locked, so Issa couldn't be in there.

Next I looked in all the rooms upstairs, and out on the balcony.

No sign of Issa anywhere there. So I went downstairs to begin to repeat the process of looking there.


Out on the back verandah I retraced my steps to the end of the verandah to look up the side of the house again, and as I returned I wondered about the big cardboard removal box I had been stepping around.

Was it empty, as I had assumed?

I felt the box and there was something substantial inside, and when I lifted the box up there was Issa, looking very pleased with himself.

I was amazed at his patience while he remained quietly inside the box, waiting to be found.

Issa got up from his crouching position and said: "Mr Kafoops told me to do it."


Mr Kafoops continues to be busy in our lives.

Last night, when two year old Mariama was in the laundry with me she kept on saying...."Mr Kafoops in the window"....."Mr Kafoops in the window, " ....and I could imagine that I saw him there too.


One day Issa began talking about "Captain Sausage"

The name made me laugh, so every now and then Issa would say again ...."Captain Sausage".

I asked my daughter if she knew anything  about Captain Sausage, and she said "Yes".  ...."When we were on the bus to Avalon yesterday, do you remember how it diverted off the main road?"

"Yes" ....I said.

Daughter: "Well, you were sitting apart from us, so you wouldn't have heard Issa and me talking about the cafe we passed called "Captain Sausage".  "Its a funny name isn't it".

Next day I was sitting at lunch, wearing my new top with navy and white horizontal stripes.

I was feeling rather nautical so I said ..."I hope I don't look like Captain Sausage when I wear this top!

My daughter was delighted, and said: "You're Captain Sausage now!"