If you are white, losing a cat is no laughing matter. And if you are a modern African girl, neither is losing an iPod.

I once worked with a white American woman who, one day, never turned up to work because, as she put it, her "babies" had gone astray.

As we had never seen her pregnant, we thought she was making up a tall tale. "Lady," we told her, "you've got to make up a better story than that." When she explained that her "babies" were her three cats, we rolled in the dust with laughter. Whoever heard of anyone skipping work because of a lost cat?

"Get out of here," we told her. "And never try to make a career out of telling stories. You have such a poor imagination."
It turned out that she wasn't imagining anything at all. She was dead serious; her cats were lost and that's why she hadn't showed up at work.

Of course, we were awfully sorry for laughing at her misfortune. But we just couldn't help it. See, in Africa, we don't shed tears over such trivial things as missing cats or dogs. No, we only cry - and cry big, over truly tragic happenings, like losing your child. Or your iPod.

Me too, I didn't know that losing your digital music player was such a calamity. Until last week, that is, when my good Senegalese sister (as in buddy) called me wailing to say that she had lost her iPod on the bus.

"What am I going to do now? My iPod... my music..." she managed to say before she completely broke down. If my mum was listening in, she would have concluded that my friend had lost her sweet baby with the rather bizarre name "iPod". It took even me a while to get convinced that she was really talking about that little piece of grey plastic that plays digital music.

I consoled her, something I am not particularly good at. "Don't cry my sister; I am sure you can buy another iPod." I was too stupefied to laugh.

My words of comfort seemed to reduce, if not completely stop, the crying. When she hung up, I was feeling so empathetic that I immediately opened the Apple online store and ordered for her a new iPod. I know, it is stupid (rather, I am stupid) but then again, perhaps the iPod was her most treasured thing.

Maybe losing a cat isn't so funny after all? I'm still not convinced about the iPod though...

Comments (1)

	1. 22-07-2007 09:46
	i luv you naggers Guest Report

oh

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