poisoned

we were just starting out our new home, the hubs and i. with no pitter patter of frustrating children yet, we had more time on our hands than we knew what to do. one aimless weekend, we embarked on yet another home-improvement attempt. must be too much of those tim allen shows.

we thought we could paint the study room wall. yes, wall. one single wall, how difficult could it be. we always thought we could do almost anything. of course, most of the time we had to get a professional to rectify the outcomes but confidence was over-brimming then, though not always justifiably. so, we bought the paint, we bought the brushes, the roller and the tray. we laid the newspapers and a long afternoon of being cooped up in the windowless study followed. after many many hours later, and slightly tipsy from taking in all that paint fumes, it was a job well done.

later in the evening, as we we relaxing with the family before dinner, hubs suddenly emerged from the bathroom with a worried look on his face. he stuck his tongue out at me; the center of if was all dark and blackish. strange. looks like being poisoned, i remarked. immediately, i rushed off to the nearest mirror to check out my own condition. my tongue was also blackish and dark!! oh my god!! we have been poisoned! as the alternatives speed through our brain, we realise we could only have been poisoned by the toxic paint fumes. all that long hours of exposure in an enclosed space. what do we know about being poisoned by paint fumes? sadly, nothing.

i informed the rest of the family gravely, hoping for some insights on what we should do next. naive as we were then, we haven't fully understood the gravity of the matter on hand. as we were all solemnly discussing the issues, the hubs meekly spoke up. 'i think it was the sweet that we were sucking on in the afternoon'.

this is where you mentally insert the image of the family members falling backwards off their chairs, and their hands and legs thrashing in the air, like dead cockroaches. not that they actually did but it's mostly how movies portray our absurdity. our denseness. our imbecility. mistaking the dye from sucking on a sweet for toxic fume poisoning. i bet that's the first.