The Love Gallery

the

love gallery By Nosana Sondiyazi

For my grandfather

Hello my name is Wewe & I live with my two dads.

I love them both, just as you love your mom & dad.

I call my dads, Dada & Dedi.

1.

I love my Dada & I love my Dedi.

Dada & Dedi also love each other very much.

And they love me too.

My Dedi wakes me up every morning with a kiss on my face.

His beard is prickly & tickles my face 2.

He tickles me some more & I laugh & jump off my bed I run to the bathroom to wash & brush my teeth

3.

I get dressed & have breakfast with Dada, Dedi & Ziggy 4.

Ziggy has brought us mail from the love market 5.

It is a beautiful postcard of Sipho & his Mama & Mami with the giant pink bubble Wow! I am so excited for Sipho & can’t wait for Dada & Dedi to take me there.

6.

“Dada! Dedi! When are we going to the love market?” asks Wewe “Not today Wewe, today we must go to work” says Dada” “Oh! Can I come with you Dada?” pleads Wewe

7.

“No we are busy today, you can go with Ziggy to the Love City if you like.” Dedi replies.

“Yey! Love City here we come!” Wewe exclaims.

Ziggy flies us to the Love City 8.

Wewe is flying on Ziggy’s back. When they get to the Love City the sky is pink & the sun is a light electric blue 9.

There are many white & silver clouds in the sky. The ocean is inviting because little pink bubbles keep popping up from the water, sometimes bursting, sometimes returning underwater. All the houses & buildings are round and are floating above the ground.

10.

The divine house is the biggest round building of them all. Made of sparkling pink brick. The divine house is floating above the water, there is a long pathway from the shore to the divine house. Ziggy lands on the ground on the shore at the edge of the pathway.

11.

Ziggy “Welcome to Love City!”

Wewe “It is so beautiful here!”

12.

Ziggy “Now remember this is Love City, love is beautiful yes. But sometimes something hides in love that can hurt us, let me show you what it looks like.�

13.

Ziggy takes Wewe to the Love Gallery. Inside.

What do you see?

14.

Wewe looks and says, “I see love bubbles, but they all look different, this one is Sipho’s Mada’s & Mami’s love bubble, I remember it from the postcard you brought us.”

“Yes, very good.” Ziggy says smiling. “Why do you think they all look different?”

15.

Wewe “Because everybody’s love is different.”

“Yes.” Ziggy says.

16.

Then Wewe asks “But where is the hurt you were going to show me?”

17.

Ziggy looks at Wewe seriously and says, “Well the hurt is there, in all the different colours, but the love is also there in all the different colours. I just want you to see that everybody’s love is different & it’s beautiful even if it’s not the same. We must just remember that always when we are hurt by our loved ones.”

18.

Wewe looks at some of the pale love bubbles and asks, “Are there only good people here in the Love City?�

19.

“Here in the Love City there is Goodness. Passion. & Pain. Not just good & bad. Because the love energy that lives here understands that passion allows us all to make good & bad decisions. The bad decisions create pain & the good decisions create love.� Ziggy replies.

20.

Wewe then looks serious and says “But sometimes Dada & Dedi make me cry & they tell me they love me, but I am hurt by their decisions.�

21.

Ziggy answers Wewe gently and says, “Today you wanted to go with your Dada to work & he said he was busy & you were disappointed, but they always make sure you’re happy. Are you happy now?”

22.

“Yes, I am happy. But I miss them now.” Wewe says quietly.

“Yes you miss them now but you are not in pain or hurt are you?” Ziggy asks quietly also.

“No I am not in pain, then what is this feeling I have?” Wewe says shyly.

23.

“Your feelings are not good or bad, with passion you can make a good or bad decision about the feeling you have. You can get angry or sad, which will give you pain. Or can you can make a decision with patience & create love.� Ziggy replies.

24.

“How do I do that?” Wewe asks.

25.

“Let take you home for now. I’m sure you’ll have a postcard from your cousin Wanda very soon & you’ll understand more.

But as a treat, we’ll go through the underwater city.” Ziggy says with a secret smile 26.

“How? Can you fly underwater Ziggy?”. Wewe asks excitedly.

“We’ll go with your Dada & Dedi’s love bubble” Ziggy replies 27.

Yes!

Are you ready?

28.

Let’s go underwater

29.

30.

THE END 31.