"The Other" People

"… And the winning number is 58759001!"

Suddenly the camera panned around to a crazy old lady who looked more like something out of a horror flick. She was jumping as if she were actually trying to attract some attention towards herself. She went up on stage to join the presenter and, believe it or not, she had the winning number and had won 1 million dollars. WHIZZ! The screen blacked out. Dave had had enough of television for one hour. He hoped that when he returned an hour later the old lady would be gone tormenting other poor souls.

It was time for a break. He picked up his jacket (no Kit-Kat) and went out for what he hoped to be a short walk (he didn’t want to lose too much weight and become skinny). For a 12-year-old boy weighing 80 kilograms, that was a BIG problem. The weather outside was well and truly pleasant. There was a scattered layer of perfectly white clouds covering a perfect blue sky. Unfortunately, the blue sky and white clouds were far away near the horizon. He just had to settle for thick, dark storm clouds ready to unleash their fury upon him.

There were a lot of mysteries in life for Dave. Of course there was the eternal question why chocolate was traditionally brown and not neon yellow. There was also the question why Michael Jackson changed his skin colour to white and not neon yellow. Dave believed that neon yellow was the coolest colour on earth. But, not all his questions entailed colour. His biggest question was if he couldn’t use an apple to throw at the doctor how was he going to keep him away. Thankfully, the mystery he was trying to sort out was quite different. Dave was thinking about "The Other" People.

Dave had made a classification called "The Other" People. That term referred to those people who won competitions and lotteries and got lucky playing monopoly. He had noticed in his short life span that there was a certain group of people who actually won on game shows and always showed him up. These people seemed to win, no matter what, and everybody else lost. He had also classified another group as "Raw End" People, of which he was a part. "Raw End" People always got the raw end of a deal and he seemed to get the "rawest" end possible in anything he did.

He was now determined to expose "The Other" People for what they really were … Extra-terrestrial life forms. Dave felt it to be his life mission to expose the aliens and send them back so he and the other "Raw End" People wouldn’t always get the raw end. This was it! Dave was going to expose the aliens and NOTHING was going to stop him … except lunch (or a chocolate festival).

Lunch was over! It was time for work. The first question that popped up in his cranium was what he should actually do to expose the alien life forms. All he knew was that he was quite bitter and angry about the whole affair and wanted to unleash his vengeance by exposing them and their dastardly scheme. The thought wasn’t in so many words, but that’s what it meant when translated from Dave-thought to English. Dave needed a plan. After he made the plan, all he had to do was execute it. Thus, Dave deduced, since there were only two steps to the whole thing, how tough could it be. Dave felt that he could have the aliens exposed and still make it for dinner.

Life was certainly looking up for "Raw End" Dave. All he had to do now was make a plan and execute it. He checked the clock. It was 1 o’ clock. Time to think! So … Dave thought … and thought … and thought about chocolate fudge cake and all its gastronomical subtleties. The plan could wait! After all, how many times does one get to enjoy thinking about chocolate fudge cake? That’s how Dave saw it and that’s what mattered to him.

The clock struck 3 o’ clock. Dave hadn’t even come close to thinking of a plan yet, but had enjoyed thinking about pizza with chocolate ice cream topping and baked apples in chocolate sauce apart from the chocolate fudge cake. Dave suddenly realised that he had a mission now that did not deal with chocolate (unless the aliens were chocolate thieves), and tried his level best to conjure up a plan for the overthrow of the aliens. He had now come to the conclusion (without any thought) that "The Other" People were aliens, because that was the only thing that could explain their complete control over fate.

The hands of the clock moved on to half past four and time was certainly running out. It looked grim. It didn’t look as if he would make dinner if he attempted to expose the aliens that day. He hadn’t even formulated a plan yet. Actually he had thought of apprehending an alien at the scene of the crime. But, he had no idea what weapons they had at their disposal and did not want to take any risks. After all, this could be the only chance the human race would have of defending themselves against the evil aliens.

Dave realised what was going on. He had started at 1 o’ clock and it was now 5 o’ clock. He hadn’t been able to think of a plan for one simple reason. He was one of the "Raw End" People. It was no wonder that he got the raw end of the deal in terms of concentrating about the alien overthrow. It was all one large conspiracy and he had figured it out for himself. A wry grin appeared on his round face. He knew why the aliens were on top and why they stayed there. The only people who would overthrow the aliens were the "Raw End" People and they had been rendered incapable for this reason. The aliens were untouchable. They had taken over the world and were ready to subject the "Raw End" People to hours, days and probably years of torture by always bettering them in every way. It was a vicious cycle.

Over the past day, things beyond Dave’s control had happened. He was late for lunch and he completely forgot about food for three whole minutes. The only ones who would figure out the alien scheme were doomed to the love of food. It was a sneaky plan. Life would never change. Change was an illusion. Everything was the same. It just seemed different because the aliens made it so. They had complete control.

Dave’s thoughts got too complicated for his own good. Immediately, an electronic message was sent to Dave’s brain and the next thing he was thinking about was chocolate fudge cake … again. The message came and was over. Dave was ready to party in the kitchen and give his poor stomach its dues for waiting for hours for some nourishment.

Thus, Dave went on. He continued among the "Raw End" People and led a completely fruitless existence in the search for the perfect chocolate fudge cake. "The Other" People went on with their work. They were in control and always would be. After all, the saying does say : The one who rules chocolate, rules the world!