'Gluttony is a Sin'

Greedily, our eyes devour the frozen cocoa custard (ice-cream) sitting in neat little squares in tiny steel bowls. Our hands though, play a trick on our eyes and delicately, most intricately divide the portion of ice cream into neat squares that we gently place upon watery tongues. Mother is satisfied, we have not let her down in front of our grandmother. Yet hunger is a most wicked thin - especailly when it resides in the stomachs of small children. Our mother watches in stark horror as my brother picks up his jelly bottom and ventures towads the table for MORE, looking straight ahead with mock confidence - never daring to look sideways, where predictably my mother sits 'making big eyes' at her her eldest son who deliberately makes no sign of paying attention. Until....and my grandmother is unrelenting...her mouth twists into that all too familiat expression of disgust; and in the dryest voice ever, laced with abundant sarcasm , she says "YOU LIKE..?" It is the easiness of the drawl with which it is said that that instantly causes the flushed face and paralysis of every muscle in the body. Resignedly, and certainly with an element of hurt at this public embarassment, my forever hignry sibling squeaks... 'No, it's okay'. The icecream, inide, churns itself into a thick sludge, oozing along the walls of the digestive system, perhaps that is responsible for the uneasiness associatd with guilty pleasures.

Then...almost miraculously (and we are yet to fathom how and where the sudden grandmotherly bouts of kindness come from) her heart softens and quite amused, she erupts into her generous laugh and says 'Go baba, have some more'. This unexpected treat, of course makes the second bowl of icecream doubly appetising. Obviously, this is a rare treat and must therefore be enjoyed to the fullest when offered. Of course, my grandmother believes it wouldnt do much harm to reinforce the lesson by actually throwing into the conversation a remark.."You know....'Glutony is a sin'. Our eldest cousin, in an attempt to give her, her just dessert, cockishly replies, "We know".