Chapter One We walked straight into it. To this day, I still don’t fully understand how it happened. A tracker with his level of experience shouldn’t have missed the signs. Maybe the blistering lowveld heatwave had finally gotten to him, cooking his senses until he became delusional. Or maybe he was just structurally exhausted, like…
I knew we were in trouble before we even started, because we had barely gone live and The Mayor was already asking why I was crying. I was not crying. There was a hair stuck in my lashes, and it was tickling me, which is completely different. Naturally, this led to the very important academic…
Every week, before Brida goes into the wild, we consult the Potato Pancake. This is not a spreadsheet. It is not a management tool. It is not approved by productivity experts, lifestyle coaches, financial planners, relationship therapists, sports scientists or people who colour-code their sock drawers. It is better than that. It tells us what…
“Happy birthday to you…” The song had barely begun when Nathalie froze. Not emotionally. Technologically. One moment she was smiling as the entire group launched into an enthusiastic birthday serenade, and the next she was locked in place by a stubborn internet connection. It was perhaps the most fitting way to begin a Lunch meeting:…
In This Issue… Balance sounds like such a sensible word. Clean. Mature. Responsible. The sort of word that arrives wearing polished shoes, carrying a notebook, and suggesting that everything would be easier if we simply organised our lives into neat little boxes. This week, The Pineapple is not entirely convinced. Pineapple 14 begins with a…
Some weekends leave me feeling as if I have been everywhere at once, even though I never went very far. Last weekend was one of those. It was busy, but in a good way. A friend came to visit, a French woman I met during my treatment years ago. We became friends through something neither…
I am supposed to write about Balance. Emotional Balance.Financial Balance.Relationship Balance.Health and Lifestyle Balance. All very sensible. All very grown-up. All very nice on a poster. And I keep looking at this word. Balance. Really? You open the bank app and close it again quickly because, frankly, not today. You tell someone, “I’m fine,” while…
Manfred’s Story I arrived at the Swimming Club with a weather system already forming above my head. The Mayor asked me, quite innocently, what my mood would be if it were a weather forecast. I considered the options. Calm sunshine seemed too optimistic. Sudden storms near the inbox sounded dramatic, but not entirely wrong. In…
Fabrice’s Story I met Janita for the first time on the screen. The Mayor was there, but he said he was not there. He said it was only his ghost. Of course, he was still there, because The Mayor is never completely not there. He also said I could use a joker card, like in…
The Mayor started with a difficult question. He asked me if I am someone people ask for help because they know I normally say yes. And immediately I thought, no, this is not the point. I do not think people come to me because I am a yes-sayer. Nobody wants to be seen like that….
