5th Column : Ryp VanWinkle

Who will get toppled in the final push
"Thaaththa", Bindu Udagedera asked, "what is all this fuss about a coup?"
"Which coup are you talking about?" Bindu's father, Percy asked.
"Why, thaaththa, there is this talk about a coup to topple the Green Man..."
"But those are only rumours, Bindu..." Percy assured.
"But thaaththa," Bindu asked, "the blues have not denied it; in fact, they have accepted that there is such a plan..."
"Isn't it funny that they are fighting over a job that was once called a peon's job?"
"That's true", Bindu said, "but now everyone wants to be the peon..."
"And is the Green Man worried?" Percy wanted to know.
"Apparently not; he is talking of general elections instead..."
"And what will they do after toppling the Green Man?" Percy asked.
"Install their own man, of course..."
"And who would that be?"
"That is the question..." Bindu said.
"Why do you say that?"
"The plan says it is the lucky chap but he says that he is unaware of such a plan..."
"Ah,"said Percy, "so they are trying to install him as the top man, though he himself is not aware of it..."
"That is not surprising, thaaththa..." Bindu argued.
"How can you say that?"
"Why, the Southerner who is supposed to be the leader is also not aware of such a plan..."
"How can you say that?" Percy asked.
"Why, thaaththa, if he was aware, he would have wanted the job for himself and that seems only right, isn't it?"
"It should be so" Percy agreed, "but then there are others as well..."
"Who are they?" Bindu wanted to know.
""Why, Bindu there is the former holder of that office, then there is the general and then of course there is the Crown Prince..."
"The former holder is no longer even considered, thaaththa..." Bindu said.
"But then the General and the Crown Prince..."
"The general has more important things on his mind like keeping out of jail, for instance..."
"But what about the Crown Prince? I would have thought of him as a logical successor..." Percy asked.
"But that would seem a bit awkward, wouldn't it with everything being in the family and besides, he has already committed himself..." Bindu said.
"In what way?"
"Why, he has said that he is the next presidential candidate..."
"Though other people have different views about that..." Percy said.
"But thaaththa," Bindu said, "isn't it funny that the people who want to topple the Green Man cannnot decide among themselves who would replace him?"
"That is nothing new to them, Bindu..." Percy said.
"Why do you say that?"
"Why, Bindu, when the Queen Bee had to leave the house because she was deprived of her civic rights, they couldn't decide on a replacement and they fought about that and then decided on another Lucky..."
"But that was a long time ago..."
"That's not all; when she couldn't contest the presidential elections they fought about who should replace her and then settled for Hector who was no match for the Old Fox anyway..."
"So what is the moral of the story, then?
"Surely, the moral of the story is that if Satellite is not careful and tries all these tricks on the advice of her friends, She could end up being toppled herself..."
Bindu didn't disagree.

5th Column Archives

Back to Columns