I’ll Explain Everything to the Geese

“Humanity’s yearning for paradise may be seen primarily as the burning desire to once, just once, be permitted to live one’s life in peace without family”, posits uncle Ludo with twinkling eyes. “Kurt Tucholsky.”
Uncle Ludo is a Germanophile.
“Kurt wasn’t far off…”
“Don’t be so cynical,” Uncle Herman retorts, “after all, family is the beloved octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our hearts, ever want to. Dodie Smith.”
Uncle Herman is an Anglophile.
I want to answer something witty, but I’m distracted by my mum, who marches to my grandmother with convulsive steps. They mumble something, everyone at the table unabashedly listens in, they startle. Aunt Wis quacks incredulously: “Uncle Paul is here.”

Ignace Cami, “I’ll Explain Everything to the Geese”, performance at Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp (24.09.2022)
Fictional short story (NL) for the publication
Publication for sale, via DMW Gallery