When Sibu moved into iLanga Avenue, Mrs Magona told all the neighbours to bring a little bit of this and a little bit of that, to welcome him. So Sibu made good friends. They liked him and he liked them.

Unfortunately there was one thing that upset everyone. Sometimes Sibu sneezed. And his sneezes were the worst sneezes in the whole world. When he stood in the doorway of his little home and went … sniff, sniff, sniff, …aaah, aah …, everyone panicked.

One morning, Sibu opened his front door. Out ran a little black cat and out stepped Sibu. He lifted his head, opened his mouth and said, “Ah, aaah …”

“NO!” yelled Mrs Magona. “Don’t let him sneeze. The last time that happened, it blew my washing into the vlei. Stop him right now!”

“NOOO!” screamed Mr Samson. “The last time Sibu sneezed he blew all my red roses flat. They were beautiful and just ready to sell. Stop him!”

“Ah, AAAH, AAAAH …” went Sibu.

“Noooooo!” shouted Jabu and Nozi. “The last sneeze blew our homework away. The teacher wouldn’t believe us when we told her it was because of a sneeze.”

“Quick! We’ll try a little bit of this and a little bit of that to stop him sneezing,” said Mrs Magona with a peg in her hand. She put the peg on Sibu’s nose.

“Aa, aaah … That hurts! Please take it off,” said Sibu.

Mr Samson brought Sibu a glass of water. “Hold your nose and drink this,” he said.

Glug, glug. Sibu swallowed and started to cough.

“Quickly,” said Jabu holding out a bowl of porridge. “Eat this.”

“It will keep your mouth busy,” said Nozi, “and wiggle your nose.”

“Aaaaaa …” said Sibu pushing the bowl away. “Ah, aaah …”

So everyone just stood and stared and waited.