That is when Irma decided that her mother just had to have a dog, and that dog being Hendrix! But deep down I knew why she had to get Hendrix away from where she lived on the campus of the Nelson Mandela university, which was situated on a wildlife preservation site, but the wildlife was not the problem.
On my previous visit, I went into the backyard to talk to Hendrix, and to my terror, found that he had opened the gate, and made a run for it. He would never hurt anything, being a Labrador, but he loved people, and on one of his roamings had come upon a whole lot of youngsters that made much of him, and he had such a royal time, that he kept on running away for some more playtime. Irma was allowed to keep him, as he was such a lovely pet, and as she had him for about five years when moving there, he was allowed to stay, but on condition that he stayed in her yard.
I was a nervous wreck, and ran myself almost into oblivion, but not knowing at that stage about the student friends he had, I was scared that he went into the bush, where the baboons have already torn Irma's cat Brumilda apart. This baboons were not lightweights, and Hendrix would not have a chance if they found him alone. The photo is of Brumilda, who also stayed with me for a while when they were away.
So I phoned Irma, who rushed home, and she just stopped long enough for me to get into her Vitara, before almost spinning away, and I realised that she was going to the men's boarding house. And there was the errant boy, in the fish pond in front of the boys's lodgings, and with the youngsters egging him on, he was like a jack in the box, diving into the pond, then coming up with either a sqiggling goldfish in his jaws, or a piece of the plants, then deposits his catch in front of his audience, showing off like a naughty little boy! And this naughty boy was covered in green slake, looking like some overfriendly monster, but on seeing Irma, his smile disappeared, and then, in an effort to show her that he still loved her, he galloped up to her like a young colt in full flight and jumped up against her, quite ruining her smart working clothes!
The youngsters were in raptures, as this was something to alleviate the boredom , and they asked Irma not to be cross with him, but she was cross, as she had to go back to work, and changing would take a lot of time! One of the boys had some savvy and brought out a bundle of newspapers, with which we tried to clean the dog, and Irma also spread some on the back seat for Hendrix to sit on.
But Irma loved that dog, and put a stronger lock on the gate, and for a while all was dandy again. But I had to take pity on the family, as the bally dog again found a way out of his backyard, and had a lovely play with some warthogs, and on someone reporting this, Irma asked me to keep it until I was leaving,and that is how Hendrix came to live with me temporarily!
Hendrix is NOT a good passenger, and it was not long, on my way back with him, before he started panting heavily, so just over the Outeniqua pass with its many turns I stopped to let the poor boy's tummy settle again. But it wasn't long before he started panting again, saliva dripping on the old cloth that we had the forethought to cover the seat with, and farting the most sulpherous farts you can imagine, looking at me with eyes full of misery, while I was hanging out of the window to escape the smell! Stopping at the gate I was almost thrown out of the car when I opened the door, as Hendrix, who I guess must have really struggled, just pushed passed me, and disappeared into the long grass, where I could hear him retching. I had decided to move my stuff down to the annexe, where I can have my bath and get straight into bed, not run up and down on the outside with all this gangsters on the loose.
I made a nice clean bed for Hendrix, but couldn't quite fall asleep, as every time I just kind of left for dreamland, I would get this terrible smell right under my nose, and it would be Hendrix who just waited until I dozed off before creeping in under my duvet, and his bally breathe, coupled with his sulpherous farts was something I simply could not sleep with.
Half of the night was gone before I got so cross with this naughty boy, that I got up, took his bed into the bathroom, then closed the door on him and his bad breathe and his farting, and slept like a baby for th rest of the night! Irma had another little dog called Tembi, of course picked up by Kristani, the ugliest and smallest dog ever, with Rasta hair on the back of her body, and soft silky hair on the front. She had a set of teeth that would put a Rotweiler to shame, witch she did once, when their neighbours's Rotweiler attacked her, and she landed both  herself and opponent in animal hospital, with the Rotweiler almost minus his bottom lip! He looked much worse than his tiny prey, who would protect the kids with her own life!