Skramunkel

Not only did Irma finding her man delight me, but Jan also phoned to say that he applied for a job in George, and then Nina would stay in Haarlem with the kids, and he would stay in George, and come home on Wednesday nights and Fridays to Monday morning.
They decided to build on an extra bedroom, and Hansie, a builder from Uniondale was contacted, and they thought his quote reasonable, so he was appointed builder of the new room.
Skramunkel in the meantime had grown into the most beautiful little horse, but with a temper worse than the wrath of hell! As she was alone almost the whole time I was away, as Irma only came over week-ends, she was again so wild that I couldn't even touch her, and she would kick and give me a good cuff with her head, her whole body trembling, ripple after ripple running up and down her spine. I was so sorry for her, and tried to be patient in trying to get her to know me again. I talked to her a lot, and fed her my prettiest roses, and lots of carrots and apples, and within a few days she started responding, standing without shuddering if I stroked her, but still not happy if I went into her camp.
In due course the bricks and sand arrived, and one morning I heard Skramunkel yelling abuse at something or someone, and when I went out, found the little horse in a panic, watching about half a dozen men getting off a truck, and when she saw me she started running round and around the fence of her camp, putting up one terrible show of fury.
As she couldn't get out, I was not too worried, and went back to my place, hoping that she would calm down eventually, as the camp on my place was bare of grass, she having stayed there about all the time I was away so Sheila could keep an eye on her.
I had decided to make a kind of open lean-to at the back of the house where I could sit and paint, as I get a bitty reckless when my very shy muse visited me once in a blue moon, and I usually ended up with muse gone before the painting takes shape, leaving me disgruntled, with everything around me full of paint, as I would most of the time just paint over the masterpiece that would have been if my muse did not drop me!

So Charmaine came one Saturday, and after I meted out and put stones where the holes should be, I left Charmaine to it while I went down to the river to get sand, as the poles had to be cemented in. On coming back I went on with a few other things, made us a cuppa, and on my first glance at the poles I thought that they did not look to be quite in line, and I asked Charmaine if she made the holes where the stones were, as they looked out to me. She gave me a huge smile, showing her bare gum where the four front teeth should have been, and assured me that she did everything exactly as I told her, and as the poles were already standing, steadied with stones, just ready for the cement mixture, I left it at that. So we cemented the poles, me keeping them straight, Charmaine slapping in the mixture, and she was so proud of our fete, that I decided to not say anything more about the out of line poles, but with the intention of checking when she was gone. I made another cuppa, and some scones, and we sat in the sun, she telling me all the gossip going around the village.
Apparently in our Coloured community's culture, if a young girl sleeps with her boyfriend or for that matter any man before her marriage, her front teeth are removed so that she could not sin again, as everybody could then see that she is a loose woman, and stay away. Must say, if I was a young guy, such a toothless grin would fell any amorous intention, and I am sure that happened a lot. But how and so ever, Charmaine had a husband and three kids, and I thought one day after her telling me that he is never sober, that maybe it was time for a pair of false teeth, as her smile was not what one may in all honesty call alluring!
Charmaine then helped me take out the onkruid from my veggie patches, and when she left for home later, I took the tape measure, and found that the poles were about a foot out of line, but as I was going to plant a lot of  creepers and stuff around it, decided not to break my head over it.
The picture shows Irma and Karel  doing a bit of exploring.