Irma was very upset when she opened a window facing the road that she had never used before, and knocked a swallow nest with three babies off the wall just beneathe the window, and as my lot are all animal crazy, she decided to nurse the wee birds herself, and so started a few hectic weeks for me as well, as Irma had to go to George quite a lot to take paintings, when she would bring the three ugly little things for me to look after.
She had the brilliant plan to boil spaghetti, cover it with raw egg, and feed it to the Swallow babies, as all other efforts failed, except when she found some worms, and that was not too easy.The babies loved the spaghetti, and thrived! But as they were just about hungry all the time, it was a fulltime job nursing them.
Tembi, the ugly little mongrel, could not resist sniffing the babies, a look of hungry anticipation on her face, and we were sure that she would feast on the birds if given half a chance, so I could hear poor Tembi's name being screamed out a dozen times a day, as she would try her luck all the time.
Tembi was found of course by my granddaughter Kristani, who it seems has a visor pulling her to all abandoned and mistreated animals, and their house always, or most of the time resembled an animal hospital.
Tembi was by far the ugliest dog I have ever seen, pitch black long hair covering her whole body, the front part half rasta, and the other half as fine as silk. She had the biggest teeth you could imagine, and feared nothing, although she was also the smallest dog ever!
As she was so peculiar, and very loving towards the kids, Irma was convinced by them that Tembi would be the next best thing after their birthday presents, so the SPCA was not called in, and Tembi stayed. At that stage Irma was busy seperating from her husband, and money was scarce, and to take the dog to a vet to be fixed was expensive, so a plan had to be deviced to have the operation done by the SPCA. In South Africa you have to be really poor before the SPCA will do the operation, so the help of Elizabeth, Irma's househelp for many years were called in, and it was decided that she would take the dog in, and say that it was hers.
All well and good, and early on the appointed morning we all got into Irma's car, but when we stopped in front of the animal hospital, Kristani clung to Tembi, crying and stating that nobody would take her dog away. After a lot of cajoling she allowed Elizabeth to take the dog, but she did not get far before a thin wail suddenly cleft the air! 'My diertjie, my diertjie!" Kristani wailed, and Irma was so nervous that she gave the child a good and solid pinch, after which she stopped calling for her little animal, and cried because her mum pinched her! 'My diertjie' means means my little animal in Afrikaans. Luckily the noise of the traffic drowned the wails, and Elizabeth came back with a huge smile, stating that Tembi would be done that same day, and she could get her in the morning.
Anyhow, the Swallow babies thrived , and Tembi's lust increased, leaving Irma exhausted in her attempts to guard them.