It needs a lot of patience if you employ one of our villagers, as about eighty percent of them just never turn up on a Monday for work, and it was the same with Johnny and his helper. And because Jan refused to let them work after lunch, it took a few days for them to finish, and he then told me that they were busy the rest of the week, but will be at their post on Monday.
Of course Monday came and went, and when he came on Tuesday, with his helper in tow, both looking well under the weather, I couldn't think that they would do a lot that day. As they had to start taking out the huge rocks to make an opening in the half meter thick wall, I waited in awe to see how they would manage, as I think their heads must have been pounding from overindulging the whole week-end. They had to be very careful, as one wrong move, and the huge rocks might start tumbling down.
Karel, Irma's husband's parents came to visit the previous year, and he is an architect, who looked at the wall to be opened up, and said that the rocks would have to be taken out in a kind of a bow, with the rounded side looking upwards, and that would prevent the rocks from falling, which made very good sense.
I tried to tell my builder what I was adviced, but he immediately took great exception to this white woman who wanted to tell him how to do his work, and I decided to stand back and watch the proceedings with hawks eyes.
First he and his helper had to empty the room, he said, as it would be very dusty, and they needed space to perform in. Then they both stood looking at the wall for about half an hour, and I just wanted to help them get going, as I was to pay for every minute they spent on the job. On the other side of the wall was the bathroom, with the shower on the one side, and the hand basin on the other side of that wall. I told them to do their measuring well, as the door would be between the shower and the basin, with little space for error, as I was not up for moving either the shower walls, or the basin, but, I said, rather the basin than the shower.
I was assured that they had done all the neccesary calculations and measurings, and they knew exactly where the opening should be!
At last they were ready to get going, and the builder got his helper to start chipping away the plastering while he stood looking on with great interest, and I just looked on in dismay, as I was not too sure about their calculations.
Baby Emil was highly entertained by all this, and he lay watching all this from the front room with much interest, but I knew that he had to stay with his dad once the real work began.

Baby Emil was becoming a delightful wee thing, very friendly, and smiled a lot. But oh my, I dared not show him his bottle before it was absolutely ready, as when he had a glimpse of it, and I decided it was maybe a little warm, he would scream himself blue in the face, and I could see that he was born with a bit of a temper!
It was the first winter I have spent in my house, and it was hellishly cold, as the doors and windows all had gaps as the house was very old, and maybe the walls have sunk a bitty through the years, and now everything was a bitty scew. As I had to go out and run the length of the house to go for a shower or use the toilet, it soon became apparent that I would need to have a door put in between the old part and the newer built.
But to try and somebody who had the nerve to tackle this job was a bit of a problem, as the stone walls were about half a meter thick, and as the house was so old, they were all scared that the wall would cave in, seeing that the stones was enormous.
During this time Jan got a builder called Johnny, who was going to built up half of his stoep (veranda). In due time Johnny and his helper, one of the Kampang youngsters arrived, and it seemed that they were both good builders. I think Johnny's helper knew quite a bit more than himself, but as he was not an over intelligent young man, he took Johnny's orders in his stride, and did all the hardest and most mundane jobs, while Johnny waved the septer.
It soon became clear that up to lunchtime the building went well, and the walls were perfectly straight, but after lunch everything went haywire, and Jan was aghast when he took a smokebreak and had a look at the new wall, to find it leaning dangerously to one side. Johnny and helper were both two different beings from the pre-lunch guys, talking and laughing a lot. I knew they were smoking pot, as they sat under the old oak tree across the road, and the aroma that blew to my house was pungent and very recognizable! He told them to take down the wall to where it started going scew, and they were both very indignant, walking up and down the stairs to see what Jan meant.
By the time they had that done, it was tjaila time (stop), and they went home looking quite upset, not laughing so much anymore.
The next morning they were both quiet again, and just got on with the job. The bit that they did before lunch again was perfectly straight, but after lunch the same thing happened, and the wall resembled the tower of Pisa, and the two builders were as happy as larks again.
So Jan got tired after the third day, as he had to pay them for the full day, and it took them half a day to break down their mess, and he told them that from now on, they will work only till lunch time, and come back in the morning, and the two mornings would count as one full day!
I asked Johnny whether he could see his way open to do my door, and he had a good look, looked at his helper for support, and the helper shook his head up and down, and it was decided that after Jan's walls were done, they would tackle my problem!

Goodbye to Kevin Bacon

It was sheer bliss not to worry about Kevin Bacon anymore, but I must say, I felt a pinch of sadness when two days later the woman came back, delivering the poor Kevin in neatly cut and bagged portions. 1 remembered the beautiful little piglet, who so enjoyed his bottle, and gorged himself to death's door on overripe apricots. But life is life, and he was raised to be slaughtered. I must say, when Jan asked me over to dine, and I got a pork chop on my plate, I was feeling a bitty strange, and realised that Jan, Rene and Andreas was also a bitty slow to start on the beautifully fried meat. But I am not a very queezy kind of person, and after I had put the first mouthful into my mouth, and it tasted so good, I ate away quite heartily.
Jan went to Johannesburg after a few days, and I was left with the kids, who, Rene excluded, was no problem at all. Rene was in a very difficult place, and would not get himself out of his room, where he played computer games from morning till night. 1 left him to it, as it is no small thing to loose your mother, and as he was now seventeen years old, it was really hard on him.
But after a few days I decided that he could help a little bit with the dog, as I had to leave the other two when one of the villagers came to tell me that he was reeking havock somewhere, and I had to go and see what was up. Jan had spent another full day on trying to make the fence Mobi proof, but it took the dog only half a day to find a way out.
The villagers were by now very fed up with the dog, who was just not the type of dog to be let loose between them, and I had to explain over and over again that the dog was leaving when Jan came back.
It was quite challenging to the nerves, as Mobi would come home at about five, have his dinner, and I would try and mend his escape hole, but he would quickly find another weak spot, and took to the road, his nose to the ground. Then at about two in the morning he would come back, and as he never managed to find his escape hole again from the outside, he would sit at my gate and howl.
When Jan came back he started phoning around to try and find a new home that was suitable for Mobi, as he was just not born to be a pet, and he never bonded with one of us, only coming home to eat, but never lying quietly close to somebody. Jan had read up on the internet about Bloodhounds, and apparently they are working dogs, and do not make good pets.
After some time he did find somebody, and we all shed a few tears, I don't know whether from sadness or relieve, but I think it was both!

Jan informed me that he had to go to Johannesburg again for his work shortly, and would be away for three days, and I point blankely refused to look after his animals again, as the ten days just spent racing after the errant dog, the villagers's threats and entreaties, and the bally pig that wanted to chew me up, I just did not see my way open!
So Jan very hastily started phoning around for somebody to slaughter the pig, and the next day a small truck arrived, loaded with another pig and two sheep, all to be slaughtered. The woman who came, a big busted, big armed, and heavy legged kind of an Amazon, was very business like, and on me telling her that Kevin Bacon was one devilishly rude and nasty pig, she looked at me as if she found me extremely silly, and with a stride that would put any army sargeant major to shame, she made her way to Kevin's sty with a very thin looking rope.
Of course Kevin started squealing immediately she tried to put the rope around his neck, telling Jan that pigs are quite docile once she had done her magic! Not so our dear Kevin, who must have realized that his last hours had come poor thing, and he just sat down on his haunches, and started squealing like he was put into a bally torture chamber, or a bath of boiling water before he was killed.
The Amazon neatly threw her knotted rope around Kevin's head, then pulled and squealed almost as loudly as the pig, and when she could not even move the pig, she put her fingers to her lips, and gave one hellish whistle that brought the man standing at the truck to help load the pig running like an Olympic sprinter, and she told him to get into the sty and help her pull. The poor man, who was quite lightly built, was not amused, and he stood trembling outside the gate watching the long yellow teeth that stuck out from Kevin's screaming mouth. But our man was more afraid of the Amazon, as when she let rip with some pretty harsh words, he went to her side, where the two of them made no headway with the pig, and after a while, with sweat dripping from her forehead, she gave up and looked at Jan for suggestions.
He looked quite blank, so I suggested some food, but, I said, I didn't know if it was a good idea, and told her about Kevin biting me to get to the bowl. The lady was all fired up again, and Jan fetched a blue plastic bucket with food, and the Woman then told the man to take the rope, and she would walk ahead with the food! Of course I knew what a bally gluttonous monster Kevin was, and the three did not get far when Kevin decided that he wanted the food NOW, and started running, making his leader jump about six feet before letting go of the rope and taking to his heels!
The woman was staunch, and held the bucket just high enough for Kevin to smell the food inside, but of course, although she proclaimed herself well known with pigs and their ways, she never met the likes of Kevin, who opened his mouth wide and bit her on the thigh, same as he did me, and she dropped the bucket, and Kevin had a feast while she stood howling like a lone wolf!
After the pig cleaned out the bucket, he gave a satisfied grunt, and walked calmly up to a very bemused Jan, who stood like a statue, I think for the first time realizing what I went through. Jan got out of his trance, and told the by now heavily traumatized woman that maybe he should lead his pig to the truck, and try to get him to walk up the ramp, and none of us was unmoved when the pig followed Jan up to the truck, and then up the ramp. I was immensely glad to see the last of the now nicely boxed in Kevin Bacon!

At last I had managed to secure the fence so that the bally pig was trapped inside his pen, and when I woke up and could hardly move because I was stiff all over, and my poor muscles ached like the devil, I took that in my stride, as at least one of my charges were taken care of.
When Jan came home later that Friday morning he was hugged like I do not believe he was hugged even as a baby, as I was sure glad to see him! Both he and Rene looked a lot more at one with the world, and he even laughed out loud when I described my woes in looking after his wayward animals to him.
But when he told me later that both in Denmark, Holland and Germany there were cases where pig owners went missing, and on further inspection, was found killed and eaten by their pigs, I told him that I had all along said that Kevin Bacon was a man-eater, and although he laughed, I was still sure that if that pig had half a chance, he would have snacked on me!
Later Peter, his friend who knew a lot about pigs, said that if a certain breed of pig draws blood, they go crazy, and would definitely kill. However, I told him that I would not look after the pig, or go into his yard again to feed the other animals when he went to Johannesburg, as it was a ghastly ten days, caring for the kids and the wayward animals!
It was bitterly cold, and my house that is a blessing in the summer because the walls are about half a meter thick, and with the thatched roof, it was cool inside when the rest of the country fried, is a bally freezer in the winter. I walk around most of the time with a top, two jerseys and a jacket, and still freezing, even with my sheepskin moccassins that reached up to my knees, and woolen socks underneath that.The thing is, in South Africa we do not have central heating, or any kind of heating, and as our new government had not made provision for the growth of the nation, power bills had rocketed as they needed extra money to improvise,

and that at great cost to us.
I kept a hot water bag in the baby's cot, and a hat on his head, and I think he was reasonably comfortable. I also had a fire going most of the time, and sat in front of the fireplace when feeding him, but the stretch between his six o'clock and ten o'clock feed seemed endless, and all I yearned for was to get into my bed with my own hot water bag, that being the only time I defrosted, but I didn't want to fall asleep, as it is difficult for me to drop off again after being woken!
It became unbearably cold as the winter drew on, and the baby was not sleeping well, so after some consideration I decided to put the heater on at night, and be darned with saving power. he immediately started sleeping better, and so did I, as his cot was in my bedroom. During the day it became quite pleasant if it wasn't raining, but this year the heavens had decided to give back the rain that was withheld during the dry summer months, and it sometimes rained for days on end.

That night when the kids were asleep and I went for a well deserved shower, I found that my thigh where Kevin Bacon had bitten me, was pimpel en pers (black and blue), and I vowed that the bally pig could do what ever it wanted to, and I would even open the gate into the road for him, but try and lure him back if he got out again was a no-no!
Luckily Jan was coming back the next day, and I thought it not one day too soon, or I will be tottering around like a hundred year old from pure exhaustion! My body did take a knock with carrying all that heavy stuff to try and secure the fence around Kevin's pen, and on top of that I was a nervous wreck. With all the stress and heart ache of the previous month, I was surprised that I was still on both my legs, as sometimes things would get a bitty too much, and the tears would flow, and this woman would feel very sorry for herself.
I was nicely trapped, as I knew that I would definitely not be able to go back to Scotland, and with Jan having to go to Johannesburg a lot for his work, I was in the middle, and would just have to help. Not that I minded, but as I was not feeling all that strong at the moment, it did make for a bit of a black outlook!
But first I had to go to Capetown to the heart devision of the Tygerberg hospital. I was scared, as the most horrible stories about our state hospitals were told, and I knew that it was not the best place to go, but I was told that the Western Cape's hospitals were well run.
I had the funniest experience, well in retrospect of course, as it was definitely not funny at the moment, when I had to go on the treadmill. The thing started off slowly, and was put faster and faster, and I was becoming more and more like a limp doll, clinging to the side bars to stay upright, while waves of black mistyness came and went, making me a bitty apprehensive for my life, but I tried valiantly to stay upright and conscious!

The woman in charge of the machine told me in stern tones to leave the bars alone, as that was only for balance, so I tried, but immediately felt myself going down in a black nothingness, so I grabbed the rails again, and faintly heard the woman say: 'Please mrs du Preez, stop hanging onto the bars, I can't get the right reading', but I just slid deeper and deeper into the blackness. At that stage I think she might have realized that something was terribly wrong, and stopped the machine to take my blood pressure.
I faintly heard her say: Oh my God', then she dragged me to the bed, and yelled for a doctor, but at this stage I couldn't care,  feeling very bad indeed, but started to feel a bit better after a few minutes. Apparently my blood pressure, instead of going up with the running, had dropped completely!
I was medicated, what with I didn't know, and sent back to the ward!
They found that my heart was okay, but very irregular, that my arteries were not too bad, but said that I had to go on medication to make my heart beat slower, and also on wafarin, as I was at high risk for a stroke!
So I went home where Jan was struggling terribly, as the temperature was about nil every morning, and he had to take the baby with when he took Andreas to the busstop.

Can't say that the courage was at all high enough to pull me through the next episode in this horror story, but after telling Andreas to phone Gary if I screamed too much, not telling him the real reason of me being scared of becoming Kevin's dinner, but said that I might then need help with some heavy stuff.
Once through Jan's gate to the yard, it wasn't far to Kevin's gate, so I thought that I would just wave the bowl in front of his nose, do a bit of sprightly sprinting, shuff the bowl into the sty, all this before Kevin could catch up with me. But I underestimated Kevin's speed, and I wasn't even halfway when he was at my heels, grunting and wheezing, and then he made a grab for the bowl. But I was not giving it to him, so I tried to increase my speed, and I just saw this ugly thing again bare his yellow teeth, and this time he bit me on my thigh, and when I just kept on running, he came up to me and tried again to grab the bowl from my hands.
I had only one thing on my mind, and that was to get the man eater into his sty, but he bit me again on my thigh, and I took a giant bally leap, and landed at the gate, almost throwing the bowl through the gate! Luckily the pig had only the food on his mind, and he passed the heavily panting me with great speed, and into the pen! I was very quick in slamming the gate shut, and just sat for a while, being very glad that the pig's teeth didn't penetrate my sturdy jeans, but it was painful nevertheless!
I had decided that if the pig got out again, I was going to open the gate into the road, and hope that the villagers would slaughter him!I just couldn't believe that the beautiful pink little piglet could grow into such a gluttonous monster, although I didn't really think that he was going to eat me, but one never knew.
Andreas was almost hysterical when I got back to the house, but I was so stressed out that I was quite short with him, regretting it almost immediately, and gave him a big hug, and made us a cuppa. He just loved his tea, and although I knew I should probably have given him some Rooibos, a herbal tea that grew only in some places in South Africa, the time was not ripe yet to go back to being completely normal.
Mobi came home for his dinner, and the bally dog did not even looked as if he was sorry for having eaten up Andreas's school shoes earlier, and took off again the moment his food was finished, Bloodhounds are really not pets, as Mobi never really bonded with anybody so far, and I think it was the absolute wrong dog for the family.

I spent the next couple of hours gathering rocks, heavy pieces of wood, and iron, and everything I could find to pack right around the pig's pen. I was amazed to see Kevin Bacon lift the iron safety door so easily, and knew I had to just keep that pig in for two more days, when Jan would be back.
I was starting to wonder if he could maybe miss his people, as he had only once before came out, and that was only because Mobi had made a nice big hole in the fence. But this time he was adamant to come out, and went to great trouble to lift and push away all the barriers I had gathered to fortify the fence with.
My hands joints were aching from carrying all that heavy rocks that I fouund lying along the road where the scraper had pushed them, and my hands were rough and full of cuts when at last I had managed to pack huge stones all along the fence. Inbetween this I had to tend to the baby, as Andreas kept on waking him with his screaming, pacify the child who was so scared that I would also go away and leave him, and above this I had to cope with the irate villagers who kept on bringing Mobi back. My nerves were worn very thin indeed, so I looked for Mobi's leash and tied him to a pole in front of my house, where I could keep an eye on him, and hoped that the rope would keep him in for a little while.
So after dashing up to my house to see that baby Emil was ok, and to hug Andreas and tell him to keep an eye on Mobi, just to take his mind of being alone while I finished my mammoth job, and at last satisfied that a bally elephant would not get out of the sty, I went home to have a rest before tackling the task of getting the pig back in.
There was no sign of Mobi, the rope lying chewed off on the concrete, and poor Andreas was crying his heart out because he couldn't stop him! So I had to first sit with him for a while until he had calmed down, then I had a strong cuppa before I mixed some veggies and rice that I had cooked the day before, and I tried very hard to get up the courage to get the pig, who was still reeking devastation in Jan's veggie garden back in.
I had decided not to try and lure Kevin into his sty by holding the bowl of food under his nose, as I would be in Jan's yard where I had no hope of running if the pig tried to bite me again,there being too many trees and plants. So I went around the sty to the bottom, and stood on the outside, calling for Kevin to come and have his lovely dinner in the nicest voice I could conjure up at that stage. As I was out of Andreas's eyesight, he had started yelling and crying again, and I just started crying myself as well, and couldn't stop.
I think all the misery of the past four weeks just erupted!
The bally pig had decided to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to my callings, as he was having the time of his life destroying Jan's garden, and I wanted him back in before nothing was left, and on top of that, I had to feed the other animals.After I had made myself just about voiceless with calling for the 'dear piggy' to come see what lovely fare I had, it dawned on me that I would have to after all go into the yard, and lure him with the bowl of food again!So after having given the baby his bottle,  I had another cuppa while building up courage!!

Once the pig had found that he could actually use his snout to lift the stuff that I had been carting up, he had a jolly old time, as he now made openings for him to escape out of the yard. I felt that I was running in circles, as between all my charges, I had no time for anything else.
I thought about Scotland, where I worked very hard, but when I was finished, I rested in peace, something that was not possible at this stage.
I didn't know what else to do, as I had collected just about everything that looked promising to block the pig from escaping. And in the meantime I had posse after posse of villagers bringing Mobi back, mostly with a rope that almost strangled him around his neck.
It had stopped raining, but as it was now mid winter,it was bitterly cold, with thick frost covering the area every morning. The fact that I didn't have a winter for the past eleven years did nothing to help me cope with the cold, and with all the running around outside I was half frozen most of the time.
Earlier I had boiled some rice and veggies for Kevin Bacon, and as I walked out to feed him that as a snack, I found him happilly rolling around in a nice muddy puddle, and when he saw me he gave an excited grunt, and stormed at me, almost knocking my legs from under me! I was terrified, as I was quite far from my gate, and if the food wasn't still very hot, I would have given it to him there and then, but it had to be mixed with some meal, and that would have cooled it.
But Kevin couldn't wait, and tried to knock the bowl from my hands, and then he bared his yellow teeth, and tried to bite my leg! That was when I just poured the hot food over his snout, and while he was putting up one heck of a racket, I legged it to my gate. I was now really scared, as I had to go out again to feed the chickens and the cats and dogs, and with that man-eater on the loose, I just didn't know how to manage.
But I knew I had to try and lure the pig back to his sty, and the moment I saw him go into Jan's yard, I closed the gate, and started seriously trying to find stuff to make the pig pen inescapable.It had to be very heavy as this pig just lifted the iron safety door with his snout as if it was a goose down feather!

After an unrestful and fitful slumber, the baby woke me up, screaming blue murder for his food, so up I dragged myself, and made his bottle. As Andreas was still sleeping peacefully after the night before, I made myself a cuppa, and climbed back into my bed for a little sleep before the kids woke up.
Sleep never came to me, as when all was quiet again, I thought I heard the gruntings of Kevin Bacon, and that was not too far off! I tried to listen, but in the end got my tired body out of bed, and found Kevin in Jan's yard, having found the hole that Mobi made, and after enlarging it nicely, he was glad to be able to have a go at Jan's veggie garden, where half of the stuff were already dying in the early sun. I was glad for one thing at least, and that was that I didn't have to run the roads after the pig as well, as he had not yet found the hole that Mobi had made, and which led to freedom.
I had to close up the gap, but was too scared to go into Jan's yard, as this pig looked to me like a bally man-eater, although Jan assured me many times that he is actually quite affectionate! So I started looking for material to put in front of the hole, but all I could find that would kind of serve the purpose, was an old safety door that was standing against the sty on the inside.
I eyed the stinking muddy lot inside the sty with distaste, not seeing my way open to walk through that, so I got some cardboard boxes which I flattened, and made myself a wee path. It was now drizzling again, and the boxes were soggy in minutes, and I sank into a foot deep pig poo and mud mix up to my calves! To make things worse, I had on my expensive Radermachers leather farm boots, and knew that it was the end of that comfy pair! But I managed to get the safety door, which I could hardly lift, and positioned it in front of the hole, securing it with a few poles stuck at an angle against it, pressing it to the chicken wire.
I decided that while my boots were ruined, and self covered in muck, I could just as well clean away the stinky mess, so with one eye on the still happily grunting Kevin, I ran for a spade.
I was doing quite well when Kevin suddenly appeared at the gate of the sty, I suppose thinking that he was being fed, and I was cross with myself for not closing the sty's gate, for this ugly thing ran straight at me! I shrieked like a banshee, and tried to get to the gate, but Kevin was in my way, so, gathering all the strength I had, I climbed over the rickity fence, where I left a very cross pig shouting down the wrath of his gods onto me for not feeding him.
I was scared that he would come out again, so I sprinted at about seventy miles an hour around the sty, up the hilly bit to Jan's yard gate, and was just in time to close the gate before Kevin could escape again.
Andreas had woken in the meantime, and stood bellowing for me to come as the baby was awake, and being so tired, and as I knew that he had wakened the baby with his yelling, I lost my temper completely, and shouted at him that if he didn't stop his bally caterwauling, I was going to wallop him!
Of course I was immediately sorry, as I didn't mean it, and knowing how vulnerable he was, I felt rotten, and told him again that I would never go away and leave them.
Inbetween all this, poor Laika was still disconsalate, sniffing everywhere, looking for Nina.

I woke up at about one in the morning, and Sheila's dogs, about ten of them, were going crazy, and I could hear Sheila yelling death threats at something or somebody. A horrible suspicion took hold of me, and I got up as quietly as I could not to wake Andreas, to have a look and see if Mobi was still safely in his yard.he wasn't!
Haarlem is a very rural village, and our homesteads were far away from the hub of said village, and as there were no streetlights, it was indeed scary to go out onto the road, looking for the errant dog! Praying that Andreas wouldn't wake up, I made my way down the dirt road, and sure as anything, there was Mobi, having crazy fun in front of Sheila's gate, barking and begging to be let in. If he ever got in there by mistake, his chances of survival was just about nil, with the six German Shephards that were not dogs to take chances with.
After I had a wonderful mouthful from Sheila about people who did not look after their dogs, and she was going to shoot this so and so of a bloody pest, and me standing with bent head, as I felt very bad for her inconvenience, I started cajoling Mobi, who was so excited that he was quite hysterical, into coming home, but when I went closer to him, he legged it down the road.
I could hear dogs barking as far as Mobi went, and decided that Jan just had to get rid of him, maybe give him to somebody on a big farm, where he can do his blood hounding as much as he liked!
As I made my way home in the dark, I could hear Andreas screaming hysterically, and when I tried to go faster, I stepped into a hole, and went over like a sack of potatoes, and then I just sat there and cried a bit. But Andreas was screaming so badly for me now, that I had to get up and went to pacify the terrified child.
I again told him that I would never leave him, but he was inconsolable, and told me that his mother left him. Oh, my heart just broke for the wee boy, and for the first time I started thinking of asking Jan to come back, but thinking of his drawn face, and the fact that the time on the farm with Peter would bring him a lot of solace, I refrained.
I didn't know where Mobi went, and at this stage I did not care, as I was a nervous, tired wreck!

I managed to get the very cross pig away from the gate, and while he was gorging himself on the food I took him, I hastily opened the gate, and Mobi gave one muddy leap to freedom!
As the hole was only leading to the pigsty, I decided not to close it immediately, as by this time Andreas had woken the Baby with his lamenting, and I hoped that Mobi would not soon forget about his fright and try to escape through there again.
I was soaked, and muddy, as Mobi had sprayed me with a layer of mud when he made his bid for safety, and I told Andreas to just watch the baby that I have now put on the rug in the sitting room. As soon as I disappeared through the door, Andreas started crying again, and I realized that he was a very traumatized little boy, although he was acting so bravely, so I sat down with him, and told him that I was in charge of both him and the baby, and would not go away. He didn't look overly convinced, but I told him that I would put the baby in the pram in front of the bathroom, and he could watch me go in, and then he can just see that Emil was okay. But as I had to leave the house, and go down to the new built room where the bathroom was, there being no door between the house and this, it was easier said than done. I covered the baby  up like a wee Eskimo, pulled a few plastic garbage bags over Andreas and his casts, and then carried first the baby, then Andreas down.
That worked, and at last I could wash off the stinking mud, and put on dry clothes. Then it was the same operation to carry both the kids up to the house. Tiring stuff!
I then fed the baby, and after I had put him to bed again, I sat back with another well earned cuppa, and as Andreas was lying on the carpet reading, I was relaxed and at peace with the world, until I remembered that with all this Mobi stuff, I had forgotten to let poor Laika out of the house. The chickens were milling around in front of the small store room where their food was kept, and I realized with dismay that I haven't fed any of the animals yet! So out in the drizzle again, and I could see that poor Laika must have been crossing her poor legs for the past two hours, as she made a beeline for the corner where she always do her bussiness.
The chickens in the round coops that I so hated, was fighting like prize fighting boxers, feathers flying in all directions, while the ones roaming free was not behaving any better.
By now I was away too long for Andreas, who got anxious the moment he lost sight of me, and who had started yelling and calling again, fear in his voice, so before I could mix the sludge for the screeching pig, who had realized that all was being fed except him, I had to leg it back to my house to pacify the hysterical child.
But all things always fall into their own space, and I finished the chores, feeling just a wee bit weak in the legs, and also a bitty short of breath. I was darned if I was going to brave Kevin Bacon, who Jan told me was a harmless bully, to clean out the sty.
This state of bliss did not last very long!

Jan and Rene left early, before the sun had risen above the mountains, and I stood watching them go with fear and trepidation. I didn't want them not to go, so I never told him that running after the dog was very tiring, but more than that, I was scared of the ugly Kevin Bacon, who always looked at me with his small pink eyes, sizing me up as if for a nice meal!
But Jan had spent the whole of the previous day fixing the fence, putting in reinforcements, and I prayed fervently that at least Mobi would stay in for a day or two before he found another weak spot, and escape to pester his village playmates who wanted nothing better than for us to get rid of the dog. As he was still so young, we hoped that he would become a bit calmer after he was neutered, and learned a bit of restraint.
That first day actually went very well. But the second  day started off not well at all! The baby woke up at six, and was dried, and fed, and after burping him he went right back to sleep, and I could then sit down with a well earned cuppa. Andreas had also just woke up, and as he also loved his tea, I had made him a cup also before I sat down to enjoy mine.
But that was not to be, as I had just took my first delightful sip, when Kevin Bacon started screaming as if he was being tortured, and I spilled my nice and well earned tea all over me, and legged it to see what on earth could be the matter.I also made out Mobi's voice, and I could hear that he was enjoying a lovely game with the pig, but then he started whining, and when I got to the pig's pen, it was a very scared Mobi, and a highly traumatized pig that was reeking havock in the mud, as it had rained the previous night, and was still drizzling.
Mobi had found a weak spot in the fencing of the pen, and what started as a nice game, was now a matter of life and death, as the pig was definitely not playing, and Mobi had at last grabbed the fact, but in his fear he couldn't find the opening he made to go in.
Worrying about Andreas, who was standing in the rain with his casts getting wet, enquiring in a thin, hysterical voice where I was, I made my way to the gate, where the enraged pig was screaming obscenities at the dog in a voice that I was sure could be heard a hundred kilometers away, so I had to try and entice him away from there, so that I could open the gate for Mobi to get out.
I told Andreas shortly to stop his caterwauling, and go inside, as I was going back with some food to get the pig away from the gate so that the dog could escape! My temper and patience by that time was not good, as I knew that a hellish nine days were waiting on me, but I could see that the child was absolutely frantic from fear to be left alone. I felt so bad afterwards, but I had to shock him a bit, as his casts were  quite soggy, and the hospital one hundred and forty kilometers away, and if they got any wetter, it would have had to be replaced, so I told him that I relied on him to watch the baby till I was back.

Was I glad when Jan came back, as I was a bally wreck, what with Mobi getting out and pestering the villagers, whatever precautions I took! It was not only Jan who lost a lot of weight, I was also becoming quite streamlined, that of course from walking the streets of Haarlem to find the dog, as the people were so upset with him that they were threatening to kill him, and knowing how cruel some of this people were to their own animals, I was scared for the dog.
But with Jan back home everything went from chaos to relative calm, except between Jan and Rene, who was a bitty out of hand, and refused to even try and help with anything. Jan was really worried about him, as he had a better idea of death than Andreas, who still walked around with his cross, and cried his eyes out when his big brother told him that it was a lot of garbage. But he eventually got over that, and told his brother that he just knew that his mother was up there, watching over them.
It was actually so cute, as my sister Lida, who had died about a year before Nina, was a hot favourite with Andreas, and his mother had always told him that tannie Lida was up in the clouds, looking down on them, so one night as we had dinner on the veranda, he squinted up at the moon, and said that he was sure that he could see his mother and tannie Lida having tea with Jesus!
Jan had now decided to make the baby Emil part of his household over week-ends, and as he was always quite a hands on dad, he soon coped like an old pro nanny, bathing the baby, making his bottles, and I thought to myself that little baby Emil might just be his salvation, as he started to smile back at the baby who was so cute, and started smiling, and was also so good, only crying when he was hungry, and oh boy, if his feed wasn't brought fast, he could already knew how to throw a little temper.
Peter had invited Jan to come to his farm for a week or two, as he thought it a good idea to get him away from the house, where, now that most people had gone on with their own lives, he was extremely lonely, and I thought that it was a brilliant idea.
It took a bit of  serious convincing before he decided to go, and I was glad when he said that he would take Rene with, as we didn't think staying in his room all day was at all good for him. And I just did not have the energy to cope with the continious fighting and begging for him to help me around their place, as I was running like a steam enjin, blowing and wheezing from the one property to the other, and then through the streets scouting for Mobi when Jan was in Johannesburg, and I was not feeling up to that again, as I had to leave Andreas in charge, and of course he had his arm and leg in plaster.

The days did pass, and although I could not see any light just after the accident, I could see that Jan was
getting a wee bit more optimistic, and I thanked God for sending his friend Peter to stay, as that helped a lot to bring a little perspective back into his shattered life.
And the fact that Irma was staying for a whole month was also good for him, as the two of them sat talking for ages, trying to sort out the mysteries of life, and why some things happen, things that we find totally uncalled for. He started to take more interest in the baby, and Andreas with his courage I think was a lesson to all of us who walked around wondering what on earth the future would bring.
My whole life was also disrupted, as I just had to cancel all my own plans, and as financially I actually had to go and work still, I knew that I would have to pull my belt in quite harshly for I couldn't see how I would ever got away in the next year or two.
As Jan worked from home, he had to go to Johannesburg about twice a month for a couple of days, and as we had no family around, and nobody that was prepared to look after the wee Emil every time, it fell onto my shoulders to do it, not that I minded in the least, as that is what mothers do!
The day arrived that Irma had to go back to Belgium, and I felt so forlorn when we stood at the George airport waving her off, as from now on it was Jan, me and Andreas, with baby Emil at Haarlem, and Jan did look like crying again when Irma walked through security.
But Jan's friend Nico, who stood behind him all the time had come to the airport to give him support, and for that I would always be very thankful, as I knew how Irma's going was upsetting him.
Rene's school ruled that he could have the rest of the term off, but to my thinking it was the worst thing that could be done, as he just sat in his room playing computer games. Teenagers are so egoistic, and I was shocked to the core when Rene told me that one good thing about all this, was that now he could play the games that he was never allowed, on his mother's computer, but realized that as a sixteen year old, and so shocked, he might not really have grasped the fact that his mum was not coming back!
Jan had to go to Johannesburg shortly after Irma left, and I was left with Andreas in his casts, Rene who was very antagonistic when I told him to come out of the room and do something to help me, the baby who was a little angel, the roaming Mobi, and the pig who was behaving extraordinarily, and was quite agro. The chickens were the only ones behaving, as they ate their food, and scrubbed around the whole day, and poor Laika, who was Nina's dog, was just a wee ghost, walking around without purpose, looking very, very dejected!
Rene was supposed to feed the animals, but wasn't getting out of bed till lunch time, and of course Andreas, who was quite eager to help, couldn't, so between the baby, the animals and the kids, I was in bad shape, running up and down.
It was at this time that I was waiting to go into Tygerberg hospital for some tests for my heart, as when I went to the doctor with the flue, he picked up something that worried him, and made an appointment with a cardiologist, who had a look at me, and announced that I had to go for further tests. Botheration!
I was feeling very tired after two days of running around, specially when I had to take to the road looking for the errant Mobi and bring him back, that I was getting a wee bitty short tempered, and yelled at Rene to lift his sorry ass and come and help me look for the dog! Of course I felt bad immediately, but it had a good effect on him, and he actually got out of his bed.
I still think it would have been better for him to go back to school, where he would be occupied, and not just lie around torturing himself or playing computer games.

 Irma and self took it in turns to see to the baby, but he was such a good little thing, sleeping from ten at night till six in the morning. As it was now bitterly cold, and only the end of Autumn, I was glad when it was Irma's turn to get up in the mornings.
I think that small as he was, the baby was aware that his mother was not the one that was holding him to feed anymore, as when I was giving him his bottle, he stared at me with a puzzled look on his little face, or so it looked to me, and that more than anything made me cry a lot!
Jan who had calmed down a lot after Maria, Nina's sister arrived, and the two of them had a long talk about the past with all its joys and sorrows, could at this stage not look at, or hold the baby, as he would just burst out crying, and I must say, the sight of that small baby lying so peacefully between his snug blankets was breaking my heart also.
Ronalee was a rock during this time, and came every day to bring something to eat, or just to give all of us a hug!
Nina's mother just sat on the veranda staring out at the scenery, but Maria soon perked up a bit, and we started at least to smile again at her anecdotes of her and Nina's antics as children. I felt so sorry for Nina's mum, who must have felt terrible at this stage, as Nina so badly wanted her parents to see the homestead, but there was just always some or other problem popping up to prevent them from visiting.
People were coming and going all the time, and as Irma and I was now looking after just about everything on both homesteads, I was tired out, having just recovered from a terrible bout of flue.
Andreas was becoming quite agitated every time somebody came to see them, and then he asked if he could stay at my house, as he was feeling embarassed  because his mum died. I think that because people come in, hugging and telling him how sorry they were, shedding tears for him, he felt smothered, and as he was so young, he didn't know how to cope with it, and of course with his leg in plaster, he couldn't get away!
 Although Nina did not believe in any church, seeing herself as a Pagan, Jan had decided to have a short send-off  in the Uniondale church, for his own, and also Andreas's sake, and the reverend did a beautiful sermon, and looking at Ellinor, Nina's mum's face that was now so peaceful, I knew that he had done the right thing.
The day after the funeral Ellinor and Maria left, and as it goes, people started to go their own ways again, with their own little heartaches and joys, and problems, and soon we were all alone, but for Ronalee, who stayed a rock during this time. Luckily Irma was still there, and Jan's old and trusted friend Peter came to stay for a while, and invited Jan to his farm, to get him a way for a bit.
By now of course I knew that I could not go and work, so I phoned Tony, and although he was a bit thrown, he understood, ans assured me of a job whenever I wanted to go back.
The resillience of the human race is actually fantastic, for as soon as all the visitations and stuff was over, and we were alone again, things got back to almost normal, and Jan even started to smile again now and then!