The ‘main house’ on the farm was situated closer to the mountain. It
belonged to the owner of the farm. It was a huge house with a shiny red
stoep that went all the way round. There were very comfortable chairs
with soft pillows that one could sit on, whilst sipping lemonade or tea
and enjoying the afternoon or the morning sun. One could even watch the
sun go down on the west side of the house. The bright purple
bougainvilla snaked around the house providing splashes of unforgettable
color.
The garden was an expansive affair of rose and jasmine. There were always two gardeners mowing the grass, picking the mushrooms after the rain, clipping hedges and growing new plants every year. There was a swimming pool and even a small diving board , but we, as bywooners, were never allowed to swim in it. Mrs Lee would not even allow Bully to swim in the pool, so we were never envious and besides, the river and the dam were much more fun. I will never forget the feeling of a water snake swimming past my tummy as I hung on to an old tyre tube in the dam, or the day Bully pulled Andrew out of the water when he almost drowned. No, I feel we were lucky.
Once a month, every month on the 26th, I would have to go pay the rent at the big house on the farm. A quick phone call to Mrs Lee to make sure that she was ready to receive me and we were off. The main house was a good fifteen-minutes walk away. My children, Bully and some of the local children would always come along for the walk and the visit.
When we arrived there, poor Bully had to wait at the gate whilst the children would be herded into the kitchen and given some homemade lemonade in huge, shiny glasses, topped with clinking ice cubes. A real treat. Mrs Lee would always have some iced-cupcakes with little silver balls for the children too. They would drink their cool drinks, grab a cupcake and then go sit in the garden. Bully would complain loudly at the gate, howling like a big baby. Inevitably a cupcake would be dropped by one of the children. They would race over to and give it to the dog, even if only to keep him quiet. I’m not sure how many cupcakes the dog ate in the end, but it would be a lot. I would be shown to one of those beautiful couches and tea would be brought. Mrs Lee loved her silver tray and lacy doilies. Everything about this visit always seemed to represent finery and sophistication.
It seemed very out of character then, one day as the visit was just about finished, the rent paid, the children collected, and every tasty morsel of cupcake devoured, that a cockroach happened to be crossing the shiny red stoep. I was shocked, frozen on the spot, unsure of what to do – it was so 'out of place'. Mrs Lee spotted it too and, while still talking to me, slowly and firmly crushed it with her heel! It was HORRIBLE. I heard the squelch and saw the ugly goo, its black wings crushed. Mrs Lee, in all her finery, wiped off her foot on the edge of the stoep. ‘Well that’s that then’, she said closing the subject.
All the way back to the house the children, who never missed a thing at Mrs Lea’s were talking about it very loudly amongst themselves. I wondered whether I had imagined it. Nothing like it ever happened again. Tea with Mrs Lee remained an experience that neither I nor my children would ever forget.
The garden was an expansive affair of rose and jasmine. There were always two gardeners mowing the grass, picking the mushrooms after the rain, clipping hedges and growing new plants every year. There was a swimming pool and even a small diving board , but we, as bywooners, were never allowed to swim in it. Mrs Lee would not even allow Bully to swim in the pool, so we were never envious and besides, the river and the dam were much more fun. I will never forget the feeling of a water snake swimming past my tummy as I hung on to an old tyre tube in the dam, or the day Bully pulled Andrew out of the water when he almost drowned. No, I feel we were lucky.
Once a month, every month on the 26th, I would have to go pay the rent at the big house on the farm. A quick phone call to Mrs Lee to make sure that she was ready to receive me and we were off. The main house was a good fifteen-minutes walk away. My children, Bully and some of the local children would always come along for the walk and the visit.
When we arrived there, poor Bully had to wait at the gate whilst the children would be herded into the kitchen and given some homemade lemonade in huge, shiny glasses, topped with clinking ice cubes. A real treat. Mrs Lee would always have some iced-cupcakes with little silver balls for the children too. They would drink their cool drinks, grab a cupcake and then go sit in the garden. Bully would complain loudly at the gate, howling like a big baby. Inevitably a cupcake would be dropped by one of the children. They would race over to and give it to the dog, even if only to keep him quiet. I’m not sure how many cupcakes the dog ate in the end, but it would be a lot. I would be shown to one of those beautiful couches and tea would be brought. Mrs Lee loved her silver tray and lacy doilies. Everything about this visit always seemed to represent finery and sophistication.
It seemed very out of character then, one day as the visit was just about finished, the rent paid, the children collected, and every tasty morsel of cupcake devoured, that a cockroach happened to be crossing the shiny red stoep. I was shocked, frozen on the spot, unsure of what to do – it was so 'out of place'. Mrs Lee spotted it too and, while still talking to me, slowly and firmly crushed it with her heel! It was HORRIBLE. I heard the squelch and saw the ugly goo, its black wings crushed. Mrs Lee, in all her finery, wiped off her foot on the edge of the stoep. ‘Well that’s that then’, she said closing the subject.
All the way back to the house the children, who never missed a thing at Mrs Lea’s were talking about it very loudly amongst themselves. I wondered whether I had imagined it. Nothing like it ever happened again. Tea with Mrs Lee remained an experience that neither I nor my children would ever forget.
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