The alarming telephone call came early in the morning; a tearful voice telling me the unbelievable:
We need help, the lady who works for you was run over this morning when crossing the road!
My heart immediately jumped into my throat;
'You mean Cynthia?'
Yes, I'm her brother.
Ok, so I know very well that there is no brother and I'm starting to have doubts about what is really happening here!
Hubby's phoning Cynthia but there's no answer so I think perhaps something did happen. It could be her cousin as it's customary in the African culture to call a cousin a brother or sister; I'm beside myself by now!
Hubby's phone rings soon thereafter; it's Cynthia, alive and well and totally unaware of what we've just heard.
The caller cut the call when I tell him that Cynthia is on the other phone!
Speaking to a friend later on, I hear that something similar happened to her neighbour and the so-called 'family' needed money to arrange a funeral but when she asked to see a death certificate, she never heard from the caller again!
How sick is that, playing on people's feelings hoping the employer will fall for it as most of the domestic workers are still on an extended year end break due to the horrid second Covid wave we're experiencing!
This call really unsettled me as Cynthia has become part of our family, and made me realize just how much she means to all of us here.
Beautiful on the inside and outside;)
Bongikosi came back after his year-end break on his family's farm; what a blessing!
He lives on our property so doesn't have the threat of public transport where they often travel in overcrowded taxis, despite the stricter regulations!
Then I received a really nice online booking for a single guest for 9 nights; but it turned out to be someone who needed to quarantine as her son-in-law was diagnosed with Covid.
Sadly I had to cancel that booking as we cannot risk having an elderly guest here who may be bringing Covid to our little bnb and with Mom Lily at 89, that was a definite no-no!
Bookings are at an all-time low now that the beaches are still closed; we fortunately have the regular trainees back but our small unit has been standing empty for a good couple of days already!
I needed to lose myself in the kitchen after all these disturbances and as Mom Lily had been pestering me for days to make Milk Tart, which she wanted to help with, we had flour everywhere as I also made a loaf of Wholemeal Bread and a batch of Oat & Peanut Butter Cookies:)
Baking therapy was just what I needed to clear my head!
Mom's tiny little body still is in top form, but her balance is getting REALLY bad.
She has an Acoustic Neuroma which is slowly getting larger, causing more pressure on the lower brain and the only thing this affects, is her balance; most frustrating as she is fiercely independent!
Pastry cases she can still make;)
I had to fill the tarts with a fluffy white custard filling which is sprinkled with Cinnamon; Milk Tart is a real traditional South African teatime treat.
The Pomelo's are coming along nicely but it will be quite a while before they will be ripe enough to give us our daily dose of Vitamin C.
The son keeps on sending masks and Vitamins; this time pure Silk Masks and I must say they are super comfy!
Tomatoes were really looking good and we thought the marauding monkeys would have no interest in them, but they must be hungry with both our Papaya trees both dead and gone. They took one bite from the healthiest looking Tomatoes, obviously did not like it as they were still on the plants.
We quickly picked the rest of the larger tomatoes before they get to those as well!
Our food shopping is now done online only, thanks to the son who insisted I download the App on my phone; what a blessing and time-saver this has been, so thank you Dean!
Contact-less deliveries doesn't stop us chatting briefly from a distance; the guys are getting to know us now.
It costs nothing to say thank you, a kind word and try to smile behind the mask; but these people work really hard getting the orders out within 60 minutes!
That was the week just gone by, full of ups and downs, our two trainee guests are great guys, we're all still healthy so are truly thankful for our blessings!
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