I was the oldest and the only girl out of five children!
Back in the day, it was common for a midwife to deliver babies at home.
We lived in Port Elizabeth back then, and a Sister Dominey delivered all five of us, driving around town in a little Morris Minor.
I was very excited when my brother Etienne was born; I was three years old and felt very protective of him.
Marius was next in line, and he and Etienne became bosom buddies.
After the fourth baby was born, we all excitedly went in to see if this was a girl or a boy baby. The baby's name was Werner, which meant it was another boy!
Marius looked at Mom and asked when she would hatch a girl baby again.
I also wanted to know, as I had no one to play with!
Werner was only ten months old when he caught three infectious diseases simultaneously.
He was kept in isolation in the hospital for quite a long while. I was allowed to go with Mom and Dad to see him. He was in a ward behind glass, all alone, and crying when he saw us.
Naturally, we all felt very protective of him after that ordeal.
He had a dry sense of humour, and often was reluctant to go to Sunday School, telling Mom that there was no need to go as he was not going to be a pastor one day;)
I think I told you that one before; same when he climbed up a tree after being naughty and stayed there the entire day till our gentle giant Dad Malan got home.
It was tiny Mom Lily's job to deal with the punishment. Of course, she had cooled down by nightfall, and he only got a stern warning.
Mom and Dad planned on only having four children, but, along came Roelof. Mom often said he was 'her best mistake ever!'
The wit-koppe (snow-white-haired brothers) always got up to mischief, doing stuff like catching frogs, hunting birds, and even progressing to snakes.
do you still blame me for not wanting to play with my brothers?
Marius has always loved animals and was fascinated with their anatomy. He wanted to be a vet, but schoolwork was way too boring, let alone studying further, so that dream never came true!
The quartet kept rabbits, which kept on multiplying. One of their friends was the son of Belgian emigrants who lived nearby.
Mom refused to have any rabbits in her kitchen. The full-grown rabbits were taken to the De Schutte home where their friend's father taught them how to slaughter rabbits.
Mrs. De Schutte made all kinds of delicious rabbit dishes that they all feasted on.
Just as well I never married a farmer, as I for sure would have become vegetarian as I cannot eat anything that I've seen walking!
Marius took on a big project with one of the rabbits which was used for a pie. He kept every bone, cleaned them, and washed them in some liquid.
He then painstakingly assembled the entire skeleton, using wire. The spinal bones of course had holes, but he drilled small holes in some of the other bones.
His rabbit skeleton took pride of place in their science classroom for many years.
I was horrified to see 'spatchcocked' birds appear in Mom's roasting pan one day, but she soon chased them out of the kitchen. The birds ended up on a makeshift braai (BBQ) at the bottom of the garden.
That meal was not a success, but the birds still were not safe
Marius bought formalin at the local chemist, and to add insult to injury, on Mom's account at that!
He injected it into birds that he hung from the ceiling of the boys' bedroom. He became hysterical one day, as formalin shot into his eye. It stung, of course, but worse was that he thought his eye would stiffen like the poor birds hanging from the ceiling.
I hope you will still talk to me after I tell you the next story!
They experimented on a frog, wanting to see how it would jump after the following procedure:
They carefully cut a small opening in its belly, pushed small stones in, and sewed it up again.
I never asked about the outcome, only heard the story afterward. They reversed the process afterward, and the frog ran away, I'm sure never to return!
The boys in the neighbourhood had pellet gun warfare from rooftops. A pellet hit one of the boys right between the eyes. Thank heavens it missed his eyes!
Needless to say, everyone's pellet guns were confiscated.
I've shared the story of their snake collection but will repeat it for those of you who've not read about it. They had a specially built snakepit at the bottom of our large garden. I would not go anywhere near it. They would go walking in the bush looking for snakes and put their find in a cloth bag till they got home.
One day while we were at school, Mom heard something in the wardrobe. It was a forgotten snake wriggling in that bag!
The snakes had to go, much to their disappointment, but to my delight. They used to taunt my friends and me with them! They were not poisonous, but, I am terrified of snakes!
They built all of the above as well.
The rope of the foodie slide broke one day when Werner had just taken off, and he was left dangling in the air. They somehow managed to get him down before Mom found out what happened.
I could go on and on till daybreak, but those innocent-looking blond, blue-eyed boys lived out every 60's boy's dreams with their adventures. Funny how only Marius and I are brown-eyed, and lefties.
Etienne died tragically at the age of 26, and Werner at the age of 42.
Marius and Roelof have both been pillars of strength since the loss of Arthur. I feel immensely blessed to have them as my brothers!
This has been my response to the question @ericvancewalton posed for this week's Memoir Monday:
What early memories do you have of your sibling(s)?
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