Going home

This one didn’t happen to me, but it’s a story worth telling. Piet studied Geology with me. He’d just come out of the army when we met. He’d also been to Bossiespruit, and we got chatting. I asked him about adjusting to civvie life, and besides the normal things like insisting on walking in step with whoever was next to you, he told me this..

Although based in Sector 10, he’d spent 9 months in Angola before he managed to get some time off and visit his family. Now Piet came from the Karroo, from a Calvinistic, God-fearing Afrikaner family. And as Afrikaner families tend to do, the whole district was invited to Sunday lunch to welcome back the prodigal son.

Dad said prayers, and the Mom’s, girlfriends, wives started dishing up food for the twenty or so people sitting at the table. In the middle of this all, Piet leans over to his Mom and says “Ma, pass die fokken botter asseblief”.

There’s absolute silence at the table. Swearing just doesn’t happen in families like this. Definitely not with women and children present. Piet, completely mortified at what he’s just said, gets up and goes to his room. About 5 minutes later his Mom comes in, tells him it’s ok. They all understand, the army was tough, and there were no nice girls, and sometimes these things just happen. But it’s all ok.

Piet looks at his Mom, and before he can even think, blurts out “ Ja ok Ma, maar ek het so ‘n kont gevoel!”