|
4X4
Routes
Accommodation
Adventure
Arts & Crafts
Auto Rentals
Beaches
Book Stores
Catering
Clothing
Computer
Supplies
Confectionery
Gifts
Golf
Hand Crafts
Health & Beauty
Hikes & Trails
Hospitality
Financial & Business
Internet Cafes
Kidz Zone
Kitchen
Supplies
Medical
Medical Emergency
Pharmacies
Pet Supplies
Property 4 SALE
Restaurants
Pubs & Clubs
Schools &
Facilities
Security
Shopping
Variety
Legal Services
Real Estate
Shopping Malls
Travel & Leisure
Weddings and Events
Wine Cellars
Wine Land
Lovely
& informative
other
places to look
for more
information
about
H e r m a n u s
www.
hermanus
.co.za
www.
overberginfo
.com
www.
hermanus.
com
Hermanus
Tourism Buro
Hermanus
Times
Hermanus
Golf Club
Hermanus
Whale
Festival
Hermanus
Magnetic Observatory
Hermanus
Map
Hermanus
Garden Route
Trip
Adviser
|
|
A
little taste of what awaits you.
Go to..
Pigs out of water.
PRESS RELEASE
Title: Karoo
Tales and Images
ISBN:
978-0-620-40583-6
Author:
Nicholas Yell
Publisher:
Springbok Press (www.springbokpress.co.za)
Genre:
SA Fiction - short stories (13) with B&W photographs.
Retail Price:
R129.00
Short stories were Nicholas Yell’s way of
recording his impressions of the quirky characters he met when he
first moved to the Karoo. While living in Aberdeen in a lovingly
restored ‘platdak Karoo-huis’, he drove thousands of kilometres of
dirt tracks, always in search of a story and characters which he
could later weave into his fictionalized accounts. But many of his
trademark ‘twist in the tale’ stories reflect only the vaguest of
truths and rely solely on his own off-beat imagination to entertain
the reader.
“People-watching in the Karoo is a fascinating
business,” says Yell. “Not only those whose hand-to-mouth existence
makes for poignant observations, but also the other embattled city
souls and so-called ‘free-spirits’ that go there to try and find,
or, more often, lose themselves.”
Veteran journalist and author, Harvey Tyson, said
of the book: “When I first read some of Nick’s short stories
they reminded me a bit of O.Henry’s writings of the late 1800s. But
Nick has his own subtle style and his stories are usually laden with
unique layers of innuendo and meaning which are often revealed only
when you reach the ending.”
Containing 13 highly entertaining short stories –
including one titled Christmas in the Karoo – as well as
evocative black and white photographs, this short anthology is the
ideal stocking-filler for Christmas.
Issued by Springbok Press, 9 October 2009.
Pigs out of water.
Copyright - Nicholas Yell.
The first day Oom Klaus arrived to have a haircut at the new
hairdresser’s place in Veld Straat, he nearly had his hand bitten
off as well. He’d not wanted to have it cut in the first place, but
his wife, Aletta, had told him he looked worse than that sheep of
his that got lost in the mountains for three years. When they‘d
eventually found the ram, the wool was more than thirty-six inches
long in places and so matted, that they decided to have it stuffed
and put on display in the museum.
When the woman greeted him at the front gate, he wasn’t sure he was
at the right place. The person who stood in front of him had a
bright purple hairdo that stuck out in the most unruly manner, at
every possible angle. If her hair is anything to go by, perhaps I
should try somewhere else, he thought anxiously to himself.
“It’s okay, he won’t bite. He’s just a little highly-strung, the
woman said, pointing to her growling dog. I rescued him from some
abusive owners in the township this morning.”
“Am I at the right place for a haircut?” asked Oom Klaus sheepishly.
“Oh yes,” replied the hairdresser,” finest haircuts this side of the
Gariep River.”
“Good, I’ll just let myself in then.”
As he reached over the gate to get at the latch, the mongrel dog
jumped up to savage his hand, spitting and snarling in frustration
when he managed to pull it out the way, just in time.
“No man, that animal is bedonered,” exclaimed Oom Klaus thinking to
himself that the bloody brak should be put down immediately.
“Sorry, I’ll just hold him while you go inside,” said the
hairdresser, blushing at the inaccuracy of her earlier prediction.
Seated in the chair watching his haircut take shape, Oom Klaus could
tell this woman knew a lot more about hairdressing than
dog-handling. She told him how all her life she had fought human
cruelty against animals. And as a result, she’d continued, she often
ended up taking care of other people’s problem animals; she just
couldn’t bear seeing them in distress.
When Oom Klaus told her the story of the time he’d had to shoot his
favourite sheepdog, Stokkies, when it contracted rabies from a
yellow mongoose bite, he saw the hairdresser wince in pain as he
related his tragic story.
Warming to this animal lover with the outlandish hairdo, Oom Klaus
asked: “Did you maybe lose a special pet as a child that you’re so
sensitive about animal welfare?”
She looked at him with deep hurt in her eyes: “No I wasn’t ever
allowed a pet as a child; my father said we didn’t have enough
space. But I’ve always somehow felt closer to animals than people. I
don’t know what it is, but I really feel their pain and I just can’t
let them suffer.”
Oom Klaus nodded sagely, but was not quite sure what to say next.
The doorbell rang and the hairdresser excused herself to save
another client from the attentions of the moody mongrel. He examined
himself in the mirror and was quite taken with what he saw. She had
given him a short haircut, but the top was left quite a bit longer
in a sort of modern, spiky fashion. Just wait until that cocky young
ladies man, Fanie, at the bowls club sees this new look, he thought,
let’s see who he calls Oupa now!
The hairdresser returned with a large young woman in tow. She backed
into the salon mindful of the dog, greeted him and sat down to page
through the hairstyle magazines. Looking at her listless, dull hair
stacked haphazardly into a loose-fitting bun, Oom Klaus felt sure
her husband would be in for a long overdue surprise tonight. The
hairdresser returned, red-faced and totally out of breath. She
walked hurriedly to the basin to wash the remnants of dog saliva off
her nimble fingers.
“How does that look Oom Klaus, do you like the new style I’ve given
you?”
“You can just call me Klaus now, I feel so much younger I don’t even
want to be called Oom anymore,” he enthused.
Some weeks later he noticed the hairdresser at the bottom of his
property taking photographs. He thought nothing of it, imagining
that she probably wanted to send some photographic record of her new
Karoo lifestyle to her family up country.
Oom Klaus was very pleased with his new hairstyle. He’d even noticed
that Aletta was looking at him like she used to when they’d first
met that Sunday in church, so long ago. The whole service he’d
inched closer to her on the pew and he was sure she’d done the same.
By the end of the service their thighs had almost touched, and if it
hadn’t been for Dominee van der Walt’s fiery sermon coming to an
abrupt climax, they almost certainly would have. So by the time he
needed a haircut next, there was no need for Aletta to persuade him
to go.
As before, the hairdresser had to rein in her bad-tempered dog, yet
this time, it was really straining and choking itself in a frenzied
attempt to get at him. If she wasn’t such a good hairdresser, he’d
have told her to put the mongrel down long ago already. But he
didn’t want to upset the woman responsible for his renewed
confidence and Aletta’s admiring glances, so he continued to hold
his tongue – but it wasn’t easy; bloody animal doesn’t know its
place, he fumed to himself.
“I saw that you were taking some photos at the bottom of my property
the other day. Are you taking some of the houses all over town to
send to your family?”
Her face suddenly contorted in an angry-looking snarl and he was
immediately sorry he’d asked the question.
“Are those your pigs that aren’t getting nearly enough water?”
She asked this with such force and malice, that she almost ejected
him from the springy salon chair.
“But I fill up their drinking troughs almost daily,” Oom Klaus
stammered in amazement.
“Well the law states quite clearly that pigs have to have access to
drinking water all day, every day, not only when you feel like
topping them up every other afternoon,” she exploded.Oom Klaus had
never been attacked by a hairdresser before and was mindful of his
precarious position, vulnerable as he was in a swivel chair with his
would-be assailant wielding a pair of scissors in one hand and a
cutthroat in the other.
“Come now Madam, are you sure you really know enough about a pig’s
drinking habits?” he countered, trying to reason with her.
“I know enough to insist that you are mistreating them and that I’m
going to send my photographs of their near-empty drinking troughs to
all the major newspapers, to expose your cruelty to animals.”
At that moment Oom Klaus knew he might have to kiss goodbye Aletta’s
renewed admiration. He just couldn’t sit there and be insulted by
this enraged vroumens with the purple hairdo anymore. Extricating
himself from the swivel seat, cloak and shoulder weights, he
blurted: “Lady, I‘ve been looking after animals my whole life and
I’ve never lost one to dehydration.”
With that he stormed out the door, slamming it loudly behind him.
In his hurry to leave he’d forgotten about the mad dog outside. He
peered round cautiously until he located it. The animal was lying
near the corner of the house, facing the other way. Oom Klaus, with
his back to the wall, crept silently toward the garden gate. The dog
lay still. Must be asleep, he thought thankfully.
But, looking back to the salon, he saw the hairdresser’s face
through the window break into a deep, self-satisfied smile — just
like Fanie’s when he was beating him at bowls.
Then he heard her whistle.
Words: 1321. Copyright: Nicholas Yell, 21 Darling Street, Aberdeen.
Contact: 082 453 1804 or (049) 846 0908. Email: yell@telkomsa.net
Mail us if you would like your establishment listed here.
Nosy Rosy scrams about daily to make it Most informative 4 U
|
|
