We, fellow apprentices and I, (remember I never started out as this bright boy in software engineering, but later about that), well, we were having our lunch break. We duly all took out our brown bags, when across the workshop, ran a mouse. This fellow, (a farm boy from Philipoolis in the Cape), got up and chased after this thing. The rest of us just sat there and discussed the day’s happenings and life in general. We were so engrossed in our discussions that we, sort of, forgot about Laurie Jacobs, this fellow’s name.
It took a while for our noses to register a smell of barbecued meat wafting into the workshop. Taking no notice of this, well it did smell good; you know what barbecued meat smells like? A little while later Laurie comes back and he is eating his meat sandwich. Naturally, we all asked him what he was eating that smelled so damn good. “That mouse that I caught” was his reply!
Talk about pandemonium! We all, as one, jumped up and ran outside, some of us, with weaker stomachs, depositing our just eaten lunches as we ran! We were "city" boys after all!
Needless, to say, Laurie ended up on the red carpet and the process of firing him discussed. When asked why he did this, he’s reply? “I come from the farm, I grew up with Bushmen, as a boy when hunting, they taught me how to kill and prepare any kind of food.” Well management could not fire him for this, but being warned that he would be, if he ever decided to kill any rodent or creepy crawly, (and eat it for lunch), while on work premises.
So, this mouse is running along my flowerbed, and chasing him? A nightingale! You see, this nightingale had taken up residence in one of my live oaks. I do not know if you know nightingales, but, they are territorial and chase any “foreign” intruder, in their space, from sight. I will mention this bird (Kim) in a future blog, "Life in my Garden."
Later…
Hendrik (July 1, 2008)
