Did you hit the Gate?
Did you hit the Gate? Part 3
They met in Church, drawn together by some invisible force, Roy, a mature bachelor, she a widow, they found that something in each other that no science can prove or can even try.
On the night, Edith approached the very busy Roy, and asked “Will you come for a walk with me?”
It was the first time Roy had set eyes on her and when he did the reaction was instantaneous.
“Yes” he replied without hesitation.
They walked through the small town, not seeing the shop windows or the street lights, just each other.
Roy, normally coy and shy, asked Edith, “May I hold your hand?”
She agreed and when they touched, the electricity lit up both their hearts and was evident on their faces.
After walking for some time, they turned around to return the way they had come and found themselves facing each other.
Roy asked “Would you mind if I kissed you?”
Edith laughed and said “Never ask again, just do”.
Monday morning dawned bright and fresh, Roy woke and looked out of the bedroom window on to his garden, as he always did. Today was just a little different; the birds drank from the bath, the dew hung in drops on the blades of grass, the flowers pointed their heads to the raising sun; just as always, just today he had someone to share it with.
Edith sensed he was awake and did not speak, just allowed her-self to feel comfortable and happy. They both went to work late that morning.
Edith and Roy moved in together within the week and soon their business interests found common ground and occupied the same building. Roy and Edith lived and worked close together from then on.
In the mid-sixties and especially in South Africa, there was this moral code that was almost Victorian and living together was frowned on, especially by the church that both Roy and Edith attended. Despite this, Roy and Edith lived together and the community accepted their decision, the church ministers and other moralists silenced by their friends and their devotion to one another.
It came as no surprise when Roy announced to the world that he and Edith had decided to get engaged with marriage to follow. This was the excuse that was fielded for party of the century and it was.
Roy was in the agricultural supplies business, and his brothers, there were 3, shared a large property 10 km out of town. On the weekend that the party was planned for, the preparation began early, on Thursday. The African staff where selected and told to prepare for a large group fires where lit for what is known as a barbeque, in Africa it is called by its Dutch name; “Braaivleis”, or “Braai”.
One of the dishes served is an almost tasteless porridge called “pap”. Correctly prepared and served with meat and gravy it is an art form. Out came the three legged pot that would simmer above an open fire until Saturday night. The mixture of meal and water with some salt, needed to be stirred frequently and kept at a constant temperature to ensure it cooked right through. The huge pot that looked like the ones that the cannibals cooked the missionary in the cartoons and to ensure that there was enough there were three pots merrily boiling away and being tended 24 hours a day.
Liberal amounts of alcohol; food and soft drinks, along with a band for the night were ordered and duly delivered.
Friday night was considered a warm up and most of the guests arrived for the festivities. Food and drink flowed freely, dancing, chatting and party games being part and parcel of the party. The party did not end on Friday night, it just kept going all through Saturday and into Sunday morning.
We, my family and I, arrived on the Saturday afternoon to find the party in full swing. Mum and Dad being great dancers, found the floor and promptly stayed there for a couple of hours and wound up collapsing into chairs out of exhaustion.
I watched the goings on with much glee, one group of men had found a dart board and where playing 501, with the losing team being deigned food and drink until they got there revenge!
One conversation I found most interesting was one on the ups and downs of farm life, which soon became a story swap about funny things that happened on the farm.
Around mid-night some guests left, making the excuse that the next day they had to go to church, (many of the guests did go on the Sunday morning, some still intoxicated).
We got home in time to see the sun rise.
Legend has it that on the Sunday morning, Roy’s three brothers went to church and after the service went and woke up the local bottle shop owner. As it was illegal to trade in liquor on a Sunday in South Africa at the time; they had to do some pretty quick talking and there was the promise of a deep freeze full of meat involved. There was a pick-up loaded with drink left the town around lunch time on Sunday and no-one admitted it ever happened.
The party finally finished on Tuesday when Roy decided that it was time to re-open the shop and earn enough to pay for the wedding; this one started on Thursday and ended on Tuesday, how long would the wedding reception go on for?
After the hangovers were cured and the fires burnt out, life got back to normal; after a few months Roy and Edith started to make wedding plans.
Deciding on an Anti-nuptial Agreement they chose a legal firm in another nearby town to do the paperwork. They were going to use the newly opened gorge road that wound through a picturesque area. The soaring cliffs, trees and river made the journey interesting and quite exciting.
Roy and Edith had confided in a friend that they were considering a civil ceremony instead of the traditional church wedding and where going to find out about how that could happen with the least amount of fuss.
Roy and Edith where making plans for a future together and wanted to tell the world that by marriage; they were travelling at the speed limit, on their side of the road when they approached the blind corner. The details where at best hazy after that, but Roy and Edith’s car was crushed between a lorry and the cliff face and dragged for almost 100 metres. Roy and Edith died together.
The town stopped for the funeral, the procession to the graveyard stretched for what seemed to be miles. It was the first funeral I had attended that celebrated life as apposed to being a sad occasion mourning the loss of loved ones.
Roy and Edith were buried in a single grave, together for all eternity.
When the rain falls and the sun shines at the same time in Southern Africa it is called a monkey’s wedding. I sat on the veranda one slow Sunday afternoon thinking of Roy and Edith and wondered why we all missed them so much.
Watching the rain and the sun complete for supremacy I realised what it was – love.
We all want it, we all think that we have it at some point in our lives, but do we really have it?
Roy and Edith did; I wondered if I was going to be so lucky.
They met in Church, drawn together by some invisible force, Roy, a mature bachelor, she a widow, they found that something in each other that no science can prove or can even try.
On the night, Edith approached the very busy Roy, and asked “Will you come for a walk with me?”
It was the first time Roy had set eyes on her and when he did the reaction was instantaneous.
“Yes” he replied without hesitation.
They walked through the small town, not seeing the shop windows or the street lights, just each other.
Roy, normally coy and shy, asked Edith, “May I hold your hand?”
She agreed and when they touched, the electricity lit up both their hearts and was evident on their faces.
After walking for some time, they turned around to return the way they had come and found themselves facing each other.
Roy asked “Would you mind if I kissed you?”
Edith laughed and said “Never ask again, just do”.
Monday morning dawned bright and fresh, Roy woke and looked out of the bedroom window on to his garden, as he always did. Today was just a little different; the birds drank from the bath, the dew hung in drops on the blades of grass, the flowers pointed their heads to the raising sun; just as always, just today he had someone to share it with.
Edith sensed he was awake and did not speak, just allowed her-self to feel comfortable and happy. They both went to work late that morning.
Edith and Roy moved in together within the week and soon their business interests found common ground and occupied the same building. Roy and Edith lived and worked close together from then on.
In the mid-sixties and especially in South Africa, there was this moral code that was almost Victorian and living together was frowned on, especially by the church that both Roy and Edith attended. Despite this, Roy and Edith lived together and the community accepted their decision, the church ministers and other moralists silenced by their friends and their devotion to one another.
It came as no surprise when Roy announced to the world that he and Edith had decided to get engaged with marriage to follow. This was the excuse that was fielded for party of the century and it was.
Roy was in the agricultural supplies business, and his brothers, there were 3, shared a large property 10 km out of town. On the weekend that the party was planned for, the preparation began early, on Thursday. The African staff where selected and told to prepare for a large group fires where lit for what is known as a barbeque, in Africa it is called by its Dutch name; “Braaivleis”, or “Braai”.
One of the dishes served is an almost tasteless porridge called “pap”. Correctly prepared and served with meat and gravy it is an art form. Out came the three legged pot that would simmer above an open fire until Saturday night. The mixture of meal and water with some salt, needed to be stirred frequently and kept at a constant temperature to ensure it cooked right through. The huge pot that looked like the ones that the cannibals cooked the missionary in the cartoons and to ensure that there was enough there were three pots merrily boiling away and being tended 24 hours a day.
Liberal amounts of alcohol; food and soft drinks, along with a band for the night were ordered and duly delivered.
Friday night was considered a warm up and most of the guests arrived for the festivities. Food and drink flowed freely, dancing, chatting and party games being part and parcel of the party. The party did not end on Friday night, it just kept going all through Saturday and into Sunday morning.
We, my family and I, arrived on the Saturday afternoon to find the party in full swing. Mum and Dad being great dancers, found the floor and promptly stayed there for a couple of hours and wound up collapsing into chairs out of exhaustion.
I watched the goings on with much glee, one group of men had found a dart board and where playing 501, with the losing team being deigned food and drink until they got there revenge!
One conversation I found most interesting was one on the ups and downs of farm life, which soon became a story swap about funny things that happened on the farm.
Around mid-night some guests left, making the excuse that the next day they had to go to church, (many of the guests did go on the Sunday morning, some still intoxicated).
We got home in time to see the sun rise.
Legend has it that on the Sunday morning, Roy’s three brothers went to church and after the service went and woke up the local bottle shop owner. As it was illegal to trade in liquor on a Sunday in South Africa at the time; they had to do some pretty quick talking and there was the promise of a deep freeze full of meat involved. There was a pick-up loaded with drink left the town around lunch time on Sunday and no-one admitted it ever happened.
The party finally finished on Tuesday when Roy decided that it was time to re-open the shop and earn enough to pay for the wedding; this one started on Thursday and ended on Tuesday, how long would the wedding reception go on for?
After the hangovers were cured and the fires burnt out, life got back to normal; after a few months Roy and Edith started to make wedding plans.
Deciding on an Anti-nuptial Agreement they chose a legal firm in another nearby town to do the paperwork. They were going to use the newly opened gorge road that wound through a picturesque area. The soaring cliffs, trees and river made the journey interesting and quite exciting.
Roy and Edith had confided in a friend that they were considering a civil ceremony instead of the traditional church wedding and where going to find out about how that could happen with the least amount of fuss.
Roy and Edith where making plans for a future together and wanted to tell the world that by marriage; they were travelling at the speed limit, on their side of the road when they approached the blind corner. The details where at best hazy after that, but Roy and Edith’s car was crushed between a lorry and the cliff face and dragged for almost 100 metres. Roy and Edith died together.
The town stopped for the funeral, the procession to the graveyard stretched for what seemed to be miles. It was the first funeral I had attended that celebrated life as apposed to being a sad occasion mourning the loss of loved ones.
Roy and Edith were buried in a single grave, together for all eternity.
When the rain falls and the sun shines at the same time in Southern Africa it is called a monkey’s wedding. I sat on the veranda one slow Sunday afternoon thinking of Roy and Edith and wondered why we all missed them so much.
Watching the rain and the sun complete for supremacy I realised what it was – love.
We all want it, we all think that we have it at some point in our lives, but do we really have it?
Roy and Edith did; I wondered if I was going to be so lucky.
posted by Spencer Thomas-Gate at 4:26 AM
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