VN November 2021

Vetnews | November 2021 39 Story I tried with all the intensity that a desperate swimmer would use to escape a dangerous current, to charm her and somehow capture her interest. On reflection, it was straightforward as there seemed, somehow, to be an invisible connection, and we chatted with great ease. After the sweets had been served at the end of the meal and we waited for some coffee, I lit up a cigarette (a habit I managed to shed a few years later). Sitting there across the table from Emily, I caught her eye and gently puffed a smoke ring towards her. As the ring drifted lazily across the table towards her, she picked up her left hand and "caught" it with her ring finger. In my mind at that moment, I was like a child running across the dunes at the sea-side, shouting as loud as I could, above the pounding surf. "Yes, yes, she is interested; we have made a connection!" The following day, I had a phone call from Barend at work. "I have just spoken to Emily, and she has broken off with her boyfriend and as she is staying with a friend at the moment because her parents are away, she would really like a lift home after work this afternoon, if you couldmanage it." Could I manage it? Picking her up after work that afternoon, I was utterly dazzled again afresh, wanting to pinch myself to see if I was awake. Later that evening, at the first moment we were alone, it was just so natural to melt into each other's arms. It was as if we had known each other forever. The rest of the time in Grahamstown passed as if in a trance, spending every possible moment with her; it passed all too quickly. A few weeks later, I was back in the hostel at OP. On my desk, there was a large, framed photo and to anyone who visited me, I would announce "This is the girl I met his vac, and she is the one I'm going marry, one day". But first, my final year. A few weeks later, it was Easter weekend, and to my utter delight, Emily took the train at Grahamstown and travelled all the way to Pretoria to see me, spending almost three days travelling to be with me for a day and a half, sort of together. I arranged for her to stay with classmates Flip and Anita Cloete. It was a difficult weekend as I was on clinics and didn't have my own transport, having to beg the loan of a car from one of my friends to get to see her, but the few moments with her were absolute bliss. As the year passed, we had to keep in contact by post, no social media or cell phones, only difficult to make long-distance phone calls. In July of the year, I had to do three weeks practical at an abattoir in Durban. No sooner had I gotten home than I took my 21 st birthday present my father had just given me, a second-hand Opel Record, and set off to Grahamstown. It was a desperately disappointing four days, as the warmth and excitement had just seemed to have wholly cooled down along with the freezing winter weather. Was there someone else in the picture? Back at OP, I mulled over what was happening and eventually decided that I could not afford to spend the next four months having my attention distracted by fighting for something which seemed to have died. So on the 6th of August, my 21 st birthday, instead of a big party, without telling anyone what day it was, I packed all the memorabilia, photos etc. I had of her in a large envelope with a message explaining that we should end it all since the magic had gone. In August, it was a cold grey day when I slowly, with sad, measured steps, my heart feeling even darker grey than the weather, mademy way to the Post Office over the road tomail it. Four months flew by, with all the frenzy of making sure I would not only get a degree but that I would be as competent a vet as I could manage when I graduated—constantly pushing thoughts of my "brief" but fantastic love affair aside. Haunted at every corner by those soft green eyes, I plunged into the exams, determined not to be distracted. Finally, we had only one subject left, genesiology, practical, written and oral. All the other students had finished their exams, and the hostel was almost empty. It was a Saturday afternoon at about 2, and I was going to the wedding of Freddy Schnetler, who had finished his exams. As I walked out of my room across the entrance hall of the hostel, the public phone in the call-box, right next to me, rang. I usually would not have answered as I was not expecting a call and there was no one else around. But being right there on the spot, I stepped inside the call-box, and I picked up the receiver. I could have recognized the voice among a thousand others as she said tome, "I am standing on Pretoria Station. Can you come and fetch me"? No, she wasn't really there. She had used this ruse to catch me off- guard so that she could gauge my instinctive reaction to her call. Completely blown off my feet, I blustered out that I was on my way to a wedding but would be happy to pick her up, and she could come just like that with me. Without drawing this story out, the next month passed as in a trance. Gettingmy much sought-after degree almost paled with the prospect of a trip to Grahamstown again, and during the four days there, themagic between us was re-awakened.With her coming just after Christmas to our farm near Colesberg for ten days to meet, my folks gave us a chance to get to know each other a little better. But as I finish the story of this fantastic year, I want to take you all with me to a final scene. In that era, it was customary in the Karoo to go to a ball on New- year's Eve, and sowe found ourselves, dancing to a full band, dressed in a cream tux and her in a beautiful ball-gown in the town-hall of Colesberg. We were so wrapped up with each other that the rest of what was happening was just a blur of colour and music. Swaying around the room in each other's arms, we were lost in another dimension. Then as the band started playing "Auld Lang Syne" to welcome in the New Year, we danced out onto a small balcony that overlooked a typical Karoo landscape. As we stopped, we melted together in a long delicious kiss, while the frogs croaked a melody below us. Stopping for a moment to gather a breath, her exotic perfume making my head spin, those green eyes, with the golden specks in them, looked up at me, and she said: "It's a leap year this year, so I can ask you. Will you marry me?" v