I had lost forty pounds in weight by the day Sean, Nicolette and I went back to my old office to get some papers needed for my tax return. It’s surprising how easy it is to lose weight when you have no money for luxury foods. Everyone was delighted to welcome me.
One of the ladies with whom I had worked, said of the baby; “Well, she certainly is beautiful and you must be very proud." My friend, Mrs Riet, was fantastic. “I told you it was nothing to have a baby.” “We-e-ell,” I answered, “I can assure you I wasn’t playing cards the night she was born.” And both of us laughed.
If
I had not been poor for so long I would not have been able to handle the
poverty we experienced the following few months. Winter set in and we turned on a little
electric fire in the lounge wall but the rest of the house went unheated. I rushed around performing chores when
Nicolette slept in her cosy pram.
One Sunday when she was two months old I took her to Mass in a beautiful white woollen suit my mother had bought for her and wrapped in a magnificent white shawl, also given by her grandmother. We stopped at the café to buy food after church. Afterwards we left to get into our car.
Our car's side windows were all four split into two parts, a broad one and a narrow one. We opened the narrow part when we wanted air but not enough to blow us away and it had a hook which you could manipulate to open or close it.
The short sleeve of my jacket on the arm in which I held Nicolette got hooked in the window clasp as I opened the door to enter the car. As my body turned towards the seat, the clasp held the sleeve and my arm opened. The baby nearly slid out. I felt shocked but got into the car and closed the door.
I had my angel firmly wedged in my arms. Sometimes people give me pitying smiles because I believe in guardian angels but I have proof that my children have all been blessed by guardian angels. That’s why I’d encourage anyone to pray:
"Oh
angel of God my guardian dear, to whom God’s Love commits me here,
Ever
this day (or night) be at my side, to watch and guard, to rule and guide."
When Nicolette was a few weeks old, I put her in her own bedroom – still in the pram. One day she was asleep and I was busy in my bedroom when I suddenly got a dreadful sense of panic and tore down the long passage to her room. She had turned onto her tummy and was trying desperately not to suffocate in her little cushion by pulling back her head repeatedly. She could not have been more than three months. I snatched her up and held her to my heart.
Sean
used to be paid by the week and received a bonus cheque at the end of every
month. The weekly pay took care of
immediate living expenses and the bonus cheque was used for our monthly
instalments.
When Nicolette was not yet four months old Sean brought home his bonus cheque and handed it to me to pay the accounts the following day. It was for forty pounds and covered our rent, water and lights, chemist, furniture instalments and monthly car payments. He remembered something he needed to buy and drove back to town to cash the cheque. “Careful not to spend too much,” I called after him. When he came home he handed me thirty-seven pounds which I stuffed in my bag.
The bus to town came at ten but my chores were finished half an hour early, so I rushed to the café and stood at the back of the queue. Nicolette started crying and I put my bag in the pram and picked her up to console her. When I laid her down again my bag was gone. I was distraught. There was no way in the world we could survive the month, as we were already battling to pay our accounts and there was nothing in the bank. I left her with a neighbour, borrowed the fare and took a train to Johannesburg to find a job.
I started working two days later and the neighbour undertook to take care of Nicolette. Sean would collect the baby from the neighbour who was living across the road. My heart lurched to think that Nicolette, the light of my life, was not with me as I was at work.
Eventually, I
got the baby into the crèche but that was very difficult because Sean could not
always make it in time from work when the car was malfunctioning and my train
from
That is when Aline came into our life. Aline was a mother of three, whose children stayed with her mother while Aline was at work. Aline's mother came to visit my husband and I in a huge black car, bigger than the mine manager’s former car which Sean now drove, and I invited them into the lounge where they sat down. Aline brought us tea.
“Aline is a good daughter, but I am strict with her,” the mother informed me. “Please keep an eye on her.”
I said I would and she and her quiet husband went back home. Aline was very awed by her and so was I. Aline's mother reminded me very much of my mother. They both possessed a dignified demeanour.
I rejoiced in the love that Aline and Nicolette shared. Nicolette throve on Aline’s motherly care and grew plump and happy. I was paying our debts off in record time with my secretary’s pay.
To my delight I discovered I was pregnant in 1962 and I did not want to be unprepared financially when my second child was born. When I went into maternity dresses I gave Aline some of my clothes which looked better on her than on me because she had a sensational figure. I then looked forward to becoming a mother a second time.
*Some names have been changed
Image courtesy of ChatGPT with CN Whittle "Guardian angel watches over sleep"
