My world turned upside down

Still obsessed with being outside......

I took a walk round the gym grounds, prior to heading inside for my lunch time yoga class.  Doing yoga not splash, Alison is still on "sick" leave.

I came across this upside cone.

Thought it was blippable.  So I blipped it.  Little did I know, it was prophetic.

Yoga was AMAZING.

Not exactly sure what Pascale did, but the breathing against the wall, made me feel, surreal.  I returned home, had lunch and sat down to read the pubmed abstracts.

Life was good !

The phone rang.  It was Mom, come home she said.  I have been hijacked at the gate and the car is gone.

My first thought she was joking.  The car is gone, who would take a 34 year old car, held together with love.   I knew she was not joking.



I said "I am coming" and slammed the phone down.

I never even asked if she was alright.  I was shaking.  I knew what it meant.  The car is my Mom's independence, my independence.  My life, her life, had been changed in an instant.  What would happen to her ?  Would she die ?



I phoned Karen................ WE NEEDED HELP.

By this time, I was wheezing......... the shock and horror and the implications of that phone call, set off something of a panic attack. 

I got home and hour or so later.

As I drew near the house, there was a police van and half a dozen other cars, parked outside.  I parked the car and ran inside, looking for her.

I found her "hiding" in the bedroom.

Her face was swollen and bruised, but she was remarkably calm.  

The reason she was "hiding" in the bedroom, was because there were half a dozen, people in our small suburban kitchen.  And what looked like an AK-47 assault rifle, under the kitchen table.

The only ones I recognized, was Peter (from the Church) and Karen.  

What had happened ?


Well, the gate fix, from yesterday had been anything but , a gate fix.  The gate had been welded in such a way, that it closed from the inside, but did not close from the outside.   No one checked !



When Mom had tried to leave the house, to go shopping, she found this out,  THE HARD WAY. 



She had reversed down the drive.  Exited the car (door open, keys in the ignition), to lock the gate.  And she couldn't get it to lock.  She fiddled. Who knows for how long.


The point is.......... she fiddled long enough, to become a hijacking victim.


A single youngish black man, wearing green overalls, took the gap.  He made a move for the car....

She noticed.



She tried to stop him.



He swatted her to the ground and drove off with the car.  Missing her by a fraction of an inch.



Inside the car............. her LIFE. 



The car  (her independence) and her handbag : ID, bank cards, medical aid card,  cell phone, house keys.



The police, CPF etc were there for hours. When they finally left, the locksmith arrived to change the locks.   Karen left. 

And then, we CRIED.  And CRIED.  And CRIED. 

Our lives have been changed forever.  I believe Mom's life has been cut short.  I do not know, if at 87 years, she will be able to recover from this trauma.  The loss of the car etc, beyond the psychological blow, is a huge financial blow too.