My earliest memory…

I grew up in a small town in the Goldfields of South Africa. The community consisted of half farming and half mine workers. Everyone knew everyones business. It was peaceful, quiet, and quaint.

We attended church in the next town over, about 27km away. My dad, a deacon at the time, and my grandfather, an elder at the time, had built the church, and it was tradition for us go there every Sunday.

On this particular Sunday on the way home, my brother and I were arguing over who gets to play with our sister. She must have been just about 1 then, which would have made me around 4 and my brother around 8.  Back then, car seats weren\’t a thing yet and she was lying on the backseat between the two of us.

I remember it was hot and my dad must have been hangry. He reprimanded us twice and then suddenly stopped the car. He walked round and open the backdoor on the passenger side, telling my brother, very calmly, to get out of the car. He then walked round to my side, opened the door and told me to get out.  He was so calm, we stood there half expecting him to give us a proper talking to. Instead he got back in the car and drove of!

Our jaws dropped.   Imagine that. Here you have a boy in a sharki (an undetermined color, something between sh… t and khaki) safari suit (traditional Sunday dress for boys that age, which consisted on knee length shorts and button down collared shirt both in the distasteful color and knee high socks), and a girl in her best white Sunday dress, white shoes and Bobby
socks complete with a lace trim.

We must have been a pretty sight. We started walking down the road which snaked into the horizon, cutting a line through the corn fields, with the sun baking down on us. I think I took 5 steps before I started bawling over the red dust covering my white shoes and socks.

My brother, a scrawny young lad, proceeded to very bravely tell me to jump on his back. Shame, I don\’t know what he was thinking, but he kept going at a snail\’s pace.

After what felt like hours, but it must have been only a couple of minutes, we saw my dad\’s car appear on the horizon. He made a u-turn, and waited for us to get back in. Not a word was said all the way home and once home, we continued like nothing had happened. That was the way we did things – swipe it under the carpet and pretend it never happened

Before you judge, I must add that my dad was also a reserve force police officer and he had noticed a traffic officer sitting in his car under a tree. We didn\’t notice him when we went past him before my dad dropped us next to the road. So, we were safe at all times

Lesson learned haha

What\’s your earliest memory?