There was fine spring weather in Pearly Beach over the
weekend. Around midday on Saturday we decided to drive to the Gulley and take
the footpath along the coast to the Resort, hoping to see a good display of
wild flowers. We weren’t disappointed. In fact, this is one of the best seasons
in a long while, possibly on account of good rain just at the right time.
It would have been an entirely enjoyable experience had it
not been marred by an unfortunate encounter.
Our dog was ahead of us and came
face to face with a man who stopped dead in his tracks. The dog barked once, he
moved off the path towards the sea and the dog lost interest. We continued on
our way but the man began to shout, “P**shond! F**ken p**shond!” He called out
to me, “Madala, ek gaan jou f**ken p**shond in sy gat steek”
We moved on but he climbed back on the path to confront me.
He appeared extremely angry and, speaking in Afrikaans, demanded to know why I
didn’t control my dog. I said that the dog wouldn’t harm him. This seemed to
infuriate him even more, and he told me not to talk rubbish and said that the
days of Apartheid were over. I thought he might be about to produce a knife and
attack me but he turned and began to move away, saying with vicious contempt,
“F**ken boer!”
The incident put a dampener on an otherwise pleasurable outing.
When we got home I consulted my copy of the Drug Enforcement Handbook issued by
the Institute of Security Studies and concluded that the man must have been
under the influence of a tik induced high. I had been lucky to get away with just verbal abuse.
It would be easy to dismiss the man’s anger and aggression
as purely the result of a methamphetamine habit, but on reflection I have
realised this is too facile a reaction. Maybe he was justified in resenting
being forced off the path by some old white man’s dog. Tik gave him the courage
to express his indignation in strong terms and demand a change of attitude on my
part. Accordingly I have resolved to modify my behaviour by having the dog on a
leash at all times and by keeping well out of the path of oncoming tikheads.
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