HE LINKS MY WORLDS

Ever since I can remember I have loved animals, from a mouse to an elephant. Fascinating.

I remember smuggling mice into my bedroom cupboard when in school, I collected spiders in jars and ants in boxes, had a cameleon and a praying mantis on my curtains too. My poor mother can corroborate this and probably more, like the day I was 6 and I presented my mom with an arm full of chongalolos. I was delighted with my find but my mom was mad about the mussed up blouse she had spent hours making. If there is a medal for patience and endurance in the face of ongoing testing of a mothers patience, it belongs to MY mother, ok?

After I married, not much changed. There were always dogs, cats and birds. Then one day a very different visitor came to stay, and stay, and stay.......

Crunchie.

Crunchie is a tortoise and he was named thus as he was very small, only a handful, and looked not unlike a meat pie.

I bought Crunchie for R20 from my oldest friend's son, who was in primary school at the time. My son Brian wanted him, he was 7 years old.

We made a cage at the bottom of the garden for him, but within a few days the ants had found him. I dusted him off and brought him inside the house until I plan could be made for his housing. He was not put in a box, but on the floor and I would find him later.

That was 17 years ago and Crunchie simply blended in with all the cats and dogs.

He learned that the fridge contained food, and that the best time to get it was 5ish when grub was up for everyone, even the inhabitants of the animal kingdom. How do they all know that?

He became very tame as time went by and only used his shell to hybinate in during the winter months. He would seek out the sun spots in the house and stretch out his back legs, stretch his arms up, lay his head on its side and close his eyes as he slept. The first time he did this I thought he was dead, but now I know better!

He would vanish in May and reappear in October. We wouldn't know where he was and he was very difficult to find . Being so small he would find an old slipper or an unused shoe and sleep in it for 5 - 6 months.

I see to it that he eats well during the summer months to sustain him during his fast during the winter.

He likes apples, his favourite, cucumber, and chopped up carrot. I treat him to prickly pears from time to time as he loves them and they are very nutritious for tortoises. Bananas are a bit squishy and he gets it all over his beak and face as he tries to get it all off. I have to clean him up afterwards as by now it is all over his "hands" too.

The children grew up and left home and my husband and I went our separate ways. My husband had custody of Crunchie until he remarried, at which time Crunchie came to me and my 2nd husband.

Nothing has changed much in Crunchie's life, it's still all good for him, he is now widely traveled as he can be popped into an appropriate handbag. This is done when moving from from one place to another. No one even knows we have him.

In Summer he sleeps in the corner next to my side of the bed, during the day his life goes on as it always did, he still knows what's in the fridge, he now bites our toes and heels for attention. He has done this to unsuspecting visitors too so we all have to visit with our feet off the floor if we don't want blood shed! His beak is very sharp believe it or not.

He is a favourite with everyone is our little creature feature, children and adults alike. I have even been offered money for him! We now put him away when we have guests or he has the floor literally.

It is an exciting day for us today. My little friend has come out from the back of a cupboard where he was hybernating. Actually, I had to drag him out as it is November already. I have been leaving the cupboard open hoping he would see the light on his own - ha, ha, and realise that it was time to rise and shine, but he never WAS a morning person.

We have moved during his hybernation period and I saw tonight with horror that he was almost impossible to see against the carpet, and since Andy had his stroke we have had enough accidents around here without Crunchie tripping us up too. So I cast about for something to help make him more visible. There it was, the best I could do at a moments notice, Crunchie is walking about with a pink "stick it" on his shell!

However, time marches on and Crunchie with it, he shows no signs of shuffling off this earth so I need to make provisions for his future! I could not send him to strangers who do not know his ways.

So I ask my four children, who would like to inherit Crunchie? I fear he has become the family heirloom and I probably won't have much else to leave anyone, except this little shell full of memories.