The Fox Took my Tjops

“Tjop” is the South African word for chop, such as a lamb chop.

Once there was a fox named Harold, or was he a man that looked like a fox? A dusty wanderer passed by Harold one fateful Winter’s eve, or was the man in fact a fox?

Frederick the squirrel hung precariously from a swinging hopper, taking a risk to access strategically placed nuts. Harold didn’t eat nuts, but girl was he hungry.

The dusty wanderer didn’t mind nuts, he too was hungry. He hoped not to get shouted at by the people in the house that looked like a boat. No nuts were taken, there had been enough rejection that day.

Lisa opened the oven and her glasses steamed over from the gushing hot air. “Great, I can’t see if anyone stares.” Lamb tjops were roasting golden brown, no wonder she had a smile on her face.

Harold and man peered through the conservatory window, dreaming of a tasty juicy tjop. Harold bounced onto the window sill on the other side, the window was slightly ajar. Lisa wasn’t in the kitchen now and was tinkering in a room afar.

Dinner was about to be served and the tjops were on their way to the plate. A clumsy moment spun the tray and a tjop fell down to her dismay. “Ooh no!” Stammered Lisa as she recovered the morsel. “Harold would like the tjop,” she said and placed it outside the conservatory door.

The man was startled and drooled with tjop shaped eyes. His tail swished and the boat shaped house capsized. He lunged for the feast and a gust of wind blew the tjoppie out of reach. The wind was Harold, making off with his prize. The night set in and a bitter cold arrived.

A siren blazed past Western General as the light of morning lifted. Orange, red and purple swished across from the ocean to the hills. Lisa looked down from the canvas and worried about Harold who could be fatally ill. Cold as stone, Harold lay by the bistro set, not far from the tjop that he previously met. A stretcher edged through and it took two men to lift. Hopefully there is still time for his body to get toasty, before mind drifts off into a frozen slumber.

If one fact is true, we need to look after each other. Even a fox might be a brother.