A Beautiful but Tormented Mind

By R. P. Erasmus

From two discordant families, who merged through the
marriage of the son of one and daughter of the other, came
a young lady who would change their lives. Nicole Hoffman
had extraordinary personality traits, the most amazing of which
was her unpublicised claim that she could see into the minds of
her predecessors. Injuries from a horrifi c horse-riding accident
disclosed this trait, which medical science was unable to explain
despite great efforts. Sensitively written and intriguing, R P
Erasmus A Beautiful but Tormented Mind weaves a compelling
tale of unity, love, persistence and perseverance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jun 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462883431

R. P. Erasmus

R. P. Erasmus was born in South Africa in 1939 into an Afrikaans-speaking family. His father owned a small farm, producing day-old chicks. Cannibalism among them forced their destruction. The family moved to a town and lived near a gold mine. He formed a friendship with the son of a family originally from Yorkshire, which infl uenced both his career and his political views. He worked for a US corporation for thirty-seven years, of which three years were spent at its headquarters in Minnesota. That experience had a major infl uence on his family’s views about a free society. He and his wife Penny have three children and live in retirement in Somerset West.

Book preview

A Beautiful but

TORMENTED MIND

A Novel by

R. P. Erasmus

Copyright © 2011 by R. P. Erasmus.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011909253

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4628-8342-4

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4628-8341-7

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-8343-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The right of R. P. Erasmus to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Act 98 of 1978 of South Africa.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

0-800-644-6988

www.XlibrisPublishing.co.uk

[e-mail]

302051

Contents

Prologue

1    The Shaping of a Life

2    Impressions

3    Becoming a Man

4    In Search of her Roots

5    Beauty and Purity

6    Anticipations

7    The Story of a South African Farm

8    Strange Encounters

9    A Shattered Life

10  A Tormented Mind

This book is dedicated to Michelle Owens, a truly

special person with whom I have shared some of the

best and the worst times of my life; a person who loves

unremittingly and maintains hope under the most

trying circumstances.

Prologue

This is the story of Nicole Hoffman, a girl who had strange psychic experiences when she became anxious or distressed.

Set in Britain and South Africa before and after World War II, it looks at the discordant lives of two families. Nicole’s maternal grandparents, Trevor and Virginia Edwards, migrated to South Africa when their only child, Julie, was herself a young girl.

The other family was of German immigrant stock which had been attracted to South Africa by the discovery of diamonds in 1867, living a pitifully poor life while the patriarch remained wedded to the eternal hope of finding ‘a big one’. The eldest son left home to make a better life in Johannesburg. He married and with his wife Maria had a son, Christopher, who obtained a bursary to study Law and became a respected lawyer.

By a paradoxical quirk of fate he met and married Julie. Nicole was their first child. Chris’s relationship with the pragmatic and wealthy Trevor provided him with the opportunity to put into practice long-held ideas on benefitting Blacks in the face of apartheid laws denying them land ownership.

Nicole claimed that she could read the minds of her ancestors. She suffered severe brain injuries which left her comatose, in which state she displayed behaviour which could not be reconciled with that state. The phenomenon became known to medical science, which tried to find answers to the claims she made about her experiences while she was comatose.

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1

The Shaping of a Life

Christopher Ernest Hoffman was born in February 1943. He had an older sister, Anelise, and a younger brother, Walter. The time-span between them was just thirty-one months. Their parents, Adam and Maria Hoffmann, raised them in a devout Christian home. Adam worked on a gold mine on the West Rand where he progressed through various positions to Underground Manager, a mid-level position in the management hierarchy in the mining industry. The family lived in the married quarters, a residential area in the mine precincts for staff employed by the mine. Separate facilities of little more than a room with a hand basin and communal ablution facilities were provided for unmarried staff and were known as single quarters. Single staff ate their meals at the canteen; not spectacular food but enough to sustain them in their energy-sapping lifestyles.

The residents formed a close-knit community, with most of their daily needs being met within the precincts of the mine. Entertainment and relaxation opportunities were provided by the recreation club, a social institution whose attraction for some was the bar where alcoholic beverages cost much less than at hotel bars in nearby towns and for others the sports facilities such as tennis, bowls, cricket, badminton, snooker, swimming, and squash that it provided. For yet others it was simply a place to socialise over a cup of tea, or play bingo or a game of scrabble or bridge. Movies were also shown at ‘the rec,’ and twice a year stage plays were presented by the local amateur theatre society. Those needs which could not be met within the precincts of the mine, such as shopping, education, and healthcare provided opportunities for mine residents to travel to nearby Johannesburg, Florida, or Roodepoort.

Chris enjoyed a close relationship with his father, but he had some problems in his dealings with his mother. He sometimes suspected it was because she envied his close bond with his father, a bond that did not exist between his parents. His mother saw him as a dreamer and preferred the action-type personality shown by his younger brother, Walter.

Chris was an astute observer and always wanted explanations for new discoveries or observations he made.

‘Dad,’ he wanted to know when he was twelve, ‘why did Mum go to the hospital in Johannesburg for her gall bladder operation when there is a hospital on the mine?’

‘The mine hospital is only for emergencies, Chris. Mum’s gall bladder operation was not an emergency. But the mine hospital does not treat all emergency cases either. It is primarily a place to provide care for people injured on duty. The hospital is well-equipped and staffed to handle emergencies for persons hurt in mining accidents. Injuries from underground rock bursts are quite common and of such a severe nature that they often are fatal if the condition of the injured is not rapidly stabilised. Indeed, injuries caused by rock bursts are the most common cause of death at the mine.’

The answer was comprehensive, as Chris had come to expect from his father, and consistent with comments he had often heard about working underground.

‘Dad, why do you work underground if it is so dangerous?’ Chris wanted to know.

‘Actually, most of my time is not spent underground but at the surface and is not mining as such. The accidents we hear of mostly occur in the stopes of the mine during the process of blasting and excavating the gold-bearing rock. My underground work is more typically involved in planning and organizing before blasting and excavation occur and after it has been completed for the shift. The rest of the time I attend to the administrative aspects of my job, writing reports and attending meetings where operations are discussed with management.’

‘Why are you called a mine captain?’

‘Well, Chris, I have a team of shift bosses for whom I am responsible. Each shift boss has a gang of miners and their task is to mine a certain section or stope. There are three shifts, each of eight hours, five days a week. I have five shift bosses reporting to me. I am their leader which is why I am called a mine captain. We have to work according to the plans that have been developed by the geological and management staff. These take into account many factors, but safety of the stopes and maximum gold-bearing ore recovery are of key importance. In my section, I am the one who has to ensure the adherence to the plans by the various members of my team. My administrative duties are essentially reports to the geologists and the management of progress against the plan. From that they can assess whether the plans are being executed properly, and whether they are sound or need to be changed.’

Chris always felt pleased that his father talked to him in such a matter-of-fact way, as though he expected him to know about technical and management issues. He made a point of checking words that he did not understand. He could usually recall these discussions in great detail and did not have difficulty in looking up the meanings of strange words.

Another thought occurred to Chris. ‘Dad, if the plan is made by geologists, does it make sense that so many accidents are caused by rock bursts, leading to injuries and death?’

Adam thought carefully before he finally answered.

‘Actually, Chris, it is not that there are that many accidents, rather, that each one can involve a number of people. If there are several miners at the spot where the rock burst occurs, which would be the case if they are still busy putting in the props to support the roof of the stope, then many would be exposed to it. That is why we follow a very closely controlled process for blasting and supporting the stope. The actual recovery of the gold-bearing ore does not start until the roof has been secured.’

‘How are the injured removed from the site of a rock burst, because surely the risk is even greater after the collapse of a stope?’

‘That is why specially trained and equipped teams, called proto teams, are called on during rescue operations. They place themselves at great risk in order to save their comrades. They are all qualified in first-aid techniques and are chosen for their ability to operate as members of a team and making quick decisions appropriate to the circumstances. As you know, I have been involved in such rescue efforts and am the leader of a proto team. We operate anywhere in the mine where this is required, not just in our own section, so our skills cover a number of conditions.’

‘Gosh, Dad, it must be frightening for the proto team to go into an accident site because they already know that there is a high risk!’

‘The members of the proto teams are conscious of the problems and are always alert to ensure that they do not do anything to jeopardise themselves or their team members. The risk for them is likely to be less than for a typical miner.’

Chris, having run out of questions about accidents, thought it would be a good time to slip in one that he hoped would be answered positively.

‘Dad, can I go underground with you sometime?’

‘No, not until you reach sixteen years of age. Persons younger than that are considered to be a greater hazard than the opportunity to let them experience these conditions is worth.’

Chris made a mental note to ask for a visit underground as his sixteenth birthday present.

The primary school he attended was in Florida where he obtained marks above the class average. A common comment, though, from his teachers to his parents was that he could do better. The problem was that he sometimes appeared to become absent-minded in class, when he would be oblivious to what was being taught or discussed. This resulted in his assignments lacking depth and polish. The teachers could not provide Adam and Maria with definitive guidance about how to get him to concentrate better. Chris himself felt that he always paid attention.

He started playing tennis in Grade 7, much preferring it to the soccer that most boys of his age played at school. He had a sound serve, good forehand ground strokes, and an undercut drop shot with vicious side spin which would infuriate his mother, quite a competent player herself, with whom he occasionally played social games. He had a competitive streak, which belied his gentle, courteous demeanour.

As his primary school years passed, Chris developed a much more disciplined approach to his studies. He had fun, largely due to his forming a close friendship with one of his Grade 7 classmates, Angus Mackenzie. Angus, who was the best chess player in the school, introduced Chris to the game which appealed very much to his gentle nature. A bright, happy, seemingly carefree pupil, Angus held it all together through excellent planning and execution of his activities.

As their friendship grew, the boys would meet almost every day at one of their homes. Angus insisted that they first discuss the scholastic work of the day to identify the essential aspects of the subject session. He was a strong believer in analysing the day’s work to determine ‘cause and effect’. Chris thought Angus intelligent in his ability to put questions in a way that made Chris understand the general principle. In return, he was able to couch his queries to Angus in such a way that he could obtain answers when he was uncertain or unclear about things. This approach was beneficial to Chris as he found he had a firmer grasp of the subjects and was able to complete assignments quicker and with better results.

Sometime before an educational psychologist had recommended a technique to Angus’s parents when there was deterioration in the marks he had achieved for some subjects. The psychologist’s advice had been put into practice, and there had been a dramatic improvement in his results. Angus enjoyed doing the oral revision with Chris, finding it more contextual and consequently more stimulating than doing it with his mother, for whom some of the subject matter was strange when compared with her schooldays.

On the home front, when Chris went on to secondary school, he persuaded his father to buy him a dog that was being offered for sale by a pupil in his class. His dad extracted a promise from him that he would give the dog ample exercise before he agreed to the request; he did not want the dog to be cooped up in his kennel. Chris agreed to the conditions and became the owner of a Labrador-Doberman crossbreed. Uniformly black in colour, it had the muscular, sinewy body of a Doberman and the friendly, loving nature of a Labrador. Chris named him Captain; they could regularly be seen on the mine campus, Chris on his bicycle with ‘fat’ or wide tyres, Captain in tow at a gentle trot.

As they progressed through high school, the time Chris and Angus spent together was usually devoted to their revision of schoolwork, playing chess or just talking. Angus loved nothing better than playing the raconteur. He had a natural gift for showmanship. Chris would listen intently as Angus talked anecdotally about events in the life of someone following a specific career. He had an especial affinity for mimicking engineers and architects, no doubt drawing on what he learned from his father, who was a consulting civil engineer, about those professions. When they were discussing the legal profession one day, Angus acted the lawyer successfully defending a client with his cut and thrust interrogation in such an impressive manner that Chris decided on the spur of the moment that he wanted to become a lawyer. He had always been known as somewhat of an orator. Indeed, as he sat there contemplating the sudden decision at which he had arrived, he reasoned that he never felt more comfortable than when he was waxing forth about a matter he knew well, which he would surely have for any situation he was defending. He figured that he would enhance his elocution beyond its current passable state by the simple expedient of practice.

At supper one evening, he informed his parents of his desire to become a lawyer. Adam had noted with pleasure the change that had occurred in Chris’s academic results since he had formed a friendship with Angus; he was equally pleased that Chris had an idea of what profession he wanted to follow. He realised that much could happen yet to make him change his mind, but it was clear to him that he needed to begin planning for the financial impact of a university education for all his children. Thus far it had only been Anelise who had indicated that she wanted to study for a bachelor’s degree in International Relations, with honours in Economics in preparation for a career in the Diplomatic Corps. Walter was also showing good academic ability and would surely want to pursue a university education. Adam’s salary as a mine captain, even if augmented by his earnings from his hobby of vintage car restoration, would not suffice for having all three of them at university at the same time. He had a vague knowledge of the bursary scheme offered by the mine to children of employees and decided to approach the personnel office about it.

Chris liked to cycle to the mine shaft with Captain in tow, to watch the miners come to the surface at the end of their shift. Whites were a small percentage of the workforce, which was made up predominantly of Black workers. The miners and workers would emerge from the lift-cage wearing helmets with attached lights, power for which was supplied by a battery pack which was carried on a belt around their waists. These were heavy and bulky items and the overall impression the workers created as they came to surface and walked in small groups to their respective change facilities was one of considerable fatigue. Their dress was official-issue denim overalls, frequently with the arms torn off at the shoulder, apparently for comfort to make it more bearable in the hot working conditions underground. They wore heavy hob-nailed boots and seemed to walk slightly stooped, with slow, long strides. Chris asked his father about this. Adam explained that it was the result of the confined spaces in which they worked. He added that anyone who wore those heavy hob-nailed boots would take as few strides as possible.

As a rule, the Black miners were not big men, but their bodies were beautifully toned with muscular shoulders and arms developed from the hard physical labour underground. This entailed shovelling rock into cocopans, pushing steel carts to move it to a loading face for hauling to the surface, carrying steel sections for laying new tracks or handling the heavy hammer drills to make holes in the rock-face for explosive charges. Despite being weary, these miners would talk animatedly amongst themselves. Their beautiful physiques and cheerful demeanour prompted Chris to draw a simile between them and Captain: beautiful bodies, beautiful temperaments.

Chris was interested in knowing more about these Black workers; about the nature of their jobs, their lives, from whence they came and what they did in their free time. Initially, his lack of a Black language hampered him in his efforts to talk to them, although there would be the occasional person who had a smattering of English or Afrikaans.

Adam, though, was well informed, and in his expansive manner ensured that he answered his son’s questions as fully as possible. These Black workers were migrant labourers, he explained, who were recruited from their tribal areas and came to the mines on a two-year contract. During that period they lived in compounds, single-sex dormitories with minimal furnishings, with basically just a bed on which to sleep. Their living quarters were segregated into tribal groupings because of a long history of inter-tribal violence in the compounds. With the meagre money they earned, they did their shopping at general dealer stores which were within walking distance of the compounds. Their first purchase was usually a large fibre-board suitcase which they used to store their clothes and fill with other items they bought in anticipation of their return home.

They repatriated as much of their earnings as possible. This was the primary reason for them coming to work on the mines; there were no economic prospects in the rural areas, which were generally several hundred kilometres from the mine. Most of the workers only had a rudimentary education. Adam explained that the tribal areas from which they came were sparsely populated and had poor roads. The State only established schools where enough pupils warranted it. Missionaries ran schools attached to German and English churches, but they too were in the more heavily populated areas. This meant that if children wanted to be educated, they had to walk great distances, resulting in very long days. With inadequate diets, porridge made from maize being their staple food and not in abundant quantity, their energy levels were low and concentration spans short. It was therefore not unusual for these youngsters to have as little as two or three years’ schooling. Often the parents could not afford even the nominal cost of education and, since schooling was not compulsory, many were illiterate all their lives.

Adam had not been to any tribal areas, other than driving through parts of what used to be known as the Transkei and had only a scant knowledge of the economic realities the miners faced. He based his comments on his observation of the rural areas, augmented by talks with miners with whom he worked. One ‘boss boy’, Sam, who was in charge of a small work gang, in particular, was well informed about the situation. It was clear that life there was harsh. People practised subsistence farming with antiquated techniques; poor soil management was a major problem, because extensive erosion diminished the availability of arable land and the topsoil was continually being washed away. The lack of financial aid and agricultural training prevented the improvement of yields.

Chris could tell that his father did not approve of the conditions with which these tribal people, working on the mines, had to contend. He recalled his father telling his mother that the wages for which they laboured were pitiful and did not adequately compensate for what was undeniably very hard work, performed under dangerous circumstances.

For the duration of their contract these workers had virtually no contact with their families. They would approach better-educated men in their compounds to write letters for them to their kinfolk at home, apparently at exorbitant fees. They had no social interaction with women. Chris’s father knew that there were workers in his group who were in their tenth contract, in their late thirties or early forties for whom no other existence was possible.

Adam suspected that his views regarding the treatment of these men at the hands of the company, which he had expressed on more than one occasion, as much as his level of education, were factors in his lack of further progress in his occupation.

Nevertheless, Adam would inform his eldest son about the realities of gold mining and the men who were an essential resource in the industry. Although only a boy in his teens, Chris felt a profound sadness for these people. Few of them would ever move out of the circle of deprivation into which they were born.

There was little organised recreation for the migrant workers. They worked a five-day week. Over weekends they would sit around under the trees in the compounds, talking animatedly with friends and acquaintances, having their hair groomed, applying greasy but sweet-smelling creams to their faces and bodies.

Others, from the Transkei, home to the Xhosa-speaking peoples which included Baca, Thembu, Pondo, and Fingo tribes, would participate in traditional stick fights on Sunday afternoons. At Adam’s prompting, Chris once accompanied his father to the stick-fighting venue to see this tribal pastime being practised. It involved two men, each armed with two sticks, a short one for defence, the other a long-handled club, trying to inflict blows on one another. Chris could not help but be impressed with their skill and fitness; it was like watching movies featuring Stewart Grainger and Errol Flynn parading as swordsmen. In just this one visit to the stick fights, Chris witnessed a young man being knocked unconscious. Although it was classified as recreation, it showed deadly intent. The fight would continue until one of the protagonists shouted loudly and acknowledged his opponent’s superiority. As the venue was remote from the compound, Chris concluded that such an activity could surely not be carried on with official sanction by the mining company, but Adam was of the view that it had tacit approval. His opinion was based on the fact that it was a traditional practice, and the officials had no reason to interfere.

Many of the younger men participated in soccer, for which, despite their lack of formal coaching, they had an innate ability. The long, slow strides one observed when they came up from underground were replaced by short, almost acrobatic, nimble steps, which gave them exceptional dribbling skills. However, they clearly did not have any knowledge of strategy and tactics, relentlessly chasing after the ball. Given their generally easy-going behaviour, the game also seemed to be ideally suited to their exuberant natures and their propensity for showing off. They made sure they received all and more than the applause they deserved for any skilful manoeuvre, by prancing around, facing and gesticulating to spectators after what they considered a particularly adroit move.

With the high accident rate on the mines, first aid was an activity that was widely encouraged and practised. It had the added benefit of providing relief from the boredom of compound life. Certificates were awarded for various levels of proficiency, which also improved wages and prospects of better jobs. There were regular first-aid competitions between different compounds, different mines, and different groups of mines. Participants were ferried to the contests, sitting on the bare floors of large open trucks used for general transport. Chris was a frequent spectator at these competitions, which were held on Sunday mornings within the compounds. Major inter-group events were held on the sports fields at the recreation club and would draw large