On the evening of Saturday, May 22 2010, the three girls Estelle, Jamie, Ria and I were having a quiet evening at home.
We decided an early night would be a good idea. Andrew John was staying the night with a friend a few houses away. John was in the UK as part of a four-week fundraising trip for the Theological College. Estelle had spent the day playing hockey 150km away in Gweru and Jamie, Ria and I went to collect her from the school at 6.30 pm.
We had a plate of pancakes with cinnamon sugar and lemon juice waiting at home. The girls had a quick bath and then we settled down by the fire in the lounge with pancakes and hot drinks. We are usually fairly relaxed about security and only lock up at bedtime, but on this evening I locked the outside doors early so that it was one less thing to do before bed. It was sad not to find our faithful Labrador, Honey, lying by the back door as usual, since we had buried her that afternoon. She had suddenly become sick the previous day and died that same night.
