Can this Mother Teresa ever be tied down?

08 June 2015 - 09:20 By SHAUN SMILLIE

Some might call it a miracle, others just believe that Mother Teresa is not meant to leave. Over the last few years, the blessed Teresa of Calcutta necktie has been snatched by a businessman, grabbed by a paralytically drunk patron and abducted by an elderly couple, but each time she has been returned to Parreirinha restaurant in La Rochelle, southern Johannesburg.It has become so bad the tie, which is printed with Mother Teresa's image, has been knotted to the rafter above the cash register.There are over5000 ties hanging from the roof of the Portuguese restaurant, but the one patrons keep stealing is Mother Teresa.No one remembers who left the tie, but over the years the owner of the restaurant, Maria da Cunha, has grown fond of it.She is usually the one who raises the alarm, like the time Mother Teresa went missing following a rowdy lunch. A check on security cameras revealed their suspect slipping the tie into his pocket.They got his number from the reservations book and called the businessman. He denied he had it. "We told him 'we can see you taking it, please bring it back to us'," said Da Cunha's daughter Liz Carrilho.Later one of his employees dropped off the tie. The next patron who tried to steal Mother Teresa was so drunk she dropped her handbag outside the restaurant. Her handbag was returned to her, minus the tie.Then there was the elderly woman at table seven whosecurity cameras caught pulling the tie from the rafter."We phoned her and she told us, 'no I was only playing'," said Da Cunha.Later her red-faced husband returned Mother Teresa.Now with Mother Teresa in full view of the cash register, the hope is that she will stay...

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