Big Ups! NO Two

by Haden, Ros;

  Oh God, I just hope the secretary won’t tell the principal, and then he sends the police to catch me – the ‘thief girl’.

  Thandi pushed that thought out of her mind, deciding instead to concentrate on selling as many raffle tickets as she could at the weekend. That would impress the principal – she hoped.

  Nomsa came home and sucked in her breath when she saw the pendant. She clicked her tongue. “Shit, Thandi, man,” she said, preparing a bottle for Avile. “I just hope you haven’t blown your chances now. What were you thinking, hey?”

  Thandi said nothing about Mark. Mark. Damn him. It all suddenly felt like everything was his fault. Why did he always have to be smiling at her and distracting her?

  “It’s beautiful though, isn’t it?” said Nomsa, turning the pendant this way and that, so that the little diamond flashed in the light. They both stared at it. It was worth so much money and it really should be in the safe at school.

  “Don’t worry. Just hide it safely until Monday and then take it straight back,” Nomsa reassured Thandi. “Let’s see the raffle tickets.”

  Thandi showed her the tickets she had printed. They looked really professional.

  “I’ll buy a ticket,” said Nomsa.

  “You will?”

  “Of course! I want your first ticket!”

  Thandi felt a lump in her throat as she handed Nomsa a ticket. She knew it was a sacrifice that Nomsa could scarcely afford. Avile always needed something. Both of them were giving up something to try to help Thandi’s dream come true.

  “But now you must hide the box,” said Nomsa.

  Thandi wrapped the box in an old dish towel, and hid it under the mattress.

  That night, her dreams were filled with Spanish bullfighting and flamenco dancers swirling in red dresses.

  The next morning Thandi met Thandeka at the spaza near their church. Thandeka was impressed with the raffle tickets, and the picture of the pendant. She handed Thandi a bunch of coins – all her savings – for a ticket.

  Thandi hugged her. Thandeka was a true friend. Thandi thought of how easy it was for the kids at school to spend that amount of money. They did it thoughtlessly every day. For Thandeka it was different, and Thandi knew that.

  By the end of the morning together they had sold a whole lot more. And Rachel, who went to the same church, said she was sure the pastor would help to spread the news of the raffle.

  At the end of the afternoon Thandi said goodbye to Thandeka, who had to rush home as she was late and needed to do chores.

  Thandi walked to her and Nomsa’s old home by herself. She kicked around in the ashes where the house used to stand. Pinky, their previous landlady, came out of her house to chat, and she too bought a ticket.

  On her way home Thandi was thinking about the pendant and hoping it was still safely under her bed. She did not see the maroon car that came cruising slowly around the corner. It had followed her from Pinky’s place.

  Thandi was counting how many tickets she had sold, and so she didn’t even notice when that same maroon car drove past her very slowly, and the passenger on the back seat looked out at her.

  Thandi might not have recognised him at first. One side of his cheek was scarred now. Scarred by fire. Burnt. Not as badly as his back, but a falling ember had singed his eyebrow and his cheek.

  Thandi did not notice that the same maroon car paused at the kerb as she climbed aboard a taxi, and followed that taxi as she made her journey home.

  Thandi might have seen the car when she climbed out at her destination, but she never noticed a man get out, and follow her home. He kept a distance behind her and never approached her.

  Thandi went to her new home, unlocked the door, and sat down at the table to quickly add up her money, before Nomsa got home from the shops.

  The kettle was boiling when Nomsa came in hurriedly, frowning and clutching Avile close. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were wild.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Thandi, concerned.

  “It’s nothing,” said Nomsa, her hand over her heart. “It’s just Avile. He’s getting heavy.”

  “Have some tea,” said Thandi, taking Avile from her. He was starting to cry.

  Nomsa sank into a chair. She was struggling to calm herself but had decided not to say anything. Thandi had enough to worry about. And anyway, maybe it wasn’t him.

  Maybe it wasn’t Themba, skulking under a tree down the road, in the shadows, then getting into a maroon car, and driving away.

  Nomsa thought she would know him anywhere. Still, she told herself that she was mistaken.

  He could never have found us here, she thought …

  ~•~

  The next day was Sunday and Nomsa and Avile went off to visit a friend. Thandi took a taxi to the old suburb and met Thandeka on the road. They walked the rest of the distance to church together. On the way Thandi told Thandeka just how much money she had already made.

  “Wow!” Thandeka exclaimed. “Soon you’ll be overseas! What a dream come true, girl!”

  “Wish I could take you with me in my suitcase,” Thandi replied, and she meant it. She just knew that Spain would be even more fun with Thandeka!

  “Maybe next time, girl!” Thandeka laughed.

  Thandeka was happy for Thandi and Thandi was so grateful for that. She knew that not every friend was happy when something good happened to you, and not them. They tried to bring you down. But not Thandeka. She really wanted the best for Thandi.

  As they sat together in church listening to the pastor, Thandi’s cellphone lit up. It was Mark. She didn’t remember giving him her number. But it made her smile inside, even though she was trying not to think about him. She just couldn’t help herself.

  Mybe we cd hv a party @ my place to raise money 4 da trip?

  We’ll c, she SMSed back.

  ~•~

  “Hey, why you smiling like you just won the Lotto?” whispered Thandeka.

  Thandi was thinking about how wonderful a party would be. At his place! But as always, where was the money going to come from?

  Thandi was amazed by how many people bought raffle tickets from her after church. As so many from her old community gathered around her, and handed over their hard-earned money, Thandi felt so much love and care from them all. It made her stronger. She could feel it.

  Monday will be better at school, thought Thandi, sitting alone in the taxi going home. I’ll keep on trying. I won’t give up.

  Thandi was singing as she approached her front door, and then stopped dead in her tracks. Nomsa must have arrived minutes before her. Thandi could hear Avile crying. She could also hear Nomsa swearing like she’d seldom heard her swear before.

  “Bastard! How could he do this?”

  Thandi could see that the front door had been kicked open. Suddenly Thandi wasn’t singing any more. Instead her heart was pounding hard in her chest. Running, she started shouting herself:

  “Who did this? How could they do this to us?”

  She stopped in the doorway. The scene that confronted her was one of total chaos. Everything had been turned over. Plates lay smashed on the floor. The clothes had been pulled out of the cupboards and drawers and lay strewn on the floor.

  Nomsa was standing in the midst of it all, clutching handfuls of clothing and then throwing them down again in a rage. Avile sat on a pile of stripped-off bedding, howling his head off.

  “Nomsa!” cried Thandi, rushing in and holding her tightly in her arms. “Thula, sisi. Calm down. You’re freaking Avile out!”

  ~•~

  But Nomsa would not calm down. She did not tell Thandi, but she felt sure that she knew who had done this.

  “We’ve just been robbed, Nomsa,” Thandi said calmly. She needed to be strong for her sister, but she was terrified inside. “Come now. At least none of us has been harmed. Sh
hh, Nomsa, shhh.”

  Nomsa was suddenly silent, and allowed herself to be rocked calmly in Thandi’s arms while Avile carried on screaming hysterically.

  Nomsa reached for him after a moment and collapsed next to him, like a bag of laundry herself. Tears were running down her cheeks.

  Will I never be free of him? she thought to herself. Will he never let us have any peace?

  Thandi stood in the middle of the room and stared. The mattress had been overturned.

  “The pendant!” cried Thandi, panicking. “Oh no – the pendant!” She started searching frantically on the floor under the mattress. But it was gone …

  When the police finally came they wrote down what was missing. Some food, a fair amount of cash, and the pendant, which probably cost more than the contents of their entire home!

  When the police van roared off Nomsa turned to Thandi.

  “Why don’t you spend the night with Thandeka? Mrs Soci will come to help me clean up here. You need to be with a friend right now. Take your school things and leave from there tomorrow. I will be all right.”

  As soon as Thandi was gone Nomsa knew what she had to do, and it was something she had to do on her own.

  Mrs Soci arrived and Nomsa asked her to watch Avile for her.

  Now Nomsa was relying on her instincts. And her instincts told her that it was Themba who had robbed them. Her instincts also told her that Themba would still be sound asleep. It was Sunday afternoon.

  She also knew that he would probably be in a heavy, drunken sleep, having spent all the stolen money at his shebeen while they were at church.

  What a fool I was, she thought to herself. He would never have changed in a million years.

  Nomsa made her way to an old, tumble-down shack in the backyard of the shebeen. It was still early, and the shebeen would not be open for a while yet.

  Nomsa moved quickly and silently, clutching the smallest and sharpest knife they had, deep in the pocket of her jacket.

  No one was around. Even the scrawny, snapping dog that sometimes hung out in the yard was, to her relief, nowhere to be seen. Out scrounging for a bone, she thought gratefully.

  Nomsa had been there only once before. That was before Avile, when Themba had persuaded her to join him at the shebeen. She didn’t like shebeens and they had fought about it.

  That night had ended for her out here in this room, with Themba hurriedly stripping her, and having rough and drunken sex with her. The memory just made Nomsa even angrier.

  Nomsa paused at the door of the shack. Loud and gurgling snores emanated from inside the room. Nomsa pushed gently. As she expected, the door was open.

  Nomsa’s heart was racing, and the snores continued. She pushed again, and the door swung open, creaking on its rusty hinges.

  There lay Themba, spread out on his stomach on the bed. He was fully clothed, with his arm flung off the edge of the bed.

  Nomsa took a step into the room. The wood creaked. Themba snored on.

  Nomsa quickly took in the room: the plate of half-eaten food on the table, the numerous big brown empty beer bottles lying around the floor. She saw the backpack dropped in the corner, the zip undone. She moved towards it.

  Nomsa had to pass Themba’s sleeping body. She moved on tiptoe.

  As Nomsa dug into the rucksack, she kept listening for Themba’s deep breathing. Every time he grunted, she stopped; when he snorted, she continued.

  There it was – a small blue box at the bottom of the bag.

  She pulled it out and opened it. The pendant winked at her. Nomsa smiled and slipped the box into her pocket with the knife.

  She stood up and turned, stepping hurriedly towards the door. Too hurriedly! The toe of her shoe just touched the tip of one of the big brown beer bottles and it began rolling, clanking against other bottles.

  Nomsa panicked, tripped over more bottles and sent the whole lot crashing and shattering behind her as she ran.

  Themba roared as he woke up. Nomsa heard him, turning to briefly see him rising from his bed as she ran. He was after her, but she was out of his room at least, out in the open. She felt for the knife in her pocket and pulled it out. As she did so out fell the small pendant box, to land in the mud at her feet.

  There was no one around. Themba caught her with one wild leap from his door. Nomsa fell to the ground, and then managed to slither away a little, across the muddy yard.

  Nomsa screamed as hard as she could, and kicked and hit, but Themba was so much stronger than her. He got her from behind and lifted her off her feet. He ripped the knife out of her hand, slashing his own hand and her forehead as he did so, and some of his blood spattered over her.

  Nomsa kept screaming, kept kicking, kept clawing at him as Themba dragged her, fighting every step of the way, back towards his room.

  ~•~

  Nomsa was right. Thandeka always lifted Thandi’s spirits. It wasn’t long before Thandi had told Thandeka all about Mark, and how he made her feel. Thandeka giggled as she read the messages that Mark had sent.

  “Oh, girl, this boy has got it bad. He wants you, baby. My oh my. And I think,” said Thandeka, moving closer to Thandi and looking her in the eye, “yes, I think you want him too. Yes, you do!”

  Thandi pushed Thandeka away, laughing despite herself. For the time being Thandi allowed herself to forget about the burglary, the mess in the house and the stolen pendant. She allowed her mind to be filled with memories of Mark, looking at her with his green eyes, holding her with his strong arms, her breathing in the scent of him. She even forgot about Avile and Nomsa back home tidying the chaos.

  That’s what Thandi thought. Not knowing that at that moment, Nomsa was fighting for her life.

  ~•~

  Themba pushed the door shut behind them and threw Nomsa down on the bed.

  “Shut up, you whore!” he screamed at her, so close that his spit hit her face. “Did you really think that you could leave me? Avile is mine, you hear, mine!”

  Themba began tearing at Nomsa’s clothes. “And your little princess sister thinks she can come showing off around here, now she is at that rich school. She thinks she is too good for us!”

  Themba slapped Nomsa hard, and for a moment she stopped screaming. But her free hand was feeling around on the floor for something, anything. It found what it was looking for – a large beer bottle. Her fingers closed on it tightly.

  Nomsa thought quickly. No one was coming to help her.

  “I’m sorry, Themba, baby. I’m sorry,” she whispered, trying to sound like she meant it.

  Themba paused for one moment, taken by surprise by what Nomsa had said.

  A moment was all Nomsa needed. Screaming loudly, she kicked him in the balls. As he buckled she hit him on the head with the heavy brown beer bottle.

  Themba fell back and Nomsa sprang up, and out the door. She paused to pick up the little blue box from where it lay in the mud, and then she noticed that a group of women had entered the courtyard, and were gathering around her, with knives and frying pans raised.

  “It’s all right,” said one large, elderly woman, embracing her. “We are here now. You are safe.”

  ~•~

  Thandi sat back and closed her eyes. She could hardly believe she was finally here. Everything had worked out so well. Not even the secretary had been angry at her, and instead of accusing her of being a thief, had actually seemed pleased with her when she returned the pendant, safe and sound, that Monday morning.

  She had even trusted Mark enough to let him help her with the raffle, and all the rest of the tickets had been sold.

  Thandi felt a warm hand slide over hers and opened her eyes. Mark, seated next to her, smiled.

  Themba was in prison at last. The assault on Nomsa, together with the theft of the pendant, was enough to ensure that he was going to be put away for a long, long tim
e.

  Thandi sighed, thinking of Avile and Nomsa, safe at last. Nomsa had had quite a few stitches above her eye, but Thandi had noticed that she seemed much stronger now, more sure of herself.

  The aeroplane was taking off. She clenched the armrests tightly. Mark was grinning. It was Mark who had made sure that she got a window seat.

  Thandi looked out to see the city that she called home slipping away beneath her. Up and up they flew, until they were far above the clouds.

  “We’re in Dreamland now,” said Thandi softly, closing her eyes again.

  For the first time in years Nomsa had begun to speak of her own dreams again. Thandi felt sure that this time, she would attain them.

  One thing was for certain, Thandi would be there to help Nomsa every step of the way.

  She would be there for little Avile too, of course. She already had plans to buy Avile a miniature Spanish football jersey. Thandi smiled to herself, just imagining how cute he would look in it.

  “What are you smiling about?” asked Mark, his lips very close to her ear.

  “Oh, that would be telling,” said Thandi, noticing again how her heart skipped a beat every time Mark leant against her.

  “You are in big danger, girl,” Thandi heard Thandeka’s voice. Thandi had last seen Thandeka at the party at Mark’s house. “You better watch yourself in Spain, girl. It’s more than bulls that you’re going to be fighting off!”

  Thandi smiled again. She was going to miss Thandeka, but in two weeks she’d be back.

  Spain was waiting for her. Her new school was waiting for her. Nomsa and Avile and her mom were waiting for her. Thandeka was waiting.

  Mark had been prepared to wait for her, and here he was, holding her hand tight.

  Thandi knew that she herself was no longer in waiting.

  Thandi felt just like the aeroplane.

  She was flying high – full throttle, and full speed ahead.

  Discussion questions

  •What kinds of things do you think Thandi might have found difficult at her new school?

  •What caused the great differences between Thandi and Nomsa’s lives, do you think?