"Unfortunately the only thing that I have here to drink is tea." Catherine said. "Would you like some?"
"Okay. That would be nice." Isaiah said.
As Catherine lit the primus stave and put a small kettle on it, Isaiah couldn't help noticing how attractive she was. Her blue dress hugged her lithesome body and her dark golden skin glowed with good health. He could clearly see the outline of her bra and panties. In the confined space he could detect the sweet perfume that she was wearing and her closeness to him began to arouse him. He felt himself begin to harden.
Catherine finished making the tea and handed a mug of the brew to Isaiah.
"We can sit on the bed and talk until the rain stops and then decide whether or not there's enough time to go to the shebeen, have a few drinks and still get back here before dark. I suppose you've heard of the tsotsis that roam around here at night." she said.
"Yes, I've heard about them." Isaiah said as he sat down on the bed beside Catherine.
"So, where do you come from, Isaiah?" Catherine asked.
"From Eshowe in Natal." Isaiah replied. "And you?"
"Rustenburg." Catherine said. "I have a little boy who lives there with my mother. I'm not married though."
Isaiah finished drinking his tea and Catherine took the two mugs and placed them on the small table. She came back and sat down beside Isaiah. She ran her finger down his naked chest and smiled at him coyly.
"I don't have many men coming to visit me who take off their clothes as soon as they come in the door." she said.
"Well, I don't often visit woman who tell me to take off my clothes as soon as I walk through the door." Isaiah said.
Catherine leant forward and kissed Isaiah gently on the lips. Her sweet perfumed overwhelmed him.
"I don't think the rain's going to stop before it gets dark." she said, her voice husky and inviting. "That means that you'll have to stay here until tomorrow morning."
Isaiah put his hand behind Catherine's head and pulled her closer. He kissed her and moved his other hand onto her breast. He heard her breath quicken despite the sound of the falling rain on the roof. She put her arms around his neck. They kissed passionately.
"Let's undress and get into bed." she said. "We've got the whole night ahead of us!"
***
"Who do you work for?" Isaiah asked as they got dressed the following morning.
"A man by the name of Bogdan Vodink and his wife Julia." Catherine said. "He's an immigrant from Yugoslavia. He's one of the buyers at the mine. He tells me that he's got all kinds of contacts and can get anyone anything that they want for a price. He's quite open to being bribed and even bribes other people if necessary. He's only interested in making money and doesn't care about the law. He says that all business is done with bribery and other types of corruption."
"You seem to know him very well." Isaiah said.
"Yes, I do." Catherine said smiling coyly. "His wife went away overseas a few weeks ago and while she's been away he and I have been having an affair in his house."
"Does he know about the Immorality Act? I'm sure you do." Isaiah asked.
"Yes. But as I said, he doesn't care about the law." Catherine said. "He says that we're quite safe because we're doing it in his house."
"What will you do when his wife comes back?" Isaiah asked.
"Bogdan says he'll rent a flat in Hillbrow and we can go there after I finish work each day."
Isaiah nodded.
"But tell me about his job." he said. "You say that he can get anything that anybody wants. If I wanted something illegal, would he be able to get it for me?"
"He gets a lot of illegal things for people. Especially stolen things." Catherine said. "What do you want him to get for you?"
"Oh, nothing at the moment." Isaiah said. "But I may need something in a few weeks time."
"I'm sure that he'll help you. Especially if I ask him." Catherine said. "When you're ready, tell me, and I'll introduce you to him."
***
Bogdan Vodnik leant back in his executive chair and stretched his arms above his head. It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon. Almost time to leave for his rendezvous at his house with Catherine. It had been a busy day so far and he was especially excited about the deal he was working on with the Nigerian drug dealer. If that worked out he would make a lot of money and all that he had to do now was set up the distribution network. That wasn't going to be easy though. Secrecy was vital. He had never realised just how lucrative the drug business was. But it was also very dangerous and danger was something that he thrived on. Life wasn't any fun unless there was risk involved. But he would have to be extremely careful. Not only were there rival drug gangs who would commit murder to guard their territories, there was the constant danger that the police would uncover his operation. And drug trafficking carried harsh sentences and in extreme cases could even attract the death penalty. Bogdan's thoughts turned to Catherine and he realised that he was becoming obsessed with her. He had to have her every day and even as he sat in his chair now, he felt himself begin to harden.
Bogdan's thoughts turned to Julia. He still loved her but somehow she didn't have the magical attraction that Catherine had. Perhaps the attraction was the danger that Catherine presented. Not only could she ruin his marriage, she could also ruin his life. The Immorality Act imposed severe sentences on people who had sex with those of different classifications and there was also the stigma that went with this kind of behaviour. And Julia was likely to return to South Africa soon. Contrary to the doctors' diagnosis her mother's immanent death hadn't come about and she continued to cling to life even though she was in a deep coma. During her telephone call to Bogdan that morning she had told him that if her mother's condition didn't change one way or the other in the next week, she would be returning to South Africa.
Catherine and Bogdan had spoken several times about what they would do when Julia returned and Bogdan had suggested that they rent a small apartment in Hillbrow where Catherine could live and travel to work and back each day. And, if the deal with the Nigerian came to fruition, she could even stop working and he would be able to visit her at any time of the day. He knew that he could easily do this as his job required him to visit the mine's suppliers regularly to check on the progress of the products that they were supplying. He might even end up buying the apartment instead of renting it.
Bogdan glanced at his watch. It was time to leave. Catherine would be waiting for him at the house. He stood up from his desk, put several documents into his briefcase and walked out of his office.
"I'm going to Top Engineering to check on the progress of the valves that they're making for us." he told the receptionist. "I won't be back today."
Bogdan drove out of the main entrance to the Deep Reef Gold Mine. He travelled along the tarred road for about two kilometres before turning off onto a little-used dirt road. He followed the track that curved back towards the mine premises, going through a dense forest of black wattle and blue gum trees until he was back on the mine property, hidden from the administration building by a long white slimes dump. The dirt road continued past the dump and ended at the parking area at the building that housed the crushing plant. From there Bogdan travelled on the mine's internal road system until he reached his house. This circuitous route ensured that nobody except his neighbours new that he had returned to the mine instead of going to Top Engineering. And the neighbours would naturally assume that he had returned from the administration block having finished his day's work. Also, as the security staff ended their shift at five o'clock they wouldn't know if he returned to the mine or not.
After parking the car in the garage Bogdan entered the house through the front entrance. As he closed the door he could hear Catherine washing the dishes in the kitchen. The savoury aroma of the evening meal that she had cooked for them wafted through the house. He put his briefcase down in the lounge and walked along the passageway to the kitchen. Catherine turned towards him as he entered th
e room, wiping her hands on a dishcloth. He walked to her and kissed her as his hands slid hungrily over her body.
"God, I've missed you today." he said huskily. "Even though I've been very busy I've thought of you the whole day. Let's go to the bedroom. I need you badly."
***
Catherine and Bogdan lay side by side on the double bed, recovering from the sexual delights that they had just experienced. He lazily ran his fingertips over her golden brown body as she lay languidly on her back, her one hand lying on her naked stomach and the other tucked between the back of her head and the pillow. In the silence that pervaded the whole house they could hear the pinging of the corrugate iron sheets on the roof as they contracted after the heat of the day.
"When's Julia coming back?" Catherine asked.
"I spoke to her this morning." Bogdan said. "Unless there's some drastic change in her mother's condition she's coming back in a week's time. I'll think I'll sign the lease on the flat tomorrow. We can't leave it any longer."
"Are you sure that you want to continue with our affair after Julia gets back?" Catherine asked. "Don't you think that she'll find out what we're doing?"
"There's no reason for her to suspect anything as long as we're careful." Bogdan said. "The most important thing that we will have to do is avoid each other as much as possible here at the house. I'll have to leave before you arrive and get back from work after you've left. Also, I'm working on a deal and if it comes off, and I'm sure that it will, you'll be able to stop working and stay in the flat all the time."
"That'll be very boring for me." Catherine said. "Can't I rather find a mornings-only job and you can visit me in the afternoons?"
"You're quite right." Bogdan said. "A half-day job would be ideal."
"Won't your boss get suspicious if you're out of the office so often?" Catherine asked.
"No. Part of my job is to visit the firms that supply us with equipment to see how they're progressing." Bogdan said. "So my being away from the office will seem quite normal."
"By the way, I've met someone who may want you to get him some things illegally." Catherine said. "I don't know what he wants yet, but he says that he'll be able to tell me more in a few weeks time. Would you be interested in meeting with him?"
"Do you trust him?" Bogdan asked.
"Yes." Catherine replied. "He works here on the mine and I strongly believe that he's a reliable and trustworthy man."
"Okay. I'll meet him when he's ready." Bogdan said. "As long as we can trust him and there's money to be made."
***
"I think that I've found someone who can supply us with the parts that we need to make the pipe bombs." Isaiah said to Shadow as they stood under a large blue gum tree in the buffer zone between Johannesburg and Soweto. "He's a white man who works as a buyer on the mine and I've been told that he's on the take, buying and selling stolen goods and arranging for illegal things to be delivered to his clients."
"Can we trust him?" Shadow asked.
"Yes." Isaiah said. "And the reason I say that is because he's having a sexual affair with a black woman friend of mine while his wife's overseas. I borrowed a camera from one of the men in my compound and took a few days off from work and took these photographs. I was amazed at how open the two were despite the fact that what they are doing is against the law and could land them in jail. They don't even bother to close the curtains of the bedroom. Here. Have a look at these. If we show him these his trust will be assured."
Isaiah handed Shadow a wad of black and white prints. He studied them one by one.
"These are very good." he said. "Their faces are clearly recognisable. How did you get them without being seen?"
"As I said, I took a few days off work and watched the house and those next to it. There are thick hedges between the houses so the neighbours weren't likely to see me if I approached the house." Isaiah said. "Then I borrowed some garden tools from the garden maintenance department and pretended to be working in the guy's garden. When I was sure that nobody could see me I went to the window and carefully looked in. The curtains were wide open and I could clearly see the two having sex on the bed. I quickly took as many pictures as I could and left. To my surprise they came out much clearer than I thought they would."
"Have you got the film?" Shadow asked.
"Yes. I've get it here with me." Isaiah said. "I think that you should keep it though. It'll be safer in your shack."
"Yes. That's a good idea." Shadow said. "When you meet the whitey and show him the photographs, make sure that you tell him that the film's with someone else just in case he wants to get violent. What's the guy's name?"
"Bogdan Vodnik." Isaiah replied.
***
Bala Desai showed Fatima the official notification that had he'd found slipped under the front door when they arrived home from the shop at the Oriental Plaza earlier. It informed them of their forced removal to Lenasia, thirty five kilometres south of Johannesburg in four weeks time.
"I don't know what we're going to do." Bala said as they sat at the kitchen table. They had eaten their supper and Salona had gone to bed. "Even though most of our customers have remained loyal to us the income that we're getting only just pays the shop's rent and our living expenses. We just cannot afford to travel seventy kilometres to work and back every day."
"We came to Johannesburg with such high hopes and the government is destroying them all." Fatima said. "Sometimes I wish that we'd stayed in Durban. At least you had a steady job there."
Bala nodded.
"Yes." he said. "When we arrived here and I saw this house and the shop I thought that uncle Rajesh had left us a wonderful opportunity. Now it looks like it will destroy us."
"If only the shop's rental wasn't so high." Fatima said. "Or there were more shoppers. The ready-made clothes that we're offering are selling well in other stores in the city because there are lots of shoppers there."
"Yes." Bala said. "The shop is just too big for our needs. There is too much wasted space. Unfortunately there's nothing smaller. Misses Dadoo is trying her best to help but her job is to make the Centre as profitable as possible and it's beyond her responsibilities to lower the rents. She has to enforce the leases. If she doesn't, she'll lose her job."
"And then the government will hire a white official who doesn't care about our problems at all." Fatima said.
"Misses Dadoo tells me that there is a group of Indian businessmen who want to take over the Oriental Plaza from the government." Bala said. "But even if the government agrees, it will take years for them to improve the situation and by that time it will be too late to help us."
Bala and Fatima sat in silence, too frustrated to speak. The obstacles that the government had forced on them seemed insurmountable. Eventually Fatima spoke.
"How will we get from Lenasia to work and back?" she asked. "We are only just making ends meet now. The extra expense will kill us."
"Most of the people that I've spoken to that have already moved to Lenasia have arranged car pools but as we don't own a car we can't participate." Bala said. "We'll have to travel by train. A taxi would be far too expensive. Lenasia is thirty kilometres from here. The other thing is that Salona is due to start school shortly and the government has decreed that Indian students may only go to school in their own areas. There's no way that Salona can travel to Lenasia every day on her own."
"Yes." Fatima said, nodding. "Just another way to force us to go to Lenasia."
Bala and Fatima sat in silence, too frustrated at their helplessness to speak. The obstacles that the government was forcing on them seemed insurmountable.
Instinctively Bala wanted to fight back, despite the impossible odds stacked against him but as he sat in the silent kitchen reason began to prevail. He realised that he had to consider the two people in his life that he loved so dearly; Fatima and Salona, both of whom were totally dependent on him. If anything happened to him, they would be totally lost.
As if she had read his th
oughts, Fatima placed her hand gently on Bala's arm.
"Bala, my dearest." she said, her eyes filled with worry. "I want you to promise me something. No matter what the government forces us to do, please don't try to fight it. The government is too big and powerful. Salona and I both love you dearly and we wouldn't be able to face the future without you. Will you promise me that you won't do anything that would take you away from us?"
Bala sat in silence, staring at the table top in front of him. He felt the anger and hatred that he had for the white government and its supporters slowly dissipate. He felt an inner strength well up within him. He would succeed, he told himself, regardless of what the government threw at them. He was better than they were and he would show them that they couldn't beat him. He would overcome the obstacles that they forced on him and he would do it peacefully. He put his hand on Fatima's.
"I promise you, my dearest." he said, looking into his wife's loving eyes. "We will succeed in spite of what the whites are doing to us and we'll do it without confrontation. We are better than them and we'll prove it."
Bala saw the relief in Fatima's eyes.
"On Saturday after we've closed the shop we'll take a train to Lenasia and look at what's in store for us when we move. Then we'll start making plans to adjust to what faces us. Fear of the unknown is a debilitating thing. Until we know what we have to overcome there's very little that we can do."
***
Bala, Fatima and Salona walked through the gateway in the security fence that surrounded the Lenz station. They stared, appalled, at the scene that confronted them. Rows of orange painted army barracks faced onto dusty streets and beyond these depressing buildings hundreds of tin shanties stretched out over the flat, treeless neighbourhood. There were also rows of unfinished little brick houses known as "two-room houses" that consisted of two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living area. These little houses were the "government" RPD houses that were being built for the Indians who were to be forcibly moved from the so-called "white" areas where they had lived for generations. Very few of these houses had yet been completed and those Indians who had already been moved were being accommodated in the army barracks of what used to be the Lenz Military Base.
The Colour of Gold Page 15