by Trevor Sacks
Victor lurched out of his car and ran around to the other side. He opened the passenger door and I saw him help Ma out. There was blood on her forehead. ‘Will,’ I said over the phone, but there was no one there. Instead, I heard Will’s voice from outside, in the road.
‘Ma!’ he shouted, and I saw him running from Carol’s yard into the street towards our mother. Shocked at the scene out in the road, at Ma’s injury, and at the sight of Will running into our street, in our town, I went out the front door to join them all.
Nadine and Will were helping Ma into the house while Victor went around to the front of the car. Below him on the tar was the legavaan, hesitating provocatively. Victor shooed the lizard with both hands flapping in the air.
‘Are you all right, Ma?’ I asked.
‘I was just stupid,’ she said. ‘Hit my head on the dashboard. Serves me right for sitting up front, hey Nadine? I always get carsick in the back, though.’
‘Shut up and lie down while I get the Savlon,’ said Nadine. As she walked off down the passage, she said to Will, ‘What are you doing here?’
Will and I helped Ma lie down on the only remaining couch. ‘I’m surprising you,’ said Will.
‘You sure are,’ I said.
‘What a time to arrive,’ said Ma, patting his hand.
‘A bloody legavaan,’ said Victor, coming in from the driveway. ‘Almost smacked it with the Audi. Where did you come from?’
‘Hi, Victor,’ said Will. ‘Just in the neighbourhood.’
‘Were you at Carol’s?’ asked Victor.
‘Yes, Victor. Yes I was.’
Nadine tended Ma’s cut and we held our breaths to resolve the circumstances around Will’s arrival. The cut wasn’t serious and it was soon swabbed and stanched, although a lump was forming. ‘Well,’ said Victor, ‘I have to go – the buyers, you know. Maybe today’s not such a good day after all, Sis. We’ll do it another time.’
Ma agreed she’d prefer to stay, after the shock of the blow and with Will’s arrival, so Nadine and Victor left without her.
‘What are you doing here, Will?’ asked Ma.
‘I need an excuse to see my mother?’ he said.
‘I’m glad you’re back,’ she said. ‘But what else?’
‘Well, I didn’t want to tell you yet. Not until it’s resolved. But I have good news – Ben and I are going after Leo Fein,’ he said, including me as if we’d talked about it. Ma looked at me and I decided not to answer yet. Will continued. ‘I meant to come to town to ask Victor for a loan for the lawyers, but when I heard he’s emigrating —’
‘That’s bullshit,’ I said.
‘Buddy, come on,’ he said, but I refused to conspire with him again. ‘It’s not bullshit. Listen, Carol’s lending us some money for an investment. It’s a great opportunity, really. Then we go after him.’
‘And then what, Will?’ asked Ma, and there was pity in her voice for him.
‘Then we get our money back. Put you back in Jorissen Street. Send Ben off to university.’
‘And you?’ she asked.
‘Well, I have a few expenses I need to clear. Then we can think about relaunching the business.’
‘By expenses, you mean debts,’ she said.
‘Well, strictly speaking.’
‘Gambling debts,’ I said.
‘They’re old debts. I don’t gamble any more. That’s over.’ He punctuated the air with a horizontal arc of the hand. ‘There’s a new plan now. Carol’s been very generous – she says she’ll lend us something for the investment.’
Elliot walked into the living room, wearing Victor’s dressing gown. ‘You’re here?’ he said.
Before Will could reply, Elliot noticed Ma’s head injury. ‘Jeez, what happened?’
‘Victor almost hit that legavaan,’ I explained. ‘Ma was in the car.’
‘It’s nothing,’ she said.
‘So, how long have you been across the road at Carol’s?’ I asked.
‘A few days.’
‘She didn’t say anything,’ said Ma.
‘Well, she was pissed off at this runt stealing her car,’ said Will. ‘I had to smooth things over.’
‘Oh, really?’ said Elliot, leaning on the wall next to the sofa on which Ma’s head rested, and peering over her injury.
‘I asked her not to say anything,’ said Will. ‘She’s been great, Ma – really.’
‘Will,’ said Ma, ‘what are you doing over there with her? Are you and Carol—’
‘No. Jesus. Don’t listen to Victor.’
‘Why go to her then?’ asked Ma.
Will was silent for a while, searching for something to say for once. ‘We cried together. When Daddy died. I don’t expect you to understand. Carol and I just have a connection. And when Carol’s husband died, we cried too, the two of us. The Aronbachs don’t do that. It’s nothing else.’
We tried to place this rare and tender confession of Will’s on the impressions we already had of his relationship with Carol; any response would have been awkward. Even Elliot remained considerately silent, provisional as that respect may have been.
‘Carol’s known us for years,’ said Will, ‘and she wants to help. I mean, Ben – you went out with Shoshana even, didn’t you?’
‘No,’ I said.
‘So, it’s money,’ said Elliot. ‘That’s why you’re at Carol’s.’
‘Will,’ said Ma, ‘you can’t use that woman’s money to clear your gambling debts, it’s not right.’
‘Leave the debts,’ said Will, ‘and listen to me. I’m talking about an investment that can take care of you when Victor’s gone and maybe give this loser an education if he’s not too dumb to make it into varsity.’
‘You don’t give him the money I gave you, you hear?’ said Elliot, turning sharply to me.
‘What money?’ said Ma.
‘Elliot sold some paintings,’ I said.
‘Really?’ said Ma and Will together.
‘He got ten grand,’ I said.
‘Oh, you’re all so surprised,’ said Elliot, smirking.
‘Elliot,’ said Will, ‘if you have anything to spare, now’s the time to invest. If you’re worried about getting it back, make it a loan and I’ll return it.’
‘There’s no way you’re getting it,’ said Elliot. ‘I didn’t work my arse off for you to go gambling. Throw away your own money.’
‘I’m not gambling any more. For fuck’s sakes, do you want to help or not? This is an investment – and it’s not for me, it’s for them.’
‘Investment, poker, horses, whatever.’
‘Fuck, Elliot,’ said Will, standing up now, ‘how long do you think your piddling ten grand is gonna last? We need real money. Not all of us are happy living like roaches in a squat.’
‘Fuck you!’ said Elliot to me now, and pushed away from the wall. ‘You gave it to him already, didn’t you? Give it back.’ Elliot took a step towards Will.
‘I don’t have it,’ said Will.
‘Liar!’
‘You gave it to us,’ I said to Elliot, raising my voice too. ‘To me and Ma. We should decide. Ma should decide.’
We looked at Ma on the couch. She kneaded her left arm with the fingers of her right hand.
‘Fine,’ said Elliot. ‘Ma – what do you want to do with it?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Ma. ‘Elliot – this money. Thank you. And Will – I don’t know. What is this investment?’
Will sat down again and, after a pause, Elliot did too.
‘It’s a fund that’s been incredibly successful. We need a certain minimum amount to invest but then the returns are very good. Almost incomparable.’
‘What fund?’
‘It’s called Northern Horizons.’
I contracted internally at the pronouncement.
‘Is it something safe, Will?’ asked Ma.
‘They have some of the biggest names in business investing with them.’
Elliot crossed his arms.
‘I need to think about it,’ said Ma. ‘Is there something I can read about it?’
‘I have an annual report back at Carol’s.’
‘I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ I said.
‘What can you possibly know about it?’ said Will. ‘I mean, Ben, with all due respect. I know you’re not a stupid guy. But you’ve sat in this house on your arse for God knows how long. You don’t know the first thing about making money.’
Elliot gave a snort of laughter at my expense.
‘I have a job now,’ I said.
‘Mazel tov,’ said Will. ‘Do you know anything about investments?’
To say I knew about this one would be to admit I knew more about Leo Fein than I was willing to disclose.
‘The guys at Nedbank were talking about it – it’s no good, they say.’
‘What do fucking bank tellers know about investment? Just stay out of it, do me a favour. Look, this is blue chip, virtually. We’ll make enough to get back on our feet. Then from a position of strength, we can go after that skatofatsa Leo Fein.
‘The cheek of that guy, coming back to town after pulling that shit on us. It takes a special kind of lowlife to do that. When I heard his name again – after all this time, even – I was angry for two days. So no, Elliot, I can’t let it go; I don’t think we should let it go. We’re not going to let him get away with it. He stole from us, the skatofatsa, and I don’t care how long it’s been, I don’t forget, and I’m getting it back.’
10
LUCKY SEVENS
There was, I confess, a minor swell of pride at Will’s admiration for the document I’d helped draft. It feels good to be reminded once in a while that words have a certain power; it’s also necessary to forget sometimes that their effect is not inevitably for the best.
But my confidence in my abilities to write a persuasive paragraph had grown – after all, I’d seen their effects and had even been rewarded for them recently, personally and monetarily, by Leo Fein. I hoped my very latest missive would be my most effective yet.
While Will went across to Carol’s to fetch the Northern Horizons prospectus, I called Elliot aside. I handed him the letter and made him promise he’d get it to Marieke via Carlien as soon as he could.
I had to leave for work and didn’t wait for Will to return. In typical fashion, my eldest brother had stormed back into our lives and rearranged them as if rearranging the kitchen, telling us plates go up there now and glasses down below, the dry goods in the broom closet and the pots under the sink – a much better configuration, he would assure us.
And now I was stuck. Revealing what I knew about Northern Horizons meant confessing I worked for the skatofatsa, the target of Will’s wrath and the cause of Ma’s misery. But to invest in Northern Horizons meant, surely, losing Carol’s money and the chance of recovering our fortune. However many big investors it had attracted, it was bogus.
But was it? Was there a possibility, a hope, that it was real? I mean, Will was right that I knew nothing about investing but I recognised names on the cheques that would come in – names that anybody would know from newspapers and magazines as the biggest in business.
So maybe there was something to it. I had to stick around, I decided, to see if it was legitimate, or to pull the money out if I needed to.
Leo Fein walked into the office as if he were going to keep on travelling past me, past his desk and out through the window of the Nedbank building. He spoke from behind a large square wrapped in brown paper. ‘I’m gonna need you tonight,’ he said.
‘What for?’ I asked, following him into his office.
‘There’s a National Party meeting I want you to go to.’ He set the big square on the floor against the wall.
‘And do what?’
‘Well, we had a brainstorm, me and the AWB boys, and we thought it would be a great platform for them to piggyback on. It’ll make a big impact with the referendum coming up.’
‘No, I can’t make it,’ I said.
‘This is important. It’s not going to take all night and you hardly have to get out the car. You won’t be involved in the meeting – it’s just driving, that’s all. Then you can get back to your lady friend.’
Leo Fein was on his haunches, breathing heavily, and picking at the tape around the brown paper with his nail.
‘The Bishop was one thing,’ I said. ‘But not the AWB.’
‘Ah, don’t give me that. You need to start thinking like a businessman. I can’t keep giving you a pep talk every time I need you to do your job. Think about the money, if that helps.’
‘Well, when am I going to get paid for the Bishop?’
‘Maybe next week,’ he said, standing up. ‘We have to see how it pans out. In the meantime, you’ve got that watch to flash around. Looks good on you. And tell you what, if you do tonight – don’t know why I’m doing this – but do tonight and I’ll give you a little overtime bonus too. Take your girlfriend to the Magoebaskloof Hotel.’ He sank down again and began to rip at the brown paper with a finger.
‘Why can’t you go tonight?’
‘I’ve got to go to Joburg with Snor to meet the Zulus. Something urgent’s come up. Don’t pull your nose up like that. Where do you think your bonus is coming from?’
I shrugged. ‘I don’t want anything to do with the IFP,’ I said. ‘I’ve seen what’s happening at the hostels.’
‘It’s just business. There’s a lot of weapons in South Africa, my boy,’ he said. ‘We can either make a profit off this or not. We can’t stop it happening. We don’t create the demand: it exists and we fill it.’
‘What about the AWB? Are we making any money off them?’
Strips of the brown paper lay on the floor and he was carefully removing the tape from the corners. I could see now that the square was in fact two framed pictures facing each other.
‘This is a new venture,’ he said. ‘Delicate. But with the referendum and the changes happening, they could become very, very important clients, with the right encouragement. They’re talking about new uniforms at the least, maybe some bigger things from there. For now, we’re just building relationships. That’s why I need you.’
‘For what?’ I asked.
‘Remember the man you met at my house – at our little reunion?’
The bright blue eyes pierced my memory.
Leo Fein separated the frames and set the pictures to lean against the wall. He stepped back to look at them while he rolled the tape in his palms. ‘Well, he’s going to the AWB rally tonight. I want you to pick him up afterwards and bring him to my house. He’s staying there tonight, then we’ll talk when I’m back from Joburg.’
‘And how am I supposed to pick this guy up?’
‘You take the Mercedes.’ Leo Fein lifted one of the pictures, holding it out in front of him. He scanned the walls back and forth for a good hanging place.
‘What about Northern Horizons?’ I asked.
‘What about it?’
‘Does it make money? I mean, for the investors – do they make money?’
‘Sure,’ said Leo Fein, setting one picture on the floor against the opposite wall. ‘It’s a bloody good investment.’
‘What is it?’
‘Do the AWB thing and I’ll show you how it works. Deal?’
‘I just have to pick him up?’
‘That’s all.’
I hoped spending an evening in the company of the AWB was worth having the secrets of Northern Horizons revealed to me.
‘But don’t go messing around with your girlfriend in the back seat of the Merc, hey? Have you two made up yet?’ He placed the other picture next to its mate and wiped his hands together.
‘No.’
‘Well, maybe I’ll let you take her out on a date in the Mercedes if you do the job nicely. How’s that?’
I went closer to inspect the pictures. They were collages of figures that looked like they could be from a hair metal band. They wore make-up and had low-s
lung automatic rifles hanging from their shoulders like Flying V guitars. The rock stars stood on arena stages lit up with pyrotechnics from grenades and claymores.
It was a small detail in one of the pictures but a figure in the crowd before the stage waved a modified Israeli flag, a cocked swastika between the blue stripes.
‘What are these?’ I asked.
‘Protest art,’ said Leo Fein. ‘Not my style but the dealer says they’re a good investment.’
* * *
Peace was not a foregone conclusion in those days. There were enough factions hacking at progress, hobbling it, that it could easily slip, fall, fracture, shatter. Leo Fein seemed to be in business with just about every one of these factions. Where others saw ideology, he saw opportunity. He’d advance everyone’s cause if it could turn a profit.
At a time when peace brokers and clerics were promoting tolerance, he had the tolerance of a saint, impartial to the extreme – and to the extremists. All this with the determination of a profit-seeking missile.
All I had to do, I told myself, was to taxi a man with cold blue eyes. Then I’d see behind the curtain of Northern Horizons and know whether to stay in or cut and run. Just one job.
In the early evening I drove to the town hall and parked within sight of the entrance, just inside the palisade fencing of the parking lot. An armoured vehicle was stationed to the side of the hall like a loyal guard dog. Ahead of me were two police cars and a few officers strolling around. The wait gave me time to wonder when my letter to Marieke would arrive and how it would be received. Perhaps it had been too flippant. Perhaps she wouldn’t even open it.
By the entrance of the hall, underneath the silky banner of the NP, the ruling party, stood a few young policemen. Over the hall’s PA system I could hear that the NP meeting had just begun. The national anthem, ‘Die Stem’, was being sung. Then, the speaker thanked all the NP supporters for coming from town, and the neighbouring towns and farms, and gave a special welcome to the national karate team. The speaker said they would begin with a prayer, as soon as the guest of honour, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, arrived in the hall.