I’m officially back home because I’m done with exams and Taung just experienced a natural disaster. We felt it here in Maja Perre as well, but not as hectic as Taung. 
I had come home to rest because Rea has been MIA. I haven’t spoken to him in a week. But Mamholo expects me to work. I went to town and bought books so I can look like I’m studying just so I don’t sell anything around here. This house is a whole CBD during the day. The garage is a kitchen selling township food and every nonalcoholic drink you can think of. Then on what’s supposed to be our patio right next to the garage, Mamholo’s younger daughter, Lele, sells non-barcoded snacks. I help with the lunch packs. I pack the lunch packs for people because these actually go out everyday. Mamholo is loaded shame. She knows township business and she’s killing it. 

It is 7am now. 
I’ve already changed out of pyjamas and into leggings and a t-shirt. My braids are tied up. I’m helping with breakfast because business has started. I was about to read, but the cleaning lady is here today. My aunt hired one of the ladies in the yard because this lady kept asking her for money. So my aunt told her that she cannot keep giving her money that not even the bank is prepared to give her. She must work and earn a salary. So she cleans the house and the business area. 

“Dumelang”, we hear a voice. 
It’s Tono. My aunt’s eldest… the one that ran away with a boyfriend and denied her kids, leaving them here with my aunt. 
My aunt is shocked. 
“Tsamaya Mamholo, I’ll look after the shop.” I say. 
“Hai! I’m busy.” She says angrily then carries on with selling. 
Tono looks heartbroken. Her kids are still sleeping. 
I just leave the kitchen, carry two of her bags then walk her to where Lele and I sleep. 
There are two 3/4 beds in here. Lele sleeps on one with her five-year-old daughter. I sleep alone on the other bed because I have zero kids. 
Tono’s kids sleep in the other room. They have bunk beds in there. The eldest one (Pertunia) sleeps on the top bunk, the youngest one (Carol) sleeps on the bottom bed under Pertunia. Then her middle child, her only boy (Mshimane), sleeps alone on the bunk bed opposite the girls. There’s a vacant top bunk on top of his bunk bed. 

“Ushup?” I ask Tono. 
“Can I just bath and sleep? I’m tired. I walked here. It’s been a full four day walk.”
My eyes widen. 
Her legs are shaking. As she takes off her shoes, I see that her feet are swollen and bleeding. 
“I’ll prepare some food for you to eat before you sleep.”
She just gives me a fail look. 

I’m in the kitchen preparing food for Tono. Her sister, Lele, walks in. 
“So, is she staying? Like back to stay?” She asks me. 
“I don’t know. She didn’t really say anything to me.” Me. 
“A robale le bana bahaye”, Sesi says. 
“Bathung Lele!” 
“Hai! I sleep with my child. She must sleep with her kids. And why is she back? She must go back to that boyfriend she left us for!”
“Lele, keng? That’s your sister!”
“Aowa! You are my sister. When you got money, you built us a house and helped us start a business so we can live. Tono left! A ja kwa all alone, leaving us here with her kids. Today she sees that we are okay again, she’s back to sponge off us. She’s not a princess here.”
“Lele! Yoh! Ubuwa tseholo jwale.”
“Don’t make me sleep with that girl! Please.” With this, she leaves the kitchen. 
Tjo! 

Tono ate then I let her sleep in my bed. She doesn’t look well. I hope the sleep will do her some good. 
I go sit outside with Lele. I come bringing lunch. The cleaner lady is not a nice person so I avoid her at all costs. 
I give her lunch then I sell for her. 
“How’s the bitch?” She asking me about her sister. 
“You can’t talk about your sister like that, Lele.” 
“She’s not my sister. You are.”
“I’m younger than you. She’s your older sister.”
“I don’t recognise her as my sister.”
“How long is she staying?” My aunt creeps up on us and asks. 
I like how they are both asking me these questions. I should be asking them! 
“I don’t know, bathung. She’s resting. Re tla buwa le yena later tonight.” I say.
“I’m going to Mapisa’s house to help peel and cook. Her child passed away in those floods koTaung. We will probably cook through the night as the funeral is tomorrow.” 
“Mamholo, buwa le ngwana wahao hle. Lele, buwa le ausi wahao.” Me. 
“Re buwe eng?!” They both chant at the same time. 
I’m saved by Rea’s car driving into the yard. I’m both excited and irritated at the same time.
“Be careful! Tono might try her luck with your man. You know she’s jealous of you.” Lele. 
I pull a face, because really! 
“Ubuwa nnete!” My aunt. 

Mrembula jumps out of the passenger seat. Rea comes out the driver’s seat. 
Are these two close like that vele? And now that I think about it, Mrembula has also been away for the week that I’ve not heard from Rea. 

“Dumelang”, Rea. 
My aunt and cousin greet him. I just look at him. He knows that he’s in shit!
“Le shup?” Mrembula.
“Re shup.” My aunt.
“Re kopa di-plate tsepedi hle Aus’Mmamoleko.” Mrembula. 
“Le dI-coke tsepedi hle”, Rea, giving my aunt a R200 note. 
“Kea tla hhe.” My aunt. 
“Change ke a hao”, Rea. 
Of course my aunt is excited.
Rea looks at me again. I’m pissed. Mrembula notices. He pulls a face. 
“Can we talk?” Rea says to me. 
“I’m on duty. Lele is still on lunch.” I say.
“No, I don’t –
I bump Lele to keep quiet. 
“Okay hhe. Ke tla rekisa le wena.” Rea. 
“Lele –
“Lele, let’s take a walk.” Mrembula. 
She looks at me as if not knowing what to do.
“A re ye!” Mrembula says, pulling her. She mumbles a sorry at me then disappears with Mrembula. 
Rea sits where she was sitting.

“Baby, please don’t be mad at me.” He says. 
“Ke yetse jwang, Reahile? Ke thabe? Ke thabele manyala wahao? Utswa kai?!”
He scratches his head. 
“Well?” Me. 
“I want to tell you. And I will. But not here. And not like this. Please baby.”
“So let me understand this… you disappeared for over a week. Wherever you were, you couldn’t text me or call me or send me a smoke signal nyana? And it’s so complex that you cannot tell me without it being a more secretive conversation?” 
“Yes”, he says. 
I was actually being sarcastic, but le yena! 
I just look at him.
“I’m being serious, baby. You have to believe me.” He says.
“Were you with another woman?” I ask him.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I promise you. I’m very sure.”
“And then? Mrembula? Where did you find him?”
He’s quiet. 
“I asked you a question, Reahile.”
“Can we please go to a hotel tonight? So we can talk? Please? I’ll tell you everything.”
“I can’t. Tono came back today and my family needs me here. I can’t leave. Not today.”
“Then when?”
“Maybe tomorrow.” 
“That’s fine. I’ll wait. But please babe… please make time for me.”
“Like you made time for me in this past week?”
“I’ll explain everything. I promise. I need you to trust me.”
I look at him.
“Ke a kopa hle.”
“Fine.” I say.
He tries to kiss me, but I give him my cheek. 
“Reahile… Aus’ Mmamoleko has our food ready in the house.” Mrembula says.
Lele also comes back to sit with me. 
I’m just even more irritated than what I was. 

…

It is evening now. 
We are all having dinner, Tono included. The kids are sitting on one large couch together. I’m sitting next to Lele. My aunt is on a single couch. Their transport is fetching them after dinner. 
It’s just plates clicking here. Even the TV is off. 
I try to switch the TV on then my aunt says, “leave that TV alone!”
I indeed put the remote back on the coffee table. 
“Tono, why are you here?” My aunt. 
Yerrr!
“I’ve come back home. Surely, I have a right to be here.” Tono.
“A right? Hha mang, Tono? Hha mang? Hhaka?” My aunt.
“Che! Hha ngono. This is also not your house. Ke hheno mo!” 
“You are right! Ke hheso! Not your home! And since mama is no longer alive, I’m the one who can tell you that you have no rights here.”
“Well it’s not like you made me a home. You grew old in your mother’s house. So this is my home.” Tono. 
“Tono! I will slap you harder than that trash of a man ever did, do you understand? I will show you flames that that man of yours failed to show you! Talk to me like a crazy person one more time. I dare you!” My aunt. 
Tono is now quiet. 
“TONO! KE RE WHY ARE YOU HERE?!” The yelling has started. 
“I needed to come home”, Tono. 
“For what?!” Lele. 
A whole tag-team! 
“He tried to kill me”, Tono. 
They don’t even feel sorry for her. 
“So you came here so that he can kill all of us before he kills you?!” Lele. 
Yerrr! 
“I walked here from his house. I got lifts here and there. But I mostly walked for four days. I snuck out while he was asleep. He really beat me up and allowed his friends to rape me. He put a gun up my vagina and – 
She pauses. 
I feel like there are kids in here. Can we be mindful please?
“Did you think that he was giving you all that money for free? YOU WERE SELLING KUKU EWU YAHAO TO HIM! WHEN SOMEONE BUYS SOMETHING, THEY CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITH IT!” My aunt.
Silence. 
“Mme, please let me stay? I have no where else to go. Please.” Tono says.
“Ke tla reng, Tono? I don’t want you here. But there’s no dustbin for children, so I cannot throw you away anywhere. But nna, I don’t want you here. So don’t think that I’ll give you a warm welcome and fuss over you! You are here against my will. You left us here with your children and went to sell yourself, enjoying the benefits alone. You left us in a shack that didn’t even have a toilet. Maphodile – a person – came back and built all of this that you’ve now come back to leech off. Akere that’s what you are, A LEECH! So dula, Tono. Do what you do best! Leech! Ke tla reng?! I birthed you.”
This is so tense. 
Tono is crying and Lele is so angry. 
“And o re thuse wena Tono…” Lele neh… any opportunity, I tell you!
“O re thuse! If you are pregnant, you better wake up in the morning and get rid of that thing. We can barely afford to feed you – in fact, we don’t want to feed you! So don’t bring us an extra mouth to feed on top of the three that we are already forced to feed!”
Yeses! 
Maybe I should’ve left with Rea. 
After a brief moment of silence, my aunt says, “I’ll go wait for our transport outside. I’ll see you tomorrow after the funeral. Remember to open the shop at 6am. Goodbye!”

…

Lele and I are making breakfast for the taxi people. It’s still 5am, so we have time. I’d honestly rather be sleeping. But I’m preparing a plate for myself as well with this prep. I’ll put in my R50 for the plate. 

We slept okay after that tense conversation last night. I went to sleep with the kids in the extra bunk. Tono didn’t want to sleep with her kids. She said she’d rather sleep on the couch, so I gave up my bed. Rea tried to phone me all night then texted me too. I gave him a taste of his own medicine. I ignored it all. 127 missed calls, 600 unread messages. Now he knows what it’s like. 

“Why did you leave me with her?” Lele Mara. 
“Lele, I just wanted to sleep. I wasn’t petty about where I’d sleep.”
“This is not her house!”
“Yoh Lele, please tu.”
She’s quiet now. 
Then she says, “are you leaving with kgosana today? Leaving me with that bitch?”
“We need to talk, so yes… he will definitely be fetching me.” 
“Until when? You can’t leave me with that bitch! Take her with you!”
“Ke ye kai le yena?”
“Find her another pimp! I don’t care.”
I actually laugh. 
What the hell?! 

In no time, the shop is open. I’m serving the taxi drivers and passengers as well. Some people are also buying from Lele’s stall for the day ahead. 

My aunt comes back at 2pm. She quickly changes then takes over from me. She asks me to do the cashing with the banker. I have that meeting with him then I go shower. 
I quickly shower then I wear a nude bodycon midi-dress, black flat sandals and some jewellery nyana. I pack an overnight bag then leave my braids loose. 
“You look nice”, Tono says. I know her voice well. 
“Thanks.”
“I saw you in a meeting earlier with a lot of money.”
“Ke business banker ya-Mamholo”. 
“Oh. So mama wetsa chelete neh”, she says. 
I don’t respond. 
“Can you talk to them for me? To be part of the business?”
“Tono, I don’t want to be involved in your issues.” 
“They don’t want me here.”
“Why don’t you focus on being a mother to your kids? That should be your primary focus!” Me. 
“Tell her! And stop plotting to steal from us!” Lele walks in and says. 
“Steal?”
“You think I didn’t see you this morning in mom’s bedroom? I took a video! One more stunt like that and I’m taking that evidence to the police!” Lele. 
Tono says nothing. 
Tjo! 
“Mapho, kgosana is here.” Lele. 
I grab my overnight bag and handbag. Tono follows me. 
Reahile looks… 
“Hey”, he greets me. 
“Hi.” Me. 
He takes my bags from me, asking me if I’m ready to go. 
“Ke nna Tono”, Tono introduces herself, extending her hand for a handshake. Lele slaps the hand away before Rea can accept it then says to Tono, “this is Mapho’s boyfriend. It’s kgosana to you.”
I honestly just walk out. Rea follows me. 

We are driving now. 
“Why aren’t you taking my calls or replying to my text message?” He asks me. 
“You actually get to ask me that?”
“Maphodile! I don’t like this attitude of yours”. 
“Well you’ll keep getting it if this is how you’ll treat me”, I say. 
He hits the steering wheel then speeds off. 

After about two hours, we arrive at some lodge. Many cars are here. Cars that… that I saw the first time that Vanessa brought me into contact with these people. 
“What are we doing here?” I ask him. 
“Just get out of the car.” He says and gets out the car. 
I don’t move.
Now my door flies open. 
“GET OUT OF THE CAR!” 
“Don’t talk to me like that! O SO HLANYA?!”
He stares at me. 
I stare right back at him. 
“Please get out of the car”, he says. 
I climb out of the car. 
I follow him to some reception area. 
I see a lot of people here… Wehweh and Ruri included. 
I sit next to them. 
I don’t know why Reahile is so upset. I really don’t. 
Before I can even ask what’s happening… before anyone can start speaking… 
Gunshots fill the air. Rea has me in his arms and throws me to the floor behind some wall. He holds onto me. I’m too shocked to even scream. I just sit in this position. 
Then I feel his hands off me. 
More gunshots come to the party. 
What the hell is going on?!
—-
—-
—-
After what feels like an hour, I raise my head. There’s silence. My ears are still ringing. Only now I realise that I’ve been crying. 
“You okay?” Wehweh asks me. Sasi is wrapped around her. 
I nod my head. 
We make our way outside. 
Ruri is crying in her parents’ arms. 
Banathi’s wife is lying in a pool of her own blood and she’s not moving. 
The king’s second wife is lying in a pool of her own blood and is not moving. 
Rea’s sister, Lefatselabarena, is lying in a pool of her own blood and is not moving. 
I go to Rea. I hug him. He’s crying. He is also bleeding. 
Mnqobi’s aunt, Zama, is lying in a pool of her own blood and is bleeding. 
Everything is suddenly super HEAVY!