Mapho

“When are you coming back?” Lele asks me as I zip my bag.

“After the new year.” I say.

“I’m so jealous. Pack me in your bag tu.” 

I laugh. 

I give her R1500 then say, “go buy the kids – all the kids and not just your child – some snacks, drinks and fireworks for New Year’s Eve.”

“Rea leboha hle. Mara Tono –

“Stop making Tono’s kids pay for Tono’s mistakes. They are kids. Hey didn’t ask to be born under such circumstances hle. Please.” 

She just rolls her eyes. 

“Is that why you bought Tono’s kids Christmas and new year clothes and not mine?”

“Akere wena you work? And your child is shown love. Those poor kids hle… I do what I can. I’m hoping I can trust you to include them in the celebrations. If not, I’m never trusting you again. You are a mother, Lele. Be the bigger person, please.” 

“Fine!” She says, pulling a face. 

We hug each other, wish each other a happy new year in advance – I mean, today is the 28th – then I leave. 

I catch a taxi to Taung town. It takes me about six hours to get there. But I’m on time, so I’m not worried. My flight is in the early hours of the morning… 6am to be exact. 

I arrive in Taung at 9pm. Then I get a taxi service to the airport. It’s about an hour to the airport. Rea booked me into the hotel at the airport so I could sleep until 4am where I’ll then go and check in.

I’m right here at 4:30am, checking in and heading to OR Tambo International. My flight takes off at exactly 6am and not a second later. I’m relaxed as I fly – for the first time in my life – to Johannesburg. It feels weird being in a flight. But I like it… it’s a weird problem that I like to have. No joke. 

We land at OR Tambo International at 8:30am. 

It takes me forever to find my luggage and I still don’t find it. Now I’m just standing here and everyone has their luggage. Is it lost or…???

Police approach me.

“Hey. I lost my bag.” I immediately report my missing luggage. 

“Is this your luggage, ma’am?” 

Suddenly, Rea is next to me.

“Yes, that is my luggage. Is there an issue?”

“Miss Maphodile Pesa, you are under arrest for being in the possession of drugs”:

“Drugs?! Nna?! Are you out of your mind?!”

“This must be a mistake”, Rea tries.

But these men are busy mumbling something to me and dragging me away as if I’m resisting arrest. And I am resisting arrest because really… WHAT THE FUCK?! Drugs?! I hope this is not some Rea and church shit! I cannot be going to jail for this man! What am I saying?! I’m in the back of a van! I’m well on my way to jail FOR THIS MAN!

Yoh! Modimo waka! I just cry! I cry my entire heart out! 

–

I’m in some cell right now. I’m frustrated! I’m pissed! I’m confused! Imagine doing time for something you didn’t do? Imagine spending New Year’s Eve in a cell for something you didn’t do?! Yoh, Modimo waka! I should’ve stayed at home with my family and our drama. 

“Dali, don’t cry. It doesn’t make the situation better!” One of the women in here with me says. 

I look at her. 

“Yini?! You thought you wouldn’t get caught in whatever you were doing?” She says. 

“I didn’t do anything.” I find myself saying. 

“We all say that, Dali. Right now, let’s just make a plan to survive in the prison. Yabona wena, beauty queen, you are a currency.” 

“Huh?!”

“You are beautiful! Someone powerful will want to make you her wife. So I’m sticking by you. Don’t forget about me neh.”

I honestly just laugh. How can I honestly not?! 

“Yabona lo that’s staring there in space like a crazy person?” 

I look at that lady, noticing her for the first time, and vele she’s staring into space – not blinking…

“She stabbed her husband to death. He beat her pink and blue and almost killed her and her child. So she killed him first..”

Yoh bathung! 

I look at her. I really feel for her. 

“And wena… your man’s ex-wife paid people at the airport to plant those drugs in your luggage.”

I swear I didn’t tell her a thing! How does she know?! 

She sees the shock on my face! 

“I’ve been in here since before Christmas. The police officers talk to me now. I know why you are all here.” 

“You mean I’m in here because…”

I’m in so much disbelief that I cannot even finish my sentence. 

“Lalela! Don’t think like that! Kusemhlabeni la! People like her win because people like you direct your anger in the wrong way! That girl can obviously see ukuthi le ndoda ithanda wena! And she doesn’t like it! Maybe yena usayifuna le ndoda yakho!” 

“But to put me in jail?! I won’t have a career after this!” 

“Your man will probably get you out of here by the end of today. He will probably make all of this go away. Wena mawufika endlini neh, give him sex and show him you are on his side… then you fight that crazy woman together. Kusemhlabeni la! Don’t allow people to bully you out of love. Something so rare… beautiful… something everyone wants but only a lucky few get to experience. You hold onto that and you don’t let crazy exes push you out or take it away from you.”

Her words slap like French fries, white bread and coke on a sunny day where you are starving and on your period. I find myself smiling at her. 

“So what are you in for?” I ask her. 

“Girl! I’m actually going to prison. Ngiyongena nge-ticket Mina. I can’t share that information.”

“Not even if I ask people for help?”

“Trust me… elam’ icala is not a petty crime. I’m going to do time. But do me a favour tu… when your man gets you out of here, get that one a lawyer.” She says, referring to the one staring into space and not blinking. 

“Make sure it’s a tough lawyer that can show that the bastard deserved to die so she could live. Then when she gets out, make sure she gets to her mother somewhere in the North West. She’s lost everything. She needs you more than I do.”

“You are a good person, you know that?” 

“I owe God to be a good person. I can take jail. But I need Him to forgive me.”

“I’m sure that He already has.”

She smiles at me. 

“When you are inside and you need anything, call me. I’ll leave you my number.”

“Yiko badlala ngawe so! You are too nice. Bitch up sometimes, girl. You are not a playground! Ungadlalwa! You give people one favour in life. ONE! Once it’s used up, it’s used up. I’ve used my favour and asked you to make sure that Hlanyo over there gets out and lands safely out there. That’s my favour. It’s done. You don’t owe me anything anymore.” 

Who is this lady?! She’s a pure sign that my mom is still watching over me wherever she is. 

…

It’s been a few hours now. 

The big door of our cell opens and there’s light that comes into the cell. The light tells us that the sun is about to set. 

“Wena, bazokulanda la abantu bakho.” The cop says pointing at me. 

“Wena, uya eSuncity. Sekumele uyodonsa iminyaka yakho.” She says looking at my new friend. This one just accepts her fate. 

We both look at Hlanyo as we stand up from where we are sitting and make our way to the door for our different fates. 

“Get her out”, my friend reminds me, pointing at Hlanyo. 

I nod my head then say, “I will.” 

As I walk out with my belongings that were taken from me upon my arrival, Rea attacks me with a hug. I actually hug him too, remembering what my prison friend told me about not letting his crazy ex-wife get to me and break us up. 

“You okay?” He asks me, looking very closely at me in all parts of me. 

“I’m fine.” I say, taking a deep breath and smiling at him. 

“Konke kuhamba kahle?” The Ntuthuko guy says. Even the king and his brother are here with him. 

“I’m fine, I promise.” I say. 

“Kodwa I have a favour to ask”, I say. 

These men look at me. 

“There’s a lady I was locked up with who’s in there for murdering an abusive husband. The husband killed her child and left the lady for dead. Can we get her out?”

“Heh bathung?! You made friends in there while we were all stressed about getting you out?” The king.

I look at him. 

He’s the king. I cannot speak back to him. 

“How does this person affect our lives again?” Ntuthuko. 

“She needs help. She has no one. Please.” I plead. 

“Reahile, keng jwale?” The king. 

“Baby, what the fuck?!” Rea says to me as gently as he can. 

“She needs help.” Me. 

“That’s not our problem!” Ntuthuko. 

“I know. But I’m asking. Please.” Me. 

“Go home, Reahile.” The king. 

I try to speak, but – 

“HOME! NOW!” The king. 

Rea leads me to his car. I guess we are headed home. I hope they really pull through for Hlanyo. 

“Are you okay?” He asks me as we drive. 

“I’m fine. I know your ex-wife did this.”

He’s quiet. 

“Did she say why she did this?” I ask. 

“She says it was meant to be a joke”, he says. 

Yoh! I literally start laughing. Because if I don’t laugh, I’ll cry. And I don’t want to cry. It’s clear that this girl has no idea what a game is. 

“Maybe I should get her arrested for what she did… jokingly, you know.” I say.

He’s so tense. 

I now stop laughing the shake my head, loudly sighing, “ja neh.” 

The car ride is silent until we get to the house. 

It’s my first time at this house. It’s really nice. It’s not big. It’s not small. Its a cute four bedroom house in a nice estate. My things are already here. 

“It’s a nice house”, I say. 

“Thanks. Please make it a home.” He says. 

Charming. 

I just nod my head. 

“I’m sorry about – 

“Rea, please. I’m upset. But I don’t want to redirect this energy towards the wrong person. The only person I want to throw hands at right now is that nonsensical dog you were married to. So, I don’t want to talk about this because you are the one who will end up catching hands right now.” 

“Baby, please… I need you to calm down.”

“Calm down?! Calm down, Reahile?! I’ve just spent an entire day in a holding cell because of that bitch. You should be grateful that I’m not getting her arrested for what she’s done.”

“You can’t get her arrested! She’s the mother of my kids.”

“So? That means she can do this to people without any repercussions? So it’s you then that enables this nonsense… that makes her think this is funny.”

“What am I supposed to tell my kids if their mother is arrested?!”

“You tell them that their mother is a heartless and selfish bitch that ruins people’s lives because she’s bored!”

He looks at me. 

Why is he shocked?! 

“I’m studying medicine. How am I supposed to become a doctor with a criminal record? Especially for something that I didn’t do? Because the mother of your children was bored? I should ruin her life like she has ruined mine.”

“And my kids?”

“Maybe it’s time you took them back. That thing you’ve trusted with them is not a mother!”

I leave him standing there to shower and settle in. 

I’ve unpacked my clothes into the cupboards. They were empty, just had his things. I unpack my toiletries accordingly as well then I get into the shower. I need a proper scrub nje. 

I step into the shower, after sliding on my shower cap. 

About ten minutes into my shower, I feel Rea step in. Before I can even think of how I feel about him joining me in this shower, he wraps his arms around me, caresses my neck then whispers in my ear, “where should I scrub you?”

He’s already scrubbing my back… and I don’t know why it’s turning me on so much. 

“I don’t want to fight anymore, but I’m so hurt. And I’m so angry.” 

“I don’t want to fight neither. Baby, we’ve been fighting so much lately. We haven’t been okay for three months. I miss us.” 

I turn around and face him. 

“I love you, Reahile Mohale.”

“I love you, Maphodile Pesa.”

“You don’t understand… there’s never been a time in my life where I thought I’d be in love or be loved by someone like you. When you chose me, I didn’t understand… I didn’t think it was possible. I’m the girl who comes from poverty… a product of rape… a product of the shame that comes with a mother being raped by her stepfather. Both she and her sister were raped by the same man… my cousins are also my sisters – and it’s in the most disgusting way you can think of. What about me is worthy of being loved by a man like you? The product that I am deserves what your ex-wife did to me. I’m the girl that bad things happen to all the time. Good things have never been in the stars for me. Maybe I fight you so much because… I don’t understand why you love me so much! I don’t understand why you want to go through bad times with me instead of choosing good times with someone who is more worthy to have these kinds of moments with you.”

He kisses me. 

I’m actually emotional now. 

“I. LOVE. YOU! No one else. Only you. That’s it! I don’t care about anything else. I only care that I love you and that you love me. That’s all that matters. And what Rofhiwa did… it will never happen again. I’ve personally made sure of it.”

I kiss him. 

He lifts me up and puts me on his hips. 

–

We are in bed now… naked… and cuddled into each other. 

“I made a new friend today.” I say. 

“In jail? The crazy lady?”

I laugh then say, “No man. There were three of us in that cell. There was one who was in there since before Christmas. She wouldn’t even tell me her name or what she was in for. She said she couldn’t risk people knowing about her because she had to go serve time and she didn’t want to be weak in prison.”

“So how is she your friend? You don’t even have a name”, he says then laughs. 

“Ja laugh! She’s the one who told me about what your ex did. And she’s the one who told me to not be mad at you.” 

He’s quiet. 

“She also told me about the crazy one and asked me to help her. I offered to be her call when she needs anything whilst inside. She said her only favour from me was to help the crazy one.”

“She sounds like a good person.” 

“She is. I hope she survives prison, watsiba. I don’t even know what she did.”

“Love, don’t make friends le ma bantinti hle”, he says. 

I laugh. 

“But we helped your crazy friend. She’s in Mafikeng with her family. We even left them money to get her help. She needs it.”

“Thank you, baby. Kea leboha”, I say as I climb on top of him, inserting his penis inside of me.

“And we left your other friend with money and safety inside – just to thank her for looking after you. Her name is Nomthandazo Thusini. She’s in for hectic things. She said we should tell you that she’ll always have your back and I must tell you to be less of a good person and more of a bitch – especially towards Rofhiwa.”

I laugh aloud. 

“Thank you, baby. Thank you!” I say, already riding him. He’s a happy man. 

“You owe the men of the church too. But don’t give them my sweets, please.” 

I laugh aloud then finish our bed business. 

It’s the next morning and I definitely feel like being lazy. But Rea has me awake, showered up and on our way out. I didn’t even get a chance to make us breakfast. Ey this guy! 

We arrive at some house that looks hijacked by Nigerians. He parks outside the gate of the house and I instantly feel UNSAFE!

“Love, where are we?” I ask. Because he’s quiet now. And I’m confused and feeling unsafe. 

“I grew up in this house. My mom raised my twin and I in here. My grandfather – her father – bought her this house to raise my brother and I in it. She was such a junkie… she traded my brother and I… and this house for drugs.”

Yoh! 

I look at him. 

He’s so angry. 

But he flips in an instant and says, “I’ve been saving up to buy this house back from these Nigerians. But when I spoke to my dad, he mentioned that the value wouldn’t be good because of the location. I can’t even raise kids here. So I’m going to buy the houses on this entire street, break them down and build a five star hotel. Then I’ll also enclose the area and buy the illegal shit out of here. It’s not even for the money… I want to honour my grandfather who gifted us this house so we could have a home – then also remember my mom and brother. I miss them.”

I just lean towards him and hug him. He needs the hug. 

“Whatever you need from me, you’ve got it”, he holds me tighter. 

“Rofhiwa didn’t think – 

“Rea, ke nna Maphodile. Not Rofhiwa. Let’s do this. Whatever you need.” 

“Maybe just for you to style it? Give it that feminine touch. You’ll have a team, but I want this to be an us thing… our asset and legacy for our kids – outside of the Mohale stuff.”

I smile at him. 

“I’m proud of you”, I tell him. 

“Thank you for loving me and contributing to the man that I’m becoming” he says.