“What exactly did you tell him?” Teboho is about to kill Ona and Khotso.
We are all in Maboko’s ward. He’s stable. Apparently, he will be okay.
“We found out what Kabelo did, and we told him.”
Teboho is boiling. Even Ona is shaking.
“Why would you do that? Did it not occur to you that Teboho had her reasons for not telling him?” I also shout at them.
“Wait, you knew?” Khotso is dumb enough to ask me that.
“Of course, I knew. I’m her best friend. And I also know why she kept it to herself.” I say.
“I knew that he wouldn’t be able to handle it, Ona le Khotso. I just knew it. Look at what you’ve done. Are the two of you happy now? Why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you ask me why I didn’t tell him? I was protecting him. I knew this would happen. What if he died? Huh? If he died, what would become of me? Of my children? Ne le tlo reng? Sorry? And then what?”
Teboho is falling apart.
“Teboho, we are really sorry.” Khotso says.
“Have you ever been raped? Do you have any idea what I had to go through to forget about what happened? And now I’m forced to go back to that place because my husband has to recover from this.”
Teboho is crying and talking while Thabi is moved and Refiloe is just in disbelief of what she’s just said.
“I dealt with this, Ona! I dealt with it. I protected Maboko from me. It wasn’t you place, Khotso! This was not your place!” She yells.
It is Thabi – who probably relates the most – who pulls her into a hug.
Teboho falls apart in Thabi’s arms. Ona and Khotso feel so bad.

“Guys, we thought we’d bring you guys some coffee”, Mohato and Reahile walk in with cups upon cups of coffee. Mme-mofomahadi is with them.
We all say thank you and they serve us cups.
“We will go with the drivers to fetch all the kids, if that’s okay”, Mohato offers.
By the way.
“Thank you, papa. We’d really appreciate that.” I say.
They nod their heads.
“Is Uncle Maboko going to be okay?” Reahile directly asks Teboho.
Tebza nods her head then says, “the doctor says so. Thanks.”
He nods his head then says, “Okay. That’s all that’s important for now.”
He is so sweet hle.
They leave.

…

Fifi and I stayed in the ward with Teboho and Maboko.
Maboko is finally waking up.
Teboho stands up and hovers over him.
“Hey”, she says to him.
Fifi is on his other side.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” That’s the first things he says when he looks at his wife.
“I didn’t know how to. I’m sorry.” She says.
She’s sobbing.
He also has tears streaming out of his eyes.
“You were not supposed to do this on your own.” He says.
“I did it. And I dealt with it. And it’s over. I need us to move on from this. For the sake of our two beautiful children.” She says.
“How? How, T? Why did you let them get away with this?”
This conversation is so heart-breaking. Even Fifi and I are crying.
“Khabane needed me. I couldn’t afford to be emotionally absent. I chose being a mother over being an activist or a survivor. As difficult as it is to detach myself from what happened, I managed to not make it the reason for my breathing. And… I let them get away with it so that I could forgive you for sleeping with Linda that day after what she had participated in doing”.
Maboko looks away. He is in so much pain.
“Baby, we need to get through this. I’m begging you. Maboko please –
Maboko just pulls Tebza into a hug, lying her head on his chest and they both cry their eyes out.
Fifi signals to me that we should step out and give them space.

Fifi and I get to the waiting area. We find Ona, Zithulele, Shak, Letlali and Thabi sitting together.
They look up to us as if expecting news.
“What the fuck is wrong with the two of you?” I ask them.
“Maboko is our brother. We couldn’t just sit with this kind of information.” Khotso.
“It was not your place!” I say.
“Well, you chose your friendship with Tebza over your marriage. Since when do we keep secrets from each other?” This man has some nerve!
“Teboho told me this before I even met you. It was never going to be the first thing that I told you when I met you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me when we got married? Even if it were in passing? And Teboho should’ve told her husband.”
“What good would that have done, huh? What good has it done now? Why mara le so?”
Silence.
“Look, we really do apologize. We didn’t mean this much harm”, Ona says.
“I hope you guys know that you’ve also changed their marriage forever. You can’t tell someone something like that about someone they love and not expect it to change things between them”, Thabi says.
I just shake my head at them.
Everyone else just looks at us.

After about an hour, Teboho walks comes into the waiting room with Maboko walking slowly next to her, one arm thrown around Teboho’s neck. All the guys stand up and greet him. He hugs Ona and Khotso the longest, as if thanking them for all of this.
They all hang onto each other. All three of them. Maboko starts crying again. They let him cry on their shoulders… wait… they are actually crying with him.
Fifi is holding Teboho.
When the moment is done, Maboko says, “I want to get out of here.”
Even Teboho is looking at him like he’s high.
“Maboko –
“Love, please. I need to get out of here. Please. I want to tuck my children into bed tonight then, I’d like a boys’ night out.”
All of us ladies look at each other.
“Maboko, please.” Teboho begs. It sounds like she knows what boys’ night out is.
“It has to be done, baby.” Maboko says, then he brushes his lips past Teboho’s lips.
Now he’s actually walking out of the hospital.
“Sir, you can’t just-
“Fuck off, man. My medical aid has paid you mos. What do you want?”
Just like that, he’s gone. And so are all the men.
“Teboho, what exactly is boys’ night out?” Fifi asks.
Teboho just throws her hands in the air and leaves us here.

…

I’ve just finished bathing. So, I’m going to check up on Mohato and Reahile. Ona and Khotso are not back from their boys’ night out. Mohato and Reahile have bedrooms in the main house. Their bedrooms have walk-in closets, in-suite toilets and a study portion that has a desk, chair and bookstand. They love it.
We welcome them officially into the family tomorrow morning. But there won’t be a celebration per se. Teboho and Maboko are attending, and we cannot overwhelm Maboko yet.

I put my tiny kiddies in bed here first.
“Mommy, what’s wrong with Uncle Maboko?” Mohale asks me.
“He is unwell, papa. So, he needed doctors to help him get better.” I say.
“Is he better now?” Tholoana asks me.
“He is, papa.”
“He must be better. He can’t die.” Mohale says.
“Thank God, he won’t hey.” I say.
“Mommy, can we go with you to go and say goodnight to brother Reahile and brother Mohato?” Rena says.
“Sure. Come.”
I take the little three into the main house and we make our way to the bedrooms. Mohato and Reahile are both sitting in Reahile’s room. I slightly knock on the door then we walk in.
“Hey guys”, they say.
The three little ones are already jumping on their bed.
I take a video of this.
“Can we sleep here with you guys?” Mohale says. He actually loves his brothers, shame.
“All of us? On one bed?” Mohato says.
“Yes. We can watch movies. I’ll bring juice.” Mohale says.
They all laugh.
“We cool with it. The bed is a king-sized bed. Mom, is it okay with you?” Reahile says.
“Are you sure that you are cool with this?” I make sure.
They nod their heads.
“Fine, but Rena comes with me.” I say.
Rena climbs off the bed unimpressed with me. Then she says, “I wish Ruri were here.”
“Goodnight boys”, I say, walking out with Rena.
“Goodnight”, they all say.

It is 7am and we’ve just finished all the cultural proceedings. The lawyers have even ensured that Reahile’s and Mohato’s surnames have changed. Ona and Khotso have now taken them to the graveyards with the elders. Thabi and I are left behind at home, helping to cook and prepare for the arrival of our guests.
“Have you met her?” Thabi asks me as we are outside cooking with these black pots in doeks and dresses.
“Met who?” I ask.
“Pelo.” She says.
I look at her. She’s not looking at me. She wants me to say it. Not nod or shake my head.
“Yeah, I have”, I say.
“What is she like?” She asks me.
“She looks exactly like you.” I say. I’m being honest.
“Ona wants her to come and stay here with us.” She says.
“Yeah, he told us.”
“With the way our lives are set up, do you think it’s a good idea?”
“You really want to know what I think?” I ask.
She nods her head.
“Lineo made a decision on behalf of everyone regarding Reahile and Mohato based on how our lives were set up – look how that has worked out. Ona and Khotso made a decision on behalf of Teboho and Maboko based on how our lives are set up and look at how that turned out. No lifestyle is ever ideal enough to accommodate what we are not used to. We are people. We adjust. Bring Pelo to a home where we will love her, look after her and enjoy her. We will figure it out. The point is that we have each other. Honestly, that’s all we need.”
She is quiet.
“Banyana, the mqombothi is still brewing and it has spilled all over the kitchen floor. The Mohale ancestors are happy!” One of the elder women say.
Thank God. I’m so tired of bad luck and whatever else the Mohale ancestors are pissed off about. They don’t even visit us in our dreams to give us a hint on why they are so angry. So this is good news. Hopefully, we will have amazing luck galore now.

Tebza and Maboko walk in with their kids, followed in by Ona, Khotso, Mohato and Reahile. They can see by the singing and celebration that the mqombothi has told us that the ancestors are performing happy dances wherever they are.
Khotso greets me with a kiss.
I hug Teboho. She’s not too good. Eish.
I hug Maboko.
He’s also a bit down. Eish.
“Should I bring you a plate?” Teboho asks Maboko.
Maboko nods his head.
She comes with Thabi and I to prepare food for these men.

“How are things with him?” I ask her.
She shrugs her shoulders and sobs.
“Have you thought about seeing a therapist?” I ask.
“He’s a church member. You don’t poke bears disguised as therapy for anything.” She says.
“So, what are you going to do, babe?”
She shrugs her shoulders.
Maboko walks into the kitchen.
He looks at us. We look at him.
“Are you alright?” He asks Teboho.
Teboho nods her head.
He walks up to her and hugs her. This is so weird.
Teboho closes her eyes as she hugs him.
“Wena? Ushup?” Tebza asks him.
“No, not at all. But I’ll be okay. I just need to make sure that you are fine.” He says.
They finally come out of their hug.
“I’ll bring your food just now.” She says.
“Will you eat with me?” He asks.
Tebza nods her head.
He nods his head then leaves the kitchen.
I look at her. Thabi looks at her. She just walked in here, but she clearly saw everything.
“I also don’t know.” Teboho says and we laugh.

“Babe, how’s your mother?” I ask her.
“I don’t know. She no longer takes my calls. I think she blocked me even. When I ask my sister, she’s sassy. I speak to my dad. He tells me that days are different. Sometimes she’s fine and other days she looks like she won’t wake up the next day.” She says.
“Teboho, how are you not falling apart?” Thabi. She doesn’t know how tough Teboho is.
“Honestly Thabi, I don’t know.” Teboho says.
“So, when are we going to see your mom?” Thabi.
“Tiisetso and my mom don’t seem to want me home.” Teboho says.
“That’s not what I asked. We are going. What are they going to do? Chase us away?” Thabi is a politician watsiba. Teboho and I just laugh.

…

“Dig!” Maboko barks.
Zakes is in tears.
Maboko first made him dig up Kabelo’s grave and made him pull out what was left of Kabelo – which is pretty much nothing. Just a skeleton.
Now, it’s 2am and he’s making Zakes dig up Linda’s grave as well. He’s tired, scared and teary. We have never seen this side of Maboko. We know he’s hurt. But making people dig up dead people? What the fuck is he going to do? And he’s brother-in-law, Shak, is just watching this. He’s not stopping this. Neither are Ona and I. Zithulele is just watching this shit like us, wondering how this is going to end.
“Have you ever bumped your baby toe against a wall, Zakes?” Maboko asks him.
Zakes just digs and cries.
“I asked you a question.” Maboko.
“Yes, I have.” Zakes says through his tears and digging.
“Did you enjoy the feeling?”
“No.”
“If you make me watch you dig up this thing for one more hour, I’m going to start shooting your baby toes. I’ll shoot your baby toes every ten minutes. Finish this thing!”
Hectic! Baby toes? Yerrr! Maboko should’ve joined the church a long time ago. I don’t know why Ona and I thought he was soft. Morena did say that he would be a useful asset, but we said he didn’t have heart. Look at him now. Morena has always known how to spot talent fit for the church.
“Maboko, I’m so sorry. Please hear my cries.” Zakes.
“Zakes, dig that fucken grave. I need to go home and climb on top of my wife. All of us here have wives waiting for us at home and you are waiting our time. Dig!”
“Okay, can I at least have something to drink?”
Maboko shoots his baby toe.
Yerrr! I’ve never heard a man – or a woman for that matter – scream like that. It even sent chills down my spine.

After another thirty minutes of digging, Linda’s remains are now also out of the coffin and lying on the floor next to Kabelo’s remains. Now Zakes looks at Maboko for the next instruction.
“Lie next to them”, Maboko says.
He does.
“I want the three of you to show me what you did to Tebza”, he says.
Yeh?!
“Maboko, I didn’t touch her.” Zakes says.
“But you watched, didn’t you? So, you are the best person to show me what happened because you had a full view of it.”
“Maboko, I –
“Show me”, Maboko says, pointing his gun at Zakes’ fiancé. She’s been drugged and has passed out since we took them both from their house.
Zakes nods his head.
He takes Kabelo’s bony remains and makes locates them at the head of Linda’s bony remains. He’s so scared to even touch them, but it’s that or his fiancé dies. He seems to want to show that someone was holding Tebza down, but the bones are a bit hard and he’s too scared to break them. Maybe he thinks he will have bad luck.
“Linda held down Tebza like that then Kabelo climbed on top of Tebza and –
“Was Kabelo naked when he did that?” Maboko cuts him. This guy better not mention Tebza and rape in one sentence. Or he’s also joining these two.
Zakes nods his head.
“So get undressed.” Maboko says.
Is Maboko really going to make Zakes fuck these remains? Zithulele is already laughing. I think he’s thinking what I’m thinking.
“Maboko –
“Get undressed, Zakes.” Maboko is so firm.
Zakes starts undressing himself.
He’s finally naked.
“Climb on Linda and show me how Kabelo… what Kabelo did to Tebza while you just watched. I want you to breath like him. I want you to ejaculate like him. Did he use a condom?”
Zakes is crying.
“Did he?”
He nods his head.
Maboko throws him a condom. Then he says, “go for it!”

Guys, we are watching Zakes cry and fuck bony Linda, making sexual noises. We cannot believe our eyes and ears, but it’s happening. When he is done, and he actually ejaculated because the condom is full, he is crying and limping away from these things. This dude is not going to sleep for a very long time.

Then Maboko instructs one of the men who pays us for girls to do the same thing to Zakes’s fiancé while Zakes holds her down. A bucket of water is poured over this girl so she could wake up and be present. As painful as it is to watch, I understand why Maboko is doing this and even after he’s done this, no one and nothing can undo what has been done to Tebza and that’s what makes him the angriest. This girl is screaming and begging Zakes to make it stop. Maboko doesn’t give a shit. I could never hold down Lulu like this while someone rapes her. I couldn’t do it. I’d rather die. Honestly.
When the man is done fucking this woman, he gets up, gets dressed and walks away. He attempts to give us money, but Shak says, “Nah, this one was a gift.”
The man is happy and he leaves.
Zakes and his fiancé are in fears.

“Zakes, put Linda and Kabelo back in this whole.” Maboko instructs Zakes.
Zakes does as he is told. But he’s dead inside. We’ve killed him. If we don’t kill him now, he’s going to get home and kill himself. When he has thrown bony Linda and bony Kabelo in the hole, Maboko says, “Throw your fiancé in there.”
“Maboko?” Zakes.
“Now!”
This poor girl is still recovering from being held down by her fiancé while another man raped her. Now she’s about to be buried alive.
Zakes pushes her in the grave while she screams.
“I’m so sorry, my love.” Zakes says.
What a useless man. Disgusting!
“Now you get in there.” Maboko.
I’m glad he doesn’t get a happy ending in all of this. He gets inside the grave.
“Now, you’ll be buried the same way our souls got buried the day you destroyed my wife.” Maboko says.
The people we’ve hired to come with us are now closing the hole.
We wait here until the hole is completely closed and we can no longer hear the screaming and crying.

We leave to go and see a traditional healer who basically cleanses us off the shit we’ve just witnessed. I say witnessed because we all made sure that we don’t touch anything or anyone. Ona and I are finally in a good place with the Mohale ghosts. We don’t want to piss them off right now. We also have the guys we were working with here to basically cleanse themselves as well. This is some hectic shit.

By sunrise, we arrive at Maboko’s house. We find Tebza wide awake… with Lulu… and Thabi… and Fifi… and Tlali. Why are they here?
“Is everything okay?” Shak asks.
“Le tswa kai?” Tebza is the one who asks us… but she’s so down – defeated almost.
“Business. We had something to take care of.” Maboko.
They nod their heads.
What’s going on?
And now I notice that they are all dressed in dresses and doeks.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Tebza’s mom passed away. We are headed there now.” Thabi says.
“We are taking all the kids with us. You guys will be able to sleep.” Tebza says.
I don’t know how she feels. She’s so… blank.
Maboko steps to her and hugs her. Clearly, it’s a hug that she needed because now she falls apart. I think Maboko feels bad that he wasn’t with her when the news arrived. But he’s here now.
We all suddenly find ourselves hugging our partners. I don’t know what they were talking about before we arrived, but they are all so emotional.

“You guys go ahead, we will bring the kids when they wake up. Are they all here?” Shak says.
Fifi answers him and says, “Yep.”
“Okay”, Shak.
“They have all bathed. They just need to eat. The food for them and you guys is in the warmer.” Tebza says.
“Okay. We are right behind you.” Shak says.
The women leave.

We are honestly so tired. So all we do is grab a couch and pass out on it.

…

We arrive at the Tlou household and the kids make their way to their mothers.
There is a tent in the yard. I did hear Tebza phone Maboko to complain about Tiisetso pitching a tent and putting Tebza’s details as the one who will pay for it. Maboko just consoled her then after he hung up, we all laughed about it.
The tent has couches and chairs in it- almost like a TV room and dining room set-up. Then the tea, juice, cakes, biscuits and water stations are all set up out here.
“Pops, the toilets are here.” Reahile says to me. He seems to have warmed up to me more than Mohato has. He’s my boy and Mohato is kind of Ona’s boy. They are dressed in blue overalls with us and they have come to work. They actually offered. Lulu refused, but they kissed her cheek and stood by their offer.
“Okay, we can put them up together”, I tell him.
We indeed get busy.
After we have put up three toilets, we see Lulu walking towards us with food. She actually looks different. She looks bigger than usual. I don’t know why im only noticing this now.
“Here are your plates and drinks, guys”, she says.
Ona and Mohato come to us with their plates and drinks too.

“How’s Auntie Tebza doing?” Mohato enquires.
“She and Tiisetso go at it every five minutes. I get that Tiisetso is hurt, but she must stop behaving like she’s the only one who has a right to be hurt and mourn their mother. Tebza might not have had a good relationship with her mom, but that was still her mother. And if Tiisetso feels as if Tebza has no right to be here, then we must all go and she must stop bullying Tebza into paying for things and labelling it as “It’s the least you can do for her”. I actually don’t like it.” Lulu is very close to Tebza. So even if Tebza is the one starting shit in there, she won’t tell us. Then I notice her rubbing her stomach and looking at me. She sees my eyes inquiring on what’s going on.
“Thabi told me. Congratulations.” Ona says.
“Thabi waphapha. I haven’t even told the child’s father.” Lulu says.
“Oh snap! Another one?” Mohato.
I stand up and look at Lulu.
“I didn’t know. I went to the doctor to ask for a flu mix because I wasn’t feeling well. But, it turns out that I am six months pregnant.” She says.
“Six months?” Ona, Mohato, Reahile and I say at the same time.
Lulu nods her head.
Then, a fight breaks out and it catches our attention before I can even respond to what I just found out.
There is commotion that I cannot react to the fact that Ona and I are about to be fathers of seven children collectively: Mohato, Reahile, Pelo, Mohale, Tholoana, Lefatselabarena and this one that’s on his or her way that we only three months to prepare for.
I’m too hungry and too taken aback to care about Tebza’s and Tiisetso’s fist fight.
And then I see Tebza dragging Tiisetso out of the gate by her braids as Tiisetso swears at the top of her lungs.
Even Maboko is not standing up to do anything.
I see elders behind them trying to stop this. Some are saying Tiisetso deserves it, and some are saying Tebza is full of shit.
Mohato is the one who laughs and says, “Is this how funerals go down in Tholoana Kingdom?”
Reahile chuckles.
If only they knew that we also dodge bullets, they’d be happy that this is all that they are seeing.

Tebza is now walking towards us. Mohato is so done. He cannot stop laughing.
We all look at her. Maboko stands up and meets her halfway. She looks like Ruri right now when Ruri doesn’t get her way. The walk! The facial expression! Her pumped up plump cheeks! Her face screaming that she’s ready to smack someone any minute. It’s funny, but we cannot laugh.
“Let’s go!” She says.
Hawu?!
“Teboho, you can’t leave.” Some elder says to her. I’m glad it’s coming from an elder. Because we, her peers, are currently scared of her right now. Plus, Ona and I are still trash for telling Maboko what Tebza failed to tell him.
Ruri actually takes after her mother. The temper. Not being able to separate emotions from what actually needs to happen – it is exactly how Ruri operates.
“Mam’holo, you are all quiet in there and I’m five minutes away from going to jail for murder.” Tebza says to the elder.
“She’s hurting, hle.” The elder. Wrong answer.
“We are all hurting, Mam’holo.” Tebza.
“Tebo, your mom would need you to stay here and help your sister. Do it for your mom, hle my baby. Anything that has happened up to now no longer matters. It’s over. Let’s just focus on giving mme wahao the burial that she deserves – one of absolute dignity.” The elder starts becoming poetic.
Tebza breathes.
She sits on Maboko’s lap and breathes.
“Please don’t leave. All of you. I’m begging you.” She says.
We nod our heads.

At 8pm, we all decide to leave. Tebza is not sleeping over. She says she will come back in the morning. As we are saying goodbye, Tiisetso blows off another top.
“Papa, why don’t you leave with Teboho? Akere you and your daughter collaborated with each other to disrespect mama.”
This girl is high.
“Voetsek wena, Tiisetso. This is not your house. This is papa’s house. You want to kick papa out of his house now?” Tebza.
“I’m not talking to you!” Tiisetso.
“Well, I’m talking to you. And you are not going to speak to my father like that. Have you lost your fucken mind?”
“This is my mother’s house. Papa was so busy focusing on you that his money bought this life you now have while mama’s money built this home.”
Tebza’s mom was fucked up for having such conversations with Tiisetso. Tiisetso doesn’t have the maturity of understanding shared responsibilities in a marriage. The fact that she thinks this is okay especially at a time like this-
“Despite what mama told you, they were married. What’s hers is his and now that she is no more, it’s all his. Threaten my father one more time and I promise you, I’ll get a fucken restraining order against you and you won’t even be able to bury your mother. Try me, Tiisetso! I dare you.”
“Must be nice how money can just give you so much power”, Tiisetso.
“And I’ll use that power to protect my father because as you and your mother have made very clear, my dad paid for me to have all of this.”
Now Tiisetso is SILENT.
This is all just tense.
“Seipati! Bakang! Let’s go!” Tiisetso says.
She charges out and her kids follow her out. I guess she’s the one who will be leaving then.
Then Tebza just says, “TSAMAYA! FOKOF!”
Yoh!

We get home and I honestly just want to sleep with my wife then ask her about this pregnancy. It’s been a long ass day. But, she stayed with Tebza at home now that Tiisetso is gone. Thabi and Tlali stayed there too. Even Fifi. We have all the kids and I’m so grateful that they are all tired. We all pass out in the main house. Good night.