Chapter 7 - Gail

Tembeka took the scene in, in an instant. Mr Botha’s suspicious face, Stephen stiffening next to her, Mrs Botha lying almost lifelessly in her hospital bed, her mother’s terrified glances at her ‘Mr Jan…’

She wriggled her hand free and bolted. The doors swung behind her and she didn’t stop running until she got to the front entrance once more. As she gasped for breath, her feet sank into the soft green grass and she gradually slowed to a gentle walk. The sun warmed her shoulders and she moved towards the wooden bench a little distance away. Dandelions swirled across the lawn, in the light breeze and s he picked up as many as she could fit into her scarf and then sorted through them to keep the perfect ones. Tears dropped into her mouth, as she mulled over the scene she had just run away from. As she bent to gather more of the fragile plants, her skirt lifted up and revealed her long legs for a moment, before she grabbed at the edges and rearranged it. She should really go back inside to Stephen, but the soft grass and the sunshine warming her shoulders, seemed a much safer option.

Gradually she became aware of another presence in her aura, watching her closely.

"Tembeka!"

What was he doing out here?

"Tembi. Why did you bolt like that? "

As she turned, Stephen was already holding his arms out for her. She dug her toes into the soft grass and dropped her head. By the time he reached her side, the tears were streaming down her cheeks. She pushed against his embrace, but he tightened his grip and only when her arms ached, did she allow herself to sink into him. He cradled her head as soggy tears drenched his cotton shirt.

"I can’t do this."

Stephen pulled her even closer.
"Did you see the way your dad looked at us? At me? My mum looked terrified…as if she was the one doing something wrong…"

Tembeka’s words were being gulped up by sobs.

" Shh… it’s going to be okay."

She shook her head and tried to pull away once more, but Stephen held onto her and kissed her forehead. As her tears subsided, he released his grip and gently took her hands in his.
"We need to go back in."

She didn’t offer any resistance now and followed him quietly. The swing doors gave way to his push and she felt his grasp on her hand tighten, as they entered the room together.

Chapter 6 - Vidius

Nonna sighs and senses a nagging, worrying feeling in her stomach. She has never seen her daughter so alive. ‘I can only hope that if this carries on, nobody is going to get hurt … this is dangerous, what is my family going say and do if this carries on? Intuitively she rubs over the scar in her neck. ‘ Ag, go on! 10 minutes only!’
She listens to the noise of the engine as they drive off. A phone rings. She see Steven’s phone on the couch. ‘Stevie’s phone, hello?’ ‘Nonna. Is that you?’ She recognizes Jan’s voice. ‘Hello Mr Jan.’
‘ Can I talk to Stephen?’ She explains to Jan that Stephen’s gone to get milk for tea, experiencing first an awkward silence on his side, and then she hears the sorrow in his voice when he elaborates what transpired at the hospital. ‘Mr Jan, I’ll tell him the moment they are back. He’ll come right over.’
As he terminates the call, Jan thinks: ‘What did she mean by “they”?’ But then he swings back to the tragedy in front of him.

‘Come on! Let me show you my favourite spot in Stellenbosch! Nonna won‘t mind, it will only take an extra few minutes!’ The excitement in Stephen’s voice is contagious. The drive to Lanzerac is only 5 minutes away, and Stephen’s excitement grows as he sees the admiration on Tembeka’s face as she drinks in the beautiful scenery on the farm. At one of the fountains they pause, stare deep into each other’s eyes. The lingering kiss that follows is so automatic, natural, exciting all at once…and it is as if time lingers as well.

‘What do you mean “with your daughter”? I did not know you had a daughter. How old is she?’
‘She is in her final year at CPUT, and she and Stephen met yesterday at the rugby, and planned to braai together, but then the news about the burglary broke and…’
‘What you meant to tell me is that he has been gone for two hours to buy milk…WITH your daughter?! Tell him to come to the hospital when you see him.’ Jan’s voice is dark.
‘Stevie where have you guys been? I was worried sick!’ Nonna can’t help but notice they are holding hands.
“Sorry Nonna, but I had to show Tembi the scenery at Lanzerac, and I left my cell..’
‘ Never mind that, Stevie. Your dad called … I don’t know how to put it…they caught four men…but…Oh Stevie I’m so sorry, your mother has gone into a coma!’
The shock on Stephen’s face is visible. ‘I’ve gotta go…sorry you two, I’ll call you later and…’
‘Not a chance’, interrupts Tembeka, ‘I’m coming with you.’
‘Then me too.’ There is concern in Nonna’s voice
---o0o---
The door at the ICU reception opens and Jan looks up. In storms his beloved son and Nonna. He is holding hands with a young black girl. This scene is all wrong and Jan is dumbfounded. Then he senses what he sees…he turns and looks at the bed with Helena in, he looks at his son again. His face darkens with fury.

Chapter 5 - Vidius

Chapter Five – Vidius

‘Thanks Sup, I appreciate your moral support, or should I say, Colonel? Your rank structure has changed back to the old days, hasn’t it?’ Jan is staring at the face of his darling, barely recognizable, through the glass of the ICU reception area. Stephan and Nonna just left. He will have to work on his attitude towards Nonna. A thought rushes through his mind. But these Blacks, they are all the same.
He has to move out of the ward in case the cell phone causes interference with the sophisticated life support machines. ‘Yes, it has’ answers the head of the Police of Stellenbosch. ‘I don’t particularly like the changing back, it might just remind too many people of our difficult past.’ Jan feels a bit of a temperature rise, but in the current situation he quickly suppresses it.
‘So how many did you catch?’ ‘ Well, we interrogated the four that we caught, it seems like there were only four… AND it seems they have been watching your house for weeks. This normally means inside assistance and we…’ The police chief is interrupted by a sickening noise in his ear. ‘Hello Mr Botha? Are you there?’ The line has gone dead.
Jan has dropped his phone and it crashes into pieces on the ground. The life support machines at Helena’s bed have gone crazy and he rushes to the bed, only to be forcefully stopped by the staff. ‘Please Mr Botha, stay back!’ He is forced back to the reception area.
45 minutes later the head of the medical team approaches him. The doctor looks at Jan and a brief feeling of pity spills through him. It looks like Jan’s 1.9m frame has shrunk to the size of a dwarf.
‘Mr Botha, your wife has gone into a deep coma. She is stable now and physically out of danger.’
‘What do you mean by “deep coma”, Dr van Zyl?’
‘Well, she could slip out of it in days, or it could…well it could take months…and …well, it may never happen.’ Van Zyl always felt that with this kind of news, one always says it as soon as possible and with as few as possible words. Jan slips back into his chair, looking up into the doctor’s face, devastated.
The doctor pauses for a moment, changes his gaze towards the entrance. Coming through the entrance is an elegant, distinguished looking black woman with her hair tightly bound behind her neck, making her attractive features even more prominent.
‘Mr Botha, I’d like you to meet Dr Thabalala, our resident psychiatrist. I called for her, because I’d like her to orientate you as to what has just happened. She’ll support you over the next few days. She will head the team that takes care of your wife over the interim period. She has a reputation of being one of the best in the business … and I should know … she is my wife as well!’
The news of the relationship doesn’t really sink in. Then it does. ‘I must phone my son … he has gone to drop off our domestic worker.’ A quick subtle glance passes between the two doctors.
Jan reaches for his cell, remembering it broke on the floor. ‘Dr van Zyl, can I use a hospital phone? I’m afraid I dropped my phone on the floor, splitting it on the floor.’ Jan is not even aware of it himself, but he is completely ignoring Dr Thabalala. But she is very aware of it … and used to it. She sighs. When will this prejudice ever disappear? ‘I am so sick of it,’ she thinks silently.
‘No problem, Mr Botha, just go to the counter, the nurse will assist you.’

‘Tembi! WHAT are you doing here?!’ asks Stephen in disbelief, and but with excitement in his voice.
“Tembi? How come Stevie calls you Tembi? Only Papa used to call you Tembi!’
Stephen’s cell rings. ‘Excuse me, I just want to take this,’ and steps outside the front door.

Chapter 4 - Vidius

Chapter Four - Vidius

‘... have a baby by me baby be a millionaire have a baby by me...’ Tembeka checks her cell phone display – it is 6.55.
‘Tembeka,’ she answers, with her heart in her throat. She recognises Stephen’s number.
‘Hi Tembeka. Look, I’m really sorry, I have to cancel. There was a major burglary at my parents’ house in Stellenbosch, and my mom is in a bad way and my dad in frenzy. I have to go home immediately. Is it ok if I call you later?’
Tembeka closes her eyes. Those green eyes. She will always remember them … for the rest of her life…this gut feel has taken over her heart ever since she stared into them at the rugby match. But now doubts rush through her mind. In the Afrikaner culture, do they lie a lot? Do they make excuses when getting cold feet? Are they as honest as we are? Where are Stephen’s feelings – still locked in the pre-1994 dispensation? Maybe her Gogo is right: you can’t trust Afrikaners.
‘It’s ok, Stephen.’ She can hardly hide her disappointment.
‘Thanks Tembi. Thanks for understanding. Call you later tonight!’ I’m sure she does not believe me; her voice was so…cold. Do they not understand the violence and burglaries? These thoughts ripple through Stephen’s heart. No! The feeling rushing through my heart when I saw her angel face for the first time cannot be false! Impossible. And those brown eyes. Angelic! But the negative thoughts keep coming back as he rushes back home on the N2.
Tembeka stares at her cell. So much for that. But, did he call me Tembi? The only other person that ever called me Tembi, is Dad, bless his eternal soul. She rushes back to her room, avoiding her friends.
‘Just look at her arms! I tell you what. If I had not returned early from the golf game, we could have lost your mother.’ Jan and Stephen are standing next to the bed in which his mother, Helena, is lying, tubes and wires connected to her body. ‘Our country is going down the tubes…these Blacks think they can do what they want.’
‘Dad!’ Stephen quickly retaliates. ‘You know you are wrong! You simply just CANNOT generalise like that. Just take Nonna as an example. She is one of the greatest ladies I have ever met. And such classiness is literally in all other Blacks…great South African citizens and patriots! Criminals exist across the spectrum of our nation, not just blacks.’ Stephen and his dad argue regularly on these issues. Although it usually is in a constructive and positive way. And Nonna - she’s been working for them as a house worker since his high school days…a true testimony of a woman with a heart of gold. Although he still doesn’t know much about her – mainly due to the Afrikaner culture of his parents. They treat her with respect and there is a great mutual understanding – but in the seven years she has been working for them, they still only know three things about her: she travels daily by taxi to and from their residence, her cell number and she is black. Jan and Helena are embracing the democracy but there are some remnants in their make-up from the past that bother him. One such remnant is a sense of “classism”.
‘I suppose you are right, Stephen,’ Jan concurs, ‘but it still does not change the fact that we almost lost your mother today.’
‘Jo, jo, jo!’ are just about the only sounds Nonna can say when she walks into the house on Sunday morning. ‘How is Miss Helena, Stevie? Can I go and visit her?’
‘Oh goodness, Nonna,’ Stephen responds, hugging her. ‘I was supposed to phone you and let you know that the lunch you had to come and cook has been put on hold due to the crime at our house. Now you traveled all the way for nothing on your off weekend! But I’m sure we can go and visit and then I can drop you off at your house. Then I can at last see where you stay.’
‘No, no Stevie, after seeing Miss Helena you can just drop me off at the taxi rank.’
‘Let’s go, Nonna! You always insist on travelling by taxi. We can argue on the way. Wait! Nonna, could I just quickly make a phone call?’ With a shock he realises he has made a promise to phone Tembeka last night. The phone just rings and rings and rings…and suddenly it goes dead.
Nonna must have seen the disappointment on his face. ‘Stevie, why do you look so sad?’
‘I met this girl yesterday. We had a date, but I had to cancel because of the burglary and I promised to phone last night, and forgot. Now she does not answer.’
‘What!’, Nonna giggles. ‘You losing your heart? Never!’
After a few kilometers of silence, Stephen opens up to her. ‘Nonna, we have barely spoken since this girl and I met, but there is something really special about this girl. She is…is…almost like an angel.’
At the hospital bed Nonna stares in shock at Helena. She looks broken, fragile and with a badly swollen face. Medically she should recover, say the doctors, but she might retain permanent mental scars.
On the way to the taxi rank Nonna sits silently, still in shock. ‘No arguments, Nonna, I’m going to take you home,’ Stephen insists.
‘My place is very humble and small, Stevie, some of the walls are not even brick walls.’ Thoughts race through Stephen’s mind. All these years…she did not want them to see her humble abode…shame driven? Or what?
‘Nonna, I need to ask you something I cannot ask my parents…yet. What are your feelings about interracial relationships?’
‘For me and my family Stevie, and I say this with respect: it is a no go area. Our traditions do not allow it. Why?’
‘Well, Nonna, the girl I met yesterday is black.’
‘ Oh no Stevie, do not go there, it will never work,’ answers Nonna as they pull up in front of her house.
‘Nonna, can I come in for a cup of tea? I would really like to chat more about this, because I am going to make sure that I meet with this girl again, and I will have to talk to my parents.’ Nonna hesitantly agrees, and Stephen sees it as an affirmation that Nonna is ashamed of her house.
As they get to the front door, Stephen tries to make light conversation to support Nonna in what he feels is a very awkward moment for her. ‘I tell you what, Nonna, you show me where everything is and I’ll serve you tea. How’s that for a reversal of roles? Then you can give me all the motherly advice you have on interracial relationships and life.’
The front door opens by itself. What the…he stares into the same angelic brown eyes he saw yesterday.
‘Hi Mama,’ says Tembeka, giving Nonna a huge hug. And her face freezes as she stares into those piercing green eyes.

Do you think the fact that Nonna is working for Stephen's parents will affect his feelings for Thembi?