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?