This deal was my chance at that.
No, I was not going to give in.
What they do with the stuff once they have it, is none of my concern.
All I want is the money.
Then Fatima and I can be happy.
Without Zubaida.
I got immediately angry thinking about her.
Wonder if she was going through my drawings again. Adding things to them to make me know that she was there. Once she threw turpentine all over a few paintings. They were all ruined. When I asked her about them, she said she didn’t know anything about it.
But who else could it be. She was the only one ever at the house.
It was most certainly not me.
But that was all part of the things Zubaida got up to.
Completely turned spiteful.
No.
Abdullah was not going to get me to back out.
I was going to do this and today was the day.
vii
Jamiel was already inside. He was sorting through the stuff. They would never call it by its name, that is all they would say.
The stuff.
People literally kill for the stuff. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it.
They kill to get it from the victim.
I didn’t ask much. The buyers were plenty and they paid well. According to Davids. Where Davids got it only he knows. But just a bit of that stuff and I will be sorted for life. Only thing was to persuade Jamiel to put some aside. Say that everything was there. Davids trusted him and would never suspect a thing.
Stakes and G was busy sorting the weed. Usually G was only dealing with Mandrax, but now he found weed to be more profitable. He did manage to save some of the money he made. But most he spends buying LSD from Davids.
So he was basically Davids’ slave.
He looked in his teens. No teeth except the two top front ones. He really looked clownish. He just got back from Stikland and already back to his old tricks. But who was I to say anything.
Here I was too. Hopefully for the very last time.
Yes.
If I succeed today, I will stop all this nonsense and live an honest life.
Zubaida might have given up on me being a successful businessman, but I have not. I had my drawings and artwork too. Who knows. Perhaps I’ll get enough money so that I may never have to work again. I could then just draw and paint. That would be good.
Ya, Allah.
InshaAllah.
I walked over to Jamiel. Shukr Allah that Abdullah has gone in to the main house first. He would have a heart attack if he saw what was going on here. He only thought there were weapons here. He didn’t know that Davids dealt with both guns and drugs.
“Salaam, brother.” I say to Jamiel.
“Don’t you come Salaam brother me. You’re a sly pig.” He raises a fist to my face. “Don’t think I have forgotten what you did, you old rubbish.”
Jamiel was just like Zubaida. Couldn’t forgive and move on. But he was easy enough to twist around the finger. He was not all that intelligent really. Sly he was, but not too intelligent.
“What has Davids decided? What’s the target? Adderley or Waterfront?”
He looks at me with a vacant expression and says “Neither.”
What did that mean? Don’t tell me.
“Has he decided to go with the electricity?”
Davids sure has got a knife in for these people. That would surely leave us all in darkness.
Ya, Allah.
May You have mercy on us all.
I spoke to Jamiel and told him what I had in mind. He was in when he heard the ting of the cash register. He would do anything to make a quick buck. But this was money he would never see in his life working for Davids.
Davids was the real crook. Letting us do his dirty work, while he gets all the cash. All transfers straight to his accounts. The clients’ names never disclosed. There was something really bizarre about it all.
I needed to get away from it that was all I knew.
Only thing now was to get rid of Jamiel.
viii
“When are you going to start helping around the mosque as you promised?”
Abdullah was on my case again.
“We could always use the extra hand you know.” He looks at me. He was seriously waiting for me to answer.
“InshaAllah. Soon as I have my car fixed.”
That should be soon, I thought. It might be much sooner than I think.
“What’s wrong with it?”
Abdullah takes out a samosa from a parcel he was carrying and offers me one too. I loved samosas, but the old crow would rarely make us any. She used too. In the beginning.
“Shukran,” I say and suck some air into my mouth. Abdullah’s wife sure knew what to do with that mother-in-law and hot curries.
“If you need money then why don’t you put in some shifts at the factory?”
Abdullah sure could be persistent.
“We could use your skills with the labels. That Sulaiman got a whole batch wrong. Cost us quite a lot of money. But he is a good kid. I should have trained him better. But you’ll do quick work of it all.”
“InshaAllah,” I smile. I really didn’t want to go and sit and work in a factory. That would suck big time. Sure Abdullah paid fair wages; I just couldn’t see myself in a factory.
Zubaida would definitely have a fit.
She would get the talaq over with quicker then. Wonder what her dear old Baba was going to say about all this.
But that was Zubaida’s baby to handle.
My only concern was Fatima.
“InshaAllah, inshaAllah, that’s all you ever say.”
He looked at me almost as if he was cross. What was wrong with Abdullah? One would swear he is the moaner now.
Moana Lisa.
Worse than Zubaida.
“InshaAllah, Abdullah. Shukran for the samosa. Salaam,” I run off to catch up with Jamiel.
Abdullah just shook his head.
“Astagfirullah,” Is all I heard him say, as he turned and walked further down Main.
Jamiel and I headed towards the train tracks.
Near Observatory station.
That was the quickest to get to them.
I would have to find a way to get Jamiel to leave it somewhere.
Then I would have to find a way to leave him. Sure he let me hold it. But that was only because he was with me. He wouldn’t leave me with it otherwise. Only thing is he didn’t know who to sell it to.
That was where I had the upper hand. Jamiel was also too scared to even go around selling this on his own and behind Davids back. Davids was not one to mess around with. I knew I was taking a big risk, but I was desperate.
I needed this.
This would be for the change I needed.
Just this last deal and I will be clean.
I will be free.
Just me and Fatima.
InshaAllah.
ix
I saw the white, blond boy run hysterically along the train tracks.
Looked like he was running away from something. No one was chasing him though. He threw his backpack on the ground and crawled into the tunnel quick. That sure was a long one to attempt for a kid that small.
Jamiel didn’t notice him.
Then it occurred to me.
Why not leave it in the tunnel. Specifically that one where the kid is in.
If I knew anything about boys, was that they would surely want to know what it is. No harm can come to the stuff while in his possession. That was an Observatory school uniform. White boy like that would be easy enough to find again.
I didn’t see any other way. I needed to get away from Jamiel, or stay with him, while the stuff disappeared. He could then not blame me. And I would then have it all. Hopefully in time to make the deal.
If the boy doesn’t take it, then I would have to figure something else out.
This was a double cross like no
other.
Davids would surely kill each and every one of us.
But it was a risk I was willing to take.
I couldn’t carry on like this any longer. These eight years with Zubaida has been hell. Not to mention the struggles with Fatima. We always had food and the essentials. But that’s not how Zubaida wanted to live. No. She wanted maids and everything to be done for her. She sure wanted to live the life. I thought I could give it to her.
Still think I can. Just don’t want to any more. She doesn’t deserve it.
No.
Only Fatima and me from now on.
x
“I should never have listened to a bloody rubbish like you!”
Jamiel was beyond mad. But there was nothing he could do to me. I was with him the entire time. Had to listen to him go on about his obsession with Psalm 28. We all were a bunch of hypocrites. Here he has this tattoo on his arm, but he sits and works for one of the most corrupt people I know.
And then there’s me. InshaAllah, this will be the last time.
It couldn’t have been easier.
Now I only have to find that kid.
That shouldn’t be too difficult.
“Come, girl, there is nothing left here for us to do. Just make dua that Davids doesn’t find out.”
“Bloody @rsehole. I should have known better than to listen to you!”
He sure could moan too.
“I should have known this was going to be another one of your schemes that just never works! Idiot I am for trusting you again, Achmet!”
“Huh uh.”
Moana Lisa.
End of Chapter 7
Whisperers
For Ms Patricia De Lille
Cape of Storms
The devil will catch you.
Mommy told me so.
Every day.
i
I remember the first day I met Jerry very well.
That was however not in 1991.
No.
I met Jerry in 1990 already.
I don’t know why I lied about this.
Scared?
No.
I simply do not know where to begin.
Uhm.
Yes.
*Sigh*
Jerry did show up at our house that day in 1991.
But it was a completely different story compared to when I met him for the first time.
That day in 1990, when I thought he was going to spend the night.
Gets me immediately angry thinking about the man.
To think that after all these years, I still had a deep hatred for him.
He was nothing but a loser.
After all.
A rubbish that only came to ruin our lives.
Uhm.
But was I perhaps also responsible for what happened?
I could never be sure.
Would they still have come if I hadn’t taken the black leather pouch?
But how else could I?
He forced me to take it.
Didn’t give me any other choice.
Him I could barely make sense of.
As soon as I took the pouch, he vanished.
Poof.
Just like that.
He was gone.
I thought I had imagined it.
That wasn’t true.
Of course.
But I believed that it was merely a reaction to Georgie for destroying Simoné’s surprise.
Anger and sadness.
Uhm.
I went home and Mommy took care of my leg.
Later.
Jerry came.
With the rest.
Uhm.
That night I will never forget.
Ha ah.
I remember that Monday very well.
Just before Mr Love welcomed us all back to school.
We sang that song.
Mommy tells me every day, the devil will catch me.
And him I am so afraid of, for I know that he will catch me.
If only I had listened and prayed as the song continued…
Then I go to my room and kneel before my bed
And ask the dear Lord Jesus, to protect me with his blood that he bled
Uhm.
If only I had listened and prayed.
Then nothing would have happened.
Then perhaps they would never have come.
Maybe they would never have hurt Mommy.
Or Anubis.
What about poor Simoné?
Uhm.
It’s all your fault.
ii
Wednesday, 23 January 1991.
The black dust kept swirling and twirling after me.
I looked straight at his face once.
It was there.
In the midst of all the swirling dust.
Those eyes.
They really freaked me out.
I was near the long cement pipes.
I was about to go into one of the shorter ones to hide.
I didn’t know what else to do.
Before I could, he blocked my way.
He appeared right in front of the entrance.
The dust swirling and twirling against the light that came from the other end.
I dropped my schoolbag and moved away.
He was immediately right beside me.
I looked at the two pipes that formed one long, dark tunnel.
Then looked at him.
I didn’t know what else to do.
It was the only way to get away.
He didn’t try to block me when I went in.
No.
He just disappeared.
I thought it had worked.
I got away from him.
Thank God.
What was that?
Was it real?
I couldn’t be sure.
Uhm.
Then I heard it.
A voice.
No.
Two.
And there he was.
Those eyes.
“Take it!”
I woke up.
That was the first time I had a dream about him.
Or was it a dream?
I couldn’t be sure.
Aunty Anne was still fast asleep.
I went to the bathroom outside.
It was still pretty dark.
Tarzan sounds came from the mosque’s direction.
Anubis slipped past me into the house.
iii
I waited at my usual spot by the school gate.
There was no sign of Georgie.
No sign of any bully.
Uhm.
I searched the playground for Simoné.
I was afraid to face her.
What must she not be thinking?
She must think that I am a monster.
But Simoné was nowhere to be seen.
No.
Uhm.
School started.
We were all back in Mrs October’s class.
I had hoped that we would get Mrs Neethling.
She seemed so much nicer than Mrs October.
Even the soccer couch, Mr Scholtz, would have been a better choice.
But no.
We got stuck with Mrs October.
Umf.
I still feared her torture stick.
It was short break, when she came to me.
Natasha Jantjies.
Though we spent some time together over the holidays.
Didn’t mean that we were friends.
I wonder what she wanted.
She didn’t say anything.
She just handed me a note and went back to sit next to Gavin Jacobs.
They were now off
icially speening.
Not sure what that meant really.
Guess it meant they could now hold hands whenever they wanted.
Lucky thing.
I wanted to hold hands with Simoné.
But he came and ruined it.
Uhm.
Old, clown face.
Georgie.
I slowly opened Simoné’s note.
I had never received a note from any girl before.
It felt strange.
But I was also curious to see what she had to say.
I looked up to see if anyone was watching me.
No one.
Not even Mrs October.
She would surely have me read it out loud if she should see it.
I started to read.
Dear Sherwin
Thank you for the ball.
I’m sorry my cousin broke it.
I’m sure it looked even more beautiful whole.
There is something I must tell you.
Please meet me by the bridge after school.
Simoné
iv
After school I waited almost two hours for Simoné.
But she never showed.
It was the longest wait of my life.
I had been stressing since I finished reading her note.
Could barely pay attention during Maths.
Algebra.
This year was going to be much worse than last year.
I went home. Got yelled at by Mommy for coming home late again. She warned me yesterday that I should come straight home after school. I don’t think she believed the story I told her about my leg.
I wasn’t completely sure what happened in the pipe.
Was I bitten, or was I cut?
But what could have bitten me?
I suddenly remembered the leather pouch.
It was not in my schoolbag this morning.
I remembered.
Aunty Anne.
I dropped it.
It must be lying underneath the bed.
But there was nothing. I looked and looked again.
Even moved the entire bed just to make sure.
What could have happened to it?
I noticed the new crate of Bashews.
Last there were only empty bottles.
The pouch must be with the empties.
Darn.
Uhm.
Oh, well.
Guess that’s it for the pouch. I sure would have liked to have known what was inside it. Why were the two gangsters arguing about it?
“Sherwin! See who is at the gate. I heard it make a noise.”
That was Mommy.
She was still in the bathroom.
Before I got out of my room, they were already in the house.
Uhm.
Jerry.
Georgie.
Scarface.
And what I found out later.
Mr D.
He was holding a golf club in his right hand.
I knew that all of this meant only one thing.
Mommy and I were in grave danger.
Before I could warn her, he grabbed me.
Scarface.
I saw his scar from up close.
It looked much deeper than when I saw it from within the cement pipe.
I was afraid he’d recognized me, but it didn’t seem as if he did.