Sweetest Taboo2 pt5

‘‘He leaves and she's a child again who knows nothing but pain. 

Innocence lost at such a big cost. Sobs, sniffs, wails as her mind twirls in her world full of turmoil!!!! 

AAAAArrrrgggghhh scrubbing away, yet never feeling clean  

As she re-lives the nightmare that's made her mean... 

Glass crushes, mind smashes and the hearts burnt to nothing but ashes. 

These are the sounds of a broken heart.’’ – PW 2013

The skinny dangling neck of the rose bushes stares threatening at every person walking through the gates of the Phiris house that night. It is not very cold but a little windy and as it is evening, the breeze whistles through our flimsy jerseys ushering the cold kiss of death to the skin.  Towela and I hesitate to come out of her car. It is not somewhere we want to be but somewhere we know we need to be despite the howling screech of the boisterous wind. It was enough to dry your bones in an instant.

Unlike  many marriages we had witnessed in Ndola, you know because we had not really lived outside Ndola, the Phiris of Hillcrest were known to be blissfully happy. Khetiwe's husband, a short sweet surgeon was about the only man who you would never accept could have an affair. Either that, or he was really good at hiding it. Even more so, he was the proud husband of Mrs Khetiwe Phiri, the shy soft spoken teacher at Kansenshi Secondary school. We had known Khetiwe for a long time that is why our children were so close albeit hers being very shy and reserved, she had always been welcome at our home.

'Well then, let us go in shall we?' Towela says releasing herself from the seatbelts embrace.

'What do we say to her? We are sorry?'

'We do not say anything yet. We will just make sure she knows we are there for her. And you know Khetiwe is not a woman of many words so, just let her be Mwaka. You are the gobby one. This is not the place to get vocal.'

The small gate squeals its welcome to the horror house as we enter, our chitenges providing comfort as well as defence from the vampire mosquitoes. We walk up to the front door and notice that some of her neighbours are already here from the shoes that are left by the veranda. Soft crying and grunting beckons us in. The house is only lit by a candle because as usual the lights have been disconnected thanks to the power cuts. We go round her small sitting room and greet the ladies who are sitting on the floor in a line crying. Headscarves coming undone and some trying to fix them. The maid comes in to bring some drinks around and when she sees us motions us to the kitchen.

'Ba aunty has been waiting for you' she says between cries. I told her to us where she was and she took us through the kitchen to the back of the house where Khetiwe was trying her best to keep busy by cooking in the mwaisa banga pot  as we used to call.

'Oh Mwaka' her small voice manages and then she finally breaks down. 'Mwaka my little one is gone' Towela and I motion to the maid to continue with the cooking as we assist Khetiwe to get up and follow us somewhere private. Each of us holds one arm to help her stabilise as she is so weak from her crying that it is almost impossible for her to walk. What do you say to one of your friends when her child dies? What do you say to any mother who has just lost a child?

I am especially heartbroken because of the circumstances in which she lost the child except Towela and I do not know what to say so we just hug our friend and pray to God for comfort.

The maid had come this morning to give the bad news.

'Ba Aunty Ba aunty, Janet nafwa (Is dead)' I had dropped the washing that I was just about to hung up on the wash line. This maid was very weird. How do you just drop a bombshell like that? Could she not ask me to sit down first and then tell me this awful news? It has been a month since the incident of evil and no we have not been complacent but they say a patient man cooked a stone. Towela's reasoning has been that we have to study our guinea pigs and make sure that the revenge was worthwhile. So far she has mixed the sample from Shikulus shit into the minced meat that was served to Trevor and his mother and allowed Shey to urinate in a chamber pot for easy mix of lemonade. Bana Kulu themba and her double trouble had immensely enjoyed the lemonade and requested more. Of course we were only too happy to oblige. It is funny how foolish people can be when they think that they are taking you for a fool just because you are smiling. But this news…I thought Janet was doing better after we mentioned to her mother what had happened?

 

 ‘Well slow down charity, ah ah what happened?’ she was beside herself. She had been with the family since Janet was a baby and had obviously been very fond of the child.

‘I was doing the laundry and she came to sit beside me. She told me that she was scared that Ba Trevor was going to kill her because they had told their parents. Every night she was not sleeping, she was sleep walking it even got to the point where she was seeing Trevor as if he is right in front of her. She said that her spirit was bad and that Trevor had told her that she was going to hell. I told her over and over that it was all just in her head but aunty, you know how Janet is, was. She was very fragile and nothing we said seemed to make sense.’ I could not believe my ears at what I was hearing. We sat down on the bench outside as she continued to tell me what happened. ‘When I went to the back to put the clothes on the wash line, I found her hanging from the pawpaw tree. She had kulikad (hung) herself Ba aunty’

‘Mama what happened to Janet? Why are you crying?’ I did not even notice that she had crept up behind us to show me how far she had gone with her painting. I called Clara and told her to take her back to Towela’s and stay with her and Thandiwe until I got back.

So tell me, what do I say to my good friend Khetiwe? How do I console her? Neither of us even knows that children can be so creative as to jump off from a mango tree with a bedsheet aroundher neck. So we decide…..No more mercy.