Black & White

- 05 -

C H A P T E R   F I V E

"Uqambe amanga kimi." (You lied to me)

"Mama, Ngiyaxolisa kodwa bekumele ngenze njalo." (Mama, I'm sorry, but I had to)

"You really thought I wouldn't find out. Mrs Bosman called me."

"I'm sorry okay, but with you in this condition... you are not going back to work anytime soon. If I don't take that job Mama, we are going to starve."

"Out of all the jobs here in Soweto, you chose to be a domestic worker. Do you honestly think that washing other people's clothes and cleaning up after them is fun?!" Mama shouted

"No it's not, but it pays our bills."

"You are not going back to that house."

I walked to Mama's bed and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry but I have to. I love you Mama."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have been working at the Bosmans for almost a week now. My mom was starting to recover, so I was able to go to work early in the morning and come back during the day. It was not easy, but I had to do it. Although Mama was slowly recovering, she was not strong enough to go back to work. Fortunately Mrs Bosman was kind enough to let me leave early so that I can provide care for my mother.

As I was hanging the laundry on the washing line, a loud bark interrupted my thoughts. I immediately turned around and was met by a white fury little creature with black patches on his fur.

A loud scream left my lips as it started to run towards my direction. So I did the only thing a black South African person would do in a situation like this. "Voetsek! Voetsek!"

"He won't bite you!" Norman shouted over the loud barking. "He just wants to play with you!"

"Come here boy." Norman whistled, causing the dog to stop on its tracks and turn its head towards his owner. It ran towards Norman, jumped in his arms and proceeded to lick his face.

Walking towards me with the creature in his arms, he spoke with a playful smirk , "Meet Jackson. He's our dog. He's a softie and doesn't bite at all."

So he found this amusing.

"Oh yeah? Are you sure he was not trained to bark at black people?" I shot back, irritated.

Norman was taken aback by my response, "Hey come on, my family is not like that."

"Not like what? Racist? God, you can't even say it." I rolled my eyes and walked past him to grab the laundry basket.

Voetsek
- an offensive South African expression of dismissal or rejection.