Ziphozethu

11

I cried the whole morning. How was I going to pay my brother's allowance and how was I going to pay for all the extra things he needed for school that the scholarship didn't cover.

"Morning!" I was crying in Moses's arms when I heard his mother. "What's wrong! Whats going on?" She asked but I didn't have the energy to explain it. "Zethu lost her job this morning." He said to his mother. I was genuinely panicking. We weren't at the stage if our relationship where I could ask him for money. What was I going to do?

"Excuse me." I said and went to the room to cry into a pillow. There was a soft knock on the door. Moses cane in and sat next to me. "Zethu, please don't cry. I'm here. I'll take care of you. I have a good job." I shook my head. "I can't expect you to do that." He looked shocked. "Zethu, you've been doing it for me for weeks now. Please let me help you." I shook my head.

"I have too many responsibilities with my brother in private school. I can't expect you t..." I was interrupted. "But I want to help. Please let me help. I can take care of those responsibilities." I looked at him skeptically. "Why?" I asked and he looked me straight in the eye. "Well, because I've fallen in love with you Ziphozethu. Now please, let me be the man I want to be for you. Let me take care of you."

I bowed my head. "Baba." I said and he placed a kiss on my forehead. "Yebo, Mamakhe." I smiled and looked up at him. "I'm in love with you too." Loud ulilating came from outside the door. "I knew it!" Moses's mother shouted.

"I'm so happy for the two of you." She hugged us once we came out of the room. "I don't want to ruin the moment but I do have something that I need to share with you." She said to Moses and we all sat down. "Nozipho has left Buhle with me. She said she had the children for you and you should look after them. She has left to go travel and hasn't said when she's coming back."

Moses just sighed. I took his hand in mine for support. "Moses according to our culture and the law because you signed the birth certificates, the children are yours. Please my son. Don't do this. You're a good man. Those children did nothing wrong. They're innocent in all of this. Be the man I raised you to be and look after your children. They deserve you as a father."

"Ma, I've been thinking about this for a while now and I've come to a decision on it. I'm accepting my children but I don't want Nozipho back. I don't even want to see her." Moses's mother let out a breath of relief. "I'm so glad you said that because I believe the situation has gotten critical."

Moses sat up. "I haven't told you but Buhle has been with your sister for three days now and she won't eat anything. She was breastfed and she refuses to take the bottle. She won't stop crying Moses and she's getting weak. I believe if we can't figure something out she's going to starve to death." I was shocked. What was going on in this family? How could a mother do that to her child? It doesn't make any sense. But then again, my mother did it to my brother and I.

"Your sister is on her way now. Moses we need to figure something out." She said and there were tears forming in her eyes. We waited for his sister and when she got here he went to go get her. They walked in with a screaming baby and my heart broke. How could her mother do this to her. They tried everything to get her to eat and stop crying. After a while they stopped trying.

"Can I hold her?" I asked Veronica, Moses's sister. "She doesn't like new people but I guess it can't get worse than this." She said and handed me the screaming baby. I held the little girl tightly to my chest and walked around with her humming a church hymn I used to sing for Sicelo when he was a baby.

Slowly but surely the crying started to die down into small whimpers. I would kiss her forehead now and then but I never let go. I wanted her to feel safe. This always worked fir my brother after my mother left.

"Is she a witch?" Veronica asked. "Shh!" He mother said and Buhle started crying again but stopped immediately after I started humming again. When she finally fell asleep I took her blanket and covered her in my arms. "Baba, she refuses to eat. We need to get her to a hospital. We can't risk it." I could see he was worried but he nodded and we all got into the car. He sat close to me and rubbed his daughter's head while she was sleeping.

"She's only four months old.  How could her mother do this to her? It's so cruel." We drove silently the rest of the way. We were in a private room waiting for a doctor and Buhle was awake. Luckily she wasn't screaming. She was just looking at me while I was humming to her.

"Zethu, you're going to need to hand her over now." I hesitantly handed her over and the screaming started again. My heart couldn't bear it. When he was done he handed her back and I calmed her down while he went to go and get something.

"We have an option we could try before serious medical intervention. This is a supplemental nursing system. It's usually used when new mother's are struggling to produce milk. You hook it up to the mother and fill it with what the baby needs and the struggling mother can still build a bond breastfeeding. Maybe a family member can step in and help breastfeeding baby Buhle."

We all looked at Veronica. "Wait, I hardly have any boobs and Zethu is the only one that can calm her down." Everyone then looked at me. "Zethu please. I'm begging you. Don't let my granddaughter die." Moses's mother pleaded. I looked up at Moses and he had tears in his eyes.

"Okay, I can try." I said after a long silence."They all left the room and I was in there with a nurse. She came in and explained to me how the whole thing worked. I requested that Moses be with me and they let him in. It was basically just a bag that had a tiny tube connected to my boob that she could drink from.

"Okay, are you ready?" The nurse asked with a smile and I just nodded. At first Buhle tried to fight it but once she tasted what it was she started drinking her milk. It felt so weird but I was so happy that I didn't care. Everyone thought this little girl would die and I saved her.

"Thank you, Zethu. I owe you the world and I'm going to give it to you." She had her fill and I burped her. "Look at her. She's precious. Oh, look. She's milk drunk. She'll be sleeping in no time. You know there are suppliments and hormones you could take so you could be able to breastfeed. You can talk to the doctor about it if that's something you're interested in."

I looked up at Moses. "Is that something you're interested in, Mamakhe?" He asked and I nodded.  "I'll call the doctor." We spoke about options and I had a checkup right then and there. He prescribed me the hormones and suppliments and when we finally stepped out Veronica and Ma were on the edge of their seats.

"She's going to be fine. The doctor has out her in a strict feeding schedule and we have another appointment in a weeks time." They were so relieved. When we got home I laid her down on the bed and surrounded her with pillows.

"Come, Zethu. Sit down. We want to treat you." They pulled me to the lounge and I took a seat next to Moses. "We're cooking and you're relaxing." I offered my help but the both of them wouldn't let me in the kitchen.

"I looked at you today with Buhle and I've never in my whole entire life been so in love with anyone. I love you." He said placing a kiss on my lips. "I love you too."