He was sure the house behind the Hantam was where his father came from now in his Sunday clothes, in the middle of the week.
Please, God—he looked up into the clear, blue sky—don’t join us up with the Jouberts. If my father marries Drieka, we shall all have to suffer her mouth and those awful lectures, and David and I will be forced against our will to be nice to Soela and Diena. Correction. I will be forced. David, I think, has feelings for Soela, although I don’t think she has for him. Which is just as well. We can’t have this family mixed up with theirs and …
‘Roff?’
He turned at the sound of Zokho’s voice, and saw her poised on a rock, bright as a springbok shimmering in the sun. She had on the tiny leather apron with the ostrich eggshell beads she’d worn that first day, and he noticed immediately how her breasts had swelled. Had she grown this quickly from one summer to the next? They had taken a while to become friends; she didn’t trust him at first, then, more and more, as she picked up a few words of Dutch and saw the ease with which Sanna and the Koi-na treated him, they started to talk to each other. When she was finished with her work in the kitchen, she liked to play games with the other children, and sometimes followed him and Twa when they took out the sheep. During these outings, depending on his mood, Twa would tell a story, and they would listen. Sometimes she would start one, then stop. No one pressed her when this happened, but he was curious about her family, how they lived. He liked her more than any girl he’d ever met.
‘Your father wants you.’
‘Where’s your dress, Zokho? Sanna will pull your ears if she sees you walking around like this.’
She’d been with them a year now, and Sanna had taken her under her wing, lavishing the same attention on her as on her own boys, Kleintje and Kupido, scrubbing her down in the tin tub, fighting with her to wear clothes. He’d thought the leather apron had been thrown out long ago.
‘It is too hot for the white man’s clothes. Roff?’
‘Yes?’
‘You speak !Khomani like the Sonqua. Was it hard to learn?’
‘No. When I was small, Twa spoke to me only in his language. He didn’t know mine. When I didn’t know what he meant, he acted it out.’
She had a few dry flowers in her hand, and picked at the leaves on the stem.
‘One day Toma will come.’
The statement surprised him.
‘Why?’
‘To take me for his bride.’
‘You’re a child.’
‘My sister married an old man from another tribe. She has run away several times. She’s not happy. Her husband forces himself, he’s too old for her.’
‘Forces himself?’
‘He takes her against her will. It hurts very much, she says. Toma’s not like that. He’s young, like me.’
‘How do you know?’
‘We have played together. We play and play and that’s how we learn.’
Roeloff fitted a stone into his sling and stood up.
‘Do you like this game?’
‘No. Boys like it very much, but not girls. We do it because it pleases them. One time an old man tried to force me and I told my mother and she told him he was already losing his teeth, he should look elsewhere for a bride.’
‘Will you go when Toma comes?’
‘He’s the son of a great hunter. I’ll have food.’
‘You will go with him for food?’
‘Yes,’ she laughed gaily, picking the last leaf from the stem. ‘A husband gives you food and things to wear. He protects you.’
He catapulted the stone over the sand.
‘Four seasons have gone, Zokho. He hasn’t come.’
‘He will, you’ll see. Toma won’t leave me here.’
‘Don’t you like it here? You have food, you’re protected.’
‘I’m not protected.’
A shadow fell over them and they looked up. David was standing on the overhanging rock looking down at them.
Zokho’s smile froze and she skipped off.
Roeloff watched her run back to the house, his brother following at a leisurely pace. He felt suddenly cold.
‘Ratel! Riempie!’
The dogs came bounding up.
He made a signal and they scampered off towards the sheep.
