LITMIR.BIZ

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Jessie’s half my age, and Hattie’s in her mid fifties – not much older than me, but it sometimes feels like she is the grown up, with Jess and I the youngsters.

      I ran my fingers through my messier-than-usual brown curls. I had on a green floral dress that sort of matched my eyes but was already wrinkled.

      ‘Henk threw my hairbrush at a leopard,’ I said.

      ‘What?!’ said Jessie. Then she opened the Tupperware and forgot about the leopard. She popped a piece of cake into her mouth.

      ‘Here you are,’ Hattie said, handing me a hairbrush and a small mirror.

      ‘Ta,’ I said, and did the best I could with the brush. ‘It’s called the Venus Cake.’

      ‘Oh. My. God,’ said Jessie. ‘It is totally awesome.’ She stroked the gecko tattoo on her upper arm, which is something she does when she’s happy. ‘Out of this world.’

      I put on the kettle, which lives on my desk next to the beskuit tin, and prepared coffee and rusks for us, and tea for Hats. Hattie’s not much interested in food, apart from my milk tart, that is. She’s funny that way.

      There was quite a pile of letters on my desk. ‘Tannie Maria’s Love Advice and Recipe Column’ is popular. People write in with their problems, and I give them some advice and a recipe that I hope will help. Finding just the right recipe takes time, and I only work half-days. You’d think that with all the advice I give, I’d be able to sort out my own problems. But you know how it is: a mechanic often doesn’t fix his own car.

      I opened last week’s Gazette to the page with my column. There was my recipe for soetkoekies, those old-fashioned sweet biscuits, which I’d given to that woman who was feeling bitter about her mother-in-law. Next to my letter was a small advert in a pink box, saying, ‘Relationship problems? Difficulty with intimacy? Free FAMSA counselling at your local hospital. Family and Marriage Association of South Africa.’ And a phone number. Could they help me with my problems? I wondered. I dipped my rusk, took a bite and felt better right away.

      Jessie and Hattie were still talking about the newspaper article and this guy, Slimkat. I took my coffee over to Hattie’s desk to have a look. The headlines said: ‘Kuruman San Land-Claims Victory’.

      There was a photograph of a big group of people on the steps of the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein. Closest to the camera were two men who were being carried on the shoulders of others. One looked like a lawyer: a white guy with a neat haircut and pinstriped suit, his mouth wide open as if shouting, and his arms stretched up in the air with joy. The other was a small man, in a T-shirt and neatly pressed trousers. He was a little crouched, and looking away, as if shy or thinking of climbing down.

      ‘That’s Slimkat,’ Jessie said to me. ‘One of the Bushman leaders.’

      ‘San or Bushman?’ asked Hattie. ‘What is the politically correct term these days?’

      ‘Organisations say “San”, but most Bushmen say “Bushman”,’ said Jessie. ‘Both are okay, I think.’

      ‘So they won at last,’ I said. ‘That case has been going on a long time.’

      ‘Ja, they got some international funding for legal fees, and the Supreme Court ruled in their favour.’

      ‘I am glad,’ I said. The Bushmen were good people who had been treated badly.

      ‘Hardcore, the diamond miners, aren’t,’ said Hattie, pointing at a tall man in a dark suit, standing higher up the court stairs, looking down his nose at the Bushmen below.

      ‘Nor is Agribeest, the cattle company,’ said Jessie, tapping her finger on the big belly of a man with cross eyebrows and crossed arms.

      ‘These companies were both after the nature reserve beside the Kuruman River, which has now been awarded to the Bushmen as their ancestral lands,’ Hattie explained. The talk of Kuruman made me think of Tannie Kuruman from the Route 62 Café and her excellent chicken pies.

      The title under the photograph said: ‘San leaders celebrate their victory’. The lawyer certainly looked happy, but the faces of the Bushmen were peaceful rather than celebratory. Some had soft smiles, but no one was jumping up and down.

      Amongst the small crowd were an old man and woman wearing traditional clothes: leather aprons, ostrich beads, headbands with feathers and porcupine quills. The old woman was holding the hand of a small boy who wore only a loincloth; her face was turned away from the camera, looking at the child. A young woman in a smart dress gazed up at Slimkat with adoring eyes.

      One of the Bushmen was not looking happy at all. He was staring at something or someone outside of the photograph. His fists were held tight, as if ready to fight.

      ‘They are a modest-looking bunch,’ said Hattie.

      ‘Ja, it’s not the Bushman way to boast,’ said Jessie. ‘Even if they catch a big animal when hunting they will tell others it is small. And they are cautious too. For good reason.’

      She read out loud from the paper: ‘Caitlin Graaf, spokesperson for the International Indigenous People’s Organisation, said, “The San leaders have been subjected to harassment and death threats over the last few months. We are investigating this seriously and will not hesitate to take legal action.”

      ‘When asked about how they felt about this ground-breaking victory, Ms Graaf said, “Of course we are all pleased that the San can return in peace to their ancestral lands in Kuruman, but the San are not people to crow over a victory.”’

      I looked at the lawyer with his arms in the air, and Slimkat crouching down.

      ‘“There is a saying,”’ Jessie continued reading. ‘“The rooster that crows loudest at dawn is eaten by the jackal at nightfall.”’

      CHAPTER FIVE

      The next morning, Jessie and I worked at our desks while Hattie was at the bank. I was getting through my pile of letters.

      Dear Tannie Maria,

      My boyfriend wants to have sex with me, but I don’t know if I’m ready. I am seventeen, and I really like him. It’s just that emotionally I don’t think I’m ready. But I am scared he will leave me if I don’t.

       What should I do?

       Janine

      I didn’t feel ready to answer that letter, so I picked up the next one. I hadn’t seen Henk since Saturday. He was busy with work, he said. I helped myself to another rusk and offered the tin to Jessie.

      ‘He’s coming here,’ said Jessie, taking a rusk and brushing crumbs off her desk. ‘Slimkat. He said he and his cousin were dropping someone off nearby. They’re going to pop in.’

      We heard a car backfiring as it parked in Eland Street.

      ‘That’s probably them now.’ She got up and stood at the door, and I put on the kettle.

      I heard Slimkat before I saw him, his voice quiet but strong as he spoke to Jessie. She led him into the office, and he introduced his cousin, Ystervark. Porcupine. Then he shook my hand.

      ‘This is my colleague, Tannie Maria,’ said Jessie. ‘She does the “Love Advice and Recipe Column”.’

      His hand was warm and dry, but I hardly felt it, because it was his eyes that filled me with feeling. They were big and black, like a kudu’s, and they looked right into me. It was very strange . . . I felt like he could see me. Really see me. Not only my body but all of me. It was as if my eyes were windows without curtains, and he could just look inside. He saw everything. Including the things I kept hidden, even from myself.

      I looked away.

      ‘Coffee?’ I offered, fiddling with the cups.

      ‘Rooibos tea?’ he asked.

      I

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