When Hoopoes Go to Heaven (18 page)

When his brothers had finished their milk and honey, he took them out into the garden with their football and played at being interested in kicking it around with them. It was a boring thing to
do, but it gave him time to think.

In Swaziland a man was allowed any number of wives, and he often had girlfriends too. So far King Mswati had seven wives and a fiancée, but people said he was still young. He was born the same
year that Swaziland was born, 1968, and if you minused that from this year, 2001, it told you that the king and Swaziland were both thirty-three now.

Henry already had one wife, and he acted like he wanted Titi to become his wife number two. But he never said. He had certainly acted like the meat was for him and Titi, but had he actually
said? Benedict wasn’t sure. Was it polite for Henry to ask Titi to choose meat for him and his wife? Was it right? Benedict wished that Baba was here. Baba would know.

Benedict knew what Mama would be telling Titi now, as he kicked the ball as badly as Sifiso would and it went into the flower bed, almost toppling over the edge of the garden into the wilderness
of banana and pawpaw trees. She would be saying that
of course
Titi was upset, it was only natural to find the culture of many wives difficult when you had grown up in a culture of one wife
only. She would be agreeing with Titi that Henry hadn’t been clear about tonight’s braai for two. And she would be assuring Titi, as Benedict had heard her do before, that
of
course
she would be able to find somebody else, and
of course
Henry wasn’t going to be her only chance at having a husband and children, so she really didn’t need to accept
something that didn’t feel right.

Eventually Moses and Daniel grew tired of Benedict’s half-hearted effort, tired enough to agree that it was time to go and say sorry to Fortune, who was much better at kicking.

His sisters were coming up the steps as his brothers were going down, and, anxious for them not to interrupt Mama’s talk with Titi, Benedict sat them down in front of the TV and said he
would bring them some tea. He put enough milk in the saucepan for all of them to have tea, and while he waited for it to boil, he looked in the fridge to see if there was anything special they
could have for their supper. There was no chance of a braai. That kind of meat was much too expensive for such a big family – and besides, a braai would probably upset Titi when his intention
was to cheer her up. With Baba away, everybody could do with cheering.

Cake.

Cake was the answer. As soon as the tea was made, he would sift some flour to get all the weevils out. Mama could bake some cupcakes, and they could all help with making icing in their favourite
colours.

It was a busy evening with lots of fun and giggling, and plenty of mess. Henry, the argument with Fortune, and regrets over Mrs Zikalala’s ugly white cake were all forgotten.

It wasn’t until Benedict was lying in bed in the quiet darkness, waiting for sleep to take him, that he remembered that there was something hiding somewhere in his head.
He thought back over the events of the day to see if anything would make it come out.

It began to step forward slowly, blurry at first, misshapen. It didn’t look right. He concentrated hard, until at last it looked like something he could recognise, something that made
sense.

Yes.

It was definitely an idea.

Climbing out of bed, he went to find Mama.

O
N HER HANDS AND KNEES IN THE DOWNSTAIRS
bathroom, Mavis scrubbed at the shower floor with one of the children’s old
toothbrushes and a mixture of Sunlight and Jik. The Sunlight was for the small tiles, which were like pieces of the plates and cups that she washed with Sunlight in the sink, and the Jik was for
the bits of black that had started to grow on the white lines between the tiles. Madam had said it was only bleach that would get rid of that. It had never been there before, it had only come since
Doctor had started sometimes using the shower instead of the bath.

Doctor wasn’t happy these days. With her own ears Mavis had heard him arguing with Madam behind the closed door of their bedroom. This has to stop, he had told Madam, if it doesn’t
stop then she’ll have to go.

He had been talking about
Gogo
Levine, Mavis had known that without even needing to guess.
Gogo
Levine knew dairy farming, she used to do it with Madam’s father. But Doctor
and the dairy manager knew dairy farming, too, they didn’t need anybody telling them do it this way not that way. Doctor would stop down at the dairy on his way home up the hill, and if the
dairy manager told him anything about
Gogo
Levine he would come very quickly into the house and go straight to the bathroom, where he would slam the door loudly and shower in cold water.
Only after that would he say hello to everybody in the house.

One evening he had said to Madam, how long is she going to stay? She can’t stay here forever. And Madam had said they had to remember that
Gogo
Levine and Madam’s father had
bought this farm for them, they couldn’t just tell her to go. Mavis hadn’t heard that with her own ears, it was Lungi who heard it. But helping the three smallest girls to bath
upstairs, Mavis had heard the downstairs bathroom door slamming very hard, and she had heard the shower water running for a very long time.

What could Madam say?
Gogo
Levine was her mother and her mother wasn’t happy, she needed to be with her daughter. But Doctor was Madam’s husband, and Doctor wasn’t happy
with either of them. Mavis found herself worrying that maybe Madam and Doctor would leave their marriage, just as
Gogo
Levine had done. What would happen to the children then? They had
already lost too much!

Vusi would maybe be okay, Petros was the same age as Vusi and Petros was definitely okay. Innocence would maybe not be okay. She wasn’t as clever as Vusi, and she did silly things without
thinking what might happen. She would rather sing and dance and laugh with the girls from the other house than think about making something of her life, meanwhile Madam and Doctor were paying for
her to be schooled. Mavis wasn’t even sure that Innocence would make a good cleaner, she was such an untidy girl. As for Fortune, it was impossible for Mavis to tell if he would be okay or
not. That boy had never had a serious thought inside his head, not even for as long as it took to dust a windowsill. Olga was very easily upset, she would definitely not be okay if anything
happened to her new family – but the three small girls were maybe small enough to be okay if they needed to go to another new family now. Maybe.

Eish!

A few evenings ago, while the family was eating at the table in the kitchen and Mavis and Lungi were waiting to wash the dishes and have their own supper, Mavis had slipped quietly into Madam
and Doctor’s bedroom and sprinkled two drops from one of Madam’s special small brown bottles on their pillow-cases.

It was the one called Ylang Ylang, and Mavis knew about it from doing the ironing in the kitchen while Madam was telling a friend about it in the lounge when the whole of the rest of the house
was quiet. It was exactly what Madam’s friend needed because there was tension and distance with her boyfriend, and the Ylang Ylang was going to help them to relax and be romantic
together.

Since Mavis had sprinkled the oil on Madam and Doctor’s pillow-cases, Doctor hadn’t used the shower, not even once. But,
eish
, the black marks on the shower floor just
wouldn’t stay away. As she scrubbed at them, her thoughts went to Titi.

It wasn’t enough that Titi had seen the world and was part of her madam’s family, now she had a boyfriend too. A Swazi, meanwhile she was a
kwerekwere.
He was rich, he had a
business and a car, but that wasn’t enough for Titi. No. She wanted him not to have any other wife or girlfriend. Who did she think she was? Mavis would be happy to get any husband at all,
she wouldn’t mind sharing, even if it meant sharing with any number of others. But it was never going to happen. It didn’t matter, really. Not as long as
Gogo
Levine didn’t
make Madam and Doctor leave their marriage. Mavis loved her job here, she loved that there were children to take care of.

She was rinsing the bleach solution off her hands under the basin tap when somebody began to wail, and by the time she got to the big downstairs room still drying her hands on a towel, Madam and
Gogo
Levine were right behind her and three more children were wailing. Their mouths wide open, their voices louder than the cartoons they had been watching on the TV, Olga and the three
little ones squirmed on the sofa, glaring angrily at the ground where the enamel bowl of popcorn that Lungi had made for them lay on its side, the white puffs of corn scattered everywhere.

Madam and Mavis did their best to bring comfort and calm, while
Gogo
Levine scooped up the bowl and went to ask Lungi to make them some more. Mavis bent and put the smallest one on her
back, securing her there with the towel by draping it over the child’s back then tying it around her own front. Leaving Madam on the sofa, she took the hand of the second smallest and,
jiggling the one on her back comfortingly, she led the other towards the far end of the room, talking to her all the time. Children who were crying needed separating, otherwise they would keep
setting each other off.

From the window at the far end of the room, Mavis could see the cows making their way past the side of the garden, on their way down to the dairy for milking.

Eish.

Titi had brought slices of cake for Lungi and Mavis. Lungi had said it was delicious, she wanted to learn baking from Titi’s madam. Titi’s madam didn’t just add eggs to a
mixture from a box like Madam had taught Lungi. Mavis had saved her slice, putting it away on a shelf in the wardrobe until she could give it to Petros. Today was absolutely the last day it would
still be nice, and once again she wouldn’t be able to give it to him. She would have to eat it herself now.

The last of the cows were passing, and Petros walked with them, his dog dancing along at his side. As she listened to his coughing, Mavis’s heart ached and she bent to hug the child whose
hand she’d been holding. The pills Madam had bought for Petros from the doctor were no good, but she didn’t want to say anything to Madam. Madam already had enough to worry about with
Doctor and
Gogo
Levine, and Mavis didn’t want to make Madam angry or upset. Madam had already shouted at Lungi for letting the pot of beetroot boil over, and then she had said sorry to
Lungi and started to cry.

If anything happened to the family, Mavis wouldn’t have this job, and then she wouldn’t have a small child on her back and another in her arms.

A
FTER SPORTS ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, BENEDICT
and Giveness went with Sifiso and his parents in the Buffalo Soldiers van for
Sifiso’s birthday. Auntie Rachel said that having his birthday at the end of July meant that Sifiso was a lion, like the king, so Benedict had drawn a picture of a lion for him. There was no
need of a cake from Mama because Sifiso’s birthday was at the restaurant where his big sister had a job as a waitress, and they were all going to have waffles with syrup and ice cream, which
was Sifiso’s absolute best. Sports every Wednesday afternoon was Sifiso’s and Benedict’s absolute worst, and they were jealous that Giveness was excused it on account of his skin
not doing well in the sun. The waffles were going to taste especially good after the sports.

‘
Eh!
’ said Benedict, as the Buffalo Soldiers van passed Mr Patel’s shop. ‘Look!’

Somebody had sprayed red paint all over the walls and window.

‘
Eish
,’ said Mr Simelane, shaking his head behind the wheel.

Sitting next to him at the front, Mrs Simelane tutted.

‘Why do they do that?’ Benedict asked.

‘Drugth,’ said Sifiso.

‘Drugs?’ Benedict wasn’t sure what drugs looked like, but he didn’t think he had ever seen any for sale on the shop counter. He supposed they could be hidden inside
something there. If Mama’s cupcakes were still for sale there, they could even be hidden inside those. Once, back in Dar, Titi had eaten drugs by mistake, when a friend had given her a
biscuit baked by the people she cleaned for. Titi and her friend didn’t know, but drugs were hiding baked inside that biscuit, and after Titi ate it she felt very confused. Then she got
frightened and started to cry, and Mama had to give her tea and wrap her in a blanket and sit with her until she was better.