Chapter 7 — Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven
“W here the hell are you?”
I chuckled into the phone and peeled away from
Ayanda, gesturing that I’d only be gone for a minute, then stepped
into the corridor. “Calm down, Vus. It’s a public holiday.”
“Ja, the busiest day for Prophet Mazinga. We’ve already lost two
customers!”
“I thought you’d be glad to have time to look for a real job,” I
replied coldly. “Hasn’t Zanele hooked you up yet?”
He let out a weary sigh on the other end. “Senzo, if we don’t work
we don’t get paid. I need to get paid! We’re almost out of cash.”
“I told you I had to be at the orphanage. It’s important.”
“So is making a living, man! Can you stop thinking with your –”
“Hey!” I snapped irritably. “You’ve been complaining about the
Mazinga thing for ages, now you’re worried about losing customers?”
I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Just give me some time, okay? This
will pay oF, I promise.”
“Ag, whatever,” he replied, and hung up.
I made my way back towards the classroom, where Ayanda and the
kids were waiting.
“Was that Vusi?” asked Ayanda.

4O DIELN RAMISI, CHLUYN S. RT9MY
I nodded. “He’s so dependent on me, he gets nervous when I leave
him alone.”
“That’s sweet,” she said. “It’s nice that you’re so close.” She glanced
at her watch. “Gh, I need to go.”
“-o where? I thought you were working here all day.”
“I promised to drop oF some papers for the lady who runs the legal
clinic.” She gave me a teasing smile. “I’ll be back, don’t worry.”
“How’s it going at the clinic, anyway?”
She picked her handbag oF the desk. “-ood. I haven’t had much
free time, but you’ll never guess who oFered to help.”
“Who?”
“Jasper!”
My smile vanished. “Jasper?”
Ayanda nodded. “I’m always talking about the legal clinic but I
didn’t think he ever listened. Then yesterday I was in the oBce, chatx
ting to our secretary about all these false prophet scams, and Jasper
just jumped into the conversation. It was so strange. He seemed really
interested, and then out of nowhere he oFered to Knd out about the
prophets here in the township.”
That bastard!
“I think he’s trying to impress me, but to be honest I need the help,”
she went on.
5efore I could think of anything to say, my phone rang again.
“5usy man,” Ayanda remarked with a grin.
I e_cused myself and stepped into the corridor again. The caller was
Sipho, the “special case”. I put on my Prophet Mazinga voice before
answering.
“Some guy was asking for you at the shebeen,” he reported.
I frowned. “Which guy?”
“I don’t know, Prophet. He’s not from around here.”

NGVL 5AC6 4*
The wheels started to turn in my head. “L_pensive clothes, bad
attitude?”
“Ja, you know him?” asked Sipho.
Ayanda emerged from the classroom. I waved as she went down the
corridor. “Yes, I know him.” After what Ayanda had just told me, I
knew it had to be Jasper. “What did he want?”
“I don’t know, he was just asking for Prophet Mazinga.”
“When did this happen?”
“Just now. He came in and started asking for you. I told him you
were not around, and he laughed at my voice.” He clicked his tongue
furiously.
“Sipho, what did you do?”
“Hey, I was going to leave him alone, but he couldn’t shut his
mouth. He called me ka7 7 7r!”
I gasped in shock. Surely not even Jasper would be that – no, he
would.
“What was I supposed to do? Just leave it? Ro, my man, I taught
him a lesson and I took his fancy wallet. He won’t come back.”
“You did what you had to do,” I agreed, nodding my approval. “The
ancestors would agree.” I knew all about the kind of “lessons” Sipho
liked to teach people. They were just like the “lessons” Jasper used to
teach me back in school. How’s that for karma?
“5ut he didn’t leave by himself. Gne of the girls followed him. The
troublesome one.”
I was sure I already knew who he meant. There weren’t many
working girls who spent all their time at the shebeen, and only one of
them was infamous for being a troublemaker.
“Sweets?”
“Ja,” said Sipho. “That one.”

4q DIELN RAMISI, CHLUYN S. RT9MY
My heart sank. It was bad enough that Jasper was sniBng around
without Sweets adding to the mess. Two people who hated me, workx
ing together? Eisaster.
“So how are you going to thank me?” Sipho went on.
“Lh? What do you mean?”
“The guy was going to make trouble for you and I K_ed him. So let’s
talk. Maybe a discount for my treatment.”
I sighed. I should have seen that coming. “I didn’t ask you to beat
him up.”
“Gh, it’s like that?” His voice had become even higher. That was a
very bad sign. “Prophet, I always do what you say. I always help you. I
took that lady’s bag. I passed the test, isn’t it? The ancestors say I am
worthy!”
I should have known that little trick was going to come back to bite
me. Sipho was a believer, but he also had a temper. “Sipho, look, it’s
Kne. I’m grateful,” I blurted out hastily. “Difty per cent oF.”
“Dree.”
My jaw dropped. “That’s three hundred bucks!”
“Ja, but the medicine doesn’t work.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not my fault your manhood is beyond all
help!”
“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, with a trace of embarrassment. “I’m worx
thy, Prophet. You said so. Eeal or no deal?”
I had no choice. A pissedxoF Sipho could break me in half. “Gkay.
Gkay. Eeal.”
“Sharp.”
I hung up, feeling weary. I was getting too old for the hustle. With
a sigh I stepped back into the classroom.
888

NGVL 5AC6 4;
Spending the rest of the day with Ayanda was enough to chase away
my blues, though. Nater on we walked through the corridor, hand
in hand. Yes, that’s right – hand in hand. We didn’t notice Mother
Superior coming up behind us until she spoke.
“Senzo, can I talk to you?” We turned around to face her. She looked
an_ious. “In private? Ayanda, you don’t mind do you?”
I minded. I don’t know why no one thought to ask my opinion. I
minded very much!
“Rot at all,” said Ayanda. “You’ll Knd me with the kids.”
I let go of her hand reluctantly. Gnce she was out of earshot, Mother
Superior smiled and said, “She really likes you.”
I beamed. So I wasn’t imagining it, after all. “I feel like I’ve known
her all my life.”
The two of us walked down the passage together.
“I just wanted to say how proud of you I am,” she said. “You turned
out to be an outstanding and honest young man.”
Ahem. Ja, neh. Honest. My smile faded slightly. 9sually I lapped up
that kind of praise, but since Ayanda and I had started spending time
together, my less than immaculate track record had become a source
of constant an_iety.
“What do you do for a living?”
Wow. The old lady was on a roll today with the tough 'uestions.
I cleared my throat and told her the same thing I’d told Ayanda.
“I’m an entrepreneur.”
Mother Superior beamed proudly, and I felt a stab of guilt. “That
is really impressive, Senzo. When I think of where you came from...”
Tears sprang to her eyes, and when she spoke again she choked up. “I’m
sure your mother really regrets abandoning you now.”
Yes, my mother – what? I stopped and turned to face her. “My
mother didn’t abandon me.” Mother Superior wasn’t as young as

41 DIELN RAMISI, CHLUYN S. RT9MY
she used to be0 she must have mi_ed me up with one of the other
orphanage kids. “My parents died. Uemember?”
She dropped her gaze and took my hands in hers. Gh, no. This
didn’t look good at all. “That’s what I tell all the children, Senzo,” she
said in a gentle voice. “I tell them that someday some kind person is
going to come and take them in. I don’t want them growing up feeling
unloved and hopeless all their lives. 5ut the truth is most of these kids
at the orphanage have been abandoned. Nike you.”
It took a minute for me to process what she was saying. All those
years...and here I thought nuns weren’t supposed to lie. How could
she not have told me? More importantly, if my mother hadn’t died
when I was a child, where the hell was she?
“So my mother is alive?” I asked. My voice was hoarse. “Somewhere
out there?”
Mother Superior nodded.
“And she just left me?” I could feel it now, the bitterness. The shock
had passed and now I felt the heat of rage. “How could she do that?”
“Nife can be very diBcult and it aFects us all diFerently,” said
Mother Superior. “Just be grateful that things turned out so well for
you in the end. It doesn2t turn out that way for most people.”
Ro, it didn’t turn out well for most people, and it hadn’t turned
out well for me. I had been lost my whole childhood and now I was
lost all over again.
“You should have told me,” I said, pulling away from her.
She nodded. “I was going to, when you Knished school. I thought
you’d stay until matric but you left une_pectedly, before I had the
chance.”
There was a lot I could have said, but I didn’t know where to begin.
It had taken me a long time to come to terms with being an orphan,
to stop comparing myself to kids whose parents still lived. I owned my

NGVL 5AC6 44
tragedy eventually, and it became part of my foundation. Lven in all
my diFerent incarnations – Senzo the child of e_ile, Prophet Mazinga
– I was an orphan. It was the one thing about me that I couldn’t fake,
and now it turned out that it had never been real.
“I know who she is,” she whispered. “I’ve always known. I was
going to tell you everything, but –”
I stared at her in shock. “You know her?”
She nodded. “Senzo, it was complicated. I know right now it seems
like a terrible betrayal, but so much happened before you were born.
The man who – your father – he was not a kind person...” She stopped
and took a deep breath. “Your mother went through a lot to keep you,
to have you. She was so young and so scared. She couldn’t be a mother.
There was no one else. She couldn’t do it so she came to us and we
took you. 5ut now you’re a grown man and you deserve to know the
woman who gave you life.”
“I don’t want to know,” I blurted out.
“Senzo, please. Think about it.”
“I don’t want to think about it!” I shouted. “I don’t want anything
to do with her!”
I almost wished that Mother Superior had kept the truth to herself.
What was the point of telling me now that my life story was a lie?
What the hell was I supposed to do with that? I was hurt, angry and
confused. I had to get out of that place.
I walked away without a word, brushing right past Ayanda. I heard
her call my name, but I didn’t answer. I needed to be alone.
8

3(cid:75)(cid:75) DIELN RAMISI, CHLUYN S. RT9MY
Romfundo was the one who found me some time later. I was
sitting in the playground, staring into space and trying to make sense
of things. She came and sat beside me without an invitation.
“You look sad,” she said.
I didn’t answer. I was in no mood for company.
“It’s okay,” she decided, leaning against me. “I’ll be your friend.”
I resisted for a minute, but eventually the kid wore me down. She
was being so sweet, I had to respond. “I just got some very sad news.”
Romfundo moved away and looked up at me. “Eo you want to talk
about it?”
“Ro.”
“Gkay.” She folded her hands, waiting. I knew this game, and
Romfundo was good at it. She could sit there forever.
“Gkay, okay.” I sighed. “You know I used to be – well, I guess I still
am – an orphan. Well, not really. I don’t know...”
“Wow, you’re all mi_ed up.”
“Yes. Yes, I am.” I took a deep breath. “I just found out that my
mother is still alive. That means she abandoned me.” There. I had said
it and I couldn’t take it back. It was out there. It was real. “She’s not
dead. She just didn’t want me.”
After a brief silence Romfundo said, “I know my mommy also
abandoned me. Lven though Sister Maria says she didn’t.”
I looked at the kid in surprise. “You do? Then... 5ut... How do you
handle it? Eoesn’t it make you sad?”
She nodded. “Sometimes. 5ut I don’t think about it. I look after
other people, and then they become my family.”
I digested this precocious statement for a while. I had always
known that living in the orphanage forced kids to grow up 'uickly.
It had never occurred to me that it could also make them wise.
Romfundo got up to leave. “I’m going back inside now.”

NGVL 5AC6 3(cid:75)3
“Have you Knished your homework?”
“Ro, not yet.”
I hesitated. “Eo you want me to help you with it?”
Her face lit up with e_citement. “Yes please!”
I got to my feet, glad to have a distraction. “Come on, let’s go.”
A few minutes later I was walking around the classroom, inspecting
all the children’s homework. I stopped to admire a picture one of the
boys was drawing.
“That’s good,” I told him.
He looked at me in surprise. “Ueally?”
I nodded, and he beamed. I walked around to a girl busy doing some
sums.
“Ten times ten is a hundred,” I said, reading over her shoulder.
“Well done!”
I have to say, it made me feel good to say nice things to the kids.
Dor the Krst time I looked at them and saw myself. A lot of them would
grow up just the way I did, thinking their parents were dead when they
weren’t. They might grow up to be naughty. Some might even grow
up to be con artists, or thieves, or gangsters.
I had been in the scam game a long, long time, and it was rare
for me to feel guilty. A man had to do what was necessary to survive,
right? At least that was what I told myself. I never took money from
people who had less than me, only from the lucky ones with jobs
and insecurities. 5ut how could I be sure? It’s not like I ever did a
background check. How did I know my clients weren’t spending their
last cent on some treatment that would never work?
Yoh, the guilt was heavy. Ro wonder I had never allowed myself
to feel it before. It sat in my chest, making it hard to breathe. I looked
around the classroom. They were just kids. Sure, they were annoying

3(cid:75)(cid:76) DIELN RAMISI, CHLUYN S. RT9MY
and loud and forward, but I had probably been like that too. They
were lost, like me, without families to keep them grounded.
Then I noticed that the kids were all staring at me. I cleared my
throat. “What’s wrong? Why have you stopped working?”
“Are you angry with us?” one of them asked. “We don’t like it
when you’re angry.”
Shit. Suddenly there was a lump in my throat. “I’m not angry.
You’re all doing great today. 6eep it up.” I tried to smile, but it was
hard. There were too many con(cid:77)icting emotions inside me.
Gut of nowhere a little girl came up to me and wrapped her arms
around my legs. At Krst I was too shocked to move or speak. Slowly I
leaned down to pat her head. Re_t thing I knew another kid had come
to join the party, and another, and another, until there were a whole
lot of little arms wrapped in a huge group hug. I felt a lot of things –
confused, angry, sad – but I also felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Ro,
really. I did. And though I would deny it if anyone ever brought it up,
I might even have shed a tear.
8
That night Ayanda dropped me oF a good distance from the conx
sulting room. I made her park near some nice (cid:77)ats. I would have lived
there if I made more money, so it was only a halfxlie.
“Thanks for the lift,” I said as the car came to a stop at the side of
the road.
“Ro problem,” she replied. “How they can refuse to give you a
courtesy car when you took your car in for service is beyond me, hey.”
Ahem. Gkay, so maybe I had told a few more halfxlies. Maybe a
couple of full lies as well. There were worse crimes.

NGVL 5AC6 3(cid:75)(cid:78)
I shrugged. “I left it alone. I didn’t want to get anyone Kred or
anything.”
Ayanda smiled. “You’re really sweet sometimes, you know that? I
think that’s why the kids like you so much.”
Ro, it was because I was as lonely as they were. “I just have a lot in
common with them.”
She reached out and touched my hand. I looked into her eyes and I
knew we both felt the chemistry.
“Nisten,” she said softly, “about what Mother Superior told you...
You don’t have to share if you don’t want to, but I want you to know
that I’m here if you need to talk.”
I didn’t answer.
“Senzo? Are you okay?”
I took a deep breath, and before I knew it the words were pouring
out. She already knew I grew up in the orphanage, so I might as well
tell her the rest. “It turns out I’m not an orphan after all. My mother
didn’t die, she gave me up. Sister Nucy – I mean Mother Superior –
said she was very young when she had me. Something bad happened
with my father. I don’t know, maybe he abused her. 5ut my mother
couldn’t look after me, so she gave me to the nuns.”
Ayanda took my hand and s'ueezed it. “I’m sorry. It must have been
such a shock to hear that after all this time.”
“That’s not even the worst part.” I shook my head, still trying to
make sense of the facts. “She’s out there, somewhere in the township,
right now. My mother. She’s been living right under my nose all this
time. The nuns knew who she was and they never told me! Can you
believe it? Mother Superior said she was waiting to tell me when I
Knished school, but I left the orphanage and never went back.”
“I’m sure she was just doing what she thought was best,” said
Ayanda.

3(cid:75)O DIELN RAMISI, CHLUYN S. RT9MY
“She should have told me long ago!”
“She was going to. Senzo, I don’t know anything about your sitx
uation, but I know one thing for sure. The nuns love their kids,
and everything they do is out of love and concern. I’m sure Mother
Superior was trying to protect you.”
“Maybe.”
5ut I was still angry. Maybe my mother couldn’t deal with raisx
ing me at Krst, but what about later? She could have at least come
back when she was older, when she could handle it. How could she
leave me alone for so long? I probably had relatives I knew nothing
about, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. People who would
have looked out for me. She deprived me of all that.
“Eid Mother Superior tell you who your mother is?” asked Ayanda.
I shook my head. “I don’t want to know.”
“I don’t believe that,” she replied gently. “You’re angry right now,
but deep down you must want to know. You must have so many
'uestions.”
I groaned. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
Ayanda nodded. “Gkay.” She leaned over to hug me.
She was warm and still smelled wonderful, even after a long day of
work. Dor those few moments I felt better. Then she let go, and all the
bad feelings came rushing back.
“What are you doing tomorrow morning?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Rothing much.”
“Eon’t just say that to be accommodating.” She smiled. “I know
entrepreneurs are some of the busiest people. You know, you never
told me what kind of business you run.”
Gh, ja. With all the drama around my mother I had forgotten that
I was supposed to be a selfxmade man. “It’s a marketing and brand
management company, but I actually just sold it. I prefer to set up a

NGVL 5AC6 3(cid:75)*
company and sell it oF so I can spend more time doing community
work.” The lies slid right oF my tongue. I was getting so good at it I
was starting to freak myself out. “I’m planning to set up a new venture
soon, but for now I still have some free time. Why, what’s up?”
“Me and Mandla are playing tennis in the morning. I was thinking
maybe you and Vusi...”
“I’d love to.” Vusi wouldn’t be thrilled, but I could Knd a way
around that.
Ayanda grinned. “Awesome. Then it’s a date. See you at nine.”
“Rine it is. SMS me the address. I’ll get a ride with Vus,” I added as
an afterthought.
Ayanda frowned. “How does Vusi have a car? Eidn’t you only Knd
him a job recently?”
Gops. I had forgotten that Vusi was a reformed hobo. It was hard
to remember all my stories. “It was a gift. You know, to make it easier
for him to move around town.”
“That’s incredible, Senzo.” She shook her head, amazed by my
generosity. “Well, see you tomorrow.”
“Thanks for the invite.”
“You’re welcome.”
Reither of us moved for a moment. I was so tempted to kiss her, but
I wasn’t sure how she’d react. Lventually I smiled, opened the door and
climbed out of the car. I waited until she had driven oF before turning
and walking in the opposite direction, towards the consulting room.
Eamnit, the lies were starting to trip me up. I had to be more careful.
The consulting room was unlocked and the lights were on. Vusi
must be in. I walked in and froze. The room was a disaster. Gur things
were thrown across the (cid:77)oor, the mat was crumpled, and Vusi stood
in a corner of the room, scanning the mess.
“Shit!” I gasped. “What happened? Were we robbed?”

3(cid:75)q DIELN RAMISI, CHLUYN S. RT9MY
“There’s nothing worth stealing in here,” Vusi reminded me. “I saw
Jasper hanging around here earlier. He tried to follow me but I shook
him oF.”
I closed my eyes. Eamnit! I had forgotten all about Jasper. After
what Sipho had told me earlier, there was no doubt that it was Jasper
who had ransacked the place. “Yes, it was him. Sipho called to tell me
Jasper had been at the shebeen.”
Vusi’s eyes widened. “Gur shebeen? Rot a bar in Sandton?”
“He wouldn’t have found Prophet Mazinga in Sandton.” I picked
my way through the mess. “Apparently he was asking about me –
Mazinga – and he made the mistake of making fun of Sipho’s voice.”
“Goh, bad move.”
“L_actly. He got himself beaten up.” I sighed, surveying the damx
age. “Sipho said Jasper left with Sweets.”
Vusi groaned. “Your two worst enemies! That woman would sell us
out for a pack of cigarettes.”
“Ja, but even if she told him about the scam, he has no proof.
9nless...” I spotted a halfxopen drawer and moved to check inside. It
was empty. I looked around on the (cid:77)oor, but there was no sign of the
photo of me and Vusi in our sangoma gear. We had taken it in the early
days, before we perfected the con. Net’s just say the disguises weren’t
very eFective back then.
“He’s taken the photo,” I told Vusi.
“I told you not to keep that thing!” he e_claimed. “I told you it
would get us busted, and what did you say? You said we needed to
remember how far we had come. You said no one would care about
a stupid photo. Just like you said no one would go to the papers, and
look what happened last year.”
“Ja, okay, Vus,” I said impatiently. “I screwed up. The point is we
may have to lay low for a while.”

NGVL 5AC6 3(cid:75);
“5ut where do we go?”
I sighed, suddenly feeling e_hausted. It had been a long day. “I don’t
know. I’m so tired of all this lying and pretending and stuF.” I (cid:77)opped
onto the couch. “I want to come clean with Ayanda. With everyone
actually. My whole life has been a lie! I don’t want to go on living this
way.”
Vusi sat beside me. “5ra, you know I want to give up the scam, but
Ayanda will never forgive you for lying to her. Trust me on that one.”
“She already knows about the orphanage. Sister Nucy was there
today and she recognised me.” I told him all about what happened,
including the news about my mother.
“Sorry, bra,” he said. “Lish. Nife, neh?”
“Ja. Nife.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes, digesting everything that had
happened.
“I still think I should tell Ayanda,” I said. “She was so understandx
ing about the thing with my mother.”
“Ja, because you’re the victim,” Vusi pointed out. “Anyone with
a heart would feel bad for you. 5ut all the lies you told her? About
having a lot of money, running your own business, saving me from
the streets? That’s another story.”
He was right, but I thought about the way Ayanda had s'ueezed my
hand and hugged me, and the look in her eye when she said goodnight.
She cared about me.
“She invited us to play tennis with her tomorrow. I’ll talk to her
after that.” I got to my feet. “I’m going home.”
“Wait!” said Vusi, jumping up to follow me. “Jasper could still be
out there. And since when do we play tennis?”