Page 109 - The Mending Season

there. I might never have got a chance to say anything if they had been.Mmamane Mabatho offered Tihelo tea and then turned to me saying, “Please put a kettle on the stove.”I left the room bitterly. It was me she had come to see, not my aunt!In the kitchen, I brushed my hair some more and looked at my clothes, regretting that I was still wearing my school socks and shoes. I listened to their conversation from the kitchen. Tihelo was there to speak with me about what was going on in my school. She was working for the Sowetan and the paper thought that it was important that they report the other side ofthe story.She knew that I had heard everything when I came back in with the tea tray. “You know the other girl, akere? I did a little research, and someone told me that you had heard the other girl - Elizabeth, net - you heard her say ... (she looked at her notes) kaffir?”Just like that. She didnt pause or flinch before saying the word. She looked straight into my eyes like she had just said “girl” or some equally inane word, and waited for my answer, her pen on her notebook. I swallowed hard, looked at my aunt and nodded.“IVe been following the story since the other papers are also onto it. But of course no one has said anything about what really happened. To me, the story sounds incomplete. I just want to hear what you know.”“Did you speak to the other girl, Veronica?” Mmamane Mabatho asked her.I saw then that Mmamane Mabatho was staring at Tihelo the way I had been. Tihelo looked back at her, as if she thought Mmamane Mabatho looked as beautiful as we thought Tihelo did. Without looking away, Tihelo smiled and answered, “Yes. I spoke to her and her mother.”109