Page 11 - The Mending Season

Millicent Masemola, the mother ofthe aunts, raised her girls to reject restraint and embrace their rage. She was in her late thirties when the township Lady Selbourne, like Sophiatown and many others, was bulldozed along with everything she knew and loved. She had been a dancer who travelled and was knownfo r her looks and talent. Her husband, Sam, was the love o fher life. M illicent’sfamily was among thefirst to be moved to the township. The White government called it Springsville but the Black people called it Bofelong, because: a) there were no springs; b) the land was so bar­ ren they thought they had reached the Kalahari and therefore the edge ofthe continent, and c) it was sofarfrom everything, itfelt like the end o fthe world. Mabele Street was thefirst and only street to be given a name. Someone must have run out ofsteam orchanged their mind along the way.Rumour and scornfollowed the Masemolasfrom theirfirst dayin the township. While Sam Masemola drank himselfto death everyone asked about his wife, “What’s she giving him?”because she kept her home lookingperfect and stayed lookinggorgeous. But the real explanation was that he withered away because - like a lot ofmen ofhis time - hefelt helpless, unable to save hisfamilyfrom being banished to the end o f the world, the township Bofelong, meaning “At the end”.Sams death took away Millicent's lively spirit and left the girls with a mother who wanted nothing to do with the world. She closed hergate and never let them go outside toplay any more. The little girls stayed inside and watched their mother dress up and dance all day to tunes she could have been arrestedfor playing. Their windows and doors stayed shut. At school, they spoke only to each other and after school they rushed home to their mother.Tumane always said, “No one knows the details. It’s the details they have to know to understand us.”She was the one with the most vivid memories o fLady Selbourne and the one who knew the11