Page 119 - The Mending Season

One night I phoned Veronica but I had nothing to say, really, and neither did she. When I asked her what her mother had said she took a deep breath and then said, “What could she say?”Veronica said that she was tired and cut the conversation short.I asked my mother what she thought would happen. “They’ll decide soon, I’m sure,” she said.“Do you think they’ll come back?”“The girls?” She sat back in the kitchen chair and looked atthe window as if it held the answer.“I think they’ll let the White girl come back, but Veronica?I don’t think so. I think they are under a lot ofpressure from the parents, and the White parents are in the majority.”I thought about KB leaving and her parents choosing to have nothing to do with this.I said to my mother, “The Sowetan has had stories on this, so a lot of Black people are angry. They could put pressure on the school to do something. Don’t you think that you and other people should talk to the school and have them bring back the two girls?”She leant forward to look me in the eye. “Tshidi, remember a few months ago when Mandela came out ofprison?”I nod­ ded and she took a deep breath and I knew that she was about to explain something crucial. “A lot ofWhite people were angry because they said that a criminal and terrorist was being released. They still insist that we should release people like Strydom, that maniac who randomly shot and killed a lot of Black people.”“It’s not the same,”I said, confused. “This is only a school. That’s the whole country!”“What’s offensive to you is not always offensive to me. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”“But it doesn’t matter. The school wants peace. Everyone does. They’re always saying, ‘This is the new dawn. This is the119