Page 65 - The Mending Season

“No, Lesiba told me he was coming out. He knows these things,”Trish told us.“Lesibas her man,”Veronica whispered to me.“Trish, where do you see Lesiba? Since he s, like, twice your age, I wouldn't have thought your dad would like it much,”Tamz asked.Trish laughed. “We have our ways,” she said and winked at Tamz.“Oh, and what do you guys DO, exactly?” Veronica asked, tickling Trish a little.“A lot ofthings,”Trish laughed some more.I was completely clueless about boys and felt left out ofthe conversation. All that the aunts had told me about boys was to stay away from them.“My mans picking me up in his beamer this weekend,” Tamz said confidently.“Oh yes, Tamz, we know,” Veronica said. “Hes a working man.”“Vies, are you jealous?”Tamz said playfully.“No,” Veronica said and started tickling Tamz.I wanted to know more about what Trish meant when shesaid “a lot of things”, but they had moved on.A car drove in and stopped in front ofus. Two girls from theprimary school ran towards it, excitedly yelling, “Mama! Mama!” Their mother, a young Black woman with short braids and sunglasses and wearing a business suit, stepped out of the carand hugged them.“Did you bring us chips?”“Can we go to Wimpy?”“Can we get ice cream?”They both spoke at the same time. Their mother took their school bags and put them in theboot, saying in Setswana, “Get into the car and we’ll see.”A primary school teacher whose name I did not know was walking past carrying her school bags just as the children were65