Page 69 - The Mending Season

She looked at the outfit intently without responding and left the room. I took my towel offfinally and put on the dress and then the shoes. In front ofthe mirror I brushed my hair. No style seemed right. I brushed out the curls and made it flat, making a parting in the middle.“I give up,”I said to the girl in the mirror.“You cant leave without eating!”Mmamane Mabatho said from the kitchen.“There will be a lot offood,”I told her.“Still, you don’t want to look like you haven’t eaten in years. Come here. There’s bread and peanut butter and jam“No!”I yelled out in English, frustrated.I expected the three of them to come running into the room, telling me how rude I had been and that I had to apol­ ogise. I waited with my teeth pressing on my lips, fighting back tears. But only my mother appeared in the doorway holding a box in her hands.“T s e a she said, and handed it to me. Inside were a few ofher rings, a collection she treasured, that I was not allowed to touch. “Take that one,”she said as I picked up a silver band. “Wear it on your thumb, it’s the best way.”I put it on my left thumband looked away from her.She left the room and came back with a piece oftoast withbutter and jam on it and gave me half. “Just eat this, to hold your stomach.”I ate it reluctantly, while she ate the other half. When I was about to leave, the aunts all stood up and puton shoes, wrapped their hair in doeks and followed me out of the house.“Where are you going?”I said with a sinking feeling.“Walking you,”Mmamane Malesedi said. “You’re going to catch a taxi, aren’t you?”“Yes, but I can go alone. I know how to catch a taxi.”“Fine. No one said you couldn’t catch a taxi,” Mmamane Mabatho said.69