by Kurt Ellis
She waited for him at the gate. Captain pushed himself off the wire chair, and with the help of his late grandfather’s walking stick he limped to the fence. The doctors expected him to make a full recovery in a year or two, but it would require a lot of painful physical rehabilitation. For now, every step he took felt like he had shards of glass floating around his back. And with each step, they would shift, cutting and stabbing him in the spine. Eventually, he made it through the pain and to the gate.
“You looking well, Anthony,” Amia said, with a smile.
Captain returned it warmly. “So do you. Nice cap.”
“I know. Kyle left it at my house. I can still smell him on it.”
“He was a stinky ou, wasn’t he?”
Their laughter was honest, yet weighed down with sadness.
Amia’s eyes glanced at the walking stick at Captain’s side, then back into his eyes.
“And Nazneen? How is she doing after losing the baby?”
Captain shrugged. “Not good, but she’s getting there.”
“I went to say goodbye to her before I came here, but she wasn’t home.”
“Goodbye?” Captain furrowed his eyebrows.
Amia nodded. “I’m leaving tonight. Going to London to au pair.”
Captain bobbed his head slowly. “Okay. Nice.”
They stood silently for a minute or two. Enough time for an Opel Kadett to zoom past, with its sound system blaring. The force of the bass seemed to cause those shards of glass in his back to vibrate, and Captain winced.
“Are you okay?” Amia asked.
“Yeah. Nothing less than I deserve.”
Amia did not disagree with that statement. She nodded once and started to leave. But after only two steps, she stopped and turned back to him.
“Can I tell you something … strange?”
“What do you mean, strange?”
“I mean, strange and … a little confusing. Will you promise me that you won’t laugh?”
Captain forced a smile. “I promise you, laughing is the last thing I will do.”
Amia came back to him, nervously looking up and down the street to make sure nobody else was within earshot. “I saw Kyle again.”
Captain cocked his head to the side. “What was that?”
“I said, I saw Kyle. Last night.” Captain did not know how to respond to that statement. “At least I think it was him.”
“I don’t understand, Amia,” Captain said, confused.
Amia smiled. “Neither do I. What happened was, I was packing my bags last night, and by chance I looked out of my window. At the road. And at the spot from which Kyle always waved to me when he left. He always waved to me from that very spot, and I swear I saw him. He was just standing there. Wearing the same suit he wore to the matric ball. And he was smiling at me.” A tear slid down her cheek, despite the smile on her lips. “He looked happy. Like he had finally found peace.”
Captain wanted to say something to her, but he could not find any words, let alone the right words.
“I know you must think I sound crazy. Like maybe this was some sort of an illusion. Like a … a grief-induced hallucination. But I swear to you, Anthony. He was there.”
Captain stared into her brown eyes and found no signs of deceit, confusion or doubt. So he smiled back at her. “I don’t doubt that you saw him. Kyle was the most stubborn ou I know. It sounds just like him to refuse to stay dead.”
Amia nodded and again they returned to a silent melancholy. “Kyle had a lot of faith in you, Anthony. Don’t let him down.”
That was the last thing she said to him before she left. Captain watched her grow smaller and smaller in the distance as she walked away. When she had finally turned the street corner and disappeared completely from sight, Captain limped back to his seat. He sat there in silence. Staring at the ground in front of him. And for a reason he could not understand, he found himself feeling a small amount of weight being lifted off his shoulders. A tiny amount. A single gram from the ton that he carried with him, but the relief of that single gram was enormous.
He turned to the table and pulled a sheet of paper towards him. He stared at the emblem at the top of the page. It read “The University of the Witwatersrand”. Captain began to fill in the application form.
The End
Special thanks and acknowledgements
I would firstly like to thank Janita Holtzhausen and the people at Human & Rousseau for believing in this book and for making this dream of mine a reality.
I would like to thank my family for their support through the years and for never telling me to give up on this fantasy. In particular, my sisters Clarissa and Renette.
My thanks to the inspiration behind the Godfathers, the Friday Lads.
A special thank you to the teachers. And not just the teachers who taught me, but to all teachers who have the tough and often unappreciated task of moulding children into adults. And to those teachers who moulded me – Mrs Smerdon, Mrs Siedle, Mrs Bouwers and the other great teachers of Bechet Secondary School in Sydenham and Ferndale Primary School in Newlands East. A special mention to Mr Gregory Akkers, who instructed my parents when I was ten years old to get me a typewriter because I was going to be an author.
This book has taken me sixteen years from initial concept to publication, and in that time I have met and interacted with many people who influenced me and this work. Far too many people to mention and thank individually, but I am positive they know who they are.
And lastly, a special thank you to the most beautiful woman in this or any other world – Melanie. I love you more than words can describe.
Synopsis
A gritty coming of age story about love, gang violence, retribution and redemption, set in Sydenham, Durban. Kyle lives with his aunt in a matchbox house after his mother’s suicide. He is a hardworking teenager with a promising football career ahead of him; he’s about to get the chance to show his talents to an international scout. Also living in the house are his cousins: Captain, the leader of a gang called the Godfathers, and shy, lisping young Jimmy. Kyle is in a relationship with Amia, beautiful but damaged by her own past. Captain and Nazneen must face her Muslim parents if they are to remain together. Captain works for a powerful drug-dealer called Lazarus. When Tyson, who previously held this position, comes out of jail, conflict ensues. Soon the tension escalates to violence and Kyle, Jimmy and Captain, whose motto is “By Any Means”, find their lives changed beyond recall.
About the Author
Kurt Ellis was born in 1983 in Sydenham, Durban. He escaped into the world of fiction from an early age. After he matriculated Kurt moved to Johannesburg to study English Literature. He won the Harry Oppenheimer Creative Writing award at Wits in his first year, before pursuing a career in sales. He kept on writing through it all, and his dream is that one day his child would walk into a book store and see his name on the shelf or even in the R5 discount bin. He still lives in Johannesburg with his wife and daughter.
Human & Rousseau,
an imprint of NB Publishers,
a division of Media24 Boeke (Pty) Ltd,
40 Heerengracht, Cape Town, South Africa
PO Box 6525, Roggebaai, 8012, South Africa
www.humanrousseau.com
Copyright © 2014 by Kurt Ellis
All rights reserved.
No part of this electronic book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording, or by any other information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.
Cover design by Mike Cruywagen
E-book design by Trace Digital Services
Available in print:
First edition in 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7981-6600-3
Epub edition:
First edition in 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7981-6601-0 (epub)
Mobi edition:
First edition in 2014
ISBN: 978
-0-7981-6602-7 (mobi)
