Swift Justice

by Meredith Taylor

The sparkling wine arrived and the waiter poured two glasses for them, and Edgar looked deeply into Tumi’s eyes as he held up his glass: “A toast: to making peace with the past and to the possibilities of the future.” They clinked their glasses and each took a sip, and the bubbles of the expensive wine immediately went to Edgar’s head.

  They spoke about everything, sharing their dreams and their fears, and feeling the bond between them grow. After dinner, Edgar asked Tumi to take a walk through Donovan Square. The square was completely quiet, as most students were already busy with their marathon study sessions before exams. Edgar and Tumi walked side by side, the lamps over the grassy square showering them in warm light. Edgar looked up to see the stars shining down on them, and led Tumi to a bench in the center of the park, near to a tall tree.

  As they sat down, Tumi touched Edgar’s hand as he looked up at the starry night. Tumi said, “I love sitting and watching the stars like this. My family always told me that our ancestors were watching us, guiding us every day. When I was a kid, I always thought that they were watching us through the stars, like peepholes to heaven connecting us to the people who had lived before us. It made me feel… like I was a part of something bigger, like I wasn’t just alone or out of place all the time.”

  Edgar felt the pain of having to leave more acutely than ever. “That’s beautiful,” he said, and for a moment he pictured his mother up there, looking down at him and supporting him throughout his life. He looked on longingly and said, “I always thought that every star was a wish, a shooting star that had been wished on and then found its permanent place in the sky. And that star that answered your wish would shine forever, just for you, until your wish came true.”

  Tumi turned to Edgar, his eyes filled with warmth and affection. “What do you wish for right now?” he asked.

  Edgar turned to face Tumi. “Nothing,” he said, and he kissed Tumi deeply as they sat under the million stars staring down at them.

  Chapter 21

  It had been a magical night with Edgar, and for a few brief moments Tumi was able to forget about all of the confusion that he felt. But the night ended and the light of day snapped Tumi from his reverie; as he walked back to his room the next day after classes, he knew that one of the most challenging experience of the whole ordeal was still ahead of him. That night, he would visit his parents, and talk to them about everything that he had discovered about Hannes and Abongile.

  Tumi made his way up the steps of the hall where he lived at Nova, his bookbag heavy over his shoulder. He had tried to fit in some more research about anyone named Abongile from the township where he was born, but he couldn’t find anything. On top of everything else, he had his final mock court session the next day, where he would be facing off against Edgar one final time. Surely, Edgar wouldn’t pull any of the stunts that he had during the previous two sessions… The bond between them was undeniable, and they had both shared so much about their lives with one another. Tumi felt like he could trust Edgar, and even though he knew they could only spend a few more weeks together, he wanted to spend them going on more dates and enjoying each other’s company.

  But after the date, Edgar had seemed distant, and he had been gone early that morning. To Tumi’s disappointment, the regular vanilla latté that Edgar left on his desk first thing in the morning was not there when Tumi got out of the shower, and the message Tumi had sent him earlier in the day wasn’t returned. Was Edgar having second thoughts? Maybe the idea of a long-distance relationship didn’t appeal to him. Or maybe it was because Tumi wasn’t ready to discuss what was happening between them yet. He needed a bit more time to wrap his head around all of the information he had learned about his birth parents, and he wanted to be in the right space to think about what he wanted to pursue with Edgar.

  The thoughts were swirling in Tumi’s head as he opened the door to his room. As he placed his bookbag next to his bed and sat down at the desk, he heard the message tone of his phone chiming. His heart jumped; it had to be Edgar. He looked at his phone and saw the text from his roommate: I need to talk to you tonight. What time are you getting back from your parents?

  Tumi felt a sense of unease. There was no warmth in the text. Tumi had tried to be flirtatious with his text to Edgar earlier, thanking him for the date. Edgar’s previous messages had all been inflected with his confident, charming personality. But this one was completely straightforward, almost cold, and Tumi worried about what Edgar wanted to talk about. Tumi responded: I’ll be back by 10. It sounds serious. Is everything okay?

  Tumi waited for a few seconds, but Edgar didn’t return his text. Tumi shook his head, feeling completely perplexed by Edgar. They had been through a lot of hot and cold with each other already, but Tumi had really thought that they had broken through all of that and were beyond any types of games. Edgar had made it clear that he wanted to be close to Tumi, and had even made the first move. Tumi couldn’t imagine that he would backtrack on all of that.

  He shook his head and tried to push away the thoughts. He would be late for dinner with his parents if he didn’t leave soon. Tumi took a shower and dressed in a collared shirt and jeans. His stomach was completely in knots and his heart was beating fast. He had no idea how his parents would react. When Tumi had met with Mohale at the hospital and told him about his quest to find his birth parents, Mohale had questioned his motivations. He remembered the words Mohale had said to him that day: “You have a loving family. Are we not enough for you? Whoever your birth mother is, she had to put you up for adoption for a reason. Our parents are the only parents you need.” Tumi knew that Mohale was right, but he couldn’t just ignore the longing that he felt to know where he came from, or the desire to understand why that young woman, Abongile, had decided that she couldn’t care for him all those years before. He had to keep pushing, and he just hoped that his parents would understand.

  Tumi was also worried about seeing Mohale again. They hadn’t spoken since Mohale had told Tumi that he was getting a divorce from his wife, Victoria. It was the first time that Mohale had ever broken down in front of Tumi, and Tumi had no idea how it would affect their relationship. He had sent Mohale some texts over the past few days, trying to see how he was doing, but Mohale had played it all off as though nothing was wrong. Hopefully, he was dealing with it. Mohale was a very proud person, and had always been admired and praised by everyone in his life. Having to admit that he was getting a divorce, even to their parents, would be difficult for him, as Tumi knew that Mohale would see it as a type of failure. He just hoped that he could be there for his brother if it was the night he decided to tell their parents.

  Tumi put on some cologne and grabbed his car keys as he stepped out of the room, taking one last deep breath before he descended the stairs. But despite his intentions, Tumi would be late for dinner. What he saw at the bottom of the stairs would stir up something in him that he couldn’t ignore.

  He heard loud voices in the hall as he came down the stairs, and recognized the whiny, nasal voice as soon as he heard it: “Why did I find marks on my floor? What are you being paid for anyway? I’m having guests over to my room tonight and I have to let them into a damn pigsty! Get in there right now and clean it properly before I get you fired for good. You’ve been nothing but trouble all along!” Hein stood towering over the cleaning lady, Lydia, as she stood with a mop and bucket in her hands. She didn’t respond, and didn’t look him in the face as he shouted at her. It was the third time Tumi had seen Hein treat someone so disrespectfully in the past few weeks, and this time, he wouldn’t let anything stop him from standing up to the spoiled, pompous bully. Tumi thought back on the old man in the shack, Petrus, his grandfather, and how differently Tumi’s own life could have turned out if he hadn’t been adopted by the Moketlas. Would someone like Hein have treated him that way if he didn’t have money or status? Tumi stormed down the rest of the stairs and walked right up to Hein, looking him dead in the eye.

  “How dare you talk to someone like that? Who
do you think you are? You have no right to scream at her like that.” Tumi’s eyes were fiery with anger, and he felt very close to boiling over completely.

  “Calm down, Tumi,” Hein said, rolling his eyes and wearing a disgusting smile on his face. “She’s not doing her job, and I’m trying to tell her to do it. That’s what she’s here for. She’s not paying to be here, like us. We’re paying her salary for her to do a job, and she’s doing it terribly.” Hein shot daggers at Lydia with his eyes as he said the last line, and Tumi felt his anger bubble even closer to the surface.

  “No matter who you’re talking to, you have no right to treat another person like that. She deserves respect. Actually, she deserves a lot more respect than an ass like you deserves!” Tumi’s voice boomed through the hall, and out of the corner of his eye he could see that many other students had come out of their rooms to see what all of the commotion was about. Tumi didn’t care. He had to put a stop to Hein’s belittling of people that he considered to be below him somehow. He had to stand up to someone who thought he was untouchable.

  Hein stared at Tumi in stunned silence for a few seconds. But then, to Tumi’s horror, he began laughing. “Are you kidding me? You want me to act like a little child in front of the person who cleans my toilets. Come off it, Moketla. You know as well as I do that we’re not from the same world as these people. There are two worlds in South Africa, and we’re a part of the world of people who have money. If you don’t put these people in their place, they’ll start causing all kinds of trouble, demanding things that we’ve worked hard for. I’m helping her keep her job. If she doesn’t want to do it, there are a million other people out there who will do it, probably for much cheaper. So don’t stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”

  Tumi couldn’t believe the words coming from Hein’s lips. He knew that there were people at Ridgemont who had ideas like that, but he had never heard them spoken so bluntly, so callously. He clenched his fists into balls, ready to explode, and said, “If I see you talking to anyone that way again, you’ll see what it means to be put in your place. Just go. Get out of here right now. Go!”

  Hein was still smiling throughout all of it, and gave a menacing wave at Tumi as he walked away. “I’ll be seeing you around, Moketla,” he said. Tumi was flabbergasted. He knew that no matter what he said or did to Hein, there was no stopping him or the many other people who had similar ideas. He felt useless. Sadly, a lot of what Hein said was true: when you were as wealthy and connected as Hein and his friends were, they really did live in a different world where they could basically do whatever they liked. Tumi felt the tension in his shoulders, his teeth still clenched in complete outrage. He turned to notice that Lydia was still standing next to him, looking shaken.

  “I’m so sorry he spoke to you like that, Lydia. I’ll be reporting him to the residence head and to the dean. We’ll do something about this, I promise you.”

  “And then what?” Lydia said curtly. Tumi recoiled in shock. Lydia’s voice was almost accusatory. “What do you expect me to do when I don’t have a job because you made him angry? I know my place, and you should know yours. Please leave me alone. You are only making my life more difficult.”

  Tumi looked on with his moth hanging open as Lydia walked away. Tumi had thought that he was doing the right thing, that he needed to stand up to guys like Hein. He had never expected Lydia to echo the things that Hein was saying. He left Nova while the eyes of many students were still trained on him after his blowup in the hall. As if his day hadn’t been difficult enough, Tumi had to face his parents and tell them about everything he had gone through in the past few days. He tried to forget about the incident in the hallway, but Hein’s smug face still lingered with him. He wished that he could’ve talked to Edgar about all of it, but he would just have to wait until after his dinner with his parents.

  Chapter 22

  Tumi walked up to the front door of the large home in the Ridgemont Valley. The lawn was perfectly manicured and the double-story home had intricate, ornate stone details around the front door. Tumi rang the doorbell, waiting for the response as he felt his fingers shaking from anxiety. He had absolutely no idea what would happen once he told his parents about his search for Hannes and Abongile, his birth parents. He heard the jovial chatter and laughter from behind the door, and took a deep breath. His parents would understand, and they would support him. Maybe, they would even be able to give him some more insight that would help him find Abongile.

  Finally, the door opened, and Tumi saw his brother Mohale’s smiling face. He looked completely different from when Tumi had last seen him. Instead of the disheveled stubble and casual clothes, Mohale was back to his pristine self, with a stylish purple shirt and chinos. “Abuti oa ka! Ke hloloheloa o. Come inside!” Mohale hugged his brother tightly, and Tumi’s nostrils were filled with the masculine scent of his cologne.

  “You look well, Mohale. How are you doing?” Tumi said. He was surprised that Mohale had been able to adjust so well in such a short time. The way he had looked before, it had seemed like the situation was completely hopeless. Now, Tumi had no idea what his brother was thinking or feeling.

  “I am well, abuti! But how are you? I know that you have final exams coming up. Are your studies still coming along well?”

  The large smile on Mohale’s face made Tumi feel somewhat uneasy. Why had he had such a sudden turnaround? Or was it all a show, and was Mohale just trying to put on a brave face for his parents? Tumi decided to ignore it for the time being, and walked into the warmly lit dining room.

  The dining table was decorated with candles and an African print tablecloth. The delicious smells coming from the kitchen made Tumi’s mouth water, and he realized for the first time that he had hardly eaten that day in all of his anticipation for the dinner with his family. The walls of the room were decorated with wooden paneling and large paintings by some of South Africa’s best artists. A sculpture of a big-breasted woman stood in the far corner overlooking the dinner table. Mohale brought Tumi a glass of red wine, and the two of them indulged in the delicious Pinotage.

  “Is that my Tumi at the door?” Tumi heard the voice of his mother calling from the kitchen. He instantly broke into a smile and felt a lot of his anxiety leave him. Even though Tumi often felt a lot of pressure to live up to the Moketla name, his parents adored him and were always very loving. Tumi’s mother walked into the room carrying a tray with various cheeses with bread and crackers. She wore a multi-colored headscarf and a breathtaking brown layered dress with a statement black belt. Tumi’s father was not far behind, wearing his signature suit and a striped green and grey tie. He carried a tray of beautifully arranged sushi and other finger foods. Tumi walked up to his parents as they placed the trays on the dinner table, and he gave each of them an affectionate hug. It had been weeks since he had seen them. They were both extremely busy with work, and even though they called Tumi and sent him emails at least once a week, it was still great to be able to have the whole family together in the same house.

  Tumi’s father, David, gave a warm smile along with his gruff, deep chuckle as he took in the sight of his son. “You’re looking smashing, Tumi! Very presentable. How have you been, son?”

  Tumi returned the smile and said, “I’ve been doing well, dad. Working too hard, but that’s nothing new for our family.”

  “Indeed,” David laughed, and patted his son on the shoulder. “You’re doing very well based on your last report card. Have you made plans for after graduation yet? Will you be applying to do your articles at a law firm, or are you continuing with your studies?”

  The calming tone of David’s voice always put Tumi’s mind at ease, even when they spoke about decisions he had been wrestling with for many sleepless nights. Tumi wasn’t sure whether he wanted to study further, and whether Ridgemont was the right place for him to do it. “I’m still considering my options, dad. There’s a lot to think about.”

  “Well, you can always come and do your
articles at my firm,” Koena, Tumi’s mother, said as she set the plates on the table. “You’ll gain a lot of experience, and we can see each other every day. It would make me very happy.”

  Tumi had considered applying for a job at his mother’s law firm, one of the largest in the country, but he was worried that he would be looked at with suspicion, like he needed to use his connections or his family name to get him ahead. He didn’t want to live his life in the shadow of his mother, who was as much of a celebrity as a lawyer could be in South Africa. Tumi admired her greatly, but he couldn’t see himself working too closely with her, at least not until he had an identity of his own. He said, “Thanks, mom. But you know how I am. I like the idea of starting from the bottom and proving my worth, and that just won’t be possible if I work at your firm.”

  “That’s my boy,” Koena said, pride beaming from her eyes. “You’ve got a brilliant mind and the drive to do well. You’ll go far if you can keep your head on straight.” She motioned for her sons and husband to join her at the dinner table, and removed the coverings from the various dishes that she and David had prepared for dinner.

  The family chatted and laughed together, sharing stories from work and studies. All the while, Tumi watched Mohale’s cheery demeanor with suspicion. Why was he acting as though nothing was wrong, when just a few days before he had been devastated by the idea of divorce? Tumi looked at the faces of his family, the people who had loved and supported him unconditionally ever since he was two-years-old. He knew that he had to say what he had come to say. He felt like he would be shattering an illusion, like he was breaking something that was so precious and fragile. But the truth wouldn’t just sit in him. When the conversation lulled for a moment, Tumi blurted out: “I met my grandfather a few days ago.”

  Everyone’s heads spun to face Tumi. Koena’s eyes were wide with shock. No one said a word, and it even seemed like the music died down in the tense moment. Tumi could hear his own heartbeat. His breathing was irregular, and he knew that he couldn’t stop there. He had to say everything that was weighing on him. “I’ve been searching for my birth parents, and did a lot of research about the people in the township at the time, all of the children who were born there, all of the young people who might have put a child up for adoption. At first, I thought that Angela Ngcobo might be my birth mother; there was a resemblance, and the timelines matched. I spoke with her when she gave a speech at Ridgemont, and she told me that she had never had a child, but that she knew about a young man with a two-year-old son at the time of the fire in the township. She said that the mother of his child looked just like a picture of a woman and a boy that I found, a boy who I know is me.” Tumi took the newspaper clipping from his pocket and passed it on to his father who sat next to him. David didn’t touch the paper, but continued to stare at his son.