by Suzanne Popp
Nurse Busia was taking a liking to the bun girl and her mother. She enjoyed seeing Amnesty gain weight and strength. The girl brought fresh hot rolls each day, and a change of clothing for her mother. The boy talked of faraway places and ideas the nurse had never thought about. He was in love with the girl, and Nurse Busia had never seen such a fanciful pair of young people, without guile and without greed. That is what had impressed her from the beginning. They came to represent love to her, how life could be if sickness and greed were suddenly dismissed and kindness prevailed. It had been only a week since they came into her life, but she had begun to see herself as they saw her; the angel of E126.
It was Friday when the flak hit the fan. Dodge had been making his investigations into the mother’s situation. Something didn’t add up. The mother was living in a small dark flat with intermittent electricity and water, but she afforded an expensive private room. He learned from the front desk that a private room cost over $200 dollars a day.
On the following Monday, Dodge went to the hospital ward and asked if he could view room E126. Nurse Busia showed him the room and asked if he was going to be a patient there. She reported her patient had been dismissed. She could give no details. Patient confidentiality. Dodge said he was not sick and Nurse Busia asked, “Then why are you wasting the time of staff at this hospital? I should make a report.” Dodge scuttled out of the room and down the corridor, fuming at being dismissed so abruptly.
Dodge began investigating the bun girl and her connections. Her mother was friendly to him, and would share her baked goods, asking his opinion on whether the croissants had proofed long enough, or whether the palmiers were sweet enough. After a few trips to Amnesty’s place of business, and never seeing the girl, Dodge realized the girl had disappeared. He checked in with Joseph and learned Benjamin was now on the road on buying trips, and he figured the girl had joined up with Benjamin. Dodge was frustrated at being outmaneuvered by the young people and vowed he would get even.
CHAPTER 33
DODGE’S INQUIRY
The boys were busy with their lives, trade was going well, and Joseph and Violet heard that Bwalya their youngest son, who had been studying art in Paris had married a woman from Europe. He was now teaching at the Burrisfuro Academy only a few hours away, and they expected to hear from him at any time. Then their son, Calvin became ill. He was tired all the time, his skin had eruptions, and his breathing became labored with pneumonia. He developed a high fever. Before they could determine what was wrong with Calvin, his wife and children had fled back to her village. Although Calvin took quinine, it had no effect, and he died of malaria. A second son then became sick. He was traveling, and his illness might be food related, his mother thought. But the hospital could not help and he died three months after Calvin. In the next six months, two more sons died, each of a different disease. One of pneumonia, another of leukemia. Each time, the wife made no contact with the Leibitsangs, but returned to her people taking the grandchildren with her.
The family took extra precautions, using the bed nets that had been prescribed, and avoiding drinking water unless it had been boiled or made into tea. After the death of four sons, and the wives going back to their villages, Bishop could no longer ignore what was happening. He talked to Joseph and asked him to bring the sons together and see if they could tackle this plague that was robbing them of their future.
Joseph in turn, talked to Violet. She agreed that something was terribly wrong in their family. She dismissed the servants, reduced the diet to what was traditional, and even called the fetish priest. She was still surrounded by her remaining five sons. They did not dwell on what had claimed their brothers’ lives. It could be explained. Probably they had picked up a disease traveling so much and eating foreign foods. She talked to the pastor about this epidemic of the thins that she had heard about. He told her that if he heard of anyone in his congregation having the thins, he would ban them and their children from attending the services. He said that this disease was a punishment from God, and people who contracted it deserved to die. It was the disease of homosexuals and profligates. Violet went home, not sure of what her sons had been accused, and told her husband. The two of them stopped attending the church. They also stopped attending any funerals. Violet urged her boys to stay home, but their business and her husband’s, was in commerce. They hugged their mother and told her not to worry. They were not going to be catching anything at the road stops or in the guest houses where they stayed. They were hopeful a cure would be found.
Within the next five years, twenty percent of the congregation of the Full Gospel Church had died. Another third stopped attending. The funerals had to be confined to the weekends as the number of services was interrupting the business of the city. But no one admitted to having the disease, or having anyone in their family die of it. It was other countries, other tribes, other groups of people who had that disease. Not the decent folk that taught in the schools, did commerce in the cities, or cared for the sick. The number of funerals kept climbing. The schools, hospitals, and businesses, such as banks and the trucking industry, were especially hard hit with the loss of skilled employees. Families that normally could have absorbed an orphan were now stretched to the limit with caring for their own orphaned nieces and nephews, grandsons, and granddaughters.
Not until the sixth son had suddenly come down with pneumonia, and was rapidly losing weight, did Violet panic. She and Joseph decided they must contact Bwalya and the other two sons, and see if something could be done. Joseph was no longer able to sleep at night for the memory of his strong and beautiful throng of young men wasting away. There was fungus on their skin, thrush in their mouths, and the torment of the virus that robbed them of energy and vitality before they succumbed to some disease. Hospitals overflowed, with three to a bed, but the government insisted that HIV was not a threat. Condoms were not allowed by Christian religious teachings, and the wives fled, afraid they would no longer be able to return to their villages should the rumors spread that their husbands had died of AIDS.
Joseph and Violet asked for Dodge’s expertise for their second son, who was dating a girl in South Africa he had met while marketing. The parents wanted to know who her people were, and whether he was becoming serious.
It was the end of the rainy season before Uncle Dodge made his way to Cape Town to check on his young nephew. Orin had been a more reserved son than Benjamin, and welcomed the independence of being a long distance trucker. Orin would pop in a tape for music, pile a few cold weather items in the cab of his truck, and head for the border, barely taking time to say goodbye to his mother and siblings. Orin loved returning just as much, although by now, the family had learned to give him some space before asking about his adventures. He liked to orchestrate the telling of his tales, which poured out of him like wine from the palm tree, after a long road trip. Like his Uncle Dodge when he recounted a successful brokerage, it wasn’t enough to merely give the facts of how he had arranged a marriage, or broken one up that was going to cost the parents. He wanted them to hang on his every word and see him as the master manipulator of relationships. He could make or break a couple, he boasted, when he was before a worried set of parents or relatives. He was indispensable.
Orin would be quiet for a while when he returned from a marketing trip. Then he would open up, explaining the business and the customers and his skill in obtaining what no one else could.
This liaison between Orin and Lady X played right into Dodge’s favorite scenario. A bold but naïve young man and a calculating woman, thinking she was going to snare a real catch. Or it could be an alluring young woman for whom an older man had the hots, and must have, and no price was too great to extract to make his fantasies reality. What worried Uncle Dodge about Orin was the boy didn’t operate out of sheer lust or greed. He tended to be a romantic. It was hard to figure what would lead the younger brother to fall into the trap of seduction. His father, Joseph had been straightforward when he was seeking a wife.
He had to have stability, an unspotted family tree, and social status. Bingo. Violet was the woman for him. He won her with his honesty and drive and Dodge had been left out of the financial arrangements. Dodge had counted on recouping that loss with the successful pairings of their nine sons.
With Orin, other elements played into his love of women. They had to interest him. Orin watched cinema and there were scenes and dialogues that captivated his imagination. The most stunning women who lacked this star quality, as he called it, didn’t interest him in the least. He did not care for women who were too compliant. He liked a woman with a little edge. Also, Orin was in no hurry. For Festal, time had been of the utmost importance. He could not delay what had already been delayed for too long. Fortunately, Dodge had helped Festal net a woman who was worth all he had given for her. No one argued his good fortune or her worth. So the bar was set high to find such a catch for Orin. Who or what he had found on his own would have to be investigated. That was how Dodge saw his commission. He was ready to track the couple down and pass his judgment regarding the match.
His excitement for his journey tomorrow kept him from being tired. Dodge decided to stop by the Big Banana Bar to check in on Flo and see how her new girl was working out; as well as catch up on the news of the region.
Flo watched as Dodge sauntered to the counter. She gave the bar maid a signal and the girl disappeared into the kitchen.
“What can I get for you, Dodge?” Flo asked.
“How is your new girl working out?” Dodge said, trying to catch a glimpse of her through the gap in the curtains.
“She’s taking her break. Do you need a beer?”
“Give me a glass. I stopped by to see if you’ve heard anything from Gift.”
Flo handed him a beer and a glass. “No,” Flo said. “How is your mother getting along with her?”
Dodge had forgotten he had told Flo that it was his mother needing an assistant. He gulped the beer.
“She had to let her go,” he said. “I didn’t catch what the problem was.”
“Really?”
Just then the bar girl came out with a tray of glasses. She was near-sighted from the way she studied each of the glasses, but her smile was engaging. Dodge couldn’t help but watch her until Flo told her sharply to go and tend to the cooking. She bobbed her head in compliance and headed back to the kitchen.
Flo asked if there was anything else Dodge needed, because if there was not, she had some work to tend to. Dodge finished his drink and left, knowing that he was not going to get the information he wanted from Flo tonight. He should have spent a little time warming her up; he would remember this in future.
At sunrise, Dodge climbed into the Toyota and headed for South Africa. It was a small car and it handled well on the highways and the laterite tracks that went to the small villages. Orin was all the way in Cape Town. Either his phone was not working, or he wasn’t accepting calls, so Dodge would have to stop at the major truck stops to catch up with him. He would drive during the day and check out the guest houses at night. With luck, he would find the boy within two weeks.
Meanwhile, he would watch for something unusual to take back to Flo. She was put out with him and he didn’t like to burn bridges. At least, not those he thought he would be using in future.
Dodge located Orin in Cape Town and the two went out drinking together at a small highlife bar. Orin wanted to know how Dodge started his matchmaking business. Dodge was pleased to regale him with the history.
“I was like yourself. I had wanted to find a woman that intrigued me, and that I wouldn’t grow tired of. Well, when I was sixteen, I found her. The problem was, she had parents that wanted her to marry one of her father’s friends, an older man, since he was rich and could give her a comfortable life—not to mention a hefty lobola for the family. She wanted me, but he had the bride price to offer her parents, so I never stood a chance. I came across her years later, after he had found an even younger and more choice girl. By this time, she was living in a slum area, and no one would touch her, because even though her ex-husband didn’t want her, no one else dared to have her either. I was not about to take anyone’s leftovers anyway. I let her know that she had missed out on my love.” Dodge glanced over at the dancer gyrating on the small lighted stage. She was whipping her hair in circles as she slowly removed her clothes.
“I started to see there could be a profit for me in lining up marriage partners. I began to understand the feelings of regret and of being overlooked, and I could use them in creating urgency for mates to step up to the plate or miss out. It also gave me first crack at any of the girls I wanted.” Dodge took a sip of his scotch. “Not that I ever would take advantage of that privilege, you understand. I developed a pretty accurate eye for what was under the wraps, and how to merchandise a girl who someone had overlooked. Or I could bring one down a few pegs if she thought she was too good for marriage. Some men can hunt, but they don’t have the balls to dress out their prey.”
Orin did understand. He wasn’t worried that Dodge was going to mess up his relationship with Lady X, as Dodge called her. She was divorced and her prospects were limited. Orin cared for her but he also liked the excitement of being the undercover man in the relationship. He liked showing up, and her excitement at seeing him. Most of all, he liked the long conversations they had when they discussed the changes that were taking place in society, and how they would affect the future.
Orin learned that Lady X seldom saw her ex-husband because he traveled overseas. Orin’s business trips gave him opportunity to visit her during the man’s absence. Orin was careful because he heard the man was jealous and possessive. Even though he had divorced the woman, no one else could have her. Let Dodge investigate all he wanted. The worst he could do was get himself shot.
They finished their drinks. When Dodge went to use the restroom, Orin put a tip down, then slipped out into the night. Dodge returned to an empty table. He pocketed the tip and went back to his car. He needed to get back to Blancville to report to the family. His nephew would pay for ditching him when he was only trying to help.
As Dodge passed through the suburbs of Johannesburg he happened upon Benjamin and Hen. They were beside the road purchasing a wood carving of a colonial with a baker’s hat on his head. Dodge stopped and greeted them, telling Hen he had seen her mother. He would have something to share with the family, at least. This girl was no catch, in his opinion, as she had no family other than her mother, and could bring nothing substantial to the table. This would be his recommendation. As for Orin, he would say there was no girl in sight.
With his stories sorted out, he cruised back to Blancville, Dolly Parton singing her heart out on the tape player. He had a colonial bartender carving that he had purchased for Flo, with a white tray in his hands, all wrapped up in butcher paper and tied with twine. He couldn’t wait to see her again.
CHAPTER 34
THE THINS
Royal attended primary and middle school, following his success in the community school that the women had organized in the cattle station. For him, the pastoral life was good, especially the long evenings around the campfire when he would regale his listeners with his stories.
Royal knew he would one day write his mother’s story, as he was proud of her for her courage. From time to time, he would ask her about a particular person or incident, and then record her answers in his notebook before he went to sleep. He now had four completed notebooks of her stories and her history.
Royal loved to cook. This was unusual for a man in the country, but Festal learned from Joseph that baking and cooking could be a good trade. He allowed Royal to enroll in a culinary school in Blancville, once he had completed middle school, and paid to have Royal board there.
It was at this school that Royal met Henrietta, the chief baker. The teacher noticed this lovable and funny student with a heart as big as the savannah he came from.
In Blancville, Violet’s sons were marrying and starting their fami
lies. Benjamin had graduated and gone off to pursue business opportunities with the trade in South Africa. After a short time on the road, he had dropped his girlfriend Hen. Uncle Dodge had influenced Benjamin, discouraging him from marrying an immigrant. Women found Benjamin attractive; he was in no rush to tie himself down, as Dodge advised.
His brothers followed a similar path. At first, they were infatuated and wanted to marry, but after making the commitment, they would stray to the more exciting life of sales, liaisons, appointments. Networking, Dodge called it, with a wink. Uncle Dodge tried to help Violet know of their whereabouts, but soon lost track of them. He was getting older now and no longer had the energy to rein in boys who only wanted to elude him. He had recently been pursuing a woman himself, Florencia, owner of the Big Banana Bar. She had everything he wanted in a life partner. Dodge was oblivious to her deficits and won over by her assets, as he liked to say. Violet had no idea that Dodge himself was the influence that corrupted her sons, and continued urging him to contact them.
The youngest son of Violet, Bwalya, married a woman from Holland. They met while stranded in London when British Airlines went on strike. By the time they reached Nairobi, they were planning marriage and a life together. They married at the Karen Blixen estate and continued on to Burrisfuro where both were hired by the same school. Bwalya would teach fine arts and Karin would teach math. Their life was a whirl of students, travel, colleagues and campus intrigues.
