by L. Foster
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Nobuhle goes out with the Italian
As promised, Nobuhle went out with Rossi showing him around the city. They both walked from one street to the other, moving past all sorts of street types, shops and roadside traders in downtown Johannesburg. "So where are we going?" Rossi asked "Normally I'd be on my way home. But now I'm just going to show you around." Nobuhle replied "It’s nice outside." Rossi said looking at the crowed of street side businesses and taxi buses ahead. "What do you like to see?" Nobuhle asked. "Lets just keep walking." "Okay. But I think you look cool outside. Indoors, you're like a monster." “I don't believe that." "Have you seen the movie Monster?" "Tell me about it" "It’s about a woman who goes around sleeping with different men." "What's that supposed to mean?" "It means a monster can be anyone. You could be one by just being unusual." "So you're monster?" "I'm a black woman." "That doesn't make you a monster." "What does it make me?" "It makes you special." Rossi replied and Nobuhle smiled. Clearly the both of them were getting along nicely. They entered a walkway in the garden at Marshals Town, an area of Johannesburg city center. "Let me tell you a story." Rossi said "Its about a Nigerian woman." "I like to hear that" Nobuhle responded "I took a few photographs of her and her children." "What about her?" "She had a roadside business she was doing for a living and sending her kids to school." "That's good." "But there was a problem. Each time she fell sick her kids would get her medicine from the local chemist and she would be fine." "How did you get to know her?" Nobuhle asked "I was working in Lagos. I met her and her kids. Soon she fell sick again but then, instead of going to the local chemist, I insisted she must go to the hospital." "So why wasn't she going to the hospital?" "I don't know." "Tell me what happened to her?" "At the hospital the doctors looked at her, and discovered she's been suffering from stomach cancer." "So she never knew what her problem was?" Nobuhle asked in a soft voice looking really sorry. "She and her kids were managing with it all along." "So she died?" "Yes. Each time I look at her photographs, I feel bad about myself." "I don't know what to say." Nobuhle said and continued to walk slowly with him. They proceeded to a busy street with restaurants and stopped next to some meter-taxis on the street side. "Nobuhle, what's going on with you? I want to know." Rossi asked staring at her. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine." She replied "I don't believe that." "Why not?" "Because I want to be sure about you." That got Nobuhle. She never thought Rossi could care so much about her. "The thing is I've made some mistakes in my life that I have to live with. Sometimes I think about them and I feel, maybe I’m just destined to be a victim in everything I do. But believe me, that's going to change." "What's going to change?" Rossi asked. Nobuhle hesitated but really to her it was either she told him the truth then or never. "I’m a prostitute. And am HIV positive." She said looking at Rossi in the eyes. "You don't have to say anything. I just want you to know." She added and checked her watch. "Look, I have to go now. It’s late. I'll see you tomorrow." She said and turned to start leaving. "You mind showing me to your place?" Rossi tried stopping her from leaving so soon. "Sorry I can't. I have to go now." Nobuhle quickly moved over to a meter taxi. She stepped inside and drove away leaving Rossi frustrated.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The hunt for Nobuhle
At the cottage in Melville, Jay-Jay stood across the living room, staring at Mr. Noel and Ayanda tied up on two chairs for nearly five hours. The old man looked at Ayanda and felt sorry for him, the poor boy was innocent. Jay-Jay checked his wristwatch and turned to his boys. "I think am hungry. Go inside the kitchen, put some of the meat on fire." He ordered, and his boys responded "Okay boss" The Nigerian man unclipped his leather belt. He pulled it out stirring forward to Mr. Noel. "You know what old man? I'm going to teach you a lesson. I'm going to teach you a good lesson." He said "Teach me a lesson for what?" Mr. Noel asked with bitterness. "Okay give me one reason why you're doing this? Why don't you just leave this woman alone? She doesn't love you anymore." The old man continued furiously. "What love are you talking about?" Jay-Jay responded in amazement. But Mr. Noel wasn’t done. He began to fluff in an attempt to prevent Jay-Jay from using the leather belt on him or his little boy Ayanda. He said, if Nobuhle really ran away from JayJay then she doesn't love him. He needs to go out and find a woman who will love him for what he was. This surprised JayJay for a moment but still he couldn’t understand what the old man was on about. "Do I look like someone who is in love?" He asked starting to get really upset. Mr. Noel reckoned and quickly changed his tone out of fear. "Okay believe me, when my wife left me for another man I thought it was the end of the world. I wanted to kill someone. But then I realised all I needed to do was take a walk and be the man I want to be." This got Jay-Jay even more upset. All he could pick out of the nonsense was the feeling that Mr. Noel’s wife probably left him because the old man did not take care of her. He got angry and gave him a good slash with the leather belt. Suddenly the two heavily built men appeared from the kitchen. "Boss the meat is a lot. I think we are going to need some tomato sauce or mayonnaise." One of the men suggested looking at their boss Jay-Jay as he looked on to give Mr. Noel another slash. The thought of enjoying the red meat with some nice sauce sprinkled on them hit him. He stopped and looked at the old man who was yet to recover properly from the slash. "Look here my friend; do you have some tomato sauce in the house?" Jay-Jay asked with a slight look of doubt in his face. "What do you want?" "Tomato sauce, you have some?" He replied "Who needs tomato sauce? You?" Mr. Noel looked at the men thinking what exactly these people want from him. First they wanted Nobuhle, and then they packed all the meat in his supermarket. Now they want tomato sauce. Jay-Jay reckoned and felt a bit embarrassed that he was suddenly more concerned about food than the woman running away with his money. In spite of that the men moved on to a table in the room. They started to make a lot of noise as Jay-Jay placed a tray full of their poorly grilled red meat on the table "My brother, come let us eat jor. Did you manage to get some sauce?" "Yes boss. There it is on your right" "Give it to me." "My man, give him the tomato sauce." "So where did you find the it?" Jay-Jay asked. "In the cupboard. The other one." Jay-Jay smiled happily and drizzled the sauce over the whole meat. Just as they start to eat, Nobuhle pushed the door open and stood at the entrance unnoticed for some minutes. Mr. Noel raised his head and his eyes quickly grew big seeing that Nobuhle was around. The excitement on Jay-Jay’s face shortly became tainted as Nobuhle proceeded inside the room. He washed his hand and approached her. "So this is how you decide to pay me? This is how you decide to pay me after everything." Jay-Jay asked pulling out his gun. "You think you can run away? You want to work for yourself? "You don't know what I want. You never know what I want." Nobuhle replied with anguish. "You want to make more money, is that what you want?" He asked "You knew I was desperate. I was too stupid to stay away from you" Nobuhle replied starting to cry. "Jay-Jay, why don't you just leave me alone? You're ruining my life! Stop ruining my life, please." She pleaded getting Jay-Jay confused again. "What are you talking about? No one is ruining your life!" he said "This is not what I want. I don't want to be like you." Nobuhle mumbled "Listen my friend, don't talk shit. What is your problem?" "Stay away from me." "Okay where is my money?" He asked. Nobuhle rushed over to find her handbag where she dropped it on her arrival. "Okay here is your money. Here's all I own you." She handed Jay-Jay all the money Rossi gave to her. The Nigerian held the money in his two hands looking amazed. His thugs began to wonder. Even Mr. Noel also admired the loads of cash out of surprise. "Nobuhle, you know am so proud of you? We could make a lot of money together" Jay-Jay said "Okay how about I buy you a car with this money? A nice car." He asked smiling but Nobuhle was too broken. "Do you ever think that maybe I'm HIV positive, and I don't know what to do?" She asked, and Jay-Jay stopped smiling. He stared at her. "So you have HIV? How?" He asked. “I’m a fool. But believe me, I'm going to change that. I want to get my life back." Nobuhle started crying again. Jay-Jay regarded her and put his gun away. �
�Okay Nobuhle, please stop crying. Don't cry." He said looking at her with compassion. "I'll always be your friend. The kind of friend you want me to be." He added giving Nobuhle some courage. She stopped crying and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. The thugs went over to free Mr. Noel and Ayanda. The old man out of shock moved over to hug Nobuhle. Ayanda drew close staring at her in the eyes as if she was his mother who died of HIV aid a year ago. The poor boy started to cry and ran over to hug Nobuhle in an effort to have his mother back.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Nobuhle falls in love
Rossi threw a luggage open on the bed inside his JoziStar hotel room. He pulled some cash from a drawer and put on his suit jacket. In the nick of time, Nobuhle arrived at work as usual in the hotel reception. This time she was worried glancing around the restaurant hoping she would see Rossi. She grew restless and thought of dialling his room number. Surprisingly the Italian approached the reception with his luggage. He handed over his room keys to Debbie and quickly checked out of the hotel leaving Nobuhle in a shock. Really, she wasn’t expecting Rossi would react the way he did. Debbie noticed and tried talking but Nobuhle was too shaken to say a word. Rossi proceeded to the airport where airline officials carefully took his luggage from a trolley and passed it forward while he watched to make sure the bags were secured considering the valuable photographs he had inside. In a minute, he went up to check the flights departure board. All of a sudden, Nobuhle appeared quickly making her way inside the airport. She was tensed up. She stopped a security officer who directed her to take the corner leading to a checkpoint and join the queue. Nobuhle did as told but she was not so sure so she turned to first have a look at the departure board. She checked the flights departing and started to look around trying to identify Rossi. She rushed back to the checkpoint only to see Customs officials scanning and sending the last passenger for departure. Nobuhle suddenly got overwhelmed with thoughts of why she had to go through all of that. A woman and her daughter on the corner noticed she was tired. Two security officers also kept their eyes on her. As she turned to start leaving, Rossi emerged in front of her. She was so shocked she didn’t know what to say. "I’m sorry." She mumbled looking at him. "Sorry for what?" Rossi asked in a soft voice. "Please.... don't... go." Nobuhle pleaded. Rossi hesitated but that got him. He knew Nobuhle was right, he couldn’t imagine himself getting on the flight out of South Africa with Nobuhle still on his mind. "Come here." He said and slowly gathered her in his arms. The both of them quickly turned a television for different travellers especially an angry Indian man who had just missed his flight. Moments later Nobuhle sat in a restaurant pouring out her heart for Rossi who after finishing his drink, took her hands. "Let’s go horse riding. I know of a place" he said surprising Nobuhle so much her whole face suddenly brightened. In about one hour drive away from the airport, Nobuhle and Rossi arrived at a ranch in Megalisberg. Two saddle horses emerged at a cantering pace, trailing and starting to pick up pace. Nobuhle looked okay on the one in front. Rossi comfortably had the other horse to himself. "Hey! How’re you doing?" he called "I don't know!" Nobuhle replied laughing in excitement while Rossi’s horse started to move very fast. She turned to her horse and pulled the reins forcing the horse to slow down. This worried Nobuhle so she tried using her legs to get the horse moving but still it wasn’t working. Nobuhle noticed Rossi trotting far away with his horse and felt helpless. As she relaxed her arms, the horse returned the softness and started to run away with Nobuhle struggling to hold on to the reins. Rossi glanced back to see Nobuhle bouncing awfully on the saddle. To his surprise the horse approached him, and raced past forcing him to bit his horse so he could catch up with Nobuhle seeing that she was totally out of control. Eventually Nobuhle moved over to cling on to Rossi on his horse. They start to trot and roll around a half dried creek in the ranch. Nobuhle rested her head on his shoulder and it felt like this was it, exactly what Nobuhle really wanted with her life. To be free, loved and protected.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Beauty of Nature
Together Nobuhle and Rossi joined a group of different tourists at the popular sunset musical concert in Cape Town. From the eastern slope of Table Mountain, people gathered in the magnificent Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. On one side were a number of dining tables arranged beautifully around a musical band. The guitarist played a couple of strings resonating into the pristine fynbos flora and evergreen forest that stretches across the stunning landscape. The hotel manager from JoziStar went in front of the band and everybody. He asked the guitarist to allow him a minute to welcome everyone. He reflected on the significance of the historical occasion to South Africa tourism and his hotel as the event sets the beginning of summer. The band singer pulled forward with her two exotic dancers. An up and coming Afro pop band from Cape Town. The beautiful song began, arousing the guitarist more than anyone. Their music was highly regarded as soulful and exciting Cape Town beat. In the same time, Jay-Jay and Mr. Noel were on their way heading for the garden. The two men had become friends and managed to find Nobuhle's mother in their effort to surprise their friend. Back in the garden, the hotel manager went back on stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, that was Yolanda, the finest and youngest musical group in Cape Town. Now allow me to introduce our lovely young woman Nobuhle." Everyone applauded as Nobuhle joined the manager and received the mic. The Ghanaian couple gave her a big hand. "Thank you." She said. At last Mr. Noel arrived in the garden with Nobuhle’s mother. Jay-Jay followed them behind. "Kirstenbosch was established in 1913 to promote, conserve and display the extraordinary rich and diverse flora of Southern Africa. It's the first botanical garden in the world to be devoted to a country's indigenous flora." Nobuhle read while her mother, Mr. Noel and Jay-Jay stood in the background admiring her. "This garden displays a wide variety of the unique plant life of the Cape Flora. A home to over 7000 plants including many rare and threatened species. All of which are capable of contributing to an improved quality of life for all South Africans, and everyone in South Africa." At his table Rossi sat sternly as Nobuhle noticed her mother in the crowed and continued. "I want to use this opportunity to say. It doesn't matter who you are, where you're from or if you're black or white. Kirstenboch is opened every day for everyone to appreciate, and enjoy the exceptionally rich plant and animal life of South Africa. Clearly, everyone was excited as Nobuhle said those words. The hotel guests all cheered at her. Her manager, Mr. Noel and Jay-Jay gave her a big hand of applauds. "Thank you." Nobuhle said and the band singer took stage. Moved by Nobuhle’s words the guitarist aggressively pulled a couple of very expressive strings. The Ghanaian couple got up and started dancing to the music. Jay-Jay also enjoyed the music while Mr. Noel went on and on saying something to the ear of Nobuhle’s mother with big smiles. Nobuhle and Rossi left the crowed and proceeded walking down a serene footpath for exploring the garden. "You know when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with some who appreciates you " "You want it to start as soon as possible." Rossi added "The doctor said I'll be fine. If I take care of myself." Nobuhle told him as they walked down the garden slowly disappearing into the sunset. "So how may I help you?" he asked "You love me don't you?" Nobuhle responded jovially. "You don't think that's going to change cause you're HIV positive do you?" "No. I don't think so. Not anymore." she replied stopping to face him for another moment of her life. "I bet you want to go horse riding as often as you can." "Yes but not without you... holding me..." She said in a soft voice as Rossi pulled closer to her. "And now?" he asked admiring her lovely face and her charming neckline. "Kiss me. My neck." Nobuhle whispered "You’re making it worse." Rossi responded starting to kiss her. "You’re never going to change are you?" he asked smiling "At least I’m happy now." Nobuhle replied "We’re all happy." "Yes we are." she added and finally the whisper of their voices faded into the sky
