by Botha, Johan
“Run!”
They both flung themselves back over the fence, just as the young bull regained its feet and charged again. Luckily Big John took pride in his work and built strong corrals.
Patrick slapped John’s back in relieved laughter and the rest of the onlookers from the village joined in on the congratulations. Peter and Beth witnessed the whole event in youthful, wide-eyed amazement at both men’s bravery.
It was a day well remembered and still spoken of at the village and around the dinner tables.
Chapter 7
Big John put the key in the lock of the front door. The oak wood seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when it creaked open.
“Jesu.” Big John said, knowing what pain and sorrow lay on the inside of this house.
“Are you sure this is the right thing to do?” Lettie asked from behind him.
“Yebo, it’s the right thing. The only way Peter will ever be able to fight the demons in himself is if he can make peace with Juanita’s death.”
“I just don’t think…”
“Just do what I tell you to, Lettie and stop thinking too much about everything. Just do as I tell you!” Big John was getting irritated with his wife. He knew she meant well, but she was soft, she was a woman.
“Alright.” Lettie said and walked into the house.
The wooden floors lay hidden beneath a layer of fine dust. As she walked into the living room, she noticed that her bare feet was making prints on the floor as if reminding her of the last time she walked in this house a long time ago…
The house was dark, musty and smelled of rat pee. Such a pretty house, Lettie thought, but such bad memories lurked in the shadows here. Hopefully she would be able to make it look more like a house than a book of memories.
“Peter will be home soon.” Big John said and closed the door behind him.
Lettie started to take the rags from the couches in the sitting room. They were coated in dust and cobwebs lined the corners of the chairs.
She found a bucket in the kitchen and filled it with water at the sink. The water was murky and smelled foul. An old mop and duster stood in the corner of the kitchen. She took it and climbed up the creaky stairs to the bedrooms.
The sheets on the bed in the master bedroom were a yellow color, stained by age. Lettie removed the dusty sheets and opened the window to let the fresh air in. She started by dusting the cupboards and ceiling corners. She took fresh sheets from the closet and made the bed. This would have been the bed that Peter and Juanita would have slept in… Lettie thought.
She turned her attention to the bathroom attached to the bedroom, trying not to let her thoughts wander.
Juanita was such a free spirit. Lettie knew that Peter loved her with his whole heart and when he lost her, Lettie thought that they will lose Peter too. But he is still here, still hanging there…
Lettie was startled by a spider running across the room as she was mopping the floor of the third bedroom near the staircase landing. It looked hideous. She thought she saw it stall for a few seconds and turn its hairy body towards her. A cold shiver went down her spine and she quickly gathered her mop, bucket and duster.
As she walked down the now cleaner stairs, she heard Big John’s voice. “Lettie!”
“Yebo?” Lettie found him in the kitchen.
“I got Thabi to get a few things at the shop for when Peter comes home. We can’t let him starve here. Pack it away and make sure the rats won’t get to it.”
“Big John?” Lettie said hesitantly.
“Yes?”
“I saw something Big John. I think…”
“Woman I am not going to tell you again that you must stop thinking and just do what you are supposed to do!” Big John stood in front of his wife and grabbed her by her arms. He looked into her eyes and saw tears in them. Startled, he let her go.
Big John had never seen tears in Lettie’s eyes. She was a hardened woman. Ife did this to a person when you go through hardships and see death on a daily basis. It becomes part of life but sometimes death comes in different forms.
They were also raised to be strong and to deal with whatever life threw at them. But seeing his wife with tears in her eyes made him realize that she was just a human and also had fears and emotions.
“Lettie…” Big John said and took her hand.
“I fear for Peter. Something is not right. There is darkness here in this house. I can feel it. The ancestors are whispering to me that I need to warn him.”
“Did you see something?” Big John asked. Knowing her ability to predict futuristic things for them. She didn’t like to speak about it much, but she once confided in Big John about what happened to her as a child and how she learnt to communicate with the spirit ancestors.
“I… no…” Lettie was not sure if she should say what she saw on the lading of the staircase.
“Lettie, whatever it is you feel, let it go. Peter needs us now and we can’t confuse him more than he already is. He needs comfort and friends that support him. He does not need to be bothered with the things he can’t see or understand.”
“You’re right.” Lettie said and turned to open the door to the balcony. She wanted to mop the floor before she started packing away the groceries that Big John had placed on the kitchen counter.
As she packed the tinned food in the cupboards, she watched Big John as he placed a bottle of Whiskey and a bottle of Rum on the counter at the bar area. Peter needed to let go of the drink. Lettie knew it calmed his nerves and made him forget, but he needed to think clearly if he knew what was coming…
“You done, Lettie?” Big John entered the kitchen as she put the last mealie meal into the plastic container.
“Just the study left.” She said. That was the room she was not so keen to clean and Big John knew that.
“Come, let’s get it done.” Big John walked to the study doors and opened it.
“The smell of lavender still hung in the air. This was Juanita’s study. All her research and papers were stored here. It was like entering a memory box filled with all that Juanita loved. There was a huge desk in the center of the room and a moth eaten chair behind it. The far wall was occupied by an ancient book shelf.
“Eish mama.” Lettie said as she looked at all the documents on the desk.
“We have to go through them Lettie. Pack them away so that they won’t bother Peter when he comes.”
“I know. I just don’t understand why she was so obsessed with the ancestors and spirits and all the darkness the world has to offer. Why would she go looking for all these things when all the rest of us run away from it our entire lives?” Lettie shook her head.
Juanita had a deep passion for the African culture. She was moved by the rituals the Sangomas did when they called upon the ancestors. She didn’t care about the darkness that came with it; it was like she was obsessed with it. She has seen many rituals being performed as she grew up and was mesmerized at the way the Sangomas blew into their hands as they held their sacred bones and stones before they threw them onto their mats to tell you your fate.
Many believed that Juanita may in fact be a witch, but that was not the case; or at least that is what Lettie believed.
At this moment, Lettie knew that she would be able to uncover the truth under Juanita’s obsession. She wished she didn’t have to know the truth, but she also knew that she wouldn’t be able to contain her curiosity as she started cleaning the study.
Big John started picking up the heavy boxes from the floor and stacked them neatly in one corner. “Sweep and mop here as well.” Big Johan pointed to a stain on the floor near one of the boxes he had picked up.
Lettie opened one of the desk drawers and gasped. “Oh Jesu! Nkosi!”
Inside the drawer, on a faded purple linen piece of cloth, lay three pieces of yellow bones, three little pebbles and what looked like a tooth.
Lettie stood back. It was well known that the Sangomas used these pebbles in their rituals and that the bones
would curse anyone other than the Sangoma using them. No one ever touched these sacred rocks, except its owner.
“Big John, bhuka!” Lettie pointed her finger at the drawer.
“Witch.” Was all Big John said.
“It’s true…”
“Come on Lettie, did you seriously believe that she was just another woman who was obsessed with the Tokoloshe?”
“I… She…” Lettie didn’t know what to say. She had always believed that Juanita was pure and true to her destiny, despite the dark look in her eyes she sometimes got when talking about spirits and unnatural beings.
The woman in Lettie’s had sometimes talked about the way Juanita acted and the way she reacted when going to the local Sangoma. No one could ever confirm that Juanita was busy practicing witchcraft, not even the Sangoma she visited sometimes noticed anything strange.
Not even Peter knew what Juanita was doing. He knew that she would sit for hours at end and read books of all the Tokoloshe legends and the Sangomas of Southern Africa. Peter never had the slightest idea that Juanita was doing something more sinister, not even Lettie knew…
But now she did. Now she could confirm the chill she got on the stairs. Her ancestors were warning her of the danger that was to come from Juanita’s obsessive behavior.
“Lettie, clean up the desk. Leave it and just clean the desk.” Big John looked away. He didn’t want to think of Juanita as a witch and looked at Lettie.
“You will not speak a word to anyone about what you see here today, do you understand?”
“Yes.” Lettie said and closed the drawer.
She started packing up the documents that lay scattered on the table, blowing the dust from them.
“Tokoloshe Facts in South Africa.” Lettie read as she picked up one of the papers. She knew all too well who and what the Tokoloshe was. She had never seen it, but she knew his was there… waiting…
“Lettie…” Big John said. “This has nothing to do with us.”
“I want to understand why she did what she did Big John. What was chasing her all these years?”
Big John didn’t answer and picked up another box.
Lettie read the contents of the paper. She was one of the lucky women in her village to have been able to learn to read and write. Most of the other woman were illiterate and didn’t even know how to write their names. They were, after all, there to care for their husbands and schooling was not an option.
The Tokoloshe, as known in African countries, is said to be a small baboon-like creature with warts over its body. It is considered a mischievous and evil spirit that can become invisible by drinking water. Tokoloshes are called upon by Sangomas or witchdoctors to cause trouble for others. The Tokoloshe can be used by a Sangoma to scare children, but its power extends to causing illness and even death upon others. The only way to get rid of a Tokoloshe is to call a Sangoma that can banish the Tokoloshe and the evil spirits surrounding him.
Lettie set the paper aside. What was Juanita’s obsession with the Tokoloshe? Has she seen him? Has she been in contact with this creature at all or was it pure curiosity?
She picked up another paper that seemed to be hand written.
The Tokoloshe is only as strong as you want it to be. If you are able to control it, you have reached the point of your destiny. Nothing will be able to stop the forces you have within you if you have the Tokoloshe’s spirit captured in your mind. Let the Tokoloshe not gain control over you, for that will break the bond and chaos with prevail. What happened in the past will happen now and it will happen again in the future. It is your choice, however, if you want it to be for the good or for the bad.
What is this all about? Lettie thought. Was this not Juanita’s handwriting?
Lettie slowly started to work her way through the pieces of paper, documents and written research results. It all seemed so unreal that someone would deliberately fill their own heads with all these unnatural and dark forces.
Lettie’s hand brushed across a newspaper clipping of a few years back. As she started reading the story, she could feel a slight pressure on her chest. Fear was slowly starting to build up inside her.
There had been an incident where a young girl was raped by a mysterious creature in the middle of the night. The girl’s mother claimed that it was the Tokoloshe. She said that she had seen it jump off her daughter’s bed as she started screaming. When she lit a small fire to see what had been on her child’s bed, it was too late. All they found on the hay mattress was the mutilated figure of a small girl, blood seeping from deep wounds in her chest and between her thighs.
“Put it down woman!” Lettie was startled as Big John snatched the newspaper clipping from her hand and threw it to the floor.
Lettie clutched the corner of the table and felt as if she might feint.
Big John gave her one last look and said, “Lettie, I am not going to say it again! Finish up here and go home.”
“Yes.” Lettie knew better than to argue. She dunked the mop inside the bucket of water and started mopping the floor. She wished that she could mop away the fact that she now knew the truth about who or what Juanita really was…
****
“We have opened the new house for you and Lettie cleaned it up.” Big John said with authority. This was his friend and boss and it was time for him to pull himself together. He was going to need it.
Peter looked at John when he heard the tone in his voice and knew that he was in a position that he wasn’t sure he was ready for.
“We took all the plastic off the furniture and I took the liberty of stocking up everything that you will need.” Big John looked at his friend and they both knew that the time had come for Peter to stop living in the past.
“I need a drink.” Peter said as they started walking towards the familiar abode.
“You can’t drink now. We need you on the farm and you have to sort this thing out between you and the ancestors.”
“What?” Peter looked at John in surprise.
“What do you mean by that? Is that what you got from what Beth told you?”
“I cannot talk to you now but when you are ready you will know.”
“What the hell is going on around here, John?” Peter stopped walking and turned around to face him. “I need to know now. I know that my mind was not playing games with me and I was not so pissed up that I can’t remember what happened.” Peter started shaking and knew that he needed a drink badly to calm him.
“Come on…let’s get inside…” Beth cajoled the two.
Peter approached the front balcony, looked at the door, and met Beth’s eyes knowingly. “Well, Fuck.” He said and turned the key to the home he had once shared with Juanita.
***
Juanita was the last person in the house before Big John and his wife. Peter thought that he could smell her perfume as he sniffed the air. He wanted her to be here, now, so that they could enter together.
This was their gift from the people working for him and his family on the farm. They all loved him and wanted to give them something in return for what he did for them.
His parents drew up the plans and funded the project.
The accident on the Mountain happened about a month after they started building but Big John and his crew carried on with the house the day after the funeral. They all hoped someday they would have a reason to celebrate again.
Peter headed straight for the bar and knew that Big John would not have forgotten to supply it as well. He poured each of them a whisky without asking and swallowed his drink down in one gulp.
It scarcely hit his stomach when the next one followed. The burning sensation as the liquor went down his throat was welcome.
He looked up and saw Beth looking at him. She seemed heartbroken and he knew that nearly everything he did broke her heart a little. He felt torn about that… but that was just another reason to get drunk.
“Peter you must pull yourself together. You could still be in danger!”
�
��I just don’t know what to do,” Peter said, turning to look out the window as he heard Beth and Big John start to talk amongst themselves.
He thought that he heard Juanita’s voice in the background too, but could not make out what she said. He started to feel like he couldn’t breathe, the room didn’t have enough air, and he felt panicked.
He looked towards the mountains….Guardian Mountain. Motherfucker.
“Peter….help….Peter…..” He closed his eyes and heard the thud all over again as her tender body hit the rock below.
