They are Coming

Chapter 28

108 Chapter 28 He emerges into Emakhandeni Township behind the Power Station and walks past it. He crosses Luveve road, and walks beside Njube Hill. The top of the hill is filled with small groups of amapostori worshippers chanting their prayers to the sky. He crosses Masiyephambili Road, enters Lobengula Township and spots his mother walking away from him. A dish of vegetables is balanced on her head. She calls out in a thin and detached voice, ‘Cheap vegetables! Cheap vegetables for sale!’ ‘Mama!’ Ambition runs in her direction. Pages of red paper are strewn all over the ground behind her. MaNdlovu stops and turns. Sweat is dripping down her face, and a frown creases her brow. ‘Where are you coming from?’ she asks anxiously. She looks worried, and she takes his hand and leads him into the shade of a guava tree. ‘From… from… ’ Ambition pauses, relieved; she wouldn’t ask the question if she’d seen him hiding behind the boulder. ‘Stop stammering, Ambi. You mustn’t play far away from home. Haven’t I told you that there are people who steal stubborn children like you?’ ‘Okay, Mama.’ Ambition bends down and picks up a stray piece of the red papers. ‘Put that down at once!’ Ambition drops the paper. He gazes at the blue plastic bag that his mother is holding, a scroll of paper peeping out of the top. ‘What are you staring at?’ she asks, tucking the bag under her arm as if she doesn’t want him to see what’s in it. ‘Go home at once.’ ‘Yes, Mama.’ Ambition grins. ‘And please bring me some sweets when you come home.’ MaNdlovu’s careworn face breaks into a smile. ‘Yes I will, my son.’ She 109 pats his shoulder. ‘You know I love you. Please go home now.’ MaNdlovu continues up the street. ‘Cheap vegetables for sale! Cheap vegetables for sale!’ Ambition watches her for a moment, and sees his mother’s hand reach into her bag, pull out the scroll of paper, and release the rubber band to let the pages float behind her as if she’s performed a magical feat. Then she turns a corner and disappears. A few streets further along, Ambition comes upon a group of children, all younger than him. He recognises them but does not know most of them by name. They’re milling excitedly around a ditch miming expressions of horror. ‘What is it?’ Ambition asks, as he peers into the ditch. Ntando’s father lies upside down, his head slightly tilted, snoring noisily . One hand clutches a cellphone. ‘What’s wrong with him?’ ‘He was peeing into the ditch,’ answers a boy in a bright blue cap. ‘Then he did this…’ The boy teeters on the edge of the ditch milling his arms as if he‘d lost his balance. ‘And he fell inside!’ a girl adds, and all the children burst out laughing . ‘He’s very drunk!’ another boy exclaims. ‘I saw him at the bottle store this morning dancing with a bottle of beer on his head like this!’ He places a fist on his head and wiggles his hips. ‘Never-Say-Never!’ The boy calls out, to more laughter. Ambition climbs down into the ditch, and shakes Tshabalala by the shoulder. ‘Hey, wake up, saNtando!’ Tshabalala reeks of alcohol and cigarettes, and does not respond. ‘Let’s look for water and pour it over him,’ the boy with the blue cap advises. ‘My father did that to my mother once when she came home drunk from a party!’ ‘This is a policeman,’ Ambition says. ‘And if you do that to him and he wakes up you will all rot in jail!’ One of the children inhales sharply in mock horror. ‘We’re all so frightened,’ she says, and they all laugh. Ambition shakes Tshabalala again. This time he swats Ambition’s hand and mutters, ‘I can’t beat my neighbours, even if it’s for the Party, 110 please Inspector.’ His voice is slurred. ‘This…er ishn’t why we…er wernt to war.’ ‘Hai ah! He can’t beat us when he’s so drunk. Listen to him!’ The children howl with merriment. Tshabalala wriggles into a more comfortable position, snoring loudly and rhythmically. Ambition extricates the cellphone from his hand and climbs out of the ditch. ‘Look after him, okay guys? I’m going to tell Freeman...