Confessions of Don Black

Chapter 4 - Double Wedding

We went on with our lives after our brother went missing-in-action. One particular Saturday, strangers came to pay lobola for my twin sisters. There was a community gathering with people from faraway places, singing and ululating. My twin sisters were getting married to twin brothers. The brothers were respected taxi operators. It was not every day that twins got married to twins on the same day. The Lord had finally answered our family prayers. You could swear the marriage was a welcome relief, everybody was happy. The neighborhood brothers with the assistance of my uncle, Handsome Sam, slaughtered four cows three days prior. They erected three marques, a big one for everyone, one for kids and another one for men.

"Come you two," Emily said to Bongi and me,"let's take a family photo."

She was the nicest, sweetest and most reserved one. Unlike Emma, she was never one to talk too much. That day she was different, she was over the moon, and had sparkles in her eyes.

"I wish Tony was around," Emma said.

Even though it was also her wedding, Emma's spirit was down that day. Emma and I were close to Tony. Emily was never one to make connections; she was only close to mom. On the other hand, I was close to everyone, especially Bongi, except my dad of course.

"Not now," Emily said, "don't spoil our moment."

"Once more," Emily said to the photographer, "one more time, please take as many as you can."

The elders drank lager beer while kids had ample supply of ginger gemmer and orange juice. The singing continued later into the day and the afternoon. My sisters drove off to the far east, to their new homes later in the evening and most people left as well, leaving myself and Bongi. Suddenly reality struck like lightning. We exchanged playing with dolls and playing with cars. We had no choice, but to accommodate each other. I felt the obligation to protect her. The neighborhood was rough; leaving her alone to play with my friends was not an option. Our neighborhood had stories of abandoned girls who disappeared into thin air without a trace. At least by interchanging the boy and girl's games, we learned a lot.

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One day while Bongi was playing diketo outside our shack, she overheard two women gossiping about our family.

"Mama Eva has always shown signs of depression, "the first woman said, "no wonder she was reluctant to join our society."

"I heard her husband is with Mma Mokhethi at the mines," the second woman said.

The stories of my mother were baffling. One person would be talking about one thing; while others would be talking about something else.

"I heard she chased the husband away," the second woman said.

"I don't blame her," the first woman said, "the husband isn't forthcoming; she must have wanted to end it all."

"Max-max, come here quick," Bongi called for me," hurry."

"What?" I asked.

"Listen," she said.

"And that light skin boy is stubborn, "the first woman said,"What's his name?"

"Maxwell or something," the second woman said.

"He's different from the other kids, you know."

"As for that Bongi girl, she's spoilt rotten," the second woman said.

Bongi wept, with her left hand covering her face, she ran towards Emma. I almost tripped, running after her. I knew if she told her, she would confront the women guns blazing. I grabbed her by her right shoulder and turned her towards me.