BROKEN PROMISES CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2
Ntombi looked at the five rand coin
in her hand. “What does she think I
can buy with five rand?” she thought.
One small bag of chips at the spaza,
and a small packet of sweets, which
she’d have to share with Zinzi. It
wouldn’t buy her what she really
needed – just ten minutes of time
with her mother, when they could sit


down and watch TV together, or talk,
like they used to.
Just then Zinzi came in. She had
been playing soccer in the street and
her knee was grazed and bleeding.
“Where’s Mama?” she asked Ntombi.
“Guess,” said Ntombi. “It’s not that
hard.”
“Zakes?”
“Where else?”
“I thought you had singing practice
this evening?’ said Zinzi as she
slumped on the couch and dabbed at
her cut with a tissue.
“Not any more. Mama said I’ve got to
stay home and look after you.”
“I can look after myself.”
“You’re twelve,” said Ntombi,
fetching the Dettol from the
bathroom and dabbing it on Zinzi’s
cut.
“Ouch!” Zinzi complained. “Stop it.
You’re hurting me.”
“Don’t act like a baby. You don’t
want it to get worse, do you? Do you
want to go to hospital with an
infected cut?”
“Why are you in such a bad mood?”
“Wouldn’t you be if you were missing
a chance to go to the national finals
of South Africa’s Teen Voice
Competition?”
“I thought the judges were only
coming next week?”
“They are. But every practice is really
important. Mr Masondo says that we
have to work hard and make
Harmony High proud. Otherwise he
won’t let us compete.”
Ntombi had been chosen, along with
ten others at Harmony High, to
perform for a panel of talent scouts
that was travelling around the
country auditioning high school
students for the Teen Voice singing
competition. If she was chosen out
of the ten students from her school
then she would go on to the national
finals in Jozi. The prize was R10
000 and a recording contract.
Ntombi had promised herself that
she would work as hard as she
could, attend every practice, and go
to the nationals. Sometimes she
even let herself dream of winning
the competition. It would change her
life – she would work really hard and
produce an album. She’d buy a
proper house for her family, and
make sure her sister finished school.
With the money she could go to
university and study to become…
* * *
Just then there was the sound of
girls laughing outside in the street.
“It’s the giraffes,” Zinzi said from the
couch where she was watching Days
on TV. She called Ntombi’s three
girlfriends the giraffes because they
were taller than other girls. In turn,
they called Ntombi “shortie”,
although she was average height.
Ntombi opened the door and hugged
her friends Busi, Asanda and Lettie.
At least she could rely on them for
support. Asanda and Lettie had also
been chosen to compete in the
singing competition and Ntombi
could see that they were on their
way to the practice. Busi was going
along to watch in the hope of
attracting the attention of Unathi,
who was also competing. At the last
practice she sat in the front row
seats in the hall, blowing kisses to
Unathi and holding up a big piece of
paper with “I love Unathi” painted in
lipstick. Unathi had just smiled and
waved. Ntombi had told Busi that
Unathi had a girlfriend back in Jozi,
where he was from, but Busi
wouldn’t listen. She didn’t want to
hear.
“Come on, lazy girl,” Asanda
laughed. “We’ll be late.” The practice
was in the school hall, a taxi-ride
away.
“I can’t go,” Ntombi told them.
“You must be joking!” Lettie said.
“What’s wrong with you? I thought
this was your dream?”
“Mama went out and I have to look
after Zinzi.”
“You know what this means. Mr
Masondo is not going to be
pleased.”
“I know.” Ntombi was close to tears
and her friends could see it. Mr
Masondo was their singing coach
and he was strict. Two missed
rehearsals and you were out of the
competition.
Asanda gave her a big hug. “Listen,
we’ll bring you the lyrics back and
help you practise. Cheer up. I’ll tell
Mr Masondo that you got food
poisoning.” Asanda was the queen
of excuses, and with her charm the
teachers always believed her.
“Thanks chommies. You’re the best.”
Ntombi tried to smile bravely, but
she felt terrible.
“By the way, there’s a party on
Saturday at Thabiso’s Tavern. We’re
going,” Busi said. “Why don’t you
come? It should be fun. Unathi’s
going to be there with his cousin
from Jozi.”
“How many times do I have to tell
you Unathi has a girlfriend?” Ntombi
despaired of Busi. She really lost her
head over boys and forgot who she
was – the intelligent and charismatic
girl who had a great future if she
could just stay focused.
“He’s never mentioned her,” said
Busi. “And anyway evidently his
cousin is even better looking, and
I’ve always wanted to go to Jozi.
They say the men are hot up there.”
“You’re going to burn yourself one
day,” joked Ntombi. “Just be
careful.”
“Yes, Mama,” the girls laughed.
* * *
Ntombi watched as her friends ran
down the road to catch the taxi.
They were laughing and chatting.
She went back inside and shut the
door. The girls were right to call her
‘Mama’ – that’s what she was at the
moment, and she was only fifteen. It
was like her mother and her had
swopped roles. The other girls used
to complain about their strict
mothers and tell Ntombi she was
lucky. But Ntombi had noticed they
didn’t say that anymore, not since
Zakes had arrived on the scene. And
Ntombi did not want to be a mother.
Not for a long time. Not until she had
finished studying and definitely not
with someone she didn’t love and
respect!
“I’m hungry,” complained Zinzi, who
was watching The Bold and the
Beautiful.
Ntombi wanted to just walk away
from the house. But she knew she
couldn’t.
She put the last bit of mielie meal
into the pot. Sometimes she loved
porridge for supper. But she was
getting tired of it now. Before Zakes,
her mother had always made sure
that there was enough food in the
house for them. It was a struggle on
her salary, but she would always
cook them a good meal in the
evening and they would sit together
and chat about the day. She had
been sad a lot, but then they also
had good times together. They went
shopping in town on Saturday at the
end of the month when her mother
would give them each pocket money
to spend. Now she didn’t have time
for them any more. Ntombi had been
telling her how the fridge needed to
be fixed (it kept going on and off)
and that the drain at the back of the
house was blocked again. That’s
when she really missed her dad. He
would have fixed it by now. And
where was Zakes when something
went wrong in their house – out
selling cars?
She served the pap onto plates.
“Careful, it’s hot,” she warned.
“Not this again,” complained Zinzi.
“Don’t tell me, tell Mama,” said
Ntombi.“If she’s ever here to tell.” As
they ate, on Bold, a soapie star
reclined on a lounging chair beside a
pool somewhere in America –
somewhere hot and lush with lots of
money. A butler handed her an ice
cold cocktail… she didn’t have a care
in the world. Her nanny was looking
after her kids, and Ntombi knew that
her fridge would be brimming with
food. Just then there was a sizzling
sound and a bang from the back of
the TV. The smell of burned plastic
filled the room.
“No!” screamed Zinzi. “Not the TV!
My life has ended.” And she buried
her face under a cushion.
“Don’t be such a drama queen!”
yelled Ntombi. She went into the
bedroom to get away from her sister,
before she exploded like the TV. She
lay on the bed she shared with Zinzi
and started paging through a
magazine. But she wasn’t reading
the words. She kept thinking of
Asanda and Lettie standing on the
stage of the school hall, learning the
words of that new song, and them all
laughing and having fun as they got
one step closer to the finals, while
she was stuck in this dump with a
younger sister who was driving her
crazy and not helping one bit around
the house.
She looked down at the glamorous
pop stars in the mag. Who did she
think she was, trying to compete with
girls like this? Maybe she was
dreaming after all. Maybe Zakes was
right. Maybe she didn’t have what it
took to be a Teen Voice star. “Why
bother entering the competition,” he
had said. “These days you have to
have the whole package: the looks,
the sex appeal and the voice. You’ll
only be setting yourself up to be
taken down.”
Her dad would never have said those
hurtful words. He had told her that
he was so proud of her when she
had got into the choir at Harmony
High. And when he had his
employer’s car for a few days he had
taken her to practices himself. Once
when she wanted to go and get her
ears pierced he had said, “Why spoil
something so beautiful already?”
Now she didn’t even know where he
was, or who he was with. Maybe he
had a whole other family somewhere,
another daughter, whom he loved
now, more than her?
* * *
As she lay there she thought of the
three promises she had made to
herself on New Year’s eve three
months ago. First: to enter the
singing competition and go all the
way to the final. Second: not to go
out with a guy unless he was kind
and respected her – not like the guy
Busi had dated in the holiday, who
had seemed the real deal – too good
to be true – because he was too
good to be true. He was good
looking and clever, but he had left
her with a broken heart and a broken
arm after he had pushed her and she
had tripped and fallen hard. If
Ntombi and Asanda hadn’t run when
they heard her cries from behind the
sports shed at school, things might
have been a lot worse. But when
they appeared Ebenezer had left her
and run – a coward at heart.
The third promise was to find her
dad and bring him home. There was
no way that she was going to let
Zakes move in with them and
pretend to be their father.