BROKEN PROMISES CHAPTER 5

 

Chapter 5
Olwethu walked Ntombi home. It was
starting to get dark as they turned
past the spaza shop into her street.
She was grateful to him. She didn’t
like to be out on the streets when it
was dark, and she was feeling bad
for leaving Zinzi alone in the house.
“So it’s true, what they say about
Zakes?” she asked Olwethu.
“My gogo doesn’t gossip. If she told
you it’s because she wants you to
know, and she wants to protect your
mother,” Olwethu said.


“I knew that he was up to no good,”
said Ntombi, “and I know I have to
make my mother see sense … but
she won’t listen to me anymore.
She’s like a stranger.”
“That’s tough,” said Olwethu, and he
looked like he really cared.
“It’s okay, really. Compared to what
your family has been through.” She
looked down, embarrassed. Olwethu
fell quiet as they drew close to her
house. Ntombi saw a familiar but
worrying sight. There was Zakes’
BMW parked outside.
“I tell you what else I know about
Zakes,” said Olwethu as they
approached the pimped-up car. “In
the school holiday I work at my
uncle’s panel beating shop in Site C.
One day this guy comes in with a
black BMW, says he wants them to
re-spray it silver. But there’s nothing
wrong with the car – not a dent or a
scratch. And when I asked my uncle,
he told me to be quiet and keep
working. It was like he was scared or
something.”
“Zakes?”
“Yes. He had an Orlando Pirates
sticker on the bumper.” There was
the sticker now, on the bumper of
Zakes’ car, staring them in the face.
“You’ll be alright?” Olwethu asked.
“Yes,” said Ntombi, “and thanks for
everything.”
“It’s a pleasure,” he said. “See you at
school sometime.” He seemed to
hover, like he wanted to say
something more, but then he turned
and walked away down the street
just as Zinzi came across from the
spaza shop carrying a big bottle of
cooldrink.
“Zakes said I could buy this,
because I’ve been such a good girl,”
she said smiling.
“And you bought it?” asked Ntombi,
disgusted. “Don’t let him buy you off
so easily, Zinzi. You’re worth far
more than a bottle of cooldrink.”
“So you won’t be having any?”
teased Zinzi.
“No way,” said Ntombi, although the
ice-cold bottle looked so good. And
she was so thirsty. I’m stronger than
that, she thought. I have to be.
Zakes was taking up the whole
couch when she got inside. The
smell of his aftershave filled the
small house.
“Aren’t you going to greet Zakes?”
Zinzi asked, taking a gulp of
cooldrink. Ntombi mumbled a
greeting, dumped her shopping, and
walked quickly past him to go to the
bedroom. But he grabbed her arm
and pulled her close. She could
smell the beer reeking from his
whole body.
“How’s SA’s next Teen Voice singing
queen?” he said mockingly. “I hope
you gave what I said some thought.”
He smiled at her, and she wanted to
slap his hand away and run. He
made her sick. “Because you know,
when I move in here with your
gorgeous mother, I don’t want
anything to ruin it.”
It was a threat, she could tell. And
for the first time, besides feeling
sickened by him, she felt fear. How
could she tell her mother the truth
about him? Just then her mother
came swanning in from the bedroom
in a pair of new shoes. “What do you
think?” she asked Ntombi and Zinzi.
Ntombi pushed past her.
“What’s got into her?” her mother
asked Zinzi.
“She’s just jealous,” said Zakes
loudly, so that Ntombi could hear.
“That’s really sad – when a
daughter’s jealous of her own
mother.”
* * *
Ntombi stayed in the bedroom. She
got out her photo album and started
to page through it. There was a
picture of her dad holding her in his
arms when she was a little girl. They
looked so happy. What had gone
wrong? There was one of her mother
and father looking so proud as they
held their two daughters up to the
camera. Would those days ever
come back? Were they gone forever?
The music was switched off and the
TV on. Zakes had brought them a
new TV and her mother and sister
were so grateful! It was Isidingo and
Ntombi liked to watch it. She liked to
lose herself in the characters’ lives.
It made her forget about her situation
for thirty minutes every day. But
tonight there was no way she was
going to squash on a couch next to
Zakes, drink his cooldrink, and watch
a TV that he’d probably stolen. There
was no way she would ever be
grateful to him for anything, or put
herself in his debt.
She got out her diary and started to
doodle on the page. She had
promised Mr Ntlanti that she would
come up with the lyrics to a song for
the magazine. She could write about
an evil stepdad and a mother gone
crazy with love. Or a teenage girl
whose dreams to become the next
teen idol came to nothing because
she was trapped at home looking
after her younger sister… who was
drinking cooldrink and making out
like Zakes was her best friend.
Ntombi wished one of her girlfriends
was with her. They were always good
in times like these. They would
sympathise with her. Asanda would
make fun of Zakes. She was good at
impersonations and she would have
them rolling around the bed with
laughter, as she pushed out her
tummy to make a beer belly and
scratched her bottom like he did.
Just then Ntombi’s cellphone lit up
in the dark. She smiled to herself –
that would be one of the girls now.
Often when she thought of them, one
of them would SMS. It was like they
had some telepathic connection, and
could read each other’s thoughts.
But when she looked at the screen,
she did not recognise the number.
She checked the inbox. There was a
message:
Hey gojus. I’l b waitin on da taxi
2morow 4 u. Can’t wayt 2 spend mor
tym wit u.
Ntombi read the message ten times
but it didn’t change. He called her
‘gorgeous’; he “couldn’t wait to
spend time with her”. No guy had
ever said that to her before. She
held the cellphone against her heart.
She knew she was being
sentimental, like the girls she
laughed at in class, who carried
around love notes from guys and
lost their heads – but she couldn’t
help it. Mzi made her feel something
she had never felt before.
She wanted to SMS Asanda
immediately to ask her advice on
what she should SMS back to him,
but she stopped. How could she?
Her friends didn’t approve of him, or
his brother. Ntombi thought again
how unfair it was for them to bundle
him and his brother together as if
they were the same person. Look
how different she was from Zinzi It
was hard sometimes to think they
were related. No, she was on her
own for now.
Sho
she typed… and pressed the send
button…
Perhaps she should have made him
wait, act like she wasn’t waiting for
the phone to ring, but it was too late,
the SMS was gone. There was no
turning back. She waited, expecting
another SMS to bounce back, but her
screen remained blank. Anyway, it
would be uncool of him to respond
so quickly, she told herself. And
tomorrow was just another sleep
away.
“Ntombi, Zakes is going. Come and
say goodbye,” her mother called to
her from the lounge, but she didn’t
respond. “I don’t understand that
girl,” she heard her mother say, then
she heard them all laughing. But now
their laughter didn’t matter any more.
It was going to be alright because
Mzi had SMSed her and she would
see him on the taxi the next
morning.
When she heard Zakes’ BMW revving
outside and then speeding off into
the dark, she came out into the
lounge. Her mother had left her a
plate of food. But suddenly she
wasn’t hungry. Is this what love does
to you? she wondered.
“What’s got into you?” her mother
asked her. “Why are you so rude to
Zakes?”
“Why do you think?” Ntombi shot
back.
“Maybe Zakes is right,” her mother
said. “Maybe you are jealous.”
“Jealous of what?” Ntombi was
getting mad.
“Because you haven’t got a
boyfriend,” Zinzi chipped in.
“So whose side are you on?” Ntombi
turned on her younger sister. She
couldn’t believe her sister was
changing sides because of one lousy
bottle of cooldrink.
* * *
“Mama, Zakes is not what he seems,”
Ntombi whispered to her mother
later, as they lay in the dark trying to
sleep.
“What do you mean?”
Ntombi hesitated. She didn’t know if
she could tell her mother what
Olwethu’s granny had said; how
Zakes was a thief. It would hurt her
mother terribly, and although she
thought her mother had gone crazy
and she didn’t like her at the
moment, she didn’t want to hurt her
before she was sure. Besides, maybe
the granny’s friend had made a
mistake. She could not speak to her
mother until she knew the truth
herself. If only there was a way she
could find out more about Zakes.
“Have you ever been to his house?”
Ntombi asked. Her mother was
silent.
“Zakes is a proud man,” she
eventually replied. “I think he is
ashamed of how small his house is.”
“I thought he earned all this money?”
“He’s saving. He wants to give us a
good life one day.”
“Has he ever introduced you to any
of his family?”
Her mother sat up in bed. “It’s not
easy for him. I am separated from
your father. But we are not divorced.
Until we are…” Her mother went quiet,
just as Ntombi’s cellphone buzzed,
and all thoughts of Zakes were
forgotten. Ntombi could almost hear
Mzi’s voice, whispering in her ear, as
the words
gudnyt bby …
glowed green on her screen.