Philasande

“Help! Help! Help!” Philasande screams.

“It’s no use, Philasande,” says Wandile.

“How can those policewomen not hear us?” asks Philasande. “They are right outside!” she screams.

“The house is soundproof, Philasande. Not a sound comes in and nothing goes out.” Wandile comes close to her and comforts her. “But don’t worry, we will get our chance when we get to the beach. You just stick to the plan and smile at Mam.”

The other girls nod in agreement with what Wandile says. Their eyes plead with Philasande to stick to the plan. She runs her hand over her newly bald head, wipes away her tears and forces a smile.

Philasande had woken up well after the other girls had left the dorm for breakfast. She found Mam sitting on a chair next to her bed. Philasande followed the advice Wandile had whispered to her in the dark when she was brought in.

She did not cry when Mam cut off her colourful braids. She smiled as Mam ran her hand over her newly bald head. Philasande didn’t complain about anything.

“There there now,” Mam said, looking at Philasande in the mirror. “Aren’t you beautiful? From now on you are no longer Philasande. You are now Mary. Call the other Marys. I have an announcement to make.”

Philasande ran to the dining hall and called the other girls. They found Mam in front of the dorm.

“As a treat for all of you, because our new Mary is so well behaved,” Mam pointed to Philasande, “today we are going to the beach!”

The girls went delirious with joy. Then Zandile and Gloria arrived soon after. Mam bundled the girls into the soundproof house and locked the girls inside.

Mam no longer has that smile she had when she made the announcement and the girls beamed with joy. She is anxious when she opens the door.

“Come on girls, hurry up. Get in the van. We don’t have all day,” she snaps at the girls.

Mam is anxious as she drives. The police are too close for comfort, she thinks. It’s time I move the girls to their new home. The new compound is nearly complete, anyway. No-one will ever find me and my Marys there. We have to move straight from the beach; everything else can follow later.

The girls have been with Mam for a long time so they know they must shut up when she is anxious. On the drive to the beach they are dead silent. Each girl imagines freedom. They remember their families and most can’t help but smile in silence.

Philasande is a picture of concentration. She is counting the turns the van takes. Counting the seconds they travel, and turning them into minutes. An hour later, when they travel down a rugged path and the smell of the ocean rushes into the van, she allows herself to also smile.

She is so hopeful of freedom she starts to see her neighbourhood of Mosko in her mind.

But to the girl’s dismay, Mam has brought them to a secluded beach. There is not another soul in sight.

The girls don’t see the man taking a nap behind trees in the distance. They don’t see the stethoscope next to him. The stethoscope that Dr Jonas Dladla will wake up and bury under beach sand before he goes for a swim.

***

Tell us what you think: Is Dr Dladla in cahoots with Mam?