When Noluvuyo eventually stepped out of the school building it was already dark. The high school looked like a ghost town, with the only people in sight being the matrics and their parents or family who had attended the teacher-parent meeting. She was the only one without any family present. Mavis had yet again disappointed her. Noluvuyo was, yet again, required to lie to people and make excuses for why her older sister didn’t attend the meeting.

It had been raining and everything was wet and slippery. She’d chosen the wrong day to wear cheap shoes. The truth, though, was that she had no choice. The other pair of shoes she had was strictly for her part-time weekend work at the clothing store. She worked in the ladies’ fashion section and she couldn’t show up amongst all those fancy-dressed store managers wearing crappy shoes. She couldn’t lose the job; supporting the family had become her responsibility since Mavis decided to spend her time and money in shebeens all over Philippi.

“Haibo, Noli, have you forgotten about me?” Mavuyi, called out. After hopping over a few more puddles on the wet pathway, Noluvuyo finally stopped to wait for her friend.

“I’m really in a hurry to get home, Mavuyi. The kids are probably alone now, and hungry.”

“That’s why I was gonna suggest we take the bus,” Mavuyi said, out of breath as she jumped over a very large puddle.

“Okay, ke. But let’s get moving or we’ll miss it.”

Mavuyi struggled to keep up with Noluvuyo. “Listen, Noli, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. What’s really going on at home? Why can’t Mavis look after Mzwandile and Siphosethu? Is she drinking again?”

Noluvuyo remained quiet. Mavuyi was looking at her, waiting for an answer. Finally, she made up her mind to tell the truth.

“Mavuyi, I didn’t know how to tell you. I guess I was so hopeful when Mavis stopped drinking. But one night she had one drink and that was it. It’s really bad at home again. I just can’t keep hiding it any more. She’s always going out with her stupid boyfriend and coming home drunk. I’m the one who’s forced to clean up the mess she leaves behind.”

“Yho, I’m so sorry, chommie yam,” Mavuyi said softly, wrapping her arm around Noluvuyo and giving her a tight hug.

“I guess the reason I didn’t tell you is ’cos we’re supposed to be the girls who have it all together. And I thought I had, when Mavis stopped drinking. But not any more. There’s no time to study and I’m falling behind at school.”

The bus pulled up at the pavement next to them, spraying water from out under its wheels. They jumped in, trying to keep from getting soaked. The driver smiled sympathetically at the two chubby girls out of breath from walking fast and running to catch the bus.

The two settled into their seats and the bus took off again. Mavuyi looked unsure whether to give Noluvuyo some space or to continue asking questions. She ended up just playing on her phone.

Noluvuyo closed her eyes. She started to imagine how awesome life would be if she and her niece and nephew lived with Mavuyi, whose father had a good job. They had such a lovely warm home. They could take care of little Siphosethu and Mzwandile so well. The children would have all the food and clothes they wanted. But she knew this was never going to happen. Noluvuyo lay awake most nights trying to think of a solution to the bad situation they were in at home. It wasn’t fair that her work was suffering because of Mavis. She had ambitions but they were slipping further away every day.

After dropping Mavuyi off at one of the first stops in Philippi, where the streets were still brightly lit, the bus then headed for Noluvuyo’s section, where most of the street lights weren’t working. When she got home she wasn’t surprised to see their shack in pitch darkness. She switched on her phone’s torch.

Inside the house she found Siphosethu and Mzwandile curled up under a blanket in her room. Mam’ Khethiwe, the woman she’d asked to look after them when they came from school, had clearly not waited for Noluvuyo to come back before letting the kids go home. Her sister, Mavis, was nowhere to be seen.
As she entered her room, Noluvuyo stumbled on her sister’s work bag, which she had left in the doorway. She picked it up and turned it upside down over the bed, hoping there’d be some of the money Caroline sometimes gave her sister for the weekend. No money fell out, only a piece of folded paper: She picked it up and read it.

Zuziwe, I’ve messed up. I don’t know where to start. I just know that I’ve messed up my kids’ lives and I’m messing up Noluvuyo’s life too …

Noluvuyo sat down on the corner of the bed. All sorts of thoughts ran through her mind. Did this mean that her sister was ready to change and start being a better mother? Were things going to get better at last?

Her sister was the one she needed to ask all these questions, but where was she? She had to find her.

After putting the letter away, she went next door and begged the aunty to send her teenaged daughter, Agnes, to look after the kids while she went in search of Mavis. Once she had left instructions with Agnes, Noluvuyo pulled on a jacket and left the house.

On the way down to the tavern she scrolled through her cellphone numbers. She usually called Bra Mike when her sister went missing. His tavern was, after all, Mavis’ favourite hangout. She found his number and dialled it. The phone rang, but no one picked up. She tried again and again. Finally someone picked up. It was Thabo, one of the waiters at Bra Mike’s Tavern.

“Hello, bhuti. It’s me, Noluvuyo. Is Mavis there?”

“How you doin, girl? What have I done to deserve a call from such a cute–”
But Noluvuyo cut him off before he could say anything else. She wasn’t in the mood for flirting. “Bhuti, did you see my sister today? She there right now?”

“I don’t know. Let me look around and ask some people.”

Noluvuyo could hear the tavern music in the background. When Thabo came back to the phone he brought only bad news. “They say your sister’s in jail. Her boyfriend, Sakhumzi, stabbed Bra Mike and she was found with the knife and his walletin her bag …”

Noluvuyo didn’t know whether to scream or cry so she just stayed quiet. She was in shock and had no strength to respond. She turned and ran back to their shack.

The children were still asleep and when she had sent Agnes home, she went into her sister’s room and threw herself down on the bed. How was she going to explain this to little Siphosethu and Mzwandile? And how would she get her sister out of prison?

***

Tell us what you think: What should Noluvuyo do?