While David’s father was sleeping, he snored so loud that David was sure he could be heard by the people living in the shack next door to theirs. He snored very hard and very loud, and what David did not know was that it was even worse when he had flue or was feeling feverish. David’s brother, on the other hand, was already used to their father’s snoring. And even when he took a nap during the day, their father snored very loudly, and people passing by would always wonder what was happening. But then again, it was his life’s disease, and there was nothing he could do about it.

While David’s father and brother were sleeping, David sat there thinking about how he was going to survive in that small, dirt-filled, overcrowded room, that was unnecessarily stuffy, hot, and smelled bad. After thinking about his future for a while, he stood up and went to bed without even taking off his trouser. He was very tired, and even though he wanted to lay down and fall asleep, he could not.

While David was lying on the bed, thoughts of him being the best learner at school and an award winner started haunting him. ‘How could such learner be in a gap year?’ he asked himself, but the question sounded very rhetorical to him at that time.

“I so wish life was fair,” David said to himself while lying on his toddler bed like a lifeless baby boy.

In his thoughts, David thought about where he was and where he wanted to be. He had never thought of coming across such a path in his life, but there he was. He was stranded emotionally and spiritually, and that was the reason he was having a sleepless morning. While he was lying there, the laughter and gossip he had received from relatives, fake friends, and school and community members crossed his mind.

Because of David’s performance at school, there were so many people who looked up to him, and some of them expected to see him attending one of the well-known universities in South Africa. Some wished him the worst, though, and yes, the worst did happen to him. He was in a gap year, and it was not easy for him to accept that he was not going to further his studies that year. Instead of doing that, he was going to stay in a shack with his matric results that had good distinctions.

Throughout the early hours of the morning, David kept abusing himself emotionally and mentally with deep thoughts, and there was no one there to rescue him. So, he lay on the bed the whole night, and when his father woke up to prepare for work, he pretended to be asleep when, in actual fact, he was not.

While David was pretending to be asleep, he wished for the morning to come because he believed that, with the light of the morning sun shining down on everything, he might be able to start seeing the light, or even have hope of a brighter future in the streets of Dal Josaphat. He cursed the place before even finishing five hours there, and he could not see himself, nor his life, blossoming there.

At around 07:30am, David’s brother woke up, but David was still fast asleep at that time. After waking up, his brother started cleaning and cooking. But then again, David was not just sleeping, he was actually resting from tiredness, exhaustion, and fatigue.

By the time David woke up, his brother was already done shifting some stuff around, and making more space for David’s bags. After waking up, David went outside, and after walking out of the door, the only things he could see were shacks packed one next to another, children in the streets playing soccer and other “street games”, and dirty pavements and stinking drains all over the place.

“Even pigs wouldn’t enjoy living here,” David thought to himself.

***

Tell us: What do you think about David’s attitude towards the area where he now lives?