Zandile and I are walking home, from the mall. She isn’t comfortable being around people, not that I blame her, I also wouldn’t like being stared at wherever I go. She is in a beautiful yellow sunflower dress and gold sandals. Her hair tied in a loose and messy bun.

I take her left hand in mine, she looks up at me. I smile down at her.

“What do you want from me, Amos?” she asks, she had been crying.

“I love you, baby,” I tell her.

She stops, and looks at me. Her stare is very piercing. We both look down at her hands simultaneously.

“You do know that someday it’ll spread over to my whole body, right?” she asks, as she refers to the little white patches on her dark hands.

“I know. Vitiligo is a normal disease, not a curse as these narrow minded village people put it,” I tell her.

She nods and continues walking. We arrive at my parents’ house. My mom is seated in a wooden chair, knitting. She looks at us as we walk in. Her eyes immediately fall on Zandile.

“Girly, don’t you have a home?” she asks.

Zandile shyly looks away.

“Mama, please,” I beg her.

“Son, I told you, I don’t accept this relationship,” my mother tells me, she puts aside her knit work.

“I love her mother,” I protest.

She shakes her head, and stands up, “well, I only cooked enough food for the two of us.”

“I’ve brought takeaways,” I say, as I put the food on the table.

“Excuse me,” Zandile tearfully walks to my room.

“Mama, what’s wrong with you?” I shout, as soon as Zandile is out of sight.

“I don’t want that girl as my daughter in law!” she shouts.

“Why? Mother, Zandile is a well behaved girl and I love her,” I say.

“Did you see her hands? Do you want her curse to be passed onto your kids?” she asks, hands on her hips.

“Mama, vitiligo isn’t a curse,” I mutter.

“It is. Your kid’s skin will also peel off, if you marry her. She’ll bear you kids like her,” my mother throws her hands up.

“I don’t care. As long as they’ll be happy and healthy!” I shout, then leave her standing beside the coffee table.

***

Tell us: What do you think about his mother’s attitude towards Zandile?