His father came inside holding to bowls of ice-cream and gave Lukhanyiso his bowl.

“Tata,” Lukhanyiso called as he took the bowl of ice-cream from his father.

“Yes son?” Lukhanyiso’s father smiled at Lukhanyiso.

“Would you be happy if you saw mother again? And get the information she died possessing?”

“Possessing, you have an old person’s vocabulary Lukhanyiso. I should tip your language teacher. To answer your question, aren’t I happy already?”

“Yes… but you sometimes cry and whenever we talk about mother you pause and tears water your face.”

“Well… that’s because I always wish I could receive what she wanted to tell me before she died. I also miss her very much.” Lukhanyiso’s father looked at his face, “What’s cooking up there?”

“Nothing… well there’s something. But it is a surprise.” Lukhanyiso smiled. “Don’t make me tell you, please.”

“Okay fine, I’ll wait for it though. In the meantime you should go brush your teeth and change to your pyjamas.” Lukhanyiso’s father said as he stood up and walked to the kitchen with the two bowls.

“Okay. Tonight I don’t want you to read me a story.” Lukhanyiso said as he stood up and walked to the bathroom.

“Why don’t you want me to read a story to you? You love me reading stories to you.” Lukhanyiso’s father said from the kitchen.

“I want to ask you something. It is more like a request actually.” Lukhanyiso said as he took his toothbrush, and then a ringing sound echoed from the living room.

“Okay then, we’ll talk now-now, I need to answer this call. It is from my colleague. Give me five minutes.” Lukhanyiso’s father said as he ran to the phone and then answered it.

Five minutes was more than enough for Lukhanyiso to brush his teeth and wear his purple pyjamas. He then climbed onto his bed and entered inside the blankets. He was committed to see his plan go through. He was excited to see his mother.

He didn’t know how she looked like because his father has never showed him a picture of her. And that was the request Lukhanyiso wanted; he wanted to see a picture of his mother. As he sat on his bed jittery from excitement his father entered inside the room. Lukhanyiso saw the frown in his father’s face and he felt sad, again.

“Tata, what’s wrong?” Lukhanyiso asked as his father sat next to him.

“You do know that the Davare family has been looking for their seven year old son, right?” his father asked as he looked at Lukhanyiso’s big dark eyes.

“My friend Luvuyo, yes, did they find him yet? I miss him so much!” Lukhanyiso asked with a huge grin on his face.

“Luvuyo yes, well police have dropped the investigation. Luvuyo has been lost for almost a year now and they have given up on him. The only thing left now is if we pray for Luvuyo to come back home.” Lukhanyiso’s father said as he brought his son close to him, squeezing him with his arm.

“NO. They can’t do that. Who will play with me again? Luvuyo was the only friend I had; every other child didn’t want to play with me. They can’t just drop the investigation!” Lukhanyiso said as a tear fell from his eye.

“It’s going to be okay son. We as the community will look for him. The call I answered was from Ms Davare, she wanted to ask if I could help her look for Luvuyo.”

“Well count me in because I want to help too.” Lukhanyiso said as he wiped his tears.

“Of course, me and you will go around Luxury City and look for Luvuyo. We will start on Ngonyama-Segment, early in the morning.” Lukhanyiso’s father said, “You had a request son,” he reminded.

“Oh yeah, well… I want to see a picture of my mother. I want to know how she looks like.” Lukhanyiso begged as he looked at his father.

“Okay… but why now?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well you’ve always described her verbally but I want to see her face. I really want to see her picture.” Lukhanyiso lied as he looked away from his father.

Spending eight years with him, Lukhanyiso’s father knew exactly that he was being lied to, he was actually surprised because this was the first lie to be uttered by his own son, “Okay, wait for me. I will go get her picture.” Lukhanyiso’s father said as he jumped out of the bed and ran down the passage.

Lukhanyiso was anxious; this was going to be the first time that he would be able to see his mother who died after she gave birth to him…

“Found it…” Lukhanyiso’s father said as he entered the room holding a picture, he then sat next to Lukhanyiso and handed him the picture “Here, you should keep it. I don’t need it anymore. I have you as a reminder that she was real.”

Lukhanyiso took the photo and saw a beautiful woman draped in a purple dress, her eyes were dark and big, her hair was ebony and curly … her deformity was hidden because of the angle of the picture, but, she was hypnotically beautiful. Lukhanyiso didn’t have to ask, with one glance he knew that this was her; this was the woman who gave birth to him, his mother.

“It is quite late son, keep that photo safe and go to sleep… we’ll talk tomorrow.” Lukhanyiso’s father said as he tucked his son in “Sweet dreams, I love you.” he then kissed him on his forehead, and closed the door as he left the bedroom.

***

Tell us what you think: Do you think Luvuyo is still alive?