Back Then…

Lerato woke up feeling positive about the day. She was humming her favourite gospel song by her favourite group, KuJehova by Joyous Celebration. She would dream about going and witnessing them performing.

Here she was, pasting toothpaste on her pink toothbrush that her mother bought for her. It had an L, symbolising her name and it had a red heart.

She loved her mom very much and she certainly knew that her mother loved her too. Her mother worked as a domestic worker. She left every Monday and returned every Friday, leaving Lerato by herself all week. She was grown now, she didn’t need MaDlamini, her noisy landlord, to keep an eye on her.

After she had brushed her teeth, bathed and prepared for school, she left for the bus stop. She liked the new driver, not because she knew him but because he dove so well. He followed the road rules and treated all the passengers with care.

“Hello, aubuti R,” Lerato greeted the new bus driver as she took a seat behind the driver’s seat.

“Hey, Whitey. How are you this cold morning?”

Oh god, how she hated to be called Whitey. Just because she lived with albinism didn’t mean she should be called Whitey.

“It’s Lerato, not Whitey please,” Lerato corrected the driver. “Winter is my favourite season, I hate summer; the sun is too hot and you can’t play outside. So winter is my thing,” she told the driver.

The driver took a corner to fetch other kids and he was conversing with Lerato. She was the first one to get in the bus in the mornings and the last one to get off in the afternoon. She was the only kid going to her school in her area so she spent a little too much time with Aubuti R.

Lerato was doing Grade 9 at Bala Buka High school. It was a respected school in Germiston, the only public school that went neck on neck with private schools on getting distinctions and high pass rates.

For two months Lerato did her everyday routine; woke up, bathed and went to school. She had asked the bus driver why he was driving high school learners and not busy studying at the university and doing his first year.

“Well, I’m taking a gap year. It’s been long twelve years so I deserve to take a break before going back to do another four years,” he had said.

Aubuti R, was good to Lerato. He would give her sweets every day after school and every morning he would give her money for lunch. He would give her R50, R20 and even R100.

“No, no, no. I can’t accept your money. I’m fine. Just keep it to yourself please,” Lerato tried to refuse the money from Aubuti R.

“No I insist. Take it as an everyday gift from your dearest friend,” he said.

“What will my friends say when she learns that you give me money? She would think other things. No, no please.”

“Well, that’s hella simple. You don’t tell her. Besides, there’s nothing going on between us, or is there?” Aubuti R said.

So eventually Lerato gave and took the money.

***

Tell us: Do you think it’s right for the driver to be giving money to Lerato?