Late that night the sad-looking Rali was sitting on the bed when his mother cautiously entered his bedroom.

“Baby, didn’t you hear me calling you to come eat supper?” She noticed Rali gathering a couple of letter-like papers in front of him before deftly sliding them under his pillow.

“Are you okay, Rali?”

“Yes mom, I’m fine.”

But his mother did not think so. Rali enjoyed talking but now he seemed rather aloof. She sat next to the boy who became affected by shyness. Mom remained quiet and looked fondly at Rali, in an attempt to discover what could be troubling him. He avoided his mom’s eyes.
She flashed him an assuring smile.

“You know you can tell me anything right?”

A long moment passed without a word but it was plain to see that Rali had something on his mind.

“Mom,” he started but she ignored him and stuck out her hand towards the pillow.

“What do you have here?” she interrogated.

“No, mom!” Rali protested and tried to block his mother’s hand from reaching under the pillow, but he was unsuccessful, his mother was strong. He watched with slight embarrassment as the parent began to examine the letters and handcrafted cards.

“These are lovely actually,” she admitted while going through the bundle. She examined them further.

“You must love this girl?” She smiled and peered at Rali admiringly.

“But son, love is not for children.”

Somehow, Rali felt relieved that his secret was now in the open, this gave him courage.

“I know mom, but what if she relocates to another place and I don’t see her ever again?”

He has a point, mom thought reluctantly while admiring a colourful card. She wished Rali’s father was here watching their son grow and explaining some of these things to him the manly way.

“Mom, what can a boy do to win a girl?” Rali asked.

His mother looked thoughtful for a while, and then said, “It depends, Rali. But it is always important to be yourself, don’t pretend to be anything you’re not.”

This was getting interesting, Rali shifted on the bed so that he could comfortably face his mother. It was the first time they were talking boys and girls.

Mother’s face lit-up, as if she was suddenly addressing someone much older than her own son. She was now getting the hang of this topic, “It’s not about looks or money, ladies love men who do extraordinary things. She can love you for helping old people for example, or voluntarily cleaning the streets.”

Rali laughed delightedly, for he was not convinced about the last statement. She gave the cards back to him and stood from the bed, her face was happy.

“Every guy stands a chance with any lady, Rali,” she said brightly.

“Come on now, handsome, supper is getting cold.”

The next day, around midday, Rali and Ndo met with Sipho who looked exhausted. He briefed them about what had happened the previous night while he scouted the white house: The two usual black SUVs drove out and raced down the street and a beefy man remained behind to close the massive gate. Sipho told them he was sure the cars were on their way to make drug drop-offs. They did not dispute him. To their surprise he also apologised to Rali who responded with a sulky nod. The truce made Ndo happy.

The boys agreed that they had nothing to lose by calling the police right away before the bad people caused more damage. They were moving away from the white house when Rali took out his cell-phone to call Omphile, a lady reporter from the local newspaper.

“Rali, how are you?” Omphile spoke with faked excitement. As usual, Rali was calling her to report a suspicious criminal activity in the community. She was still waiting for that big front page story from the boy.

“What do you have this time, Rali?”

Omphile listened for some time then objected: “Come on Rali, drugs?”

But Rali must have mentioned something else because hastily she scrambled for a piece of paper on her desk and took notes while speaking into her cell-phone.

“Yes. Yes. I see.” She stopped writing. “Don’t call the police until I get there.” Then a thought crossed her mind. “Rali,” she said. “Leave the calling part to me.”

Before an hour lapsed police cars swooped in from both sides of the street and circled the white house like hyenas on a tired warthog. The screams of sirens and screeching tyres drew people from their homes. But Rali would see it all on the evening news because parents had earlier forbade children from watching police business.

A male TV news reporter standing on Mvubu Street announced that police have rescued five teenage girls from the ‘white house’ – as it was known to the locals. Two of the girls were reported missing, and three men were arrested as a result. There was no mention of drugs, but Rali did not expect any.

While flying his drone fitted with spy-camera taking aerial photographs of the township, he accidentally took a picture of young girls basking in the garden of the white house. He was startled because they had never seen children or women in the property. The next day his drone revealed more girls and an armed man. His hunch told him to investigate. That’s when he sold his friends the drugs story; knowing it was easily believable in the townships, or anywhere for that matter. Rali watched on as the reporter moved closer to Omphile.

“With me is Ms Masha, a local journalist and the whistle-blower behind the activities of the white house,” announced the reporter while extending his hand so that Omphile could speak into the microphone.

The TV screen closed in on Omphile’s face, she was a beauty in her own right.

“Firstly,” she started, “I’d like to thank my three young heroes…”

Omphile went on speaking but Rali’s mind wandered off. He was tingling with satisfaction when his cellphone beeped to signal a new message.

‘Hey hero’, and next to the text was a smiling emoji. The message was from Fifi. Somebody is watching the news, he thought with a smile. They had exchanged numbers earlier during the bustle of police and residents, this after Fifi learned that Rali and his friends were the real detectives behind the raid.

Rali read further: Wanna carry my heavy schoolbag 2moro? Now the emoji dripped sweat, and its tongue was hanging out its opened mouth. He wanted to laugh.

He was typing on his phone when he noticed his mother eyeing him curiously. He tried to contain his excitement but found it impossible.

Tell us: What do you think of Rali’s newly-found love?