It’s only been a month since Ncedo started working at the bakery as a delivery driver. His shift started at the crack of dawn as he had to be at Sisonke General Dealer with bread at exactly 5 a.m. every morning. Today was the last day of the month and he was to get his first salary later. He had everything planned to the last detail: after work he was going to meet up with Tlokwe, the mother of his 5-month-old baby boy, Landa. They would buy all the baby necessities, from the milk, nappies, medicine and a few clothing items. He was also going to ask her to help him buy groceries for his mother and his 2 little sisters who were still in school.
At 12 midday, his Nokia 3310 beeped. A notification from the bank that his salary had been deposited. He smiled with pride and felt like a real man. For the first time in his life he was going to be able to provide for his son and buy food for his mother who had been sickly lately.
He rushed through his errands for the day. At exactly 13:00 p.m. he parked the truck at the bakery and took the keys to the back office. He left in a hurry to meet up with Tlokwe next to the taxi rank where they had agreed to meet. He was relieved to find that he hadn’t kept them waiting but was the one who was going to wait for them. The first taxi came and offloaded but they were not there. He waited for the next one but still even on the fourth taxi there was still no sign of Tlokwe and his son.
He tried calling her but the phone went straight to voicemail.
Maybe she’s in a taxi and they’re passing by the hill where there’s no signal, he thought to himself. An hour later, there was still no sign of them. He went to the bank to withdraw money and began with the shopping so long. He asked the shelf packer at Boxer to help him with choosing the right items both for his son and his mother. He went on to pay, constantly checking his phone as he did not want to miss a call from Tlokwe. After he had paid, he took his stuff with the trolley and made his way to the taxi rank. He waited a few more minutes before getting into the taxi, hoping to see Tlokwe jumping out of the taxi that had just parked there, but again she didn’t.
As the taxi took off from the dusty town, he sent his mother an sms to tell his sisters to bring the wheel barrow at the bus stop to help him carry the groceries. And as the taxi came to a halt, the girls were already there beaming from ear to ear. He had promised to bring them polony since they hadn’t had any since their mother had been laid off her cleaning job a year and half ago.
As he was offloading the plastics from the taxi, the kids were scanning them and screaming in excitement at the contents in those packets. He tried calling Tlokwe again but the phone again went straight to voicemail.
He separated the packets and gave the ones containing his son’s things to his sisters to quickly take them to Tlokwe’s home, as it was on the other side of their village. He was aware that Landa had been out of milk for 2 days now. The money that Tlokwe was receiving for child welfare wasn’t enough to provide for their son. He made his way home to find his mother lazing in the sun in the company of her dear friend Mamzangwa. They were mumbling about what God knows what. He greeted them and got inside the house.
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Tell us what you think: What do you think happened to Tlokwe and Langa?