Karabo found herself on the way to the airport. Mrs Hepworth would not hear of Karabo taking the bus to the airport. She insisted they take her.

‘Besides, Karabo, your mum is taking Isla to that fancy game lodge in Zimbabwe with her client. I looked it up on the internet, you know. Very, very fancy place! It is definitely not a problem for me to drop you at the airport, my dear!’ explained Mrs Hepworth, flapping her hands with excitement.

Anathi had told Karabo about the holiday a few weeks back. She had been asked by a client to join him and his family at a game lodge in Zimbabwe for a week, to thank her for a piece of work she had done for him. Possibly feeling guilty about going on holiday with a client, versus just Karabo and Anathi, her mother had suggested that Karabo bring Isla along. ‘So you don’t get bored of all the adult conversation my darling,’ she had said. Karabo had felt slightly annoyed, but she too had looked up the lodge online and decided that luxury, plus her mom and Isla, was definitely going to be amazing – despite the ‘client and his family’ being there, whoever they were.

Fab, Isla’s brother, was sitting in the front of the car this time, as Mr Hepworth hadn’t come along to fetch them. The excited waving of Mrs Hepworth’s hands was starting to terrify Karabo, so she decided to change topic.

‘So Fab, how was your report?’ she asked

The front of the car became rather quiet. Bad idea, Karabo thought to herself. Clearly Fab’s report wasn’t the right topic to change to.

‘Fabian has been focusing more on sport than academics it seems. So, we will have to rethink how much sport we play next year, as he is Grade 7 and will be trying to get into Dayeton College,’ said Mrs Hepworth. She had spat the word ‘sport’ out. Karabo sat back and looked at Isla with wide eyes.

Isla looked back at her, saying nothing, but her face told Karabo that she was just as surprised. The rest of the journey to the airport passed in a blur of green fields, farms and cows dotted along the hills and valleys. When they reached the airport, Karabo hugged Isla tightly before grabbing her bags and making her way into the terminal. She would fetch her from the airport in Johannesburg for their trip to the lodge.

‘See you in a week, Karabz,’ waved Isla as Karabo walked into departures.

Anathi met Karabo at the airport in Johannesburg, but this time she was more distracted than usual, and kept glancing at her phone. Eventually her phone rang.

‘I’m sorry Karabo, I have to take this,’  said  Anathi, her face pleading.

‘Cool,’ said Karabo, and for most of the drive home, Anathi spoke to a young man’s voice about a company, and all the other words they said made absolutely no sense to her. When they arrived home, Anathi pulled the car into the garage and continued to speak to the voice as Karabo got out of the car and took her bags. She dragged herself and her luggage inside the salmon pink duplex, allowing herself only the briefest moment of joy – the feeling of being home. Anathi eventually came into the house, still on her phone. Karabo dragged her bag up the stairs, making sure to bang the case on every step. Once in her room, Karabo dropped all her bags in the middle of the floor and threw herself onto her bed.

‘Karabo!’ called Anathi from downstairs. Karabo refused to move from her bed.

‘Karabo?’ called Anathi again.

‘What?’ shouted Karabo in response. ‘Karabo, I’m sorry,’ began Anathi, ‘please come back down.’

Karabo huffed and sat up, taking her time. She slowly rose off her bed and walked to the top of the stairs. Leaning over the balustrade to see her mother, she raised her eyebrows in response.

Anathi’s face looked pained. ‘I need to get a ton of work out before we go away,’ she tried to explain, then looked at her phone which was buzzing again in her hand, and threw it onto the couch before walking up the stairs. She pulled Karabo into a fierce hug when she reached her. Nearly the same height, the two women stood at the top of the stairs struggling with their emotions.

‘Please don’t be mad at me. Please just forgive me for this one week, and then next week we will have an amazing time. OK?’ pleaded Anathi.

Karabo sighed. Her anger at her mother had subsided. She did understand, but she still hated how important her mother’s work was. ‘OK,’ said Karabo, ‘Just one week.’ She smiled at her mother.

Anathi hugged Karabo again, holding her firmly, until the buzzing of her phone became unbearable and she ran down stairs to pick it up again. Karabo rolled her eyes.

‘I’ll call you later,’ she heard Anathi shout from downstairs and she watched her mother grab her handbag and leave. Karabo sighed again and made her way back to her room. She’d made a mental list of the series and music she would start downloading, so best she get started. It was going to be that kind of week.