“The thing I can’t understand,” says Lael.

“How did Amelia get to the point of deciding to give her baby up for adoption? In her diary entries, she seemed so pro-tective of her pregnancy and so excited about getting to meet her baby – her and Jim’s baby. Remember how she was clinging to the hope that Jim would come around once the baby was actually there? But maybe she realised that was just a pipe dream.”

Ms Waise takes a tissue out of her bag and wipes care-fully around her eyes.

“Yes,” she says. “What probably happened is that reality started to hit her. It couldn’t have been easy being a teenage single mother in those days. She probably real-ised that she couldn’t cope.”

“Her parents could have made it easier for her,” I say. I’m still angry about this. “They could have worked something out so she could have kept her baby.” Then I realise what I’m saying. “Sorry, Ma’am. I’m talking about your biological grandparents here. I don’t mean to be disrespectful.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve also read the diary entries. I know Amelia’s parents weren’t supportive. More like the exact opposite. But I suppose they were a product of their times. That was how people dealt with things in those days. For Amelia to give her baby up for adoption would have been the sensible thing to do.”

I look over at Lael and can see she is remembering the same thing as me – Nosipho with her hand resting on her belly and a fierce look in her eyes, daring anyone to mess with her baby. I would like to see someone telling her that the ‘sensible’ thing to do would be to give it up. That person might not live to tell the tale.

The only thing that might make Nosipho consider ad-option would be if she really believed she couldn’t give her baby a good life. That is literally the only person she would do it for – the baby. Maybe Amelia got to that point, where she believed it would be best for her baby to be raised by someone else. Still, I’d love to see her write about it in her own words. If only we could get the diary out of that locked display case!

We all look up as Mrs Letwaba comes back into the room. She is carrying a box with some dusty paper files in it that look to be at least fifty years old. Ms Waise leans forward, visibly restraining herself from reaching out and grabbing the box.

“The good news is that the Lucites seem to have brought their daughter here under her own name. That makes everything much easier. The bad news is that some documents seem to be missing. For instance, I can’t find the consent form signed by the birth mother for her baby to be put up for adoption. There are forms here that have been signed by the parents of the birth mother, but not the birth mother herself. I know she was only sixteen at the time – five years short of her majority in those days – but she should still have been required to sign.”

“Does it state the name of the family that the baby was placed with?” Ms Waise asks. Her voice is shaking. Lael and I hold our breath.

“Let’s see here…” Mrs Letwaba pages through one of the files. The papers are yellowed, and clouds of dust rise every time she bumps the box. “Yes, here it is. The baby – a female infant – was placed with Mr John and Mrs Letitia Waise of Farrarmere, Benoni.”

Ms Waise sways in her seat. For a moment, I think she is going to faint.

“It’s me!” she says. “It’s really me. I thought I’d never find the truth.”

“May I see your birth certificate again?” asks Mrs Letwaba.
Ms Waise hands it over and together they compare it to the documents from the Order of St Agnes of Lyons. They nod at the same time.

“I think we can regard that as definite,” says Mrs Let-waba.

“Congratulations, Ms Waise. Your search is over.” “Thank you. Thank you so much. May I take these documents, or…?”

“I’m afraid not. They belong to the state. But I will bring you an official request form to have these docu-ments copied and sent to your place of residence. If you select the courier option, you will receive them within three working days.”

***

To: Trinity Luhabe trinityluhabe@gmail.com
From: Dean of Students – Sisulu House gcobani@sisuluhouse. co.za
Re: The diary in the locked cabinet

Dear Ms Luhabe,

Thank you for your email of yesterday afternoon requesting the opening of the locked cabinet on the second floor of Sisulu House. We are pleased to see that you have now got to the point of asking for permission for a cabinet to be unlocked, rather than taking the key, and opening it yourself. This is progress and we celebrate it!

Unfortunately, the display cabinet forms part of Brentwood College’s Heritage Collection, which means it can only be opened by certain authorised individuals. One of those individuals is the deputy headmistress Mrs Govender, who is on long leave this term.

I understand that this situation is “urgent” because you believe that “the diary may be haunted”, and it is “against your religion” to stay in a building that might contain a haunted diary. However, first of all, you don’t stay in Sisulu House any more – you are now living at home. And secondly, I think that if the diary were really haunted, a priest or an exorcist would be more helpful in dealing with it than a schoolgirl.

So, while we remain sympathetic to your request, we are not in a position to grant it at the moment, as the only key-holder to the cabinet is currently on sabbatical in New Delhi.

Kind regards,

Grace Gcobani
Dean of Students
Sisulu House Brentwood College

***

To: Trinity Luhabe trinityluhabe@gmail.com
From: President of the Paranormal Association of South Africa admin@paranormalSA.com
Re: Ghost of Sisulu House

Dear Ms Luhabe,

Thank you for your letter of last week asking for information about the word “whisky” as a paranormal phenomenon. While we remain greatly fascinated to hear that our modern and fully digital Paranormal Automatic Writing Machine™ has repeatedly thrown up the word “whisky” in recent weeks, we are at a loss to explain it.

We conducted some research and found that “whisky” does not have any particular significance in paranormal circles. Do you know anything about who your Otherworldly Visitor was before he crossed over to the Other Side? Perhaps whisky had a special importance in his life. We must also consider the possibility that Whisky could be a nickname for someone important to him, or even the name of a pet – a dog or a cat, maybe.

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Kind regards

Eufemia Batton
Paranormal Association of South Africa

***