Robert wakes up the next day feeling lighter in his heart. He’s decided: he will do something good for his mother. He will make up for the pain he has caused her.

He dresses and pulls on his All Star tekkies. It is past seven o’clock in the morning. He goes out to the front stoep and basks in the warm sunrays. He ties his laces and stamps his feet on the stone paving.

“Ya. My shoes are ready for work now.”

“Work?” Tshiwela can’t believe these words are coming from his mouth.

“What work, child of my mother?”

“Look. Our yard is filled with half-dry, useless sweet potato plants and mealies,” he says. “I need to clear the rubbish and then the place will be neat.”

Tshiwela beams. “We can plant new sweet potatoes and mealies.”

“And?”

“We can start clearing and getting rid of the weeds,” she says.

Robert fetches a fork, spade and rake. He places the garden tools in a wheelbarrow.

“We can do a lot of things with our yard – there is a lot of space,” he says. “After clearing the place, we can dig furrows to plant carrots, beetroot and spinach. Our dad left us a running borehole, a beautiful house and a strong fence to keep goats and cows away.”

“We can surely cut down on the grocery money by saving on vegetables,” she says.

“Not only that; we can still sell some vegetables for pocket money,” he suggests. “What do you think?”

“Yes, let’s do it.”

They start digging the old yellow mealie stalks out, throwing them into a pile. Soon there is a heap of stalks.

“Where is Mma?” Robert asks as he lifts a stack of mealie stalks and throws it onto the heap which rises heavenward now.

“She has gone to the clinic,” Tshiwela responds. She is busy raking the weeds, which she has dug out with a spade. “She complained about a toothache last night.”

“I didn’t know,” says Robert.

“You don’t know a lot of things Mma has been going through.”

They work on. At lunchtime they heat corned beef and eat it with bread. They wash it down with cola from the fridge and then they get back to work.

They dig out some ripe sweet potatoes which had been left in the ground when Mrs Mudau harvested two weeks ago. Birds of different colours come and peck the raked soil. They chirp and hop around, pecking for worms.

“When we work hard, we never notice how time flies by,” Robert says looking up to see the sun has sunken behind the hills.

Tshiwela throws her spade on the ground. “Let’s call it enough for the day. We can go on tomorrow.”

Tshiwela goes inside and starts preparing supper and Robert returns the tools and joins Tshiwela in the kitchen.

Mrs Mudau returns shortly after the sun has set. She finds Robert busy washing the pots, while Tshiwela is cleaning the kitchen table with a damp cloth. Their mother appears exhausted, and she walks unsteadily.

“Long, long queue in the clinic,” she says as she sits down and puts her feet up.

“How did it go?” Robert asks.

“They extracted the tooth. It’s quite painful. They gave me some painkillers and these other tablets.”

“I see,” Tshiwela says.

Robert brings her supper. She raises her eyes to look up at him, surprised by his polite tone, full of respect and care.

“No. Thanks, son. I cannot swallow a thing,” she declines. “I will start eating tomorrow. You can still prepare food for me tomorrow. Thank you. Let me leave. I need to rest.”

She gets up to go to her room.

“Don’t forget to take your medication, Mma,” Tshiwela calls after her.

“Thanks, my daughter. I have taken it for the night already.” She disappears along the passage to her bedroom.

Tshiwela takes two plates and dishes up. It is rice and cooked chicken with soya and mashed butternut. They sit at the table and eat in silence, but Tshiwela notices gladly that Robert is again enjoying food.

“Look, I want to watch Skeem Saam. It starts in three minutes,” Robert says, putting his plate down on the table and getting to his feet. “Can you lock the yard gate?”

Tshiwela gives him a cross look that means she wants him to do it.

“OK. I’ll go.” He rummages for the gate key inside the drawer and then goes out into the dark.

He is about to padlock the gate when he sees two figures coming up the road towards their house. As they come closer he sees one is a teenage girl, the other is an older woman.

“Son,” the woman calls out.

“Ndaa,” he responds and waits as they come closer.

Then he recognises the woman and the girl: “Precious! Makhadzi (Aunty)! How are you?” he says. “Come in,” he beckons and opens the gate for them.

As Precious walks into the light he stares at her. She is not the girl she used to be. She is a strikingly beautiful young woman now. Her mother, a great friend who used to live up the road, is clad in her minwenda attire.

Makhadzi, how we have missed you,” he says as he opens the front door for them. “We haven’t seen you for too long. It’s been at least three years.”

In the sitting room, he tells Tshiwela to go and tell their mother that her friend has come all the way from Mozambique. She rarely visits her family in South Africa.

“I am going back tomorrow morning,” she announces. “But I cannot leave without seeing your mother. Oh, how I miss her!” she says.

Soon Tshiwela returns and tells her to come through to their mother’s bedroom, explaining about her tooth. Vho-Bele is enthusiastic about catching up on news with her friend.

Precious sits down to watch Skeem Saam with Tshiwela. Robert can’t stop staring at her. At her braids, her beautiful face and eyes that in his mind he romantically likens to a pair of stars in the night sky. Was this beauty the same girl who they used to see, when visiting Aunty up the road? Precious was in a different neighbourhood now, at a different school.

When Tshiwela goes to get cooldrink for them, he sits down next to her.

“Precious,” he says quietly.

“Yes?” She is still watching the TV.

He feels nervous. She turns and looks at him. “OK.OK,” he says nervously under his breath, by way of plucking up the courage to say aloud: “Would you like to … er … go out for a drink with me on Saturday. A soft drink,” he quickly adds.

There is silence for a moment. He feels like he has said the wrong thing.

She finally answers: “Where?”

“We can go to Vhalamu Restaurant,” he replies.

She looks at him for a long minute, weighing up the situation.

“I’ll let you know by Friday evening, athiri (OK). Give me your number,” she says coolly and punches the digits into her phone.

That night Robert thinks of his mother’s pain. He thinks of the bereaved mother on the TV; her high pitched cry. It’s still clear and fresh in his ears. It is the pain that children cause their parents, he thinks.

But inside he feels things changing. He remembers the look in his mother’s eyes when he was polite and respectful. He feels he has made peace with his family. And now, Precious has walked back into his life with her beautiful face and the promise of a date.

When his phone rings, his heart hammers in his chest thinking it’s her. But the incoming number is Mashudu’s.

He switches the phone off quickly.

***

Tell us what you think: Will Robert stay friends with Mashudu now? Will Precious say yes to the date?