Thandi arrived back from school to find her gogo crying. Her sister Babalwa was yelling at her. Thandi couldn’t believe what her twin sister was saying to Gogo, who was very old, and nearly blind. She had been taking care of the girls since they were babies.

“I don’t know how you expect me to eat this food!” shouted Babalwa.

“There’s nothing wrong with the food, Babalwa,” said Gogo softly, “It’s a perfectly good stew.”

“I hate stew!” Babalwa threw her lunch in the dustbin. “I’m hungry, Gogo. Now make me a sandwich.”

“Oh, Babalwa,” Gogo moaned, but she got up and began taking the bread out of the bread bin.

“And stop calling me Babalwa!” Babalwa yelled at her Gogo again. “My name is Thandi. Surely you know the difference between the two of us?”

Lately Babalwa had been trying to convince everybody that she was Thandi. It was as if she was ashamed at the way she was behaving and wanted the blame to fall on her twin.

“Hello, Gogo,” said Thandi, walking up to her and kissing her on the cheek.

“I can tell you apart even if nobody else can,” Gogo kissed her back. “How are you? Did you have a good day at school?”

“Yes,” Thandi smiled at Gogo. “Sit down Gogo and I’ll make the sandwiches. The stew smells good. I’ll pour a bowl for myself.”

“I’ll have one too, with a slice of bread.” Gogo sat down gratefully.

“Why do you always have to be so nice?” Babalwa sneered.

“Why do you always have to be so bad?” Thandi asked her. “What on earth is the matter with you, sis? You’re going to get yourself expelled from school if you carry on the way you are.”

*****

That night Thandi lay awake, unable to sleep. It was about three months ago now that Babalwa had started behaving very strangely. Thandi wondered if something had happened and her sister wasn’t telling her.

Babalwa had been suspended from school for a week. It was like she didn’t care.

“Why are you sitting there staring at me like that?” Babalwa suddenly opened her eyes and looked at her sister.

“I’m just wondering when you are going to stop doing all these bad things, Babalwa.”

Babalwa shrugged her shoulders. “I like being bad.”

“No, you don’t,” Thandi said. “What you do is bad enough, but then to blame everything on me − that’s worse still. The teachers at school know that you’re trying to make a fool of them pretending you are me. They won’t tolerate it for much longer, Babalwa. You’ll get expelled from school, and what will you do then?”

“I’ll lie in bed half the day,” Babalwa yawned, as if she was bored. “Then I’ll watch all my favourite shows. And of course I’ll drive you and Gogo crazy with how I carry on.”

“It’s like you’ve turned into a different person.” Thandi said.

On Saturday morning Thandi woke up to find Babalwa’s bed empty.

Gogo told her that Babalwa had stormed out of the house. “There’s something troubling that child, Thandi. Do you think she’s taking something?” Gogo’s face was creased with worry.

“Do you mean drugs?” Thandi asked.

“Yes,” Gogo said quietly. “There has to be some explanation. Babalwa was never like that before, Thandi. It’s like she’s turning into a different person right before our eyes.”

After lunch Thandi went into their bedroom. Babalwa’s side was a mess. Thandi made her sister’s bed and began picking her clothes up off the floor. Under one of Babalwa’s jackets she found a roll of rand notes.

She sat down on the bed and began counting the money. “Seven hundred and fifty three rand,” she murmured. “Babalwa, what are you doing?”

Thandi was suddenly afraid for her sister. She knew she had to be doing something illegal to have all this money. Then a hot, fierce anger took hold of Thandi. She jumped up and began searching through Babalwa’s drawers. She found more money. There was nearly two thousand rand!

Thandi put everything back where she had found it. She would confront Babalwa when she came home. Right now she had to go to town to shop for food or they wouldn’t have supper.