“Where is he? I’ll be late if he doesn’t show up!” Ntombi took out her phone to call Mkhulu. It went straight to voicemail. “Haibo!”

She fished around her purse to see if she had enough to take a taxi.

“Thank goodness!” she sighed, when she found a R20 note.

She hurried up to the taxi rank. What Gladys said to her yesterday about calling Gogo Lesedi to help haunted her. She had started doubting herself because yesterday the doctor didn’t have a clue about what was wrong with her daughter. Maybe today he will have answers for me, she convinced herself. If he doesn’t and I don’t see any change in my daughter, then I will go to Gogo Lesedi myself.

“Is this one going to the hospital?” she asked a taxi driver at the rank.

“Yes, Mama, inside.”

***

“Ntombi will hate me for this,” Gladys remarked.

“No, she won’t,” Mkhulu assured Gladys in that old, deep voice of his that was filled with wisdom.

The three of them had arrived at the reception area at the hospital.

“We are here to see Kganya in ward six, we are her family,” Gladys told the bored-looking receptionist.

“Let me see your IDs.” The receptionist’s voice dragged it out.

When they gave their IDs to her, the receptionist looked at them with suspicion. She tapped a few buttons on her keyboard. She looked at the computer screen, looked at the presented IDs, and she looked back at the three of them. She raised her brows.

“But none of you here is a Zwane, and the only listed parent of Kganya is Ntombi Zwane?”

Gladys knew that it wasn’t really a question.

“Correct.” Gladys stepped closer to the desk. “Ntombi couldn’t make it today as she is still exhausted from camping here yesterday when we brought Kganya in. She took this day to rest, but she let us come visit her daughter.”

The receptionist looked at Gladys with an unreadable expression. Her phone rang. She looked at it and smiled. While the three stood there awkwardly, the receptionist gave them a register to sign. They proceeded to get in an elevator, and headed to the ward to see Kganya, hoping they were not too late.

“You can stand guard here outside,” Gladys told Mkhulu and he obliged.

Gladys got inside Kganya’s room with Gogo Lesedi. Kganya was sleeping on her back.

“Let’s be quick; we don’t have much time,” Gladys told Gogo Lesedi.

Gogo Lesedi took out a reed mat from her backpack and unrolled it on the floor, just beside Kganya’s bed. She knelt on it. She also took out incense and a matchbox.

When the incense started burning, Gogo Lesedi said, “Oh, my Elders, the wisest, the kindest, and the ever caring. I’m calling on you, the ones who know the way. Help me with this child that is beside me who is in great distress. Show me how I can bring her back to her family, and pull her away from the grip of the Dark Souls.”

Gogo Lesedi stood up and brought the incense to Kganya’s nose to inhale. She then circled it over Kganya’s head while she continued with her chant.

Gladys stood there, not seeing any change in Kganya. She was still unresponsive.

Gladys looked outside the door and was relieved to see Mkhulu still standing guard.

Tell us: What do you think about the fact that Ntombi is now considering contacting Gogo Lesedi?