When they arrive at the parking lot, it is quiet and empty as if the market had never taken place. The vendors are not around and neither is the old man. Just then, Yoli remembers something he told them at their first interaction, and she calls for him. “Gwevu!” she calls.

“Gwevu!” her friends repeat after her. 

The old man, with his walking stick in his hand and his fisherman hat on his head of hair, appears, as if from thin air.

“Where did he come from?” Nkateko asks, frightened.

“Ah! My people,” the old man says, excitedly. 

“We have more fish for you,” Yoli says, and opens the plastic-covered wheelbarrow.

“Ah,” Gwevu says, peeping into the wheelbarrow. “They’re so much bigger,” he says, and looks at the friends.

“I don’t think you understand how powerful you all are. Not many people can catch or see these fish. That is why they’re sacred,” he whispers.

“It was a dangerous task, Ntate Gwevu,” Yoli adds. “And we’ve agreed that it will be our last.”

“Yoli is right, Ntate,” Vuyo interjects. “The money you gave us will be just enough; we just can’t risk our lives any more.”

“Is that so?” Gwevu says. “I thought you’d be interested in the Mother of Fish, but I guess it will remain a mystery.”

“The mother of what, Ntate?” Evan asks.

“The mother of all these fish. She lives deep underwater where all magic and mysticism reside. She’s gigantic and astonishing to look at, and is worth more than the world. She will make you rich for eternity,” Gwevu says.

Eternity rings in the friends’ minds. They think of all the things they’d do with infinite riches, the things they’d buy and the problems they’d encounter less often. But they also remember how deadly the lake has become and the vow they’ve made to each other that that would be their last trip. 

“Thank you, Ntate Gwevu,” Nkateko says. “But it is not worth losing our lives over,” she continues, and they walk away. 

Gwevu grins a rather sinister grin. This moment, he thinks, is exactly where he wants them. It is the beginning of a test he cherishes so deeply.

Tell us: Do you think Gwevu has the friends’ best interests at heart? How do you think he’s testing them?