At night when they’re all alone with their thoughts, the friends are haunted the most, and mostly by their own minds. When Nkateko tries to sleep she thinks about the Mother of Fish, and the things she’d do with infinite amounts of money. She’d prove to her parents that she was adult and responsible enough to survive on her own. She’d find a place of her own and become less of a burden to her parents, and she’d fund her dreams of becoming a movie director.

Vuyo also tosses and turns with the image of endless money in his possession. How lovely it would be to send his two-year-old daughter, Lolo, to the finest nursery schools, and how lovely it would be to buy his mama a house at an estate somewhere far from neighbours. It would also be lovely to buy a car to fill the space in the garage at home. He’d shop in dollars and pounds, dress like a chief and dine like a king.

Evan watches his wife Blanca snore in her sleep, and he wonders why the world couldn’t let them have a baby the natural way. If he gets his hands on the Mother of Fish, he and Blanca could go through as many IVF procedures as they chose without putting strain on their bank accounts. They could save enough to send their daughter, or son, or both, to a private school and build that family house they want so badly.

Yoli holds a sonogram up at her face; she tries to make out the hands and legs, ten fingers and ten toes. She runs her hand over her growing belly and she wonders how she’ll possibly do it all. It is tough enough having to pay for her own tuition fees, build a career in microbiology, help her mom around the house. And now to have to accommodate a baby…

“If I had infinite amounts of money,” she thinks, “I could do it all.”

So Yoli stays up at night, thinking her problems are too hard to handle, but so do Nkateko, Evan, and Vuyo. They think about the vow they made, their friendship, and how long they’ve been together. But the myth of the Mother of Fish lingers longer in their minds, driving them each to do the most unthinkable of acts.

Tell us: What do you think the friends are going to do next?