The following morning the clouds remain closed and the rain pours aggressively onto the ground. Yoli arrives at the lake in a raincoat and rain boots, with rope, a wheelbarrow, and courage. She walks down the hill, anticipating the journey ahead, but she almost loses her step and skips several heartbeats when she catches the scornful eyes of Nkateko, Vuyo, and Evan watching her.
“And then there were four,” Nkateko says, furiously. In fact, they all have furious and confused looks in their eyes.
“What are you guys doing here?” Yoli asks.
“That’s what I asked when I got here,” Evan replies.
“Me too,” Vuyo adds. “I guess none of us is good at keeping vows,” he continues.
“Makes you wonder about this friendship, huh?” Evan says, shaking his head.
“12 years, and this is how we break it,” Nkateko says, smiling, then shaking her head too and kicking rocks.
There is a brief silence; tension thicker than steak surrounds the space. No one can look the others in the eye or account for their betrayal. It is in this moment that it becomes clear that the 12-year-long friendship has come to an end — a rather brutal one, that is.
“I’m still going for the fish,” Nkateko informs them.
“So am I,” Vuyo adds.
“I wasn’t planning on backing down either,” Evan says. He turns to Yoli, who already has her rod in her hands and plunges into the water.
Her friends, or should we say, former friends, follow. The rain smacks them across their faces, and the water forms aggressive waves. There is no sign of the Mother of Fish yet, but she does, after all, live deep within the water. The friends, as if each on their own mission, dive in and out of the water, swimming deep and coming out again to catch their breath.
“I got something!” Yoli yells. “It’s heavy!” she exclaims.
Vuyo, Nkateko, and Evan abandon their little missions and rush to assist Yoli. For a moment, it seems as if their friendship could be repaired by this one moment, but no one truly knows what will happen once they have the big fish in their hands. They throw a large rope into the water and Vuyo volunteers to dive in and tie it onto the body of the Mother of Fish.
“I can hold my breath underwater longer. So I should go,” he says, and dives in.
“Be careful,” Yoli warns him, as he dives and swims to the bottom, coming face to face with the Mother of Fish and tightening the rope around her gigantic body. The fish opens its big golden eyes and its gigantic mouth, ready to swallow Vuyo whole, and he tries to scream for his friends to pull him out.
“Come on, pull!” Evan commands, as he and the girls pull harder.
“Vuyo, hold on!” Evan calls, but as the rope and the fish reach the surface of the lake, Vuyo does not come back up.
The area where he dived in is as still as the night. The Mother of Fish is fat at the belly and heavy, and it becomes all too evident that she has swallowed up Vuyo.
Yoli, Nkateko, and Evan wail like babies, but still hold on to the rope. They drag the fish onto the ground, the sky roars with thunder as they pull with all the power they have in them. The stubborn fish fights back, twisting their wrists, biting the rope. It smacks Evan on the ankles, pinning him onto the ground like an amateur wrestler, and lands on his torso.
“Evan!” Nkateko and Yoli yell, and flip the fish away from him.
Yoli remembers things she learned in school, about first aid and CPR, and tries to resuscitate Evan, breathing her life into his, pumping his ribs and breathing life again. “Come on, Evan, get up!” she cries, but he lies still.
“Nkateko, help me!” she calls, but sees Nkateko halfway up the hill, dragging the Mother of Fish with her.
“Nkateko!” Yoli runs after her up the hill and pulls on the rope.
“It’s mine,” Nkateko says. “I need this money,” she adds, pulling the fish and struggling to ascend the cliff. Yoli grabs onto the fish’s tail, engaging in a dangerous game of tug of war with Nkateko.
They stand high up the cliff: the way down is far from their feet and winding. They both avoid looking down.
“I need it too,” Yoli says. “I’m having a baby.”
“You’re pregnant?” Nkateko asks, and smiles.
“I’m three months along,” Yoli replies.
“Well then, why don’t we split the money?” Nkateko suggests, stretching her hand out to shake Yoli’s. Yoli stretches hers out too and grips onto Nkateko’s.
The sky roars, Nkateko sees a change in Yoli’s eyes and, without much thought, Yoli pushes her off the cliff, watching her soar through the air like a feather, until she plunges to the flooded ground, sinking deeper and deeper, carried into the water.
*
“I’m so sorry,” Yoli cries, and hurries off, dragging the fish to Gwevu.
She finds him in a dark room not far from the parking lot. It looks like a storage room and smells like incense.
“Ah!” Gwevu exclaims, jumping for joy. “I knew you’d be the conqueror,” he says, looking deep into Yoli’s sad eyes.
He lights up the room and reveals a space surrounded by a near-infinite amount of money. Yoli’s eyes light up. She smiles and pans the room.
“You’ve conquered the Mother of Fish and attained its power. Now this is all yours,” Gwevu says..
“You will have money for three years, but after that, the water will come for you,” he continues.
“Three years? You said it was infinite,” Yoli says, confused. Gwevu laughs at her. He laughs out loud until he gets a bad case of the hiccups and stops himself.
“Three years is equal to your three friends’ lives,” he says. “You remember what your grandmother told you, Yoli. The water gives, and it takes. After three years…” he pauses and looks at Yoli’s growing belly. “You should be ready to feed it again!” He laughs out loud, hysterically.
Tell us: What will Yoli have to do after three years? What did you think of the story?
