Someone was shaking Mavis. Eventually she opened her eyes. The light was bright in the cell and her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool. Her mouth was dry and tasted foul. For a few waking moments she thought she was in her bed at home. She had woken up often in her room, not remembereing how she had got home. But this was not her room. How had she ended up here? Where was Sakhumzi? A woman was bending over her and shaking her. She was being rough and Mavis wanted to make her stop but she couldn’t move her arms.

“My sista, I think the thing you’re suffering from is not just babalaas. You need a doctor.”

“I just need a drink,” Mavis groaned.

“Haibo, my sista. You’ve been out since Friday. Lying there, shaking, shouting nonsense.” Mavis just stared at her. “It’s Monday, sista. I got me a lawyer and I’m getting out of here.”

Mavis just stared. The woman’s voice was harsh. It made her head hurt even more. She just wanted to lie down. She wanted a drink. She wanted to die – to slip away from the pain.

“My sista,” the woman, Nosibusiso, was shaking her again, “you must ask to see a doctor. You must ask to see the lawyer. Today they must take you to court, so you can go back to your children.”

But Mavis didn’t respond. She just sunk back down onto the bed. It felt like her body was eating itself. The woman wouldn’t shut up. “My sista, I don’t think you’re hearing me.”
Mavis looked up at her in frustration. Why can’t you stop talking? She said the words in her head but no words came out of her cracked lips.

“This is how it works in here, sista. They arrest us on Friday, right. Today is Monday.” Mavis had lost all track of time. Of day and night. All she was aware of was her pain. “That means we in court today. If the police keep us in here one hour longer it is illegal. Then you can claim money from the government.”

Mavis stared at her. “It’s true, sista. You need a lawyer otherwise nobody will believe you when you tell them it’s that bastard boyfriend of yours who’s guilty, not you.”

“I’m in here since Friday morning. I only stole food, but they locked me up.”

A cleaner who had been mopping the floors came up to the bars of their cell. He stopped right in front of Nosibusiso and handed her a yellow water bottle through the bars. Then he went on mopping the area in front of the cell, trying to look as busy as possible.
“I’ll sort you out, my boeta, with the money when I get out on bail,” Nosibusiso told him under her breath.

“Don’t worry, S’bu. I know you always sort me out. You’re my best customer when you’re in here.” He dragged his bucket along the floor and it made a screeching noise that made Mavis cover her ears.

Nosibusiso watched the cleaner disappear down the corridor.“Eish, Ta Sive is the best. He always sneaks things in for me when I’m here. Last night when you were sleeping I asked him to get you some brandy or something just as strong. For your pain.” Mavis sat up in bed. Then she stood up, shakily and walked towards S’bu.

“Is that the brandy?” she asked, pointing at the water bottle Nosibusiso was holding.

“Enjoy, my sista,” laughed Nosibusiso, handing it over to her. Mavis held the bottle up to her cracked lips. Her hands were shaking. She squeezed the bottle tightly and drank and drank.

“Haibo, my sista, slow down! You’re drinking brandy, not water.” But Mavis wasn’t listening. She was too thirsty. It was a brandy-and-Coke mixture, but it would take away the pain.
“Quick!” S’bu grabbed the bottle from Mavis as heavy footsteps made their way down the corridor. S’bu rolled the bottle under the bed just in time. It made a clattering sound.

“What’s that noise?” asked the officer, as he stopped in front of the cell and reached for the keys in his pocket. “What nonsense you two getting up to in here?”

Nosibusiso stepped forward from where she had been leaning against the wall and stood in the middle of the cell. She looked angry. She answered his question with an attack.

“We been in here since Friday and all you do is bring us bread and soup; you don’t tell us anything about our cases. When are we going to be taken to court? Today, that’s when. Where’s the lawyer?”

“You forget who you talking to, bitch! I’ll lock you up for five days if I want to. Who d’you think you are?”

“Hayi, suka, don’t think that uniform protects you. I’ll make sure you lose this stupid job of yours if you don’t bring me a lawyer.”

“Stop shouting,” another police officer had joined the other cop. “You’ll get your lawyer; you’ll have your day in court.”
“You’d better step aside now, though,” the first officer said as he unlocked the cell. “We’re here for your friend, not you!”

Mavis turned to face them. The brandy made her feel stronger. “Looking at us like that is not gonna help you,” said the female officer who had arrested her on Friday. “We want the truth about what you and your boyfriend did. We want to know where he’s hiding?”

“Don’t you say nothing to them!” shouted Nosibusiso. “They can’t ask you nothing – you don’t have to answer nothing. Everything you say here to them, they can use it in court.”

Sakhumzi would kill me if I tell them where he may be hiding, thought Mavis.

“I’m not gonna tell you anything, sisi,” she said, trying her best to look as brave as Nosibusiso. That’s when the officer smacked Mavis. The smack turned her head.

“You better tell us everything you know,” and they dragged her out of her cell and down the corridor to a small room; they shoved her in and shut the door.

“What you got on you from that boyfriend of yours? Drugs?” The woman officer started to search Mavis. She even stripped off her top right in front of the policeman. Mavis put her arms across her naked chest, trying to hide her breasts from him.

The woman’s hands were rough as she pulled at her clothing. Mavis started to cry. If she told them the truth, Sakhumzi would hurt her kids and Noluvuyo. She couldn’t allow that to happen. But she also couldn’t stay in jail. It was killing her.

“What do you want me to say, sisi? I don’t know where he is. I just wanna go home and be a mother to my kids. I’m begging you. Please let me go home.”

“If you don’t tell us what you know, we’ll keep you here. You won’t see your kids.”

“But that lady said–” Mavis managed to get out. But the police officers weren’t listening.

When she finally was taken back to her cell, S’bu was gone and she was all alone.

***

Tell us what you think: Do you think that male police officers are allowed to watch a female prisoner be searched. How do you think Mavis felt?