“Eish, that was a good meal!” Mrs Malebane patted her stomach as she lay back in her new red leather arm chair and turned on the new TV. “And this chair is so comfortable. How can I say thank you enough, Thabi my darling?”

Thabi Malebane finished drying the plates of the new dinner service she had bought her mother. She’d only been home in Cofimvaba for ten days, but in that time they’d driven through to Queenstown four times so she could take her mother shopping. They’d bought a new lounge suite, a bedroom suite, new AMC pots for the kitchen, new appliances, a whole car full of linen, curtains and new clothes for her mother and her fifteen-year-old sister, Lusi, and she’d even stocked the new freezer with enough food to last six months. And now she had to get ready for the long drive back to Cape Town.

“After all you’ve done for me, Mama,” she said, packing the serving dishes away in the new kitchen cabinet. “You gave up so much to raise Lusi and me. It wasn’t easy as a single parent. That’s why ndik’rola.”

“You’ve always been a good girl,” Mrs Malebane said, wiping her eyes. “That’s why the Lord has blessed you. Old Mr Katz could see into your heart. That’s why he left you his house and all his money.”

“I’m going out,” Lusi said, pushing past Thabi as she bent down to pack away the pots under the new stove.

“Where are you going?” Mrs Malebane called. “When will you be back?”

Lusi ignored her.

Through the window Thabi saw her sister saunter down the path to the gate, hips swinging. A teenage boy was waiting for her and when she reached him he pulled her into a passionate kiss.

“Who’s that boy she’s with?” she asked her mother.

“Eish, that’s Vuyo Cwayi. He’s a bad boy. He’s always hanging around with a new girl. A few months ago he made Mrs Samdyala’s daughter pregnant. And now he’s after Lusi. I’ve told her to keep away from him, but she doesn’t listen.”

“Eish, Mama,” Thabi said, finally sitting down on the sofa and making herself comfortable. “What are you going to do about her?” She flicked the remote to the cooking channel. “Look here, Mama – here’s the program about the cakes and desserts. This is what I’m studying at my cookery school.”

The chef on the screen was making a wedding cake. It had three tiers, and he was piping silver icing around the sides, to link up the icing roses and lilies he’d arranged on the top. Thabi thought it was beautiful. “I can’t wait to get back to school on Wednesday,” she said. “This semester we’ll be learning to work with fondant icing. It’s so much better than being a waitress, I tell you Mama.”

Her mother wasn’t listening. She was still watching Lusi flirting in the street with Vuyo. “Thabi,” she said at last, “I want you to take Lusi back to Cape Town with you. She’s going to get into trouble here. Her only chance is to get away, and to go to a good school and get the best education she can.”

Thabi sat bolt upright. “Yintoni? Take Lusi back with me?” Her heart sank. Her little cottage in Mowbray was only big enough for her and her two best friends, Motso and Sim. They’d only been living there for four months, and so far it was going superbly. To spoil it now by bringing her rude, badly behaved teenage sister home with her? Are you serious Mama? She thought.

She looked at her mother’s face. She had never seen her looking so worried. “Mama…” she began. She paused. How could she say no, after all her mother had done for her? “Fine,” she said, trying not to sigh. “I’ll take her back with me.”

* * *

Tell us what you think: Is it fair of Mrs Malebane to ask Thabi to take her sister home to Cape Town?