Lunga could not wait to see Busi again. They arranged to meet in town at the restaurant before his afternoon shift.
Busi was late. At home she had spent a while changing outfits. She wanted to look her very best for Lunga. During her Matric year she had lost weight. She had stopped eating so much bread and had cut down on potatoes and rice and pap. Her mother had been alarmed at first.
“You girls are always doing something different. What is wrong with the old ways? Pap has been good enough for me for my whole life. And now you want to eat fruit and yoghurt and all these other things. And it all costs money, Busi. And money doesn’t grow on trees.”
Busi just smiled, because she could see that her mother was actually very proud of her. She had worked very hard through her Matric, and she was confident that she would achieve high marks, especially for Life Science. She loved the subject. Busi planned to study by correspondence, something to do with Biology. Her mother listened with a smile when Busi examined the babies in her care and told her mother everything that she had learned.
“Lunga has contacted me, Mama,” Busi had told her mother the day before. She had lied to her mother once, and she never wanted to do it again.
Her mother was silent, continuing to change a baby’s nappy, and she did not look up.
“He has waited for me you know. To finish my Matric. Clint told him the day I finished and then he called me.”
Busi noted that her mother was slowly nodding her head.
“He says he still loves me, Mama. And I told him that I love him too.”
Busi’s mother pulled the baby’s clothes on and smiled. Then she kissed the baby’s chubby cheeks. She looked up at her daughter. “Well, my daughter you have finished school now. I believe that this young man is a hard worker, and he does not drink, or take drugs, so …”
Before she could finish, Busi bent down and kissed her mother, hugging her hard.
“Thank you, Mama!”
Busi’s mother watched her walk away. There was a spring in her step.
Lunga looked up from his cup of coffee as Busi walked into the restaurant. She looked amazing and he stood up to greet her. As he took her hand he could feel that she was trembling.
“Hello, Songbird,” he said as he kissed her cheek.
Busi could not take her eyes off Lunga as she sipped the coke he bought her. She could still hardly believe that he had waited a full ten months for her. She really believed that he loved her now.
***
Tell us what you think: What do you think will happen next?