Bonang came back to the waiting room, smiling, until she saw the angry crowd around me.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I …” I tried to explain.

“She stole my baby is what is going on!” the woman with the pram said.

“Stole your baby? That’s ridiculous! Why would Lola steal your baby?” Bonang said.

“I heard her say earlier that she’d love to have a baby,” the white woman offered.

“That doesn’t mean Lola stole hers.” Bonang looked around the waiting room. “Where would she have put it, if she had?”

The husband to the white woman said, “She went outside with the pram. Maybe she gave the baby to someone out there.”

The stern-faced mother of the young pregnant woman said, “If you wanted a baby why couldn’t you go and have your own, like everyone else?”

Everyone nodded their heads, except the daughter to that woman who looked away embarrassed. The mother of the missing baby sat down on a plastic waiting chair and began to cry, her mascara making long, thick, black lines down her cheeks.

“I’ll call the police,” said Nurse Kedi, who’d been at the reception desk. She was joined there by Nurse Robert, who’d been examining Bonang. “I think it’s best everyone stays here until the police arrive.”

The Indian woman looked at her watch. “I have a meeting in thirty minutes. I hope they hurry.”

Bonang took me to the side. “What happened?”

“Nothing. Nothing happened. She left the baby. Gideon called so I went outside to talk to him. I pushed the pram out with me; no-one could have taken the baby. The pram was with me the entire time. It’s impossible. But when she came back the baby was gone. Not in the pram. I don’t know what happened.”

Bonang took a paper cup and filled it with cold water from the dispenser. “Here, sit down and drink this. You seem very upset.”

I drank the water and tried to sort out the facts in my mind. What was going on? Everything had happened so quickly. Then I understood. “The baby was not in the pram when the mother went to the toilet. That must be it!”

I stood and went to the mother, who was now being attended to by Nurse Kedi, a tall, no nonsense nurse, probably about fifty or so. “I understand what happened now.”

The mother looked up at me, her face a mess from tears and make-up. She looked much younger now. “You understand what? What is it that you understand about stealing my baby?”

“The baby must have been gone already when you gave me the pram. Maybe you left her at home.”

“Left her at home? What kind of mother do you think I am?” Her voice was rising with anger. “You stole her! She was in the pram when I left it with you. I checked her; she was sleeping like an angel. You stole her, you evil woman!”

Just then Sergeant Seabe came into the clinic. “Lola, what’s happening here?”

“Why are you asking her?!” the mother screamed. “She’s the criminal.”

I moved back to where Bonang was and left Sergeant Seabe to sort things out for himself. I didn’t want to make people even more upset. Nurse Kedi stepped forward to take charge.

“It appears this woman’s baby has been stolen,” she began, then explained the details of what had happened in a fair, clinical way, not blaming me, but not exonerating me either.

Sergeant Seabe listened and turned to me. “So? What do you have to say?”

“I think the baby wasn’t in the pram when she gave it to me. That’s the only explanation I can come up with. Yes, I went outside to take a phone call from my boyfriend. You can call him and confirm that. I was only outside for two minutes at most. I never even moved the blanket; I didn’t want to wake the baby – the baby that was not there.”

Sergeant Seabe interviewed the couple, Bob and Ann Gulligan; the Indian woman, Iris Hassim; the mother and daughter, MmaRefilwe and Refilwe, and Bonang.

Their stories were quite similar. Mabel Lesole, the mother to the missing baby, got the key for the toilet and then asked me to watch the baby in the pram. I agreed and the pram was put closer to me. No-one went near the pram except for me. My phone rang and I took the pram outside for a few minutes. I came back just before the mother returned and found that the baby was gone. No-one actually saw the baby in the pram or heard her because she was sleeping, but the mother insisted she checked her before going to the toilet and the baby was in the pram. She was positive.

“Lola, I have to take you down to the station,” Sergeant Seabe said.

“But she didn’t do anything!” Bonang protested.

“It’s OK. Don’t get upset, Bonang, it’s not good for your baby. I’ll sort it out. Call Jomo to come and get you,” I said, and then I followed Sergeant Seabe out of the door.

***

Tell us what you think: Did Lola take the baby? If not, who could have?