My relationship with Lizo was back on track, and we loved each other even more than before. We kissed each other in the fields, and held on to each other in public places. But I grew afraid, and suggested that we should take it slowly, so that no-one would notice.

Months passed without us seeing, or talking to each other. I missed him so much, having sleepless nights; and waking up in tears.

Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore, and I went to the royal house, without him calling me. I just wanted to see him, see his smile and hear his voice. I found him relaxing around the hearth.

“I missed you, Lizo.” I said, when he asked what I was doing there. I longed to hold and kiss him. We sat by the fireside talking for about an hour. I didn’t see anyone else around.

But something happened when he led me into his room. We had not intended to do anything. But one thing led to another. When I told him I missed him, he came close to me, held me and kissed me in a way he had never kissed me before. We couldn’t resist what we felt for each other.

“Oh my God!” I suddenly heard his wife screaming. “This is why you never touch me!”

Thobeka was standing in the doorway. We had not heard her approaching. Lizo thought that she was still at the river.

She left the room crying uncontrollably. The chief’s councillors were not far away. They rushed to her to find out what was wrong. Her crying caught the attention of many people, and soon the royal kraal was crowded with onlookers.

“What a shock!” people exclaimed, not ready to accept what Thobeka was saying. Then the chief entered the room where we were. He looked at us, and left with a sombre face, without having uttered a word.

Vezuhlanga had seen us with his own eyes as we were quickly putting our clothes back on. It was clear what we had been doing from the bed, and our state of dress. I was cold with shock. I paced the room not knowing which way to go. There was no way out. People were gathered in the front room, discussing what had happened.

While I was still there, not knowing what to do, two councillors and four young men came in and came straight to me holding their weapons. They threw me out, and the crowd welcomed me, with each one wanting to hit me first. I looked around for Lizo, and couldn’t see him. Thobeka’s crying could not be drowned by the crowd’s noise. I could hear the names they were calling me, comparing me with every bad creature you could think of.

Some also compared me to a boy, my manhood having lost its dignity. They were saying, “Teach this boy a lesson,” and while saying so, they started tearing off all my clothes.

I saw the chief coming through the crowd, and they became quiet.

“Is this what you are teaching our children at school, teacher?” he asked, pushing me on the forehead with his finger, as a sign of disgust.

I couldn’t answer that question, and the crowd shouted at me saying, “Throw him out of this village before he teaches our kids this taboo.”

One of the councillors went on to say, “Where have you ever seen a man who sleeps with other men? Boy, you are a witch! We have long been suspecting your mother.”

I was the one who had bewitched Lizo, because I wanted to destroy his marriage, they said. It was not long before I could feel blood running down, and the warmth of wounds on my head and my back, as I lay in the dust.

Everything happened quickly. The people made me cross the village, naked, with my hands tied. They attracted more crowds, and all were chasing me with a whip. At last I reached my final destination, my place of death – the river. Everyone picked up a stone, and those with weapons moved back, letting the others stone me.

“Kill the dog!”

I was a dog, and my death would be like that of a dog in the hands of a cruel crowd. I could feel the pain of the dogs that used to be killed there when I was still a boy. Today I was in their place.

* * * * *

I woke up in hospital after being in a coma for a week. My mother was sitting next to me. I couldn’t contain myself when I noticed Lizo on the other side of the bed.

“I told you to go to the city a long time ago, but you didn’t listen to me,” said my mother, wiping away her tears.

“I’m not a coward. I can’t leave my home because of what I believe in.”

“Thobani, my love, your mother is telling the truth. We have to escape. We can even go to Johannesburg, where I was. I don’t want to lose you through the hands of the killers. My wish is to love and cherish you until the end. We will fight even to death, as we have already done.”

Ever since we had been in this relationship he had never called me ‘my love’. We didn’t use that term.

“How come I am still alive?” I asked, weeping because of Lizo’s words.

“It’s Thobeka. Even in her own pain and shock she realised that she was about to witness murder, and threw herself on top of you to save you. She kept you alive until your mother could call the police.”

As I healed I thought about the unexpected turn in my circumstances, and I honoured those brave women.

I had almost died and now I decided that there was no more time to waste. I would go to where I could find rest, where our love could grow with no interference. But I also decided that I would continue to be a teacher, a teacher of a different kind.

I want to teach those who still don’t understand: there is nothing wrong with two men who are in love.

Lizo is the pillar of my strength; with him I will never be embarrassed about who I am.

* * *

Tell us what you think: Did Thobani and Lizo do the right thing, moving to Johannesburg?