I’ve lost my mind. Why else would I be here waiting for Reneilwe? After everything I’ve been told about her brother I should be running for the hills. I should be trying to get her out of my mind. Instead I’m at Suzy’s Jazz Club waiting for her at the bar. I even got here 10 minutes early. What’s wrong with me? I have definitely lost my mind! I know that this is probably a huge mistake and I might get myself killed.

I spent the better part of my day listening to horror stories about Bra Cobra from all my brother’s friends. All Zweli had to say on the matter was, “Stay away from all this, bafo. We have enough troubles as it is. No girl is worth this much trouble.”

I’m not stupid, but I had to come see her before I commit to ignoring my feelings for her. I just have to see her, once. Then I’ll get all these emotions out of my system.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I practically jump out of my skin. In my sudden panic I knock my drink off the bar and almost push the man sitting next to me right off his chair.

“Oh my goodness, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Then I realise it’s Reneilwe; only she is wearing and a hooded coat and she won’t look up at me or anyone in the room. It’s as though she’s hiding, or doesn’t want to be spotted by someone.

“Oh, Rene–”

She puts her hand over my mouth before I can finish my sentence, then drags me out of the club. She leads me to the back of the building, to a black car. She unlocks and we both get inside.

“I’m sorry for acting so secretively. I just didn’t want us be seen. Suzy’s can be crowded,” she says as we settle into the car. I notice that she doesn’t make any move to drive off or switch on her lights.

“Is Suzy’s too crowded, or is it that you just don’t want to be seen with me? Is your brother in there?” I ask.

“I see you’ve heard about my family. I told you the people here talk. I’d hoped that I’d be the first to tell you everything. I guess that was a little naïve of me,” she says, looking away.

“Why did you agree to meet with me knowing how dangerous your brother is?” I ask, exasperated. I mean, why didn’t she just come clean at the police station? Then again, would it have made a difference? I’m here now, even though I know the truth about her.

“I know I should have said something, but in truth I didn’t want to scare you off. And, in my defence, you insisted on meeting with me. I did say I wasn’t the sort of girl you want to know. I’ll admit that I wanted to come see you one last time tonight. I knew that once you found out you wouldn’t want anything to do with me,” she says.

“I’m glad you came,” I say. “I’m scared out of my mind, but I’m glad you came.” It’s true – despite my fears, I am so happy she came to see me.

“And I’m glad I came, too,” she says, sincerity in her voice.

We sit there looking into each other’s eyes for the longest time. We could stay like this forever. Just forget the world, her brother and all our problems and just stay frozen in this moment.

“Muzi, I should go home now … before my brother gets suspicious and sends people out looking for me.”

In an instant her words burst our little bubble, letting in all we had forgotten in our precious moments together.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay away from you. I don’t want to …” I say, looking at her nervously. I’m afraid she’ll want to say a final goodbye and forget all about me.

“I don’t think I can either, but we have to keep our distance. If my brother finds out, you have no idea how angry he’ll be or what he could do to you. We just can’t risk it,” she says sadly.

“Who says he has to know? We can just keep meeting in secret. If we are careful he’ll never find out. We should at least try,” I say.

“I don’t know about that,” she says, unconvinced.

“Please, Reneilwe, don’t give up before we’ve even tried! I promise this will work; we will work. Give us a chance to become something before you dismiss the idea completely.” I say this with so much determination and conviction that even I’m sold on the idea. And to my surprise she’s convinced too.

“Okay, we can give it a try. But if you find your life’s in danger, remember I tried to talk you out of this.”

She opens the glove compartment and pulls out a pen and a piece of paper. She scribbles something on the paper, hands it to me and says, “This is Ruby’s telephone number. Call me from Suzy’s at 6 o’clock tomorrow night. We can meet before my performance and work out how we go from there.”

Then she leans over and we kiss passionately.

***

Tell us: Have you realised that back in the 1950s cellphones didn’t exist and most township houses did not have landlines? Making a call was not easy! How would you cope without a cellphone?