Chapter 6- Learning to trust
Kupa sits on the edge of her bed. Thinking. Her mother would never agree. Had her dad been home, she would have asked him. She hated the thought of lying to her parents, but she would hate not going more. She finds her mother in the kitchen.
‘Mhama…some of my classmates are meeting on Saturday to study. Can I please go?’, she is barely audible over the soft music in the house.
Tanya looks at Kupa, uncertainty written all over her face. Kupa takes the moment’s hesitation as a sure signal of a negative answer until Tanya speaks.
‘Okay, what time?’ She focuses on her computer again.
‘I think from 2pm, I will be home before 7 though.’ Kupa is leaning on the wall, her hands behind her to avoid her mother noticing how nervous she is.
Tanya finds 5 hours of study reasonable, teenage girls will probably use 3 hours of those 5 for gossip.
‘Where? The Library?’
Kupa opens her mouth with the intention of saying yes, ‘No, we are meeting at Mary’s, her parents will be there.’ She wants to put a hand over her mouth to stop the self sabotage. ‘Umm, I want the address,’ Tanya feels like a good mother, she feels uneasy but ignores it. ‘Okay, thanks mum.’ Kupa skips off, thinking of what she will wear.
Tanya wakes up with a jolt and for a moment she is not sure why. She rubs her eyes in the dark and then she hears it. Tadiwa’s crying. The little boy is screaming at the top of his lungs. She rolls out of bed, checking the time while putting on her gown. It is a little after 2am.
She rushes into his room and finds him twisting in his bed. She picks him up, his temperature is way high.
She rocks him in her arms, trying to calm him down enough so she can find out what is wrong.
The toddler is inconsolable and soon enough, both Kupa and Rudo are up and in the room.
Tanya is panicking to the point of tears. She hates that she can’t call her mother for help, she calls Dylan.
‘Dee, something is wrong with Tadi, his temperature is high and he won’t stop crying’, Dylan can hear both his son’s now guttural sobs and the pain in his wife’s voice.
‘Put me on loud speaker babe,’ is all he says. In her panicked state, Tanya doesn’t ask questions, she does as asked.
‘King of kings we come to you , our ever present help in times of need. We ask oh Lord, for guidance, for peace and for the healing of our little one…’
Dylan’s prayer fills up the room, although soft, his voice takes over and captures all of them. No one immediately notices Tadiwa quieting down until at the end of the prayer when there is total silence.
‘Take him to the doctor babes, I will leave here in the morning soon after my meeting. Call me if you need me.’
Tanya sniffs, wiping away a tear and remembering why she adores her husband.
‘Thanks Dee, I will message what they say at the hospital. I love you.’
Dylan gets off the phone after attempting to speak to Tadi, he keeps nodding, too young to grasp the concept of a phone call.
Kupakwashe insists on going to the hospital, Tanya is secretly grateful. When they get to the 24 hour medical center, Tadi has fallen asleep again. The doctor wakes him up as he examines him, at this point the boy points to his tummy when asked where it hurts. The doctor rules out all life threatening conditions , suspecting a regular stomach bug, he prescribes a bunch of medicines and sends them on their way.
A few hours later, Tanya wakes up to find Kupakwashe fully dressed for school.
‘Morning, I didn’t think you would go to school today.’
Kupa goes on packing her lunchbox, ‘I don’t feel too sleepy, don’t want to miss class’.
‘Okay, tell me when you’re done, I will drop you off,’ Tanya says, turning to go freshen up.
‘It’s okay mum, I will get a kombi’, Kupakwashe looks excited. Tanya hesitates, ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yea! Positive’, Kupakwashe assures her.
Tanya smiles, thankful that Kupa is a considerate young lady, she had hardly slept after coming from the hospital. Tadiwa had struggled to sleep until about an hour ago.She goes into her bedroom and comes back with $10.
‘Thank you mhama,’ Kupakwashe reaches for the money, their fingers brush, Tanya smiles.
It’s Saturday afternoon, 2 days after Tadiwa’s sickness. Tanya and Dylan are seated outside under the huge Msasa tree. Tanya is on her laptop, Dylan is catching up on the newspapers. She keeps looking up to check on her son who is playing in the sand box his father built for him. He is pretending to be a truck driver, delivering sand. Tanya is amazed at how it seems he is dying one day and the next he is completely fine. She is convinced motherhood needs a degree qualification.
Kupakwashe comes out the door, she is wearing a pair of short shorts that Tanya had hoped she would reserve only for weekends at home. She doesn’t comment, it is a hot day.
‘I’m off now,’ she addresses them both.
‘Okay baby, sweet study. Call us if you need a ride back home.’
‘I will be fine daddy, bye!’ And she is gone.
Kupakwashe gets to the party late, it is clear some of the older guys are already drunk. She spots her friends and joins them, excited to have made it. The group of girls are careful not to drink anything other than the sealed Pepsi’s they are personally taking from inside the house. They have heard enough stories about drink spiking.
A lot of dancing goes on, scattered all over the yard are groups of teenagers gossiping or dancing.
Soon after the crowd sings ‘happy birthday’ to Stavo, the birthday boy, the cake is cut and Kupakwashe says her goodbyes.
She doesn’t notice the open zipper of her bag, neither does she notice the foreign package, tucked in between her books.
