Since the return of Clark, Charlize and Hennie had refrained from asking him what had been on their lips the whole afternoon. They had agreed that they would have that conversation with him only after Amina’s departure and Maggie had been put to bed.
Everyone was enjoying the impromptu braai on the front lawn when Kwanele came out running from the house, tears in his eyes, his face grief-stricken.
– “Miss Lizzie, Miss Lizzie! The farm had been attacked! Jakobus—Jakobus is… They… They—”
Charlize grabbed Kwanele’s arms.
– “Kwanele, Kwanele! What happened to Jakobus?”
– “He’s… he’s dead. They killed him. Miss Lizzie, it’s horrible. They burned a tire around his neck.”
Charlize vacillated in Amina’s arms. She sat down on the chair and cried silently while Ma Gugu had already taken Maggie back into the house followed by Mbali. Kwanele and Hennie were standing by Charlize.
Clark approached the group. “Stephen, get the Land Rover. We’ll go to the farm. Kwanele, Hennie, you will stay here with Miss de Vries and Amina. Lock the house and—”
– “No, Clark. I’m going.” Charlize said in a tone that precluded any discussions.
Clark pulled Amina aside. He held up her hand palm up, placed something inside and folded back her fingers. Amina listened to him talk and nodded just before Stephen stopped the Land Rover by the group. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Clark and Amina returned to the group.
– “Now, go back the house and lock the doors.” Clark said.
Hennie had helped Kwanele lock all the doors and windows. Maggie was upstairs in her room with Ma Gugu and Mbali. Amina sat at one corner of the sofa and cautiously placed a coin that she had been holding in her hand on the coffee table, face up when Hennie came and sat down by her side.
– “What’s that, Amina?” Hennie asked pointing at the coin. It was a South African one cent coin.
Amina startled. “Hmm? Oh, that? Nothing.”
– “May I see it?” Hennie said, and reached down to take the coin when Amina briskly stopped him .
– “Please. Don’t touch it.”
Hennie nodded and said as if talking to himself. “I thought so.”
Amina looked at him, annoyed. “What are you talking about?”
– “Amina, I saw Clark place that coin in your palm. I saw you holding your palm up all the way from the front lawn up to here. I saw you gently pick up that coin with two fingers and carefully place it on top of the coffee table. Don’t you think it’s a peculiar way for anyone to treat a simple one cent coin like that?”
Amina shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Hennie leaned back against the sofa. “I’m asking you that because I clearly saw him rubbing that coin with another before placing it in your palm.”
– “So?” said Amina, irritated, “Why are you suddenly interested in what he did or what he gave me or said to me?”
Hennie let her anger passed before saying in a most serious tone, “Because if I’m right, you and me are now witnessing something that is utterly impossible in this world. A phenomena that no physicists on Earth can explain.”
Amina looked at Hennie. “Hennie, what are you talking about?”
– “Amina, do you know what entanglement stands for in quantum physics?”
– “Hennie, I’m really not in the mood to listen to a physics lecture right now.”
– “No, Amina. Please bear with me. Entanglement in quantum physics means that any two particles that had interacted between themselves will react the same way no matter the distance between them. It means that if you look at the one on Earth and see that it’s upside down then the other one, no matter how far it is—it can be on the Moon or in another galaxy—will instantly put itself in the same state, meaning upside down.”
Before Amina could say anything, Hennie went on.
– “Amina, this has been proven times and times again in hundred of experiments in laboratories all around the world and all the results confirm it.”
– “What are you saying?”
– “I don’t know—unless you tell me what Clark said to you when he gave you that coin.”
Amina looked at the coin on the table and remained silent.
Hennie tried again. “Did he ask you not to tell anyone?”
She shook her head.
– “Well, then. I don’t see what’s the harm in telling me and I might be able to tell you more about that coin.”
Amina sighed. “He told me to turn the coin over if we’re in danger.”
Hennie straightened himself up instantly.
– “Oh my God. I was right!”
– “Right in what?”
Hennie tuned to Amina and grabbed her by the arms.
– “Amina don’t you see? He asked you to turn the coin over if we’re in danger. Why? How would he know? Does it make any senses to you? There’s only one possible explanation. If we turned this coin over, the one that Clark had rubbed against it will instantly turn itself over and that’s how he will know if we’re in danger or not. Can you think of another explanation of why he would ask you to turn the coin over?”
Amina wanted to laugh despite herself. “How can than be?”
– “That’s the problem, Amina. It can’t be. It can’t happen with coins. Matter in the macroscopic world do not and can not behave like atoms and particles. If I throw a rock at that window, the rock will hit that window but if I throw a particle of light at that window, it might hit that window or it might be on its way to Cape Town. No one knows why. It just is.”
– “Even if that’s possible, you forget that the farm is in Pretoria. That’s 40 miles from here. How that’s gonna help?”
Hennie did not have an answer. He simply stared at the coin on the table.
