It was close to 9:00 a.m. when Ma Gugu returned from the Janssenses, having walked Lindiwe to her new home. She circled the main residence to the servants house and found Stephen working on the broken lawn mower.
– “How many times have I told you to throw that old thing away, Stephen? I’ve already asked Miss Lizzie to buy a new one. Where’s the white man?” she said in Zulu.
Stephen answered without taking his eyes off the lawn mower, “In the kitchen, helping Mbali.”
Ma Gugu entered the kitchen and found the man mopping the floor. That same feeling of uneasiness reemerged immediately. Although the man standing there with a mop in his hands was only wearing some servant’s frocks a size too large for him, Ma Gugu still felt that she was in the presence of something intimidating, something unapproachable.
– “Good morning meneer, are you feeling better?” she asked, mixing Afrikaans words with English as most South Africans do when talking to white people and not really expecting him to have understood.
But to her great surprise, the man answered back in a tentative English, “Better. Thank you.”
– “That’s alright, young man. Everyone would have done the same. Do you remember what happened to you?” Ma Gugu was speaking slowly, enunciating clearly each word.
– “Not much.”
Ma Gugu nodded. “Are you leaving us now?”
– “Yes, but I’d like to thank Lindiwe.”
Ma Gugu made gestures with her arms. “She’s now living with the Janssenses just down the block. The house has their name on it. Janssen. You can’t miss it.”
The man leaned the mop against the wooden wall and said goodbye to Ma Gugu. She watched him walk out to say goodbye to Stephen but then, as if something had caught his attention, he reached out for a wire inside the lawn mower, made a loop, pinched it with two fingers and the broken lawn mower sputtered to life.
– “I’ll be damned!” uttered Stephen jumping up on his feet, “Man, how did you do that?”
The man was now waving goodbye to Mbali who had just come back in the kitchen while Stephen stood there scratching and shaking his head in disbelief.
Before the man could walk away, Stephen grabbed his arm. “Wait, spari.” Zulu for friend.
Stephen stepped into the kitchen and pulled Ma Gugu aside. “Ma. I know you’re looking for another domestic. Why not him?”
– “Yes, Ma. Why don’t you hire him?” echoed Mbali with glee.
Ma Gugu’s face was only inches away from theirs. “You silly the both of you. Don’t you think before you talk? You want me to ask Miss Lizzie to hire a white man as a domestic?”
Stephen shrugged, “Why not, Ma? Look at him. He has nothing else but the clothes we gave him.”
– “What makes you think he’d want to work like a kaffir?”
– “Ma, you still think with apartheid in mind.” risked Mbali which earned her an icy stare from Ma Gugu. “He’s not Afrikaner, maybe he’ll think different.”
Ma Gugu shook her head slowly, “I don’t know—”
– “Why don’t you ask him?” said Stephen.
Without letting Ma Gugu time to answer, Stephen motioned the man to approach.
Ma Gugu swallowed hard. “Umh—would you like to work here?”
The man looked at them then nodded. “Yes.”
Ma Gugu spoke slower than she did before. “Do you understand that you’ll be working as a domestic and that you’ll be taking orders from me?”
Another nod. If Ma Gugu was shocked she did not show it.
“Then you can call me Ma from now on. What should we call you?”
The man said a word that none of them could reproduce no matter how hard they tried. The closest they came to was ‘Clark’.
Ma Gugu reverted back to her normal speech. “Alright, Clark that is.” she said to Mbali’s delight. “Let’s see. Today’s Saturday. Why don’t you take today and tomorrow off. You’ll start Monday.”
Ma Gugu opened her large purse, pulled out 200 rands which were equivalent to 20 dollars and handed it to Clark. “Look. I know you don’t have any money. Here’s an advance. Go in town and buy yourself what you need. Stephen can drive you.”
Clark took the money then turned to Stephen.
– “I can walk, thank you. I’d like to see Lindiwe first.”
