The Janssen daughters, Zoe and Dane, were sitting on their stoep, lamenting about their latest conquests. Standing behind them was a black servant mixing sophisticated drinks at order. Zoe was wearing a bonded crepe dress with a white bustier while her elder sister Dane had on a stretch envers satin one-shoulder dress. No high-class society receptions or balls in Elizabethtown or Johannesburg would be completed without one of them.
– “Dane, don’t look but there’s a poor white man outside the gates.”
– “Really?” said her sister, pushing up the sunglasses over her head.
– “I think so.”
– “Maybe it’s one of those squatters from Sophia Park. I’ll tell Nomsa to give him a box of food. Nomsa!”
A black maid in uniform appeared at the door. “Yes, missus Dane?”
– “Go see what the man wanted. If he wants money, tell him we’ll give him food instead.”
– “Yes, missus.”
Zoe straightened herself up after a moment. “What she’s doing? Did you see that?”
Dane looked at her maid and laughed, “I would say she had a thing for him.” Feminine wiles had never fooled her.
Zoe called back her maid. “Nomsa!”
The maid walked back to the house. “Yes, missus Zoe?”
– “What does he want?”
– “Oh, he just wants to see Lindiwe, our new maid. He says he’s a friend.”
– “Well, go fetch her then.” Dane waved at the man and called out, “Please, come in!” in Afrikaans.
The man entered the property and approached cautiously until he was only a few yards away, standing by the bench on the front lawn. Dane couldn’t take her eyes off him. Her heart was beating faster and faster. Her brain would not allow her to understand where her new maid would have met such a good-looking man. Instinctively, Dane was rearranging her hair and patting down her dress without realizing it.
Zoe’s reaction had been the same and was now showing a bit too much of her legs for her sister’s taste. “Are you looking for Lindiwe?” she asked, also in Afrikaans while displaying her most enticing pose.
When the man answered them back in Afrikaans, the two sisters felt like they have gone to Heaven.
– “Would you like some iced tea?” Dane blurbed out.
– “No, thank you.” said the man when Lindiwe appeared at the corner of the house followed closely by Nomsa who was apparently in the same state as her mistresses.
Lindiwe took in the women’s reactions and turned proudly to her stranger with a smile, “Are you better?” she asked in English.
The man took Lindiwe’s hands and spoke to her in Zulu to the surprise of everyone, including Lindiwe herself.
– “Yes, thanks to you. Lindiwe, I don’t know how to thank you for helping me out last night. My name’s Clark.”
Lindiwe still in shock from the fact that the man speaks Zulu, could only nod her head in answer.
Clark turned Lindiwe and himself around so that now his back faced the Janssen sisters and lowered his voice. “Mama Gugu offered me a job. I’ll be staying there for a while until I—until I know more. I don’t know what will happen of me but until then if you need anything or if I can be of any help, please let me know.”
Lindiwe looked at Clark not really understanding what he had just said. She reasoned to herself that he must have chosen the wrong Zulu words and simply nodded her head just to please him.
Clark let go of her hands and said goodbye to a blushed Lindiwe.
After he was out of sight, Dane asked with all the indifference she could muster, “Lindiwe, who is he?”
– “A friend.” said Lindiwe who wasn’t at all fooled by her mistress’s neutral tone.
– “What does he do?”
– “He works for Ma Gugu.”
Zoe pointed her finger in the direction of Charlize’s house. “What? He’s a domestic?”
Lindiwe nodded.
– “He seemed nice. What’s his name?” Dane asked with the same indifference.
– “Clark.”
The two sisters looked at each other, grinning. The same thought had just crossed their minds.
