| |
––––––––
Arno and Aviva were waiting for her in the lounge. Well, not waiting exactly. They were sitting side by side on the couch watching Sky News when she walked in, trailing tension in her wake. Thys was standing by the fireplace. She knew exactly how the French nobility must have felt when they climbed the scaffolding and approached the guillotine. Except she was hardly French nobility. More like a common thief, a murderer approaching the gallows. She wiped her sweating palms on her jeans and smiled shakily at her son who was holding hands with his ... oh God... his sister. His half-sister. She swallowed hard, trying to swallow the nausea that was burning her gullet. She sank into an armchair and pushed her glasses back up her nose. She took a deep breath. She opened her mouth. This was it.
‘What’s this?’ Thys said, holding up a brown envelope.
She stared at it. She’d totally forgotten about it. She’d put it on the mantelpiece yesterday when she’d been waiting for Arno to arrive. She had intended to show it to Thys later. They were going to open it together.
‘I don’t know. I never opened it. I was waiting for you,’ she said.
‘It’s from the Department of Land Affairs. It’s probably important. It’s just as well I found it here.’
She bit her lip. She wanted to cry. It was all too much.
‘I wanted us to open it together. I couldn’t bear to open it alone. What if it’s bad news? I’m sure it’s bad news. That’s why Mr Venter hasn’t phoned. He doesn’t want to tell us.’ Her voice faded.
Thys turned the envelope over, slipped his finger beneath the flap and ripped. He reached in and pulled out an official-looking letter. Annamari held her breath while he read it. Slowly. Then he read it again. Arno turned off the television and stared at his father – at Thys.
‘What?’ Annamari said. ‘What does it say?’
Thys walked over to her and held it out. She took it with a trembling hand. She took off her glasses and polished the lenses on her T-shirt. She put them back on and tried to focus. The words blurred. She blinked. She still couldn’t make out the letters. She took her glasses off and held the letter up close to her face. That was better. Now she could see. She read:
Dear Mr and Mrs T van Zyl.
Re: CLAIM ON STEYNSPRUIT IN TERMS OF RESTITUTION OF LAND RIGHTS ACT, 1994 (ACT NO.22 OF 1994), AS AMENDED.
You are hereby informed that the claimed lodged by Mr. Thabiso Hadebe on behalf of the Hadebe/Schekoera/Moilwa families has been withdrawn.
The Constitutional Court has been informed and therefore there will be no ruling on this case.
All parties will be responsible for their own legal costs.
Please indicate that you are in receipt of this letter and have understood and acknowledged its contents by signing in the appropriate space below and returning it to:
The Regional Land Claims Commissioner
Free State and Northern Cape
P.0. Box 2345
Kimberley
8300
Tel: (053) 807 5555
Fax: (053) 807 5556
Annamari put her glasses back on and stared at Thys.
‘What does this mean?’
‘I don’t know. I think we need to contact Mr Venter. Now. He said we should be getting a ruling from the Constitutional Court any day now. They must have heard something. Probably that they were going to lose. That’s probably why they’ve withdrawn their claim,’ Thys said.
Annamari smiled apologetically at Arno and Aviva as she got up to follow Thys out the French doors.
‘Sorry to leave you like this. But it’s an emergency. Arno, take Aviva on a tour of the farm. Have you shown her the river? Take your cozzies, it might be warm enough to swim. Did you bring swimming costumes?’
‘You are crazy, Ma,’ Arno said. ‘The water will still be absolutely freezing at this time of the year. But go with Pa. Avi and I will be fine.’
Waves of relief washed over Annamari as she hurried after Thys towards the kibbutz office. She wasn’t sure if that was because the confrontation with Arno and Aviva had been postponed or because the land claim finally appeared to be over. That was wonderful news. As soon as they’d spoken to Mr Venter and confirmed everything, they’d sign the letter and whoever was going to Driespruitfontein today could take it and post it. And that would be that. She should be happy. Some good news at last.
***
Mr Venter wasn’t in his office. He was in court. His assistant had no idea when he would be back. And no, she couldn’t send him a message. He didn’t like to be disturbed.
‘Let’s just sign the letter and get it over with,’ Annamari said.
But Thys refused. And Busi agreed.
‘It’s probably best if we do wait for Mr Venter,’ Busi said. ‘There has to be a reason why they’ve bypassed our lawyer and come directly to us. It could be some kind of trick. I mean, we have no way of knowing that they have actually withdrawn the claim.’
Annamari sank back on the hard wooden chair. Thys perched on the edge of the desk. Busi turned back to her computer. ‘I have some accounts to pay, please excuse me.’ She tapped a few keys and smiled. ‘I’m so glad we took the decision to install VSAT. Having a satellite link to the Internet makes a huge difference – it’s so much faster and more reliable than the old cellular link, don’t you agree?’
‘Ja. Since we installed a computer in the library, there are kids in there all the time, but I think I need to ask Karabo to check the security settings again. I think some of the kids have managed to bypass something and are getting on to inappropriate websites. But even so, it’s making a huge difference to them. Their work is really improving,’ Thys said.
Busi smiled at Thys’ enthusiasm and Annamari knew why. He had been more than a little sceptical when Karabo, one of the assistant teachers, had pleaded with the kibbutz members for the satellite. Thys had been really opposed to it until Karabo had explained that they would be able to talk to De Wet – and actually see him – for free, wherever he was in the world.
‘It’s still not all that easy to get hold of Steyn, you know,’ Thys continued. ‘But that’s because there’s often no Internet connection at some of the really remote lodges.’
‘They should all get satellite connections – it’s so easy,’ Busi said.
Annamari got up. She had to get out of the office. She couldn’t breathe. She needed some fresh air. She really couldn’t handle a discussion about education or technology right now. She couldn’t pretend everything was okay.
There was so much to sort out. Thys still hadn’t said anything about Arno and... and Aviva. How were they going to tell them that they were... that they couldn’t be together? And what about her? Surely after everything she had done – after Beauty and now Aviva – Thys would leave her? She would leave herself, if she was Thys. What she had done was unforgiveable.
She excused herself and ran out of the office, gulping in the fresh air as she almost fell through the door. She walked. She had no thought of where she was going. She walked, faster, eyes fixed on the path. She turned right and headed towards the poplars. There was a flat rock there. She could sit quietly, undisturbed and sort out her thoughts.
The sun blazed down in the storm-washed azure blue sky. Somewhere in her troubled consciousness, she noticed that it was a beautiful day. It was, without a doubt, the worst day of her life.