The bell signaling the end of the day rings and everyone seems antsy to get up even though Mr Chili is still assigning homework yet no one dares at the fear of being at the receiving end of strikes of his cane. "Alright class you're dismissed. " he says even though I doubt half of them caught half of what he said. I quickly scribble the page our homework is on and shove my notebook and textbook into my bag. We then join the mass of students walking out the gate.
" Hi guys." I greet my brothers who are already waiting for me when I walk out the gate. They high five each other we all have this unspoken of competition of who can get to the other first . They must be happy they won. I notice Siseko is still standing besides me and we are now joined by his brothers. " Oh hey guys. Again this is my new friend Siphokuhle Hlengwa and her brothers." All of them kept looking between Sbani and Sesizwe. Everyone did when they first saw them.
"I'm Sbani and I'm Sesizwe." the opposite twin each said I narrowed my eyes at them. "No it's actually the other way around. That's Sesizwe and the one with terribly unkept hair is Sbani." I said catching on on their fib and they groaned. "How does she do that?" Sbani asked frowning at me but grabbed onto his twin and they ran ahead of me. I laughed at them as I watched on and I was reminded that there are people surrounding me when they joined in on my laughter except for the eldest, he just smiled. His eyes trained on me. Unyielding,direct and following my gaze . I felt it fixed on me even when I was not looking at him.
"Well these are my brothers and we aren't difficult to tell apart. Zothani is the eldest , that's Phakamani and that's our youngest brother Sizwe." They all gave me looks of acknowledgement. "It was nice meeting you guys. I must be going now. See you tomorrow City boy." I said when the twins figures grew further away. "City boy eh?" I heard Phakamani tease as I walked away and I smiled to myself.
It was a little after five and we had done all our chores . I led the twins to Bab'Gumbi's house to get their heads shaved. I'm sick of Sbani's whining every morning and having to remind them both to comb their hair when it was still wet and manageable.
"Good afternoon Bab'Gumbi." I greeted as we entered the rondavel he used as his "salon". "BoHlengwa . How are you?" He asked smiling fondly at all of us. "We're fine thank you baba." We all replied politely. "Now what can I do for you?" He asked looking to me expectantly. "It's the season for the sheep to shave their wool." I said in jest and we both laughed whilst the twins looked rather unimpressed with me.
"Okay who's first?" He asked now looking at the twins. Sbani was always afraid of the machine ,says he's afraid it'll cut his ears off so it came to no surprise that Sesizwe went first. He always did just to show him yet again he won't get hurt. These moments always warmed my heart. They reassured me that if ever I couldn't be there for them I could count on them to take care of each other.
When they were done I handed Bab'Gumbi his due fees , thanked him and we made our way I home. When we got there we saw Siwe sneaking out of our rondavel. "Siwe what were you doing in there?" I asked firmly causing her to jump out of her skin. "You scared me!" She said turning to us and scowling feigning nonchalance but I didn't miss her movement as she slipped something into her dress pocket. "What did you take from in there?" I asked already walking up to her.
"Nothi-ng!" She stuttered holding onto the pocket looking for a way to get away from us. "Give it Siwe!" I demand but I see her face contort from surprise to spiteful. "If you don't let me take this money I'll tell mama you have it and she'll take it all. " I frowned at her daring her but my heart sinking knowing that she wasn't above carrying out her threat. "Oh really?" Sesizwe scoffed his gaze piercing Siwe. "Yes I will." She said sounding less confident. "Then if you take that money and tell her about the rest I'll tell her you sneak out in the evenings to see that boy at the tuck shop and I'll tell him you have been stringing him along with the bus drivers son. Let's see what she'll have to say to that." He said his scowl growing fiercer with every word he uttered .
She seemed shocked he knew that and quite frankly so was I .I looked to Sbani and this seemed to be news to him as well. Sesizwe stepped forward and held out his hand to receive the R50 that Siwe reluctantly hands over. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and she pushed passed us.
I waited until we went into our rondavel and I turned to them and high fived them. "Now you tell us how you know our wretched step sister's dark secrets." I asked as we settled on our respective beds and took out our books to do homework. Six to seven was our homework hour.
"Please do tell I'm curious as well." Sbani said as we both looked pointedly at Sesizwe. "What? I walk around and I see things and they at times turn out to be information worth bribing our wicked step sister with." He replies opening his books and lying on his tummy on his single bed and doing his homework. We too do the same when we realize we'll get nothing more from him.
After an hour we hear our stepmother screeching for me to bring her food and all three of us get out of bed and head to the kitchen to eat.
Later that night as we lay in bed and I hear Sbani begin to snore and I'm reassured he's asleep I whisper out to Sesizwe in the darkness. " I know you're not sleeping Zwe!" I hiss and at hearing this he groans. "What Sipho? " he replies reluctantly and I hear him move about in his bed. "Tell me what happened at school today?" I prod even though I can tell he would rather do anything but that.
"I tore my school shirt the lesson before break that's why I was wearing my jersey and the boys in my class started mocking me about it and they wouldn't stop . After break they kept at it so Sbani gave me his and he had to wear a jersey and they made fun of him instead. The thing is so worn it tore right below the collar all the way down my back." He whispered and I could hear the hurt in his voice. " Come here." I whispered as I opened my blankets to let him in . He shuffled out out of his bed and got into mine and I held him on my chest . I could feel his tears seep into my nightdress as his body wracked with sobs.
I held him like that until he fell asleep and when I was sure he was asleep and he didn't grip my nightdress when I tried to move I untangled myself from him and went over to his bed. I couldn't share a bed with my brothers a single bed at that too. I'd wake up with an aching body and an arm in my face , a leg on my tummy especially since my bruises from this weeks battery haven't healed.
Besides he grew embarrassed when he woke up sleeping next to me although Sbani didn't tease him about it he just hated it so when he falls asleep on my bed , I have to wait for him to fall asleep before I sneak away into his.
For the remainder of most of the night I stayed awake thinking of how I'd get money to buy them new school uniform . I have been putting that off since the year's begun because they either got sick and when one got sick so did the other . I had to get them medication since the doctor is too expensive and the clinic services aren't reliable. If it wasn't that I had to save it for their lunch money.
It was barely much to begin with all I had on me now was R159,50c . I needed at least R600 to cover it all. I fell asleep with the comfort that I'd go to Mam'Thandiwe's after school.
