SWEET SUMMER JUICE - Warona J S Seane

It was Summer

Hot and Filled with Sweet

The Orchards had Sweet/Red/ Peaches/Watermelons

Bursting with their Sweet Juice/

Ginger Ale was always available

With Sweet Pineapple chunks

Bursting with Sweet Pineapple-Ginger Juice

Everywhere the eye roved an abundance of Sweet Life covered/

The Sun insisted on displaying His glory/each/day

The excitement He experienced at the colours he saw

Causing him to burn hotter/brighter/filling

The expanse of Mountains looming from the Earth

After much play/seeing what shadows his light cast/

What faces he can make appear in the rocks on the edges of the Mountains

Even the Sun needed some rest/

His Sister/Moon would come/and together/

They would look down at the Sweet/Summer/below

Musing at the Monkey Mountain or the Lover’s Fountain/

Admiring the sculptures created by their friends/Wind/Water/and Time

Until the Sun was forced to admit his fatigue and the Moon was left alone

To shine on in wonder at the fires burning below/

As she saw bodies move around the fire/She/too/

Played at seeing where the shadows She cast chose to fall/

She would listen to the laughter/bits of a story/the cry of a baby/

Whose pleas for an extra peach/ or another glass of Ale had been thwarted/

She particularly loved one fire/

This one was/alive/even after the others had burnt out/

Here/the sounds you heard were hushed as though in fear/

Of speaking out of tune with the silent music of the night/

This is where the Secret Club/met

Only children allowed at this Club

Only children knew about this Club

Only they knew its stories/

By the crackling Fire/

With only his shadow/ the Moon/as witness

Koma started singing/

“Come one come all

come if you believe,

come if you don’t believe,

come and share the wealth of the joys of the day that has passed,

come, wake up for the slumber you are in does not serve you,

come and listen to the words I have been sent to share”

The girls and boys would awaken and head straight for the fire/ Weary eyed/ and bone weary/they would move themselves/ slowly/ or excitedly to the fire/ Some/ with their eyes still closed would walk following only the sound of Koma’s singing/ Slowly the glare of the fire would be dimmed by the bodies around it/It seemed as though/ even/ the crickets/ paused/ a while/ as everyone/ waited/ for Koma/ to begin/ There was a pregnant silence filled only with expectation and the sound of the crackling fire/

“My brothers and sisters”/ he began/

“There is a time to come/

A time when these gatherings of ours will end”/

This produced hushed sounds of anxiety/ excitement/ in the others/

 “My sisters/ brothers/ our fathers will have to leave

We too some day/ will have to leave/

The Earth is not as giving as She used to be/

Maybe/ we have taken too much/ without/ gratitude/

Whatever it is/ the time to go Under is fast/ aproaching”/

The Fire continued its Dance with the Wind

As Koma’s audience/ waited/ for more

“ Men will be as sheep/

Their movements determined

By a drawing on a piece of paper and a flat round bead the size of a small stone/

They will follow this drawing and its bead wherever they go/

It will make them go/ Under/

Here they will meet with the Force of the Earth/

They will cause the Earth to rumble/

The deeper they go the taller their homes will be/

Taller than the trees/

They will sit with the birds in the clouds/

The Earth will rumble”/

‘What will happen then Koma’/

The Moon thought to herself as She listened intently to the story

Trying not to burn any brighter as Her excitement/ anticipation grew

She had to remind Herself that She had just been reborn/ it will be some time before she is full again/

And so/ she waited

Koma put another log onto the fire

Repositioned himself on his log and continued

Some will see Flaming Woman

Haloed by Fire and Triumph

Hers will be the face they shall revere and wish for

With every pick they drive into the Earth

Upon the walls of the City her face will be reflected

Upon the reflection on the windows

Forming a prism of light

Shall lie their prayers at their safe-keeping

Some will see those who came before them

Clad with similar visions

Of the Deeper the Gold

And in the depths of the Earth

They will learn to listen/ to fear/ to live without those they love

They will learn that lungs can ache/ and the Earth can collapse into Herself

When she is tired of being used and Her riches stolen from her/

That will be the time they return/

But in their return/ They will learn of death

Of the sorrows of their loved ones

Left behind while they dug for Gold

The Gold they never bring as a gift back home/

It will be elusive and nobody would see it

Except at markets where the more valuable the drawing on the piece of paper is the more you can afford

When they return it shall be our duty/

Brothers/ Sisters/ to leave so their lungs stop aching so much/

We will leave for we also need to buy the soap that washes our backs/

The wind began to howl and blow as though possessed by itself/ The children sat around the fire in silence listening to the wind/ wondering at how brave it is to disturb the silent music of the night/ fearing that the wind might wake their parents/ they began dousing the fire to return to their beds/ The Moon sat up in the sky and retold the story to herself/ In order to dream of it when she was finally tired enough to go to sleep/ She knew that her brother/ Sun would love to hear this story and together they would watch to see whether the time of Under would approach/ In the still silence of the night/ Koma tucked himself into bed/ awaiting the next dream which he will turn into a full story the following night/ The morning came as it always did/ with the crowing of cocks and the chirping of birds/ The Sun was already out/ Sensing his sister’s  anticipation to share the events of the night/ or not wanting to miss more of this Sweet Summer He appeared in the skies sooner than the Moon was ready to depart/ They sat up there together for a long time before Moon decided to go to bed/ Down below/ fires were being kindled to boil water and to make breakfast before everyone started the day/ yards were being swept/ beds being made/ children bathed/ and at Koma’s home his father was getting ready for a long trip/

He deemed himself the Chosen One

He acknowledged his response-ability in all he did

When his family needed food he responded by finding some,

When his friend knocked on the door he was always able to open it

So when food became scarce and the ground stopped yielding

He responded by knocking on a friend’s door

The door opened with an offer of a long journey

And so on this day/ He was setting off to places he had never been

He was very excited to see the lights/ cars and all the strange things of the City

But he dared not show his excitement to his wife/

This would be like a dagger to her already grieving heart/

He put on his clothes and waited for everyone to sit in the courtyard/

Koma got himself out of bed/ rolled his mat away and put it against the far wall/ He walked outside and the glare of the Sun shocked him into full wakefulness/ This had never happened before/ He struggled to remember why he wanted to be awake so early until he saw his father sitting on the stoep/ with his bowl of porridge in his hand looking like he did when he was going to church/ He mumbled a greeting and sat down/ his mother brought over a bowl of warm water and sleepily he washed his hands/ What’s going on?/ He asked himself/

“Koma/ I am going to Gauteng today”/

Where’s that?/

“It is far away/ on the other side of the River/ apparently once you have crossed the River you have to travel six hours by bus before you get there”/

Do you know anybody there?/

I am going to look for work/ Koma/ Ralebitso and myself will go together/ so I will know someone when I get there”/

How long will you be gone for?/

“Until my next leave”/

When is that?/

“I don’t know/ Koma/ I don’t know”

We can come with you

“Families are not allowed on the compounds/ Koma”

Aren’t you going to miss us?/

His father did not respond this time/ he had lost his ability/

Koma/ stood up and went to help prepare his father’s pad-kos while his parents retired to their bedroom/ He could hear his mother sobbing and his father vowing to write and to come home with every leave/ Yes/ He will send money and they will no longer have to worry about their son’s school fees/ uniform/ books/ because he will be working in Gauteng/ His father urging his mother not to cry/ They walked out of the room/ Koma’s father with a bag on his shoulder and his wife behind him/

Koma/ who had always taken his dreams to be stories to recount/ began to realise that story he had told last night/ The dream he had had two nights ago/ had been about his father/ The Sun’s heat burned in the most unpleasant way as the realisation dawned on him/ He suddenly thought he could possibly warn his father about the Heat Under/ about how Earth will rumble and cave in on itself/ He started to speak but the look on his mother’s eyes stopped him/ He would have to tell his father in private/

Ntate/ I will carry your food for you/

They walked along/ Father with his bag hanging off his shoulder/ Son with plastic filled with ledombolo and chicken/ and the wife looking on in resignation/ accepting the enforced distance that will break her heart incessantly/ Not knowing  the dangers that are about to enter her world/ The months of solitude/the silence that will accompany her husband’s departure/ The women he will meet in the City/ The step-children she will never know/ The intimate itching she will feel every time he’s home/ She watched them disappear into the valley and carried on with her work/

Ntate/ write to ‘Me/ I will read the letters to her/

“That’s good to hear my son/ Take your school work very seriously so that one day you will not have to leave your family to find work”/

What do you know about Gauteng/ Ntate

Realising that his excitement will be good for his son he continued

“It is a big City with a lot of people from very far away places working there/ They have bright lights and cars everywhere and where I will be staying/ only the men who work there are allowed to stay there/ We get food there too/ So I will not be cooking for myself/ I will share a room with several men and so making friends will be easy/ They also have a night spot there where we can entertain ourselves on weekends/ So you see/ Koma/ I will be okay

They reached Ralebitso’s house and Ntate told Koma that he needs to go back home and get ready for school/ Koma made as though he was leaving and hid behind a tree while he watched his father/ Ralebitso/ and many other men from the village hop onto the back of a truck/ He waited for the truck to leave and was running behind the dust made by the truck until his legs could carry him no longer/ When he finally stopped and could not see the truck anymore/ he realised that he had been crying/ The dust from the truck had formed trails of dirt where his tears had ran/ He went home with very little enthusiasm for the day/ He did not even see the bright red locust chewing his way through a blade of grass/ The Sun looked down at the boy walking home alone and desolate and shone brighter in an effort to make him realise he was alone/ When got home his bath water was ready and he prepared himself for school/

On the way to school he met up with his friends/

Koma/ my father left morning

Mine too/

The story you told last night/ did you know that this was about to happen/

Koma/ how did you know/

The question flew around him like arrows missing his heart/ He looked up to the sky and for the first time that day realised that the sky was filling with clouds/ that as soon as they arrived at school broke into an angry rain that did not stop until late afternoon/

During the day-long storm /Sun/realising that he cannot win the battle for the skies waged by his friends Cloud and Wind/decided to follow the truck carrying Koma’s father/ Ralebitso and all the other men of the village/ to Gauteng. He consoled himself with the notion that that this defeat would reveal the validity of the little boy’s story and/at least/ this time he would be the one to entertain Moon/ with a great story of the day’s events/Sun tried to burn brighter to bring cheer to the men on the truck but all his efforts were met with curses of the heat he was emitting and the unbearable harshness of the strength of his rays and so/ defeated once more/ he relaxed his ardour/

As soon as the Sun cooled the men seemed to relax in the back of the truck and began to share stories of their expectations of the journey ahead/fantasies of a brighter existence/ brought about by earning money/ in the land of Gold/Little did they know that upon arrival they would be trained in unnatural heat/stronger and filled with more hatred/ than Sun’s earlier misinterpreted Love/that the memories of their homes will fade under the noise of the underground/sacrificed leaves/new found temporary appeasement of sexually overt city girls/who/ in fact/ are village girls/also enticed to the city by the promise of the deeper the gold/they would not want to return to their homes until the dust that cakes their bodies daily/is magically transformed to gold

At the back of that truck/the men saw themselves coming home glowing golden from the labour and sacrifice/children turning golden just from their touch and all the village emitting a golden light that would be felt by proud ancestors/watching over them/ and so this trip was not to be feared/ with it will come a golden age of plenty/blessed by the sweat of their brows/and a little sacrifice/

By this time the Sun/ jealous of all the time taken from him by the antics of his friends slowly made his way back to the village to show the children the golden age ahead/ There he found his friends slowly tiring of their battle and could shine a little light past them to see Koma’s house/ Koma’s mother was sitting out in the rain so that the overflowing tears could not be seen/ she was soaked to the bone/shivering/attempting to finish Koma’s new sleeping mat in the pouring rain/ occasionally she would gaze up to the skies like a wounded jackal that has lost all its cunning/

All this pain dimmed the Sun’s power until his warring friends realized what was happening/they implored Sun not to forget that this was his season/ he was responsible for colour/ extended brightness and abundance of Sweet/ They called a truce/and welcomed Sun back to the skies/As they left they met Moon on her way up and shared with her their concern for her brother/ Moon tried the shadow games/ Sun was not interested/ she tried to retell a story she once heard Nkhono tell/ but Sun was not moved.

Instead all he said was “I’m tired/The time of Under has arrived” and made his way to bed.