Read Online Tandia by Bryce Courtenay - Free Book Online Page B

directly at Geldenhuis. 'I will say it,' she said, and began to weep softly.
    'No, man, saying it is not enough. I will write it down and then you will sign it, you hear?' Geldenhuis tried hard to conceal the triumph in his voice. He had broken her. He felt his erection grow almost to the point of release. Maybe she was only a schoolgirl but she wasn't stupid. What he had done required skill, real brains. He had won. It was better even than boxing.
    Tandia knew she was hopelessly trapped. The last time she had refused to sign she had been hit and kicked unconscious and thrown into that foul-smelling cell. The thought of what Geldenhuis would do to her if she withheld her signature was almost more than she could bear.
    This time the keys rattled along at a fair pace. He stopped once near the end. 'What is your Christian name, Matembu?' he asked the black policeman at the door.
    The black constable straightened up. 'My name is Joshua, sir.'
    Geldenhuis typed and removed the paper from the typewriter. He handed it to Tandia across the table. 'You read it first, then you sign it,' he said lightly.
    Tandia, her hands shaking visibly, started to read the confession.
    I, Tandia Patel, whose signature appears below, do knowingly and freely admit, in the presence of Sergeant J. T. Geldenhuis, a police officer stationed at the Cato Manor Police Station, that I did solicit for the purposes of sexual intercourse, two male persons unknown to me in the location of the Clairwood Indian Cemetery at approximately 6 a.m. on the 17th day of October 1952. And I further state that I did perform sexual intercourse with one of these men in return for the payment of the sum of five shillings.
    Signed: (Miss)………………………………………….
    Tandia Patel. Date:…………………………………….
    Witness: (Sergeant)…………………………………….
    Jannie Teunis Geldenhuis Witness:
    (Constable)……………………………………
    Joshua Matembu
    As Tandia read the piece Geldenhuis had written she couldn't think beyond the fact that it spelled freedom. She had been raped, violated and beaten. She was exhausted and humiliated and her body ached from the beating it had taken over the past eighteen hours. The niceties of moral rectitude taught so steadfastly at Durban Indian Girls' High School had no validity in her present circumstances. A refusal to sign the confession would do nothing for her self-respect not did it even serve the useful purpose of adding to her hate. She became aware of Geldenhuis staring at her and when she had finished reading she looked up into his pale blue eyes. 'I will sign it,' she whispered again.
    Geldenhuis said nothing. He was in control of himself again. He merely handed her his expensive fountain pen.
    Tandia's chair was too low for her to sign the paper while seated…She released the sticky balls of toilet paper in her hand and dropped them beside her chair and wiped her hand surreptitiously on the back of her shift. Then she rose and, crouching over the table, shakily signed the confession.
    Tandia remained standing as Geldenhuis reached over and lifted the paper. He drew it towards him as though he was going to kiss it, but instead, he blew briefly on Tandia's signature and then waved it in the air. He then took the pen and signed the document himself. He called over to the black policeman, 'Hey, Matembu, come and sign your name.'
    The black constable walked reluctantly over to the table. 'I not want sign this paper, sir. This bad paper.'
    The white sergeant didn't look up. 'Sign it, man, you a material witness,' he said impatiently.
    'This 'paper, sir, it not for charge sheet. I do not want sign this paper,' Matembu persisted.
    Geldenhuis shot from his chair, 'I'm not bladdy asking you, I'm telling