Read Online The Lazarus Effect by H. J Golakai - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: H. J Golakai
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had been no disappointment. Connie’s younger sister Adesuwa’s whining about her financial woes was tuned to the perfect pitch, warbling over the baseline of Ikenna jumping up and down on every surface that could support him, refusing to be put to bed. Connie worked the books with her two employees, deaf to the din, Napoleonic in her approach to success.
‘Thanks again for taking Ikenna to the paed for that chest cold,’ Connie said. The lounge had emptied, Suwa out getting takeaways and Ikenna asleep at last on Vee’s lap. ‘I waited twoweeks for that appointment, and Suwa couldn’t leave classes to do it. If I’d lost it, haaay!’ She pushed out her mouth at the prospect. ‘That WI not funny. No sympathy for the plight of those with no lives.’
‘You tellin’ me,’ Vee said. Before Connie pounced on the loose thread and started grilling her about whether she’d made her appointment, which would no doubt be followed by a cuss-out that she hadn’t, she hurried on: ‘Speaking of the walking dead, guess who I bumped into this evening at Pick n Pay, looking like a shoeshine boy?’
It took a second. Connie put down her wine glass. ‘Oh-o-o-o! And so we begin. Again. What did he say? Did he do that sleepy-eyed smiling thing? Did you tingle?’
‘ What? No. We didn’t talk much. Don’t start your fwehn-fwehn noise about–’
‘Laaa-yah! Lies. You know what your problem is? You’re ungrateful.’ She popped a hand up over Vee’s protest. ‘Shut up. America don waste plenti moni on your jagajaga country and you still refuse to aid one of their citizens. That man’s been massaging your ego forever, and you won’t give him some ass. Give the man some ass, please. At least, let him lick something. This is bordering on animal cruelty.’
‘Jesus be a fence …’ Vee scooped Ikenna up and headed for the bedrooms. ‘You somebody Ma, o!’ she hissed.
‘I know, right. Pregnancy arrived by bus.’ Connie winked and made a lewd gesture. ‘Old-fashioned stress relief. You can’t say you don’t need it. Stretch those long legs.’
‘Ikenna, dis your Ma get mouf like street walker,’ Vee whispered to her sleeping godson. ‘Shameless.’
‘Msshw. Shame is for lonely people. Like me.’ Connie drained her glass and smacked it down. ‘Abeg, leave my house.’
Vee complied, hitting the road for home soon afterwards. A quiet evening and a full belly were all she now craved, preferably in a dark room where she could zone out uninterrupted.
Till then …
Running into Joshua Allen on the street wasn’t the surprise. Her reaction to seeing him was the thing. She’d almost forgotten how uplifting it was seeing another friendly face, one that knew her unfriendly past. In the four years they’d known each other, his exterior hadn’t changed at all. Height and build perfect for swimming or track, but wasted on a joker who refused to take any sport seriously for long. Heavy, sloe eyes that rescued his face from being too sharp and odd. That infuriating shit-eating grin when he could be bothered. Their meet-and-greet had typified Allen’s ambience: materialise looking like a soggy pile of crap, rattle her chains with some nameless beauty hating on the sidelines, then disappear.
Wow, he’s thirty, Vee thought suddenly. About five weeks ago. Time was growing him up. It was depressing how their lives had been, and would continue to be, careening down paths unpaved, both of them as unprepared as children. Broken dolls. Joshua had come to Cape Town on a quest for the Holy Grail, the perfect family. She’d come to follow her heart. Fat lot of good that pursuit had done them.
He was the product of an African-American history professor who’d fallen for a Hindu anti-apartheid activist exiled in the US. When the democratic tide had turned against the apartheid regime, exiles had begun to trickle home. His old man had returned and married respectably within the Indian community, letting time wither the
‘Thanks again for taking Ikenna to the paed for that chest cold,’ Connie said. The lounge had emptied, Suwa out getting takeaways and Ikenna asleep at last on Vee’s lap. ‘I waited twoweeks for that appointment, and Suwa couldn’t leave classes to do it. If I’d lost it, haaay!’ She pushed out her mouth at the prospect. ‘That WI not funny. No sympathy for the plight of those with no lives.’
‘You tellin’ me,’ Vee said. Before Connie pounced on the loose thread and started grilling her about whether she’d made her appointment, which would no doubt be followed by a cuss-out that she hadn’t, she hurried on: ‘Speaking of the walking dead, guess who I bumped into this evening at Pick n Pay, looking like a shoeshine boy?’
It took a second. Connie put down her wine glass. ‘Oh-o-o-o! And so we begin. Again. What did he say? Did he do that sleepy-eyed smiling thing? Did you tingle?’
‘ What? No. We didn’t talk much. Don’t start your fwehn-fwehn noise about–’
‘Laaa-yah! Lies. You know what your problem is? You’re ungrateful.’ She popped a hand up over Vee’s protest. ‘Shut up. America don waste plenti moni on your jagajaga country and you still refuse to aid one of their citizens. That man’s been massaging your ego forever, and you won’t give him some ass. Give the man some ass, please. At least, let him lick something. This is bordering on animal cruelty.’
‘Jesus be a fence …’ Vee scooped Ikenna up and headed for the bedrooms. ‘You somebody Ma, o!’ she hissed.
‘I know, right. Pregnancy arrived by bus.’ Connie winked and made a lewd gesture. ‘Old-fashioned stress relief. You can’t say you don’t need it. Stretch those long legs.’
‘Ikenna, dis your Ma get mouf like street walker,’ Vee whispered to her sleeping godson. ‘Shameless.’
‘Msshw. Shame is for lonely people. Like me.’ Connie drained her glass and smacked it down. ‘Abeg, leave my house.’
Vee complied, hitting the road for home soon afterwards. A quiet evening and a full belly were all she now craved, preferably in a dark room where she could zone out uninterrupted.
Till then …
Running into Joshua Allen on the street wasn’t the surprise. Her reaction to seeing him was the thing. She’d almost forgotten how uplifting it was seeing another friendly face, one that knew her unfriendly past. In the four years they’d known each other, his exterior hadn’t changed at all. Height and build perfect for swimming or track, but wasted on a joker who refused to take any sport seriously for long. Heavy, sloe eyes that rescued his face from being too sharp and odd. That infuriating shit-eating grin when he could be bothered. Their meet-and-greet had typified Allen’s ambience: materialise looking like a soggy pile of crap, rattle her chains with some nameless beauty hating on the sidelines, then disappear.
Wow, he’s thirty, Vee thought suddenly. About five weeks ago. Time was growing him up. It was depressing how their lives had been, and would continue to be, careening down paths unpaved, both of them as unprepared as children. Broken dolls. Joshua had come to Cape Town on a quest for the Holy Grail, the perfect family. She’d come to follow her heart. Fat lot of good that pursuit had done them.
He was the product of an African-American history professor who’d fallen for a Hindu anti-apartheid activist exiled in the US. When the democratic tide had turned against the apartheid regime, exiles had begun to trickle home. His old man had returned and married respectably within the Indian community, letting time wither the
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