Muizenberg, because the beach is long and flat with dunes in the distance, and far in the background it looks like the Hottentots-Holland. The man in the picture is speaking to his children, and in the bottom of the painting, written in big letters in the sand, it says: 'Honour Thy Father and Mother'. When I look at that painting, I sometimes wonder why only the father is there.
Frikkie phones back and says he can come over, but he has to go back on Sunday morning, because they're going for lunch with his grandmother in Stellenbosch. His mother said he can come to my place, but he had to promise not to behave like a hooligan like last time he was
The Smell of Apples
here. Last time Frikkie stayed over was when it was my birthday party. Then he got into trouble for breaking leaves off Mum's aloes and then rubbing the aloe juice in Zelda Kemp's mouth. Zelda was still crying when Mrs Delport came to fetch him a while later, and on Monday Frikkie told me that his father had given him the most terrible hiding.
Dad never gives us hidings. He says if you raise a child properly, it won't ever be necessary to lift your hand against that child. But Use got a hiding once. It happened when I was still too small to remember, but I think Use must have been about seven. One day, a Bantu came to our house to see Dad. He came by train and Dad took him into the study, where they spoke behind the closed door. At some stage, Dad had to fetch something from the car. Because Bantus are so scarce in the Cape, Use took the chance to have a closer look at the one in the study. We're mainly used to Coloureds, because they're the only ones allowed to work here legally. When Bantus come here to work, the police send them away because they try and take everything over. It's the same with the Coolies in the Free State. The Coolies aren't even allowed to stay over for one night, because once they sit, they stay sitting. The coolies were only brought from India to chop sugar-cane, but now they've taken over the whole of Durban. Bantus mostly live in Natal, the Free State and the Transvaal.
So Use wanted to check out the strange visitor. She stuck her head into the study, and before he knew what was coming, she said: 'You ugly black kaffir!'
She was about to run off when she bumped slap-bang into Dad, who had heard what she said to the Bantu. Use says that Dad picked her up by her arm and carried her straight to our bathroom, and he gave her the one and only hiding of her life. Then he took her back to the study and
Mark Behr
forced her to apologise to the Bantu for calling him a kaf-fir. We aren't allowed to use words like 'kaffir' or 'hotnot' or "houtkop\ because they're also human, and Dad says we should treat them like human beings.
Frikkie says the word 'kaffir' means 4 spit', and Gloria always says that kaffirs are the scum of the earth. Once, when Frikkie told her that she was half-kaffir herself, she just laughed and said: 4 No way, Jose! There's lots of milk in this coffee!'
I never tell Dad or Mum about Frikkie and Gloria saying 'kaffir', for fear I might not be allowed to go and play there any more.
When other kids at school speak about the hidings they get at home, no one wants to believe that I've never had one. They expect that because Dad's a general and looks so strict, he should give me hidings. But Frikkie knows Dad doesn't hit me, because he's seen and heard how Dad speaks to us when we've been up to something. When Dad's angry, the little muscle in his cheek starts jumping and then he only has to say something once and I know I'd better listen.
Frikkie is more afraid of Dad than of anyone else. Even more than he is of Brolloks, the woodwork teacher. Everyone says that Brolloks' father was the overseer who murdered the head mistress of Jan Van Riebeeck. Many years back, the school overseer murdered the head mistress and hanged her body from a beam in the art class. They say he got hold of her between the woodwork room and the
Frikkie phones back and says he can come over, but he has to go back on Sunday morning, because they're going for lunch with his grandmother in Stellenbosch. His mother said he can come to my place, but he had to promise not to behave like a hooligan like last time he was
The Smell of Apples
here. Last time Frikkie stayed over was when it was my birthday party. Then he got into trouble for breaking leaves off Mum's aloes and then rubbing the aloe juice in Zelda Kemp's mouth. Zelda was still crying when Mrs Delport came to fetch him a while later, and on Monday Frikkie told me that his father had given him the most terrible hiding.
Dad never gives us hidings. He says if you raise a child properly, it won't ever be necessary to lift your hand against that child. But Use got a hiding once. It happened when I was still too small to remember, but I think Use must have been about seven. One day, a Bantu came to our house to see Dad. He came by train and Dad took him into the study, where they spoke behind the closed door. At some stage, Dad had to fetch something from the car. Because Bantus are so scarce in the Cape, Use took the chance to have a closer look at the one in the study. We're mainly used to Coloureds, because they're the only ones allowed to work here legally. When Bantus come here to work, the police send them away because they try and take everything over. It's the same with the Coolies in the Free State. The Coolies aren't even allowed to stay over for one night, because once they sit, they stay sitting. The coolies were only brought from India to chop sugar-cane, but now they've taken over the whole of Durban. Bantus mostly live in Natal, the Free State and the Transvaal.
So Use wanted to check out the strange visitor. She stuck her head into the study, and before he knew what was coming, she said: 'You ugly black kaffir!'
She was about to run off when she bumped slap-bang into Dad, who had heard what she said to the Bantu. Use says that Dad picked her up by her arm and carried her straight to our bathroom, and he gave her the one and only hiding of her life. Then he took her back to the study and
Mark Behr
forced her to apologise to the Bantu for calling him a kaf-fir. We aren't allowed to use words like 'kaffir' or 'hotnot' or "houtkop\ because they're also human, and Dad says we should treat them like human beings.
Frikkie says the word 'kaffir' means 4 spit', and Gloria always says that kaffirs are the scum of the earth. Once, when Frikkie told her that she was half-kaffir herself, she just laughed and said: 4 No way, Jose! There's lots of milk in this coffee!'
I never tell Dad or Mum about Frikkie and Gloria saying 'kaffir', for fear I might not be allowed to go and play there any more.
When other kids at school speak about the hidings they get at home, no one wants to believe that I've never had one. They expect that because Dad's a general and looks so strict, he should give me hidings. But Frikkie knows Dad doesn't hit me, because he's seen and heard how Dad speaks to us when we've been up to something. When Dad's angry, the little muscle in his cheek starts jumping and then he only has to say something once and I know I'd better listen.
Frikkie is more afraid of Dad than of anyone else. Even more than he is of Brolloks, the woodwork teacher. Everyone says that Brolloks' father was the overseer who murdered the head mistress of Jan Van Riebeeck. Many years back, the school overseer murdered the head mistress and hanged her body from a beam in the art class. They say he got hold of her between the woodwork room and the
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