Whitethorn (11 page)

Mevrou said, ‘Doctor, I'm not an expert in such things you understand, but when I saw it I also definitely knew.'

Pissy Vermaak was hauled in front of Doctor Van Heerden who examined him in the sick room in the presence of Mevrou, while Meneer Prinsloo waited in the other room. He put Vaseline on his finger and made Pissy lie on his knees and elbows and he stuck his finger up Pissy's bum. Then when he pulled it out he said, ‘
Ja
. Most definitely, this boy has been sexually molested. See here, contusions around the anus and severe bruising, this boy has been through a difficult experience.'

‘
Ag
, you're not telling me anything I don't already know, Doctor,' Mevrou said. ‘It's a terrible thing to happen to a child.'

Doctor Van Heerden said to Mevrou, ‘Is there a camera here?'

Mevrou said she didn't know but she'd go and ask. She left the room and Pissy heard her ask Meneer Prinsloo if he had a camera and he replied that he'd go and fetch it.

Pissy had to wait, lying on his stomach, until the superintendent returned and Meneer Prinsloo came back with his wife's box brownie.

‘I'm not so sure we can get the close-ups we require,' Doctor Van Heerden said.

‘
Ag
, I think it will be orright, doctor, we use it for our snaps when we go on holiday and it always gives good pictures,' Meneer Prinsloo assured him.

‘Perhaps if we light the area with a torch?' Doctor Van Heerden suggested.

Mevrou went and got a torch and Pissy had to go back on his knees and elbows and the doctor separated his buttocks and Mevrou held the torch and Meneer Prinsloo took three snaps. As it turned out later, you couldn't see anything, just some smudges and Sergeant Van Niekerk said they were hopeless and jus' looked like shots taken of the moon that he'd seen in a magazine,
Die Huisgenoot
, only last week. He said the magistrate would throw them out of his court but that the good doctor's evidence was all they needed. Doctor Van Heerden said he would write a report for the police and then he left.

After that they gave Pissy some dinner.

Well, that was only the beginning. What happened next was a big surprise. The next day, after Meneer Prinsloo said he'd prayed to God for guidance, he called everybody together except, of course, Mattress.

First, Mevrou told her version of what happened, how Mattress had done the penetration to Pissy in his hut. Then about the fight and how Fonnie had come off second best. All the lies Pissy had told her that she'd swallowed hook, line and sinker. As she finished, Frikkie Botha smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand.

‘
Wragtig
! Now, at last I understand,' he said. ‘I always thought the story wasn't the truth.' He turned to Fonnie and Pissy. ‘Why did you lie to me, hey?'

They didn't say anything, just looked down at their toes so that Meneer Prinsloo demanded, ‘Speak up, man!'

Fonnie pointed to Pissy and said, ‘He was ashamed and couldn't tell anyone except me.' Fonnie said softly, ‘I told him I would fight the
kaffir
for him.'

‘And teach him a lesson he'd never forget!' Pissy added, enjoying the attention.

So you can see, they were both expert liars.

Frikkie Botha was pleased with the reply because now he was off the hook and could go along with the Mevrou version. ‘He's not in your weight class, man. You now a junior middleweight and that
kaffir
is a heavy,' he said, a hint of admiration in his voice.

‘You should have reported it to me at once, you hear!' Meneer Prinsloo said angrily. ‘We can't have crimes like this happening around the place. I am going to have to call the police. This is a very serious crime.'

They were all silent for a moment, then Frikkie Botha said, ‘I only want you to do me one favour before you call Sergeant Jan van Niekerk, who is a good friend of mine.'

‘What? What favour?'

‘Let me have a go at him in the boxing ring. What Fonnie did was an honourable thing, even if he should have reported the incident to you. Now what I want to do is finish the business, let that
kaffir
come in the ring with somebody his own size for a change, hey?' Which just goes to show how far people will go to cover up things. Frikkie Botha knew the truth but he must have been thinking, if it ever came out, him boxing Mattress would prove to people that he didn't know it. That the boxing was a
regte
Boer's righteous anger and his own personal revenge for what Mattress had done to one of his boys. After all, like I said before, it would only be the word of a
kaffir
and a
rooinek
against his and who was going to believe them anyway?

Meneer Prinsloo shook his head slowly. ‘I dunno, man, I think we should just have him arrested right away. “Revenge is mine, sayeth the Lord.” '

‘
Ja
, but when he's arrested the story is going to get out, you can't hide a thing like this even if you try your hardest. People are going to hear about it, it's best brought out in the open. If they think we just called the police,' he looked at Pissy, ‘and just let one of our children suffer, they'd think we don't care about our kids on The Boys Farm.'

Meneer Prinsloo frowned and still looked doubtful.

‘I think it is a good idea, Meneer Prinsloo. Kobus has suffered terribly and for the rest of his life he's got a scar,' Mevrou said.

‘You know, I still got one problem,' Meneer Prinsloo said. ‘A
kaffir
is a
kaffir
and when a
kaffir
does something like this he will run away.'

‘He is a Zulu,' Frikkie Botha said hastily, as if this explained everything. ‘If he was a Shangaan he would run, but a Zulu . . .' He didn't finish the sentence.

‘You know they do it all the time, even to their women,' Mevrou interrupted.

‘Do what?' Meneer Prinsloo asked.

‘They use the back instead of the front so the woman doesn't get pregnant,' Mevrou explained.

‘
Sis
, man, that's a
kaffir
for you!' Frikkie said, happy for the confirmation.

‘Also, in the mines in Johannesburg there's no women in the single men's compound so they do it to each other,' Mevrou said. Then, by way of explanation, she added, ‘My cousin works in the mines, and he says they don't think it's shameful only because there are no women around. They don't think like us.' She suddenly remembered the presence of Pissy and Fonnie. ‘You two not allowed to hear this, you hear?' she instructed.

‘You think this
kaffir
was first in the mines?' Meneer Prinsloo asked.

‘Maybe, but he won't tell you if you ask. They don't like you to know because some of them break their contract and run away and then they wanted by the police,' Frikkie said. He seemed to be thinking for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, ‘
Magtig
! Why didn't I think about it before! He's a Zulu, this isn't Zulu country, it's too far north, this is Shangaan country. A Zulu who is here is hiding for sure. These are not his people, he doesn't speak their language. I think when we take a good look at his pass we in for a big surprise, man.' He looked up at the superintendent, appealing to him. ‘Just let me have one go at him, Meneer?' he begged. ‘Just three rounds in the boxing ring, fair and square, with him also wearing gloves so that the
kaffirboeties
in Pretoria can't accuse us of not playing fair.'

Kaffirboetie
means a nigger's brother and is a white person who sticks up for a black person's rights. You can be sure there were no such people in this part of the world. Nevertheless you could see the superintendent was taking this into consideration. He felt much better now that he knew Mattress was a fugitive from justice, an escaped mine boy, but he still wasn't sure.

‘
Kaffirs
can't just go around hitting white men and even if white men can hit
kaffirs
they
can't
go around fighting them in a boxing ring.
Here,
man, what would people say if all of a sudden white men and black men are fighting each other in the boxing ring and
kaffirs
are allowed to win?'

Frikkie thought for a moment. ‘It's happened before, the great German boxer Max Schmeling knocked out the American
kaffir
Joe Louis.'

‘Yes, in America, but this is South Africa, here we a more civilised people.'

‘
Ja
, that's true, but we also
Boere
and we believe in justice.

The
kaffir
boy is a heavyweight and when he picked on Fonnie he was fighting a middleweight. That is a no contest. I am a heavyweight. Let the black bastard come up against someone his own size for a change.' As his final shot he added, ‘You don't want everybody to think a Boer can't take care of his own children and the boys here on the farm, they under your care, they just the same as your children.'

‘
Ja
, well, I know I am a true father to them. But still I don't know . . .
kaffirs
boxing white men. I'll have to think about it some more,' Meneer Prinsloo said. ‘We also got our own pride to consider, Meneer,' Mevrou said, drawing her head back and pulling her lips into a thin line. ‘We also work here and Frikkie is right, a father doesn't just stand there and watch his children being thrown into a rock by a
kaffir
boy.' She pointed to Fonnie du Preez. ‘What we got here is a broken arm and a broken nose and his head is full of stitches. But God willing, he will get better from that.'

She turned to Pissy. ‘But Kobus Vermaak is only ten years old, and you heard what the doctor said; he has been physically molested.' She looked directly at the superintendent. ‘Do you know what that means? It means he's got scars on his brainwaves for the rest of his life. The pictures we got on the camera, that's nothing, what about the pictures he's got on his brain camera? Pictures of a
kaffir
that done unspeakable things to him.' She placed her hand on Pissy's shoulder. ‘If Kobus can see we care about what happened to him, if this
kaffir
is punished by us and not only by Sergeant Jan van Niekerk but by you, who the Government says has to be a father to this boy, then maybe he can get better because he will know he is loved.'

Meneer Prinsloo was momentarily overcome by Mevrou's words. ‘It is true I love all the boys here on the farm,' he said, his eyes growing misty. ‘God has charged me to look after them, and while it is sometimes a terrible burden I accept my duty with humility. A shepherd must always take care of his flock no matter what, and I must be a loving father to these boys.' He looked gratefully at Mevrou. ‘You are right, the gospel says, “Whosoever harms a sparrow, harmeth me, sayeth the Lord”.' He turned to Frikkie Botha, suddenly all business, and said, ‘What are you going to say to the pig boy?'

‘What do you mean, Sir?'

‘Well, you can't just put him in the boxing ring and give him a good hiding when he doesn't know why you doing it.' He pointed to Fonnie. ‘You can't tell him it's because he threw du Preez against the rock, he'll get suspicious and next thing you know he's vamoosed.'

‘
Ja
, you right.' Frikkie Botha scratched his head and thought for a moment. He suddenly brightened. ‘The night before last there was a sick cow that ate something, probably some deadly nightshade which grows down by the creek. The pig boy knows he mustn't take the cows down there except at one place by the drift where they go to drink. I'm going to say to him, “
Kaffir
, because I don't know for sure what happened, but that cow could still have died because you didn't listen to me, so I'm going to give you a second chance in the boxing ring with both of us wearing twelve-ounce gloves.” ' Frikkie Botha looked up at the superintendent. ‘He can try and hit me as much as he likes, so what can be fairer than that, hey?' he concluded, pleased by this clever ruse.

‘All right, the cow is good,' Meneer Prinsloo agreed. ‘Only three rounds, you hear? We can't let Sergeant Van Niekerk think we taking the law into our own hands. If he asks, we can tell him it was nothing to do with with du Preez at that rock. The sick cow is good,' he repeated, satisfied that he'd met the requirements of fatherhood in a dignified and fair manner. Then he had a second thought. ‘Frikkie, this
kaffir
is a proper heavyweight, you say?'

‘
Ja
, 220 pounds, maybe a bit more, bigger than a cruiser weight for sure,' Frikkie Botha replied.

Meneer Prinsloo looked at Frikkie Botha who was even bigger than that, maybe 240 or even fifty, but most of the extra weight was stacked around his middle. ‘You sure you can take him, Frikkie?'

Frikkie Botha was insulted. ‘Any day of the week. Let him come, man, any time, any place. I guarantee it won't take three rounds.'

The following evening after supper there was the Thursday night Bible reading as usual. I haven't explained, we had a Sunday night reading and a Thursday night one, because Meneer Prinsloo said seven days was too long without a message from God in our lives. This reading was all about the Good Samaritan, how he found Jesus exhausted at the side of the road carrying this big wooden cross. It must have happened on the way to where they were going to put the six-inch nails in his hands and feet and push a sword in his side and give him vinegar to drink because he said he was thirsty. So the Good Samaritan picked up the cross, even though he didn't know Jesus from a bar of soap, and he carried it up the hill for him. Meneer Prinsloo said it was a lesson on how we shouldn't just always think only about ourselves but help others less fortunate, even perfect strangers and people who were different to us because the Good Samaritan wasn't a Jew. He said prayers and then Frikkie Botha stood up and announced there would be a heavyweight boxing match at ten o'clock sharp on Saturday morning.