Page 67 - The Mending Season

sevenOn the Saturday morning ofKBs birthday I sat in front ofthe mirror looking at the only two outfits that might be suitable for the occasion. The morning heat had already engulfed the room. Tshepo Tshola was belting out “Ho lokile”- Its ok - on Mma Motsei s stoep. I liked the song so much that I opened the window to hear it better. When I looked out, two neigh­ bours, Mma Tsie and Mmamane Kitso, were standing talking across their fence. The woman who had been selling brooms on the street since I was in pre-school was walking past our house, her brooms balanced carefully on a piece of cloth folded into a cushion on her head.I could hear her cry “Mafieeeeeelo!”- Brooooms! - above the gospel music. The long “e”was coming from her throat as if she were singing a praise song.I remember we bought a broom from her when I was about seven years old. I remember asking Mmamane Mabatho if I could give the vendor the money myself, because I wanted to see her face up close and touch her hand. She had a sort of mystique about her, since I had only seen her from the top of the lemon tree or from the stoep.Today, as she passed, a group oflitde boys was putting bricks and stones in the middle of the road to prepare for a football match. Two litde girls sang after her, “Mafieeeeeelo”. Had they been older, I would have thought they were mocking her, but I could see they were only imitating her for the pleasure ofthe sound. The woman selling the brooms stepped gracefully, respectfully, around the girls’ game offish, around the lines drawn on the ground.67