Spring days are warm, but the nights are cold. The family was deliciously tired after enjoying the outdoors: hiking, swimming in the vlei and playing games. Throughout the day, a lingering nostalgia surrounded the small family. Or perhaps it was just Bradley who felt it. All day, he could not shake the feeling that this moment would never be repeated. And that they might never be this happy again.
After the mandatory Heritage Day Braai with boerewors, braaibroodjies14 and salad, Devon had begged for a fire to toast marshmallows.
By now, night had fallen. The air had an icy chill and the family sat around the inviting flickering flames, drinking hot chocolate and warming their hands on the fire.
Bradley drew a breath. Starting this conversation took more courage than he felt he had. He didn’t really know where to start.
“Luister julle, ek moes vir julle sê….”15
Lynette, Ronese and Devon all looked at him intently. Sjoe, this was hard. He tried again: “Julle weet, things have been moelik.”16
Bradley saw Lynette’s eyes meet his with concern. He couldn’t look at her. He spoke to the fire instead.
“I’ve taken a job in Saudi.”
There, he’d said it. But he couldn’t look up. Three pairs of eyes bored into him.
Stunned silence.
Lynette reacted first. “What do you mean, you’ve taken a job in Saudi? What job?”
Bradley looked up: “As a driver for one of the hotels. It pays well.”
Lynette flashed her eyes angrily at him. “You work as a taxi driver here. Is that not good enough for you? Now, you want to drive those Saudi princes around?”
Bradley knew she was picking a fight to avoid confronting the real issue. The issue was: Six years ago, Bradley had finally managed to find permanent work as a taxi driver and had saved up enough to buy his own car and go on his own. He mostly did airport transfers or had gigs driving tourists around Cape Town. It paid better than any part time job he’d had since being retrenched from the steel factory. But it wasn’t consistent.
The pandemic had almost ruined him financially. Then the tourists hadn’t come back as quickly as he’d hoped and work almost whittled down to nothing during the winter months. The constant stress about finding money to pay for the essentials was starting to take a toll on the family dynamics. He was always angry. But so was Lynette.
Bradley made a concerted effort not to rise to the bait. He took a deep breath and thought carefully about his next words; “You know how tough it’s been financially. With this job, I’ll be employed by the hotel. I will work long hours, but the money is good. I can send money home. We can pay off our debt. Maybe we can even get out of Manenberg.”
“Pa, are we coming too?” Looking at his son, he could see Devon imagining new adventures.
Bradley’s voice caught in his throat.
“No, son, pa will have to go alone.”
Silence.
After a moment, Devon asked quietly: “But pa will come home to visit?”
“Ja, my skat.”17
More silence.
Ronese said nothing. Lynette got up from the fire, threw what was left of the hot chocolate into the flames and headed to the tent without another word.
Sensing the tension, Devon drew closer to him. Bradley put his arm around his son and cried silent tears into the darkness. “I don’t want pa to go,” Devon whispered.
“I know, I don’t want to go either, but I want you and your sister to have better things.”
“Pa, I just want you.”
“I know.”
Then Ronese spoke: “So it was all a lie then. You said this was home, that when Oom Errol and Tannie Edwina went to Australia, you’d never leave. You said family is everything. Now you’re going. And not taking us. Do you hate us that much?”
That felt like a punch to the gut. His daughter thought he was abandoning them?
“Skatebol, you know how much I love you, your brother and your mom.”
“Do you, really? You don’t talk to us anymore. You and ma are always fighting. You’re always mad at us. I think you’ve just had enough of us and want to go away.”
Her words cut deeply. With his free hand, Bradley reached out to touch his daughter’s shoulder, but Ronese pulled away. He grabbed empty air instead. He found himself trying to explain, but perhaps he was merely justifying it to himself.
(…to be continued…)
Footnotes
14. Toasted sandwiches made on the barbecue.
15. “Listen guys, I need to tell you….”
16. Difficult.
17. “Yes, my dear.”
Transadaptation Volume 5 – Of Flowing Vicissitudes
January: The Night the Stars Stopped Shining – Sarah-Leah Pimentel (South Africa)
February: Three Sides to Every Story – Krisztina Janosi (Hungary)
March: Rain Trap – Adriana Uribe (Columbia)
April: Priorities – Narantsogt Baatarkhuu (Mongolia)
May: The Night in Heaven – Armine Asryan (Armenia)
June: Witches Don’t Burn – Alejandra Baccino (Uruguay)
July: At One and The End of Misery – Angelika Friedrich (America)
August: Many Happy Returns – Svetlana Molchanova (Russia)
September: To be announced
October: (To be announced) – Gennady Bondarenko (Ukraine)
November: You Are Her, Aren’t You? – Seyit Ali Dastan (Turkey)
December: To be announced
Background – Context
Transadaptation Volume 4: Material Dissent – Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2023)
Transadaptation Volume 3: Evanescent – Young Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2022)
Transadaptation Volume 2: Conceived – Childhood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2021)
Transadaptation Volume 1: In the Middle – Prelude to a Contemporary Transadaptation, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2020)
Peripatetic Alterity: A Philosophical Treatise on the Spectrum of Being – Romantics and Pragmatists by Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
La Syncrétion of Polarization and Extremes Transposée, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2018)
L’anthologie of Global Instability Transpuesta, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2017)
From Wahnsinnig to the Loony Bin: German and Russian Stories Transposed to Modern-day America, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2013)
Emblems and stories on the international community
Perception by country – Transposing emblems, articles, short stories and reports from around the world
Credits
1. Top row (left to right): South Africa – The End of the World – Lina Loos (Unsplash); Mpumalanga, South Africa – The Mountains – Nadine Venter (Unsplash); Bottom row (left to right): Johannesburg, South Africa – Goodhope Supermarket – Rich T Photo (Shutterstock); Johannesburg, South Africa – Emerging – Clodagh Da Paixao (Unsplash); South Africa – Reflecting – Leo Moko (Unsplash)
Source: The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed