Thulubonge Mpande

Castleberg is not as big as Thula remembers from the first time she was here. It was almost a year ago when she came for the interview. She also remembers what a different person she was back then. The reward for good work is more work, was the last thing she saw as she walked past Scott’s desk and out the door the day she resigned. She still can’t believe that she’s on a new career path.

Thula resigned on a Wednesday afternoon. She had been searching for an exit for a few months but had not planned on resigning before securing another job. Her manager was suspended after a verbal abuse incident. He had already received two warnings. That afternoon she found out who would be replacing him and resigned before the new line had introduced herself to the team. A few others soon followed. And that Friday she gave a lift to Sadie, her “sister in resignation,” they called each other during their drive home. Mme and Sadie’s husband took turns calling them for an update, even though the drive was only three hours long.

“Your tears will cause me to also break Thule,” Mpho pokes.

“Askies sesi, memories memories,” she shrugs.

Mpho wipes Thula’s tear and they do their “jiggle” hug which involves a mini shimmy at the end. Mama joins them for the shimmy. They are back from dropping off Thula’s luggage. Mme offered to do this so they’d have a chance to speak to one of the Lieutenants at the checkin desk. The seven week minimum does not sit well with her.

“Thula, my last born,” Mme says. Thula always finds this amusing because it’s just the two of them. Just her and Mpho. The first time she giggled when Mme said this, Mama scolded her. She then called Mpho and told them a story about the day her sister was born and why they changed her name to Mphoeapula that day.

“I’ll miss you the most,” she whispers.

Mama and Mpho look at each other and roll their eyes. She’s lost count of the number of times she’s hugged her family goodbye. The departure time has been changed a few times due the network affecting the processing time. She kisses the baby on his cheek and walks tentatively towards the bus.

There are no seat allocations so Thula chooses a window seat. There aren’t enough of them to fill the entire bus but Khana sees Thula and decides to sit next to her. She introduces herself by reminding Thula that they went to the same high school. And Thula instantly remembers that Khana joined the school when her father replaced Mr Zwide when he retired. They click. A relief for them both as they eagerly exchange stories about what brought them to this moment.

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