#14 Tumiso le Kagiso
A knock on the window startles them both. “Hayi fuseg man,” Tumiso says while holding the sides of his seat. Kagiso tries to hold his laugh in but fails. He reaches for the car keys in the cup holder and unlocks the doors. “How much have I missed?” asks Themba. “Title sequence,” Kagiso replies with a mild shrug. “… ya so that December, when I came out and the father called his church folk on me, that was the December I met Nina,” he continues. He explains that he couldn’t tell them about her involvement because he’d be outing her. Nina had come with her grandmother to the prayer session. She too had come out to her family that December and had received a similar reaction. “Nina was my sanity that day and the following week when the father made it law to attend church with him.” “Yeyi futhi leyo dragon,” chimes Themba. Tumiso is quiet, he knows this part of the story well. Him and Kagiso were dating at the time. He had helped with his plan to come out. But the details about Nina and the aftermath are a surprise to him. Kagiso is not the type to omit so much from a story. Embellishing is his style of narration. “Mother came back from her annual business conference and the father told her the story. I was barely over the threshold when I heard ‘uzekimi’, so I locked the door and headed straight to where she was.” Kagiso continues but the mood in the car remains tense. He can tell that there is a part of the story that Tumiso is waiting to hear. “Mother said to me ‘mntanam, your father told me what happened. Mina I love you regardless. But please my baby, IF you marry a woman one day, don’t tell her about this,’ woo, Themba, I’m telling you, in that moment I fumbled for my jaw but it fell on the ground,” he exhales and a bit more of the sadness leaves him. “Wait, that’s the day you moved out ne?”, “Yes.” Kagiso replies to Thembas rhetorical question.
Kagiso moving out was not part of their plan. But he felt he had no other choice. He stayed with Nina for a few days until he found his apartment. It was well located so nothing much changed about his daily routine. A few months later, Nina started dating Sma. “I only met her once while they were dating. They couldn’t meet in certain places because of her brother uSonic. Yazi, Nina would always have a sliver fear in her voice when telling me about this.” In that moment Tumiso’s jaw clenched as if the statement is a hot nail that he is being asked to digest. He opens the door, climbs out the car and walks into the corner shop.
“Khanyo, doll, thanks for coming. You know he hasn’t said a word to me.” Kagiso says and rolls his eyes. Him and Khanyi’s hugs always last way too long. Half way through the hug, they do this weird thing of changing sides. I personally think the reason why they need an interlude is because their necks are telling them “Stop, ku enough.” Kagiso reaches to hug me as well, but ours is normal in length. He smells like the blue between the clouds mixed with clean laundry. I compliment him. And he tells me that it’s a signature scent that his sister bought for him when he came out years ago. “Manje why? You told him everything mos?” Khanyi whispers as we walk into the church.
Mwelase, Samu and anti Mbonge disappear into the house. Their car was among the first to arrive back from the graveyard. “That’s uSonic, their brother,” Kagiso gestures with his head. We let a few seconds pass before looking. He looks like a stereotype personified. The kind that you only need to look at and instantly hear them saying “yeyi wena, woza la.” He doesn’t see us looking at him as he walks towards Nina. “Chomi, nawe kodwa why didn’t you tell uTumiso that you know uSma?” asks Khanyi. Kagiso has been catching her up on the story since we arrived. He could have told us a summary version during the sermon at the graveyard, but I guess that’s not what you do when trying to garner sympathy. “Khanyi, if only. But it would have made little difference. uTumiso dives heart first into relationships. And when uSonic approved, wavele wahmba ngo180km/h and proposed within months,” he replies.
We finish eating and Kagiso goes to the table where T&T and the family are sitting. “Sengiyahamba,” “There’s a family meeting after this, bathi I can only leave after.” “He speaks! Umenzeni?” Kagiso says to Themba. Malume Isiah shifts in his chair. Tumiso’s father asks Kagiso to stay. They both know that if Kagiso leaves, Tumiso will retreat further into himself. He complies and asks Tumiso if they can talk before the family meeting. They walk out the gate and stand by Thembas car. “What in the fuckery,” Themba says as he grabs Tumiso’s arm. “Translate,” says Kagiso and turns to look in the same direction as Themba. T&T begin to run towards the scene and Kagiso is stunned. He looks in awe as Sonic pushes Nina against her car and whispers something in her ear before poking her between the eyes.
Noma the writer 