Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Had Nothing Left
I couldn't answer her question.
How could I?
I had been spared by the man who had taken other people's lives.
I knew his kindness toward me didn't erase the suffering he'd caused.
And his mother deserved more than another argument about why she should forgive him.
“You're right, Ma,” I finally whispered.
She looked surprised.
“I'm not asking you to forget what he's done. I'm asking you not to give up on your own life because of it.”
Her eyes filled with fresh tears.
Mthente stood behind me, his head lowered.
“I don't want to lose you, Ma,” he said.
She shook her head.
“You lost me a long time ago.”
He closed his eyes.
Then she looked toward the empty roundhouse.
“My husband made promises when he paid lobola for me. He promised to protect me. Instead, he left me carrying responsibilities he never cared to understand.”
Her voice trembled.
“I worked until my hands hurt. I raised children. I buried one. And every time I thought things might improve, something else happened.”
I took a hesitant step closer.
“Ma, I'm sorry.”
She looked at me.
For the first time, I wasn't thinking about what I could say to defend Mthente.
I was thinking about a fifty-seven-year-old woman who looked as though she'd spent her entire life holding back tears.
“I don't know how you've managed to carry all this,” I whispered.
Her chin trembled.
“I had no choice.”
I gently placed my arms around her.
At first, she stood completely still.
I almost withdrew.
Then her shoulders began shaking.
A small sob escaped her throat.
Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around me and held on desperately.
She cried against my shoulder with a grief that seemed far older than the argument we'd just witnessed.
I held her without speaking.
Behind us, Mthente was crying too.
For several minutes, no one said anything.
When she finally pulled away, I gently wiped a tear from her cheek.
“You shouldn't be alone tonight, Ma.”
She looked exhausted.
“I don't want to trouble anybody.”
“You're not troubling us.”
Mthente moved closer.
“Please let us stay.”
She hesitated.
“You have your own lives.”
“And you're part of mine,” he replied.
Something moved across her face, but she didn't answer.
I helped her sit on the low doorstep while Mthente brought water from the kitchen.
Then I called my office administrator and asked her to reschedule my early meeting.
Whatever happened, we weren't leaving this woman alone after what she'd said.
I also quietly arranged for a local health professional to come and assess her.
Mthente sat a short distance away, giving his mother space.
After a while, she looked toward him.
“Tusa?”
He raised his head immediately.
“Yes, Ma?”
“There's something else.”
His expression tightened.
“What is it?”
She hesitated, rubbing her hands together.
“A man came here yesterday.”
Mthente straightened.
“What man?”
“He knew your name. Not the name I gave you. The other one.”
I felt Mthente go completely still.
His mother continued.
“He asked whether you'd returned home. I told him no.”
“What did he look like?”
She described a broad-shouldered man wearing a dark jacket.
Mthente's face changed.
His mother swallowed.
“He told me you'd left some unfinished business behind.”
A heavy silence settled between us.
May you like
Then she looked directly into her son's eyes.
“He said you still owed him one last life.”
