Toyboy trouble

Thandi’s relationship with her mother is threatened by her involvement with a much-younger man

- PRECIOUS SEBONI

IT WAS early morning and my little daughter, Molli, was out in the yard with my mother.

“Mama!” Molli ran up to me with a dandelion clutched in her chubby fist.

“See this, Mama? This is a fairy clock. You blow on it and then you can count what time it is.

“And it’s better than a real clock because it can be any time you want. That’s what Gogo says.”

I’ll bet she does, I thought and looked at my mother who smiled back at me, all innocence.

“She says if you have fairy time, you don’t have to care about real clocks and real-time.”

I knew exactly what this childish non-sense was all about – Jakes Dube.

Anything my mother said or did seemed to have some connection to him these days.

He was my mother’s toyboy. She got angry when I used that term but what was I supposed to call him? The man was only three years older than me. And my mother was in her 50s and a grandmother. What could she possibly get out of this ridiculous relationship?

I picked Molli up and hugged her, careful not to squash her dandelion.

“Well, sweetheart, I have to worry about real clocks. Right now, it’s time for me to go to my appointment. Be a good girl for your grandmother.”

My mother called out from the yard, “All the best, Thandi. You knock that CEO dead. Remember, you have great talent. I believe in you!”

She didn’t come across to hug me. I didn’t expect her to, as things had deteriorated way past what a hug could fix.