No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo Page A

what Joseph said. When you are malunde you’re free,” he said to Jabu.
    Jabu made a sucking sound, drawing air in through his teeth. “Joseph talks that way because he’s jealous! When he’s sleeping on the cold ground, you are sleeping in a warm bed and when he’s hungry, you have hot food inside you.”
    That was very true. But it was also true that he, Sipho, wasn’t free. It was hard to put into words, but he began to tell Jabu about Mr. Danny’s family. While he knew Mr. Danny was trying to help him, his son, David, made him feel very uncomfortable. He couldn’t ever really belong to Mr. Danny’s family, could he? So shouldn’t he just join the gang of malunde again?
    Jabu interrupted him. Sipho was surely crazy. Didn’t he see that the boy David was trying tomake him leave? Why should he give up everything just because of him? And had he forgotten all the bad things…the cold winds at night…searching always for money and food…not being safe and being attacked?
    “If it was me, I would be happy to stay with Mr. Danny,” he declared.
    Sipho was quiet. Jabu was right, of course, and sensible. But still he didn’t understand how he, Sipho, felt.
    “Well, I have to go,” he said finally.
    He was pleased when Jabu began to walk with him. It was rapidly getting dark, and he expected his friend to turn back once they reached the end of Hillbrow, but Jabu walked on. They were so busy talking, kicking an empty can along the pavement and still talking, that almost before Sipho realized it they had walked all the way to the street where Mr. Danny’s house was. Suddenly he felt very bad. He was going to go inside, and Jabu was going to be left outside. It had been fun walking together, but now Jabu would have to walk back to Hillbrow by himself. Perhaps he could come inside first to have something to drink? If Judy opened the door he felt sure that would be all right. But as he pressed the button on the box by the gate, he noticed that Mr. Danny’s car was out of the garage. He and Judy must have gone to take Portia home.
    “Who is it?” David’s voice came sharply out of the box.
    “It’s me, Sipho.”
    There was no reply, but after a few moments the iron gate began to move slowly aside. There was no point in asking Jabu to come with him. David would say bluntly that he wasn’t allowed to let strangers into the house, and that would be even worse.
    Sipho stepped inside the drive, and he and Jabu stood on opposite sides as the gate began to slide back again.
    “Hey, these people have all kinds of smart things!” Jabu’s large, dark eyes followed the movement. “It’s like there’s a spook pushing it!” he added.
    They both laughed. Then Sipho heard the front door click open behind him. David must be there watching them. He looked through the iron bars at his friend shut out on the other side. He could see that Jabu’s eyes had wandered in the direction of the door.
    “We’ll meet soon,” said Jabu. “Sala kahle.”
    “Yes, I shall come to look for you. Hamba kahle,” Sipho replied.
    For a few moments he watched the figure of his friend as it slipped from a patch of light under a streetlamp into a stretch of darkness. Then he turned to face the house.

16. Accused!
    T he days followed in the same pattern as his first week at Mr. Danny’s. Six long days of working in the shop with only Sunday free for a few hours to go looking for his friends. In the evenings David had nothing to do with him and made a point of calling Copper away if he saw him with Sipho. Judy remained very friendly, while Mama Ada also took an interest in him. She was especially pleased whenever she saw Judy helping him at night with some writing.
    “It’s good. You must study hard. Then you can be someone in life,” she commented as she cleared the dishes from the table.
    But Sipho continued to be tired by the evening and not able to take much in. The work at Danny’s Den became harder and his time off at midday