hadnât taken any action as yet. There was no sign of Pissy Vermaak, which wasnât a good sign, although not entirely unexplainable, heâd been in a pretty overwrought state and sheâd probably kept him in the sick room. We didnât have a hands inspection because Mevrou didnât appear, which was lucky.
When weâd all sat down my heart really sank. Meneer Prinsloo and Mevrou were not at the staff table. When supper was over there was still no Meneer Prinsloo and Mevrou. Meneer Botha took over the job of reading from the Bible and saying prayers thanking God for our food and for looking after us. In both cases I wasnât at all sure God was doing a good job and, in my opinion, was getting a bit too much praise. No Mevrou announcements followed, which meant thereâd be no sjambok for the little kids that night. Instead, old Mevrou Pienaar said that if anyone needed to go to the clinic and it couldnât wait until the morning, they should see her afterwards on the stoep and sheâd do the best she could. As we went to the hall where we had to do our homework, through the big window at the end, I saw the lights of a car pull up. It was Doctor Van Heerdenâs new Chev with a dicky-seat at the back. The outside light went on and Meneer Prinsloo and Mevrou came out to greet him and took him inside. You didnât need to think too hard to know what that was all about. Doctor Van Heerden was here to examine the bruises on Pissyâs arse.
As I lay in bed that night my mind started to work things out. Not that a seven-year-old is much good at solving complex problems, as he canât really understand possible outcomes. But what I knew made me very worried. Firstly, I already knew that Fonnie and Pissy had conspired with Meneer Botha to concoct the story of Fonnie falling down the big rock. But all that had changed and there was the new Pissy confession to Mevrou version of what happened. This was all lies but she believed him and when she believed something, watch out, man! In this second version I still wasnât there, but Mattress was. Secondly, Mattress was now supposed to have penetrated Pissy in his hut before the rock incident took place and of course this was also a pack of lies.
I started blubbing because I knew if I went and told Meneer Prinsloo the real truth then Tinker would be dead. You couldnât go around accusing someone like Meneer Frikkie Botha of lying and concocting stories and expect him not to get his own back. I was also certain that the superintendent wouldnât believe me, wouldnât take my word against two important grown-ups like Frikkie Botha and Mevrou. Besides, he knew already that everyone in The Boys Farm lied to the staff all the time, so how would he know I was telling Godâs honest truth? So if I talked I was going to lose the two people I loved the most in the world, Mattress and Tinker. It was the saddest moment in my life because I didnât know what to do to save them. Iâve told you before how it was survival of the fittest in that place and now look what was going to happen, even if they didnât believe me. Tinker would be dead and Mattress would be taken away by the police and sent to Pretoria where they would hang him by his neck until he was stone dead.
It hit me all of a sudden, if I said nothing, stayed stom, Tinker would stay alive and only Mattress would be killed. There was nothing I could do to save Mattress. Or, if there was, I wasnât capable of thinking what it might be. The forces ranged against us were just too powerful. But I knew that somehow, whatever happened, it was my fault and thatâs why I was blubbing. Then someone shouted, âShurrup, Voetsek , and go to sleep!â Until then I hadnât realised Iâd been crying so loud.
What Iâm about to tell you is what happened next. But, of course, I wasnât present for most of the grown-upsâ conversations. I only found
When weâd all sat down my heart really sank. Meneer Prinsloo and Mevrou were not at the staff table. When supper was over there was still no Meneer Prinsloo and Mevrou. Meneer Botha took over the job of reading from the Bible and saying prayers thanking God for our food and for looking after us. In both cases I wasnât at all sure God was doing a good job and, in my opinion, was getting a bit too much praise. No Mevrou announcements followed, which meant thereâd be no sjambok for the little kids that night. Instead, old Mevrou Pienaar said that if anyone needed to go to the clinic and it couldnât wait until the morning, they should see her afterwards on the stoep and sheâd do the best she could. As we went to the hall where we had to do our homework, through the big window at the end, I saw the lights of a car pull up. It was Doctor Van Heerdenâs new Chev with a dicky-seat at the back. The outside light went on and Meneer Prinsloo and Mevrou came out to greet him and took him inside. You didnât need to think too hard to know what that was all about. Doctor Van Heerden was here to examine the bruises on Pissyâs arse.
As I lay in bed that night my mind started to work things out. Not that a seven-year-old is much good at solving complex problems, as he canât really understand possible outcomes. But what I knew made me very worried. Firstly, I already knew that Fonnie and Pissy had conspired with Meneer Botha to concoct the story of Fonnie falling down the big rock. But all that had changed and there was the new Pissy confession to Mevrou version of what happened. This was all lies but she believed him and when she believed something, watch out, man! In this second version I still wasnât there, but Mattress was. Secondly, Mattress was now supposed to have penetrated Pissy in his hut before the rock incident took place and of course this was also a pack of lies.
I started blubbing because I knew if I went and told Meneer Prinsloo the real truth then Tinker would be dead. You couldnât go around accusing someone like Meneer Frikkie Botha of lying and concocting stories and expect him not to get his own back. I was also certain that the superintendent wouldnât believe me, wouldnât take my word against two important grown-ups like Frikkie Botha and Mevrou. Besides, he knew already that everyone in The Boys Farm lied to the staff all the time, so how would he know I was telling Godâs honest truth? So if I talked I was going to lose the two people I loved the most in the world, Mattress and Tinker. It was the saddest moment in my life because I didnât know what to do to save them. Iâve told you before how it was survival of the fittest in that place and now look what was going to happen, even if they didnât believe me. Tinker would be dead and Mattress would be taken away by the police and sent to Pretoria where they would hang him by his neck until he was stone dead.
It hit me all of a sudden, if I said nothing, stayed stom, Tinker would stay alive and only Mattress would be killed. There was nothing I could do to save Mattress. Or, if there was, I wasnât capable of thinking what it might be. The forces ranged against us were just too powerful. But I knew that somehow, whatever happened, it was my fault and thatâs why I was blubbing. Then someone shouted, âShurrup, Voetsek , and go to sleep!â Until then I hadnât realised Iâd been crying so loud.
What Iâm about to tell you is what happened next. But, of course, I wasnât present for most of the grown-upsâ conversations. I only found
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