Whitethorn by Bryce Courtenay Page A

these out some years later and in a rather sad way when I met up with Fonnie du Preez and Pissy Vermaak again. But I’ll tell you about that later. So there has to be some speculation involved. Pissy and Fonnie were present for a lot of what took place and Pissy, like all good liars, had an excellent memory and seemed to recall the conversations just the way they happened.
    Mevrou said, ‘Doctor, I’m not an expert in such things you understand, but when I saw it I also definitely knew.’
    Pissy Vermaak was hauled in front of Doctor Van Heerden who examined him in the sick room in the presence of Mevrou, while Meneer Prinsloo waited in the other room. He put Vaseline on his finger and made Pissy lie on his knees and elbows and he stuck his finger up Pissy’s bum. Then when he pulled it out he said, ‘ Ja . Most definitely, this boy has been sexually molested. See here, contusions around the anus and severe bruising, this boy has been through a difficult experience.’
    â€˜ Ag , you’re not telling me anything I don’t already know, Doctor,’ Mevrou said. ‘It’s a terrible thing to happen to a child.’
    Doctor Van Heerden said to Mevrou, ‘Is there a camera here?’
    Mevrou said she didn’t know but she’d go and ask. She left the room and Pissy heard her ask Meneer Prinsloo if he had a camera and he replied that he’d go and fetch it.
    Pissy had to wait, lying on his stomach, until the superintendent returned and Meneer Prinsloo came back with his wife’s box brownie.
    â€˜I’m not so sure we can get the close-ups we require,’ Doctor Van Heerden said.
    â€˜ Ag , I think it will be orright, doctor, we use it for our snaps when we go on holiday and it always gives good pictures,’ Meneer Prinsloo assured him.
    â€˜Perhaps if we light the area with a torch?’ Doctor Van Heerden suggested.
    Mevrou went and got a torch and Pissy had to go back on his knees and elbows and the doctor separated his buttocks and Mevrou held the torch and Meneer Prinsloo took three snaps. As it turned out later, you couldn’t see anything, just some smudges and Sergeant Van Niekerk said they were hopeless and jus’ looked like shots taken of the moon that he’d seen in a magazine, Die Huisgenoot , only last week. He said the magistrate would throw them out of his court but that the good doctor’s evidence was all they needed. Doctor Van Heerden said he would write a report for the police and then he left.
    After that they gave Pissy some dinner.
    Well, that was only the beginning. What happened next was a big surprise. The next day, after Meneer Prinsloo said he’d prayed to God for guidance, he called everybody together except, of course, Mattress.
    First, Mevrou told her version of what happened, how Mattress had done the penetration to Pissy in his hut. Then about the fight and how Fonnie had come off second best. All the lies Pissy had told her that she’d swallowed hook, line and sinker. As she finished, Frikkie Botha smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand.
    â€˜ Wragtig ! Now, at last I understand,’ he said. ‘I always thought the story wasn’t the truth.’ He turned to Fonnie and Pissy. ‘Why did you lie to me, hey?’
    They didn’t say anything, just looked down at their toes so that Meneer Prinsloo demanded, ‘Speak up, man!’
    Fonnie pointed to Pissy and said, ‘He was ashamed and couldn’t tell anyone except me.’ Fonnie said softly, ‘I told him I would fight the kaffir for him.’
    â€˜And teach him a lesson he’d never forget!’ Pissy added, enjoying the attention.
    So you can see, they were both expert liars.
    Frikkie Botha was pleased with the reply because now he was off the hook and could go along with the Mevrou version. ‘He’s not in your weight class, man. You now a junior middleweight and that kaffir is a heavy,’ he said,