Zoo City (12 page)

   They look at each other uneasily.

   "If this isn't a bad time for you. Wouldn't want to interrupt your…" – I look down at the pitted grass – "gardening." They have the grace to look sheepish. "C'mon, I'll buy you a drink at the clubhouse."

   Turns out Des and Arno already have a well-established reputation at the clubhouse. "Oh no," the waiter says, wearing a bowtie and gloves, like this is Inanda instead of Mayfields. "No shirt, no service. And no animals."

   "Hi there," I say, sticking out my hand. "Zinzi December, journalist for The Economist. You've heard of The Economist, I trust? I'm interviewing these young men for a piece on the South African music industry, and I'd really appreciate it if you could accommodate us. I'd hate to have to include something in my piece on the appalling service at Mayfields."

   "Do you have a business card?"

   "Not on me." I give him my best fake-tolerant smile. He considers this, then breaks out his best fake-obsequious smile in return. "Right this way, madam. But please inform the young gentlemen that we won't be serving them alcoholic beverages. We confiscated their fake IDs the last time they visited with us."

   We sit outside overlooking the gentle rolling greenery of the course. A shrike eyes our table, checking out the scraps. Also known as the butcherbird, it has a habit of impaling its prey on barbed-wire fences. People tend to think animals are better than humans. But birds have their own serial killers. Chimpanzees commit murder. The only difference between us is that animals don't feel guilty about it.

   "How many of these people actually play golf?" I say, waving my glass of Appletiser at the townhouses.

   "Dwo?" Arno guesses.

   "Three max. It's like gym," Des says. "Everyone signs up and goes for like a month and then never goes again."

   "So, who are you guys? Tell me about you."

   "Um. Anoo Wedelinghaze. Dad's Har-he-duh-he-," he spells out, leaning over my notebook. Listening to him speak makes my eyes water.

   "Redelinghuys. Got it," I wink. "How old are you? Arno?"

   "Fifdeen."

   "And you, Des?"

   "Twenty-two. And it's Desmond Luthuli."

   "You go to school with S'bu?"

   "I do!" Arno chirps. "Bud Des moved hewe wid him. He's da woombade. I jusd hang oud and sleeb over sombedibes."

   "Moved out from where?"

   "Valley of a Dousand Hills? In Kwa-Zulu Naddal? Dey, like, gwew up dogeduh, besd buds."

   "I can speak for myself, Arno." There's something hungry about Des. I get the feeling reflected glory isn't enough for him.

   "Sorreeee, dude. Shid."

   "Yeah, so S'bu and Arno are only, like, friends from two years ago. They both go to Crawford," Des says. "But me and S'bu, we grew up together. Tiny little village called KwaXimba in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. So ja, when iJusi signed and S'bu and Song moved out here–"

   "How'd they get signed?" I interrupt.

   "You don't know?"

   "I just want to get your take on it. In your own words." Actually, Maltese and Marabou filled me in on the way. There was a big hoo-ha after they aced the Coca-Cola Starmakerz auditions when they were still a tender fourteen; the youngest contestants ever to qualify, and from a desperately poor background that almost immediately made them the great bright nation-building hopes of the contest. But they had to drop out just before the semi-finals, after their grandmother died of lupus, barely two years after they lost both parents to Aids-related complications.

   They were adorable. They were tragic. They were at least half-talented. And the song they chose to sing was a wrenching cover of Brenda Fassie's "Too Late for Mama". How could the General Public resist? There was a massive rallying around them. Radio 702 started a fund-raising drive to pay for granny's funeral costs and establish a trust for the new orphans. Coca-Cola put them up in a hotel for the duration of the competition, arranged minders to look after them, and gave them as much free Coke as they could drink. And hopefully paid for their dental work afterwards.

   Sponsors leapt to look after them. They got free clothes, free medical aid and free tickets to rugby games, where they got to sing for the Springboks and the President. And they got signed before the semi-finals even went to air, and dropped out of the competition on the advice of their new label, Moja Records.

   Des sums this up succinctly: "Like, they were in Starmakerz and then they got signed and Odi paid for them to move."

   "Acdually, de creeby bird lady and be dog guy came do dalk to dem eben befowe."

   "Before Starmakerz?"

   "Dey said dey were dalend scouds."

   "Yeah, but I told them they shouldn't just take the first offer they got, even if it was from Mr Odi Bigshot Huron," Des interrupts. "I got them to audition for Starmakerz instead. Worked out. They got more exposure and we landed with Odi anyway."

   "And they just did what you said?"

   "Yeah, I'm kinda like S'bu's manager."

   "You're twenty-two."

   "So?"

   "His mbom is deir legal guawdian," Arno pipes up.

   "Yeah, that too. When they came to Joburg, we moved up with them."

   "Mrs Luthuli. Right. So, where is your mom? Is she okay with you guys smoking weed and drinking beer?"

   "Yeah, she's really chill. We earned it, man."

   "You mbean S'bu earned id," Arno interrupts.

   "And where's Songweza in all this? I couldn't help noticing that the house felt very… masculine."

   "Song's a sduck-up bidch," says Arno, with all the venom of someone who has tended a secret crush in the basement of his heart, only to be met with a sweetly patronising pat on the cheek the moment he brought it out into the sunlight of her attention. The seedling might have been burned, but that doesn't mean it's dead.

   "Shut up, Arno. Song has got her own thing going on. She's only there a couple of nights a week. Maybe."

   "And the rest of the time?"

   "Who knows? Who cares?"

   "Shouldn't your mom care? Considering she's the official guardian?"

   "She cares. She looks after those two better than their own family."

   "Oh?"

   "Buncha money-sucking vampires. But that's private. Off the record, hey?" Des jabs his finger at me, just like a real manager, all grown-up.

   "No problem," I soothe. "So tell me about this management gig, Des. What does that involve?"

   "I got some stuff going with the clubs, some sponsorship deals, and me and S'bu are working on a clothing label for men. Controller."

   "But not Song?"

   He ignores me. "T-shirts and accessories, but quality stuff, hey. None of this cheap rip-off crap. Got some stores that are interested. The Space. YDE even. It's not just about the music anymore, it's about the brand. You gotta be smart. CDs don't count for squat. It's all about the cellphone downloads."

   "Wow. You want to be my manager too?"

   "Depends." He assesses me seriously, for the first time. "What you got?"

   "Not a whole lot, let me tell you. How about you, Arno?"

   "Be?"

   "No, shit-for-brains, the other fat white boy." Des smirks at me as if we're in on this together.

   "I jusd, you know, hang oud."

   "What do you enjoy most about him?"

   "Uh. He's weally funny? And cool. And he's weally good ad gambes."

   "He seems pretty tense about his sister, though?"

   "Ag. They fight a lot, but they love each other. They're just pulling in different directions and S'bu's kind of… sensitive," Des answers, getting antsy at no longer being in the spotlight. "Are we done here?"

   "Yeah, okay. I might want to check in with you guys some other time though, if that's cool? Here's my card."

   I hand over an old card to each of them, from FL. Cringingly, it reads:

ZINZI DECEMBER WORD PIMP

That's just the kind of cocky idiot I was. "Wordsmith" was too wanky. But why I couldn't have just gone with "writer" or "freelance journalist", only my cocky idiot FL self knows. At least I managed to keep my old number.

   "What's a word pimp? Like you rent out words by the hour?"

   "For dodgy assignations in tacky motel bedrooms. Yeah."

   "That's so random."

   "I'm planning to get new cards."

   "As your manager, I'd say that's a very good idea."

   "Yeah. Id's jusd… lambe," Arno says.

   "I'll take it under advisement. Thanks."

When I get back to the townhouse, there is a red Toyota Conquest parked outside, with the boot open as if ready to swallow the woman who is leaning into it to retrieve the shopping bags inside.

   "Give you a hand?"

   "Ngiyabonga, sisi," says Prim Luthuli, emerging from the car. She manages to contain her double-take at seeing Sloth, and hands over three bags in each hand, loaded with two-litre soft drinks and frozen mini-pizzas and chips. She is in her late forties, a large mama in a floral skirt and an over-bleached white blouse.

   "Just a guess. Teenage boys?"

   She smiles wanly, but there's a tightness to her face. "I try to cook healthy for them, but, hei, teenagers are difficult."

   She fumbles open the lock, while balancing four bags, and bumps the door open with her hip, revealing a mirror layout of H4-303. The walls are a warm yellow, leading into a bright red kitchen with a corkboard against the wall, plastered with family photos and news clippings featuring iJusi.

   I set the bags down on the counter, nearly knocking over a vase of white roses which Mrs Luthuli deftly saves without comment.

   "Do you live in the complex, dear?" she asks, opening the fridge and shelving a pack of strawberries, the milk, carrots, chicken pieces, tomatoes. "I don't think we've spoken before?"

   "My name is Zinzi December. Odysseus Huron sent me to talk to you about Songweza."

   She closes the fridge door and sits down heavily on one of the bar stools attached to the breakfast nook. She knots her hands in her floral skirt. She is clearly upset.

   "You? Why hasn't he called the police?"

   "You tell me."

   She sighs heavily. "He thinks she's playing games. But even if she is, she could still be in danger! Who knows where she is. She's been gone four days." She starts sniffling.

   For the second time in an hour, I've managed to make someone cry. At Sloth's urging, I go over and put an arm around her, awkwardly.

   "It's going to be okay," I murmur. "It's going to be fine. Look, this is going to sound a little strange. But do you have anything of Songweza's she might have lost? Something with sentimental value? I don't know, a favourite earring that fell behind the couch? A book or a letter? A sock, even?" I'm clutching at straws or, worse, laundry.

   "No. I don't know what you mean. I don't have anything like that." She looks at me like I'm crazy.

   "Okay. How about her phone number?"

   "I've been trying it every day. It just goes to her voicemail."

   "Can I try it?" Because wouldn't it be crazy if she answered? Easiest money in the bank ever. But as predicted, it kicks straight to voicemail.

   "You know who this is. If I feel like it, I'll get back to you." The voice is sassy, sexy. Even with the faux-bored veneer, it comes through like a dare.

   It's followed by the automated network pre-record, a decidedly less enticing voice: "This mailbox is full. Please try again later. This mailbox is full. Please try again later." Okay, so it's not going to be that easy. Of course, just because it's on voicemail doesn't mean that she's not using the phone to make calls.

   "Do you have any idea where she might have gone? No other relatives? No close friends she might be bunking with?"

   "I called her friends from school. Nonkuleko. Priya. They haven't seen her."

   "What about her friends outside school?"

   She looks at me blankly. "No, I…"

   "Never mind. How long have you been the twins' guardian?"

   "When their grandmother died, she wrote in her will that she wanted me to look after them. We were neighbours. But I would have anyway. It's traditional to look after orphans."

   "Helluva inheritance."

   "It's hard. I get stressed. All the Starmakerz nonsense. The city, all the parties, warra-warra. It's a bad influence,

Joburg. But they're good kids."

   "I get the idea that the boys don't know about Song. I told them I was a journalist, don't worry."

   "Des knows. My son. Did he mention…" She looks to me for acknowledgment that I'm up on the family ties. "He said I shouldn't tell them. They're young. They're emotional. Especially S'busiso. He takes everything to heart."

   "I noticed."

   "I think he gets bullied at school. He doesn't tell me, but sometimes he comes home with bruises. And what if something has happened to her? How would they deal with it? It's better that they don't know. They shouldn't have to carry the worry. I told them she's visiting a friend."

   "What is she like, Songweza?"

   "She's smart, very smart. A's at school. But she's not like S'bu. She's popular with the girls. And the boys too," she says, with a little grimace of concern.

   I'll bet, if that voice is any reflection of the rest of the package.

   "Does she have a boyfriend?"

   "Oh no." She looks shocked. 'Song would tell me. We have an agreement. No boyfriends until she finishes high school."

   "Would you say she's happy?"

   "Sometimes it feels like Songweza is angry at the whole world. But she doesn't really mean it. She just has her ups and downs."

   "Which is why she's on medication?" She seems confused. "No, I don't think so."

"Nothing? Not even homeopathic? Muti?"

   "Oh yes. Yes, she sees a sangoma once a month. They both do. He gives them treatment to help with the stress. All this stress of being famous."

   "I'm slightly – concerned – that you might not know as much about the kids as you think you do."

   "We talk all the time. I cook dinner for them every night. Make their lunch for school. We go to church on Sundays."