the room where you were sleeping.”
“In Naledi?”
“No, no. At my house.”
“At your house,” he repeated.
“They are going to school now.” It was like talking to a thick curtain with a man behind it. “Lulu and Moses came to Gaborone by train. Hendrik Pretorius arranged it.”
“Hendrik Pretorius?”
“He is the one who got you released from prison.”
“Are we going to see him now?”
“We’re going to Gaborone. You’re back in Botswana now.”
“And my mother? Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“And my father?”
“I don’t know.”
“And Nthusi?”
She stopped. “Your brother?”
“Yes.”
“I heard from Hendrik that your brother died in the mines. There was a collapse. It happened several months ago. I’m very sorry.”
She glanced at him. He’d closed his eyes. In his face, it seemed she could map the world’s history of sorrow. He coughed again, a sound that seemed to pull up everything in him.
“Isaac,” she said, “I’m going to be taking you to the hospital.”
“Yes,” he said. She’d expected an argument. They drove a short distance, and he said, “Please, mma, I need to get out.”
She found a place to stop, and he opened the door. “Do you need help?” He didn’t answer, and she averted her eyes while he staggered behind a bush.
When he returned, he said, “I’m sorry, mma. I’ve caused so much trouble.” She waved his words away and started up the truck. “While you were away,” he said, “I made a very bad mistake.” It seemed to hurt him to speak.
“Don’t worry, you can tell me later.”
“I need to tell you now. I hid the money under a stone for my family back home. I was staying in the house with my friend and his wife and baby and some others. My friend, Amen, and his comrades were with the ANC. I wasn’t working for the ANC, only staying there. I came to Botswana wanting peace. Perhaps this was selfish of me, but I only wanted peace.” A large truck passed them going in the same direction, kicking up a storm of dust. She slowed, straining to see through the windshield.
“They attacked Amen’s house. His wife died. The baby lived. I don’t know whether Amen is alive or dead. I wanted the money under the stone to send back home, the money you gave me together with what I had saved. I thought they would bulldoze the house. I went like a thief while the guard was sleeping. He woke and took me to the police. The chief of police said I was a double agent and deported me.
“Another thing I must tell you,” he said. “Amen sold your bicycle without my permission. He needed the money. I was very angry, but the bicycle is gone. When I’m able to work again, I’ll pay you back a little bit this month, a little bit next month, until I have paid for it all.”
“Please, don’t worry. All you need to think about is getting back on your feet. No one can harm you now. Do you understand? They’ve given you political asylum here. You’re a legal resident.”
“Ee, mma.” He coughed again, a terrible sound, and grew quiet. She drove more slowly than usual, as though he could break if she hit too many potholes. She gripped the steering wheel as another dust storm arose from a passing vehicle. She glanced up at the hot blue sky and hoped the men who’d done this would suffer the flames of hell for all eternity.
54
The Sister who’d months ago refused Isaac entrance was the first person to meet them at the front doors of Princess Marina Hospital. Her mouth pursed when she saw him, and her nose twitched with distaste. Alice explained that Isaac had been in a South African prison and needed immediate care. The Sister looked him up and down quickly and said, “All right then, come.”
Alice started to follow them, but the nurse turned to her and said, “You must go now, madam. You will return tomorrow.”
“I won’t get in the way, I promise.”
“Madam, it is not possible.”
Alice touched Isaac’s hand and murmured something he couldn’t understand. It startled him. It was the first kind touch he’d felt in longer than he could remember. He watched her turn and leave, then followed the Sister down the hallway. Halfway to the ward, he collapsed. He couldn’t recall how he’d ended up on the floor, only that things had gone dark.
The Sister put him in an isolation room with green walls and a small, high window. Another Sister came and offered him water. He drank a