Captain felt hurt, and then he felt anger rising out of that hurt. But he fought it. With a shrug he said, “I was only trying to help.”
He turned and began to walk out of the room, but Mr Williams called to him, “If you and your boys want to help, come by after school and help me make the desks. I will accept any offer of manual labour.”
Captain turned. “You do remember that you gave me a D in woodwork, sir? I’ll start making a desk and end up making a toothpick.”
Mr Williams smiled. “You weren’t that bad. And you got a D because you kept bunking. I’ll see you and your boys after the final bell.”
Captain smiled and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
7
“Building desks?” asked German. “Why the hell are we doing that?”
“Because it needs to get done,” was Captain’s curt reply. After his chat with Mr Williams, Captain had joined his friends in the shade of the middle entrance of the main building. The group was made up not only of Godfathers, like Spider, Bruge, German, Lees, Wahied and the rest, but also non-members who floated around the periphery of the gang. Although they chose not to have the letters “GF” tattooed on their skin, they were still welcomed as friends by Captain and his crew.
“The desks are for our benefit, bru. We are the ous that are struggling with broken desks and shit when we’re trying to do our tests,” Captain continued.
Spider added his voice in support. “It’s an hour or two a day, gents. Not a lot. Let’s not be lazy.”
The decision was made and they agreed to meet after school to get started.
Shivas laughed. “I bet fifty rands German takes a finger off before the end of today.”
“Fuck that,” responded German. “I will gooi a hundred rands that Shivas causes a flop and makes a peg bag by mistake.”
The Godfathers laughed. All but Captain.
“Why so serious, ek sê?” Bruge enquired.
Captain shook his head. “Gents, even with the time we put in today, it won’t be enough. When is the last time our library had any new books? Or even the last time the rugby poles got painted. Only one toilet is graafing in the boys’ toilets ever since we came to this school, bru. We need some proper money to make a difference here.”
“José offered us proper money last night,” Spider said matter-of-factly.
“That’s not an option,” Captain said firmly.
“What’s not an option?” enquired Lester.
Captain sighed. “José wants to start taking cars from South Africa to Mozambique. He’s offering twenty thousand to thirty thousand rands. Per car.”
The amounts of money mentioned piqued everyone’s interest. “Are we talking about stealing or hijacking?” asked Wahied.
“It doesn’t matter,” Captain replied. “We aren’t doing it.”
“Bru,” started Bruge, “think of the money, ek sê –”
“It doesn’t matter,” Captain repeated. “We don’t steal. Ouens, what we do now is a victimless crime. Supply and demand. Druggies want our shit, so we provide our shit. Simple. But if we start stealing cabs, it isn’t right. First, there’s a victim that’s going to go to the police and report it. If we start hijacking, we’re talking about putting guns in innocent people’s faces. Accidents happen. We could end up shooting an innocent ou just trying to protect his shit. I don’t want that. Plus, what are the consequences if we get caught? Those are serious crimes, ek sê. I don’t want to go to the tronks and become the wife of some 28 called Big Daddy.”
“What about the Joburg plot?” Spider asked. He went on to explain to the Godfathers José’s desire to expand into Gauteng.
“That is a plot I am interested in,” Captain said. “But it’s Lazarus’s call, not mine. And speaking of which, I got a call from Lazarus this morning. He wants to have a chat with me and Tyson once he is released.”
“On top of?” asked Bruge.
“I can think of a few things he wants to talk about,” smiled Captain. “But I’ll find out for sure after our little chinwag.”
“I think I should come along,” stated Bruge. “After all, you need someone to watch your back.”
Spider slowly shook his head. “That might not be wise, Bruge,” he said, in that soft, monotone voice of his. “It might be seen as a sign of weakness. It could show Tyson that Captain is scared to meet him alone. That he needs backstops.”
Captain shrugged. “I know what you mean. And you’re right, Spider. There’s no need for backstops. I’ll be fine one-out. I’ll go alone.” Captain knew he was making the right decision, because Spider agreed with him. He trusted Spider just as much as he trusted Kyle and Jimmy.
8
Kyle was a little annoyed that Jimmy had come looking for him. He had been sitting quietly at the back of the empty classroom, frantically scribbling across the back pages of his algebra book. It had started as a sonnet, but had just begun to evolve into a free verse poem when Jimmy walked in. Kyle had quickly closed his book. He didn’t want Jimmy to know that he was writing an angry poem asking his mother how she could have abandoned him. He was grateful that Jimmy hadn’t asked to see it, as he didn’t want to talk about it. Both Jimmy and Captain knew of his passion for writing. Be it poems or stories, Kyle loved to write. It was an escape for him. He wrote stories with characters leading lives like he wished he could lead. Stories with happy families. Stories of financial freedom, and of seeing the world outside South Africa. But these stories were for his own eyes only. Private thoughts and dreams that were to be shared with no one but the white pages and blue lines of his books.
Kyle and Jimmy joined Captain’s circle. Kyle shook hands with every person there, many of whom had been his friends from primary school. Long before they’d made their allegiance to the Godfathers.
“Now please explain to me, Kyle, how did young Jimmy here convince you to come to Carmen’s party?” asked Lester.
“Ja,” agreed German. “When we choon you to pull in, you always duck and dive.”
Kyle smiled, a polite smile. “What can I say? The guy made me a promise I couldn’t refuse.”
“A promise? A promise on top of … ?” Captain raised a questioning eyebrow.
With a smile and a wink, Kyle replied, “On top of talking to … you know who.”
Captain’s forehead furrowed with confusion for a second, then his eyes sparked with understanding and he laughed. “No jokes? About fucking time.”
The three cousins revelled in their private joke until Kyle saw the smile on Captain’s face slowly slip away. Captain was staring at something over Kyle’s right shoulder. Kyle followed his glare and saw a handsome guy talking to a beautiful girl with striking red hair. Nazneen, Captain’s girlfriend. And it was Wesley talking to her.
Spider too had followed Captain’s eyes. “Whoa, Cap,” he said. “Take it easy. They’re just talking.”
Wesley’s hair was neatly trimmed and gelled away from his face. A gold earring twinkled in his left ear-lobe and his smile radiated confidence. He looked as if he’d stepped straight out of the pages of a GQ magazine, and he was known to have a silver tongue that could make girls weak at the knees.
Kyle knew that Wesley embodied everything Captain hated in a person. His family was wealthy and he’d had everything handed to him on a silver platter. He was good-looking and he was arrogant. He was what they’d call a “glamour boy” or a “pretty boy”. The