‘What were you doing inside, woman? Still making babies? You natives! Next time we will break the door and beat you up for delaying us,’ shouted one of the tall officers, as if my mother was deaf.
The officer flashed an electric torch into my mother’s eyes and dazzled her.
‘Let me see your permit.’
Without a word she quickly went to her bedroom and returned with a written page. The officer used his torch to complement the dim light from the single candle in the corner. In an effort to aid the police officers, my mother went inside her bedroom again to get a lamp, which was made out of a small Royal Baking Powder tin.
By the time she returned we were all in the sitting-dining-room waiting to be counted like animals in the kraal. I was still drowsy, because even though my brothers were listening to the radio I had been slumbering.
Two police officers started counting us and the other four ferreted around in every corner of the house.
‘You are supposed to be ten in this house. Which baboon does not belong here?’ asked one of the police officers angrily.
We were all afraid to point a finger at my uncle. My parents looked down. My brothers and I looked at my uncle. He was very scared. But I heard his quivering voice.
‘Me, baas.’
‘Where are your papers?’ asked another police officer.
Before my uncle could respond, the police officer’s fat hand was on the scruff of his neck. I was hoping that they wouldn’t beat him up; Brixton police were notorious for their violence.
There had even been rumours in the township of the appearance of a feared whites-only police squad. We kids were made to believe that they had more than two thirds of their faces covered by a bushy beard and moustache, and because of this you couldn’t see their mouths when they were silent. According to the rumours, in order to speak the Brixton whites-only squad would hold their bushy moustaches up with their left hands and pull down their beards with their right to enable them to open their mouths. It was also believed that they would walk around with small brooms to help them sweep their bushy wrist thatches out of the way when they wanted to check the time on their watches.
I stood in the middle of the room stupidly, examining each police officer in an attempt to verify this rumour. Meanwhile my uncle was handing his expired papers to them.
‘You suppose to have been gone to the country by now. You go with us today, boy.’
‘Please sir, don’t . . .’ pleaded my mother.
‘Shut the fuck up! You kaffir bitch!’
Silence fell. We watched in horror as my uncle hobbled helplessly out into the street with the police. They all disappeared inside the police van and I only saw him again ten years later.
six
The sweet kwaito music blaring from a white CITI Golf passing along De Korte Street helped to bring me back from my reminiscence. I looked at the time. It was ten minutes to six in the evening. The gliding amber of the sun was sloping down to usher in the evening.
I searched the pockets of my jeans and took out the packet of Peter Stuyvesant that I had just bought at the supermarket and unsealed it. I lit a cigarette and inhaled the stress-relieving smoke.
When I had finished I threw the butt into the road and took out my Walkman. I pressed the play button and began to listen to Bayete. The name of the song was Mbombela. I lifted my bottle of beer; it was almost half-empty.
When I raised my eyes from the beer bottle, the police car had already stopped in front of me. I hadn’t heard them arrive because of the fat beats coming from my Walkman. I pulled the earphones off and let them dangle around my neck.
At first I thought that they wanted some smokes, but then I realised that the police officers had caught me with an open beer. In two ticks both front car doors were flung open and I shrank like a child caught masturbating by its single mother as they moved hastily to accost me.
‘Evening, sir.’
‘Evening.’
‘How are you, sir?’
‘I’m alright.’
‘Enjoying yourself, hey?’
‘Yep.’
‘Do you realise that what you’re doing is against the law?’
‘Excuse me? You mean relaxing under this tree?’
‘No. I’m talking about public drinking.’
‘I’m not drinking anything.’
‘The evidence is in your hand.’
I looked at the bottle that I was still holding. I never expected policemen to be patrolling that quiet street. I thought that they would be attending to more serious crimes elsewhere. But there they were, spoiling the party that I was beginning to enjoy with my other self. Why can’t these people just leave a person to do his own thing? I asked myself. I moved my eyes away from the bottle and looked at the pimple-faced Indian police officer.
‘I’m just holding an open beer bottle that I was drinking when I was in the bar, sir. But I’m not drinking it now. And if that’s a crime I didn’t know.’
‘We stopped the car because we saw you drinking, my friend. Do you think we’re stupid?’
Silence fell while I looked at his tall, white, moustached colleague, who was mercilessly chewing some gum. He staggered forward and I could tell from his bulging bloodshot eyes that he was already drunk. His face was also bright red, as if he had lain in the sun for too long, and the golden hair on his skull stood up like a scrubbing-brush.
‘Are you denying that we saw you drinking?’ asked the red-faced officer.
‘It is just a misunderstanding, sir; I wasn’t drinking this beer.’
‘Ohh! You think you’re clever, né?’ the red-faced officer asked contemptuously. He leaned forward and shook his large head slowly as if he was feeling sorry for me.
‘What is your name?’
‘Dingz.’
‘Are you a student?’
‘Yep.’
‘Where?’
‘Wits.’
He studied my face for a while. When he started to talk again, his words were accompanied by the heavy smell of liquor and cigarettes.
‘OK. Listen, Dingz. We have been asked to patrol this area because lately there have been complaints about students who abuse alcohol. They drink and throw the empty bottles into the street and that’s not good for the environment. Look there!’ he said pointing at some empty Coca-Cola cans on the other side of the road. ‘Is that not disgusting?’
‘So what does that have to do with me?’
‘You say you’re a student?’
I nodded.
‘And you’re holding a beer?’
‘But I’m not one of those students you are looking for. If you’ll excuse me gentlemen, I have to go.’
I thought I had succeeded in talking myself out of trouble, but before I could even raise myself from the ground the red-faced officer asked me yet another question.
‘What are you doing at Wits?’ he asked, sprinkling my face with saliva.
‘Law,’ I lied. ‘Why?’
I