Authors: Nadine Gordimer
Loot (17 page)
It seemed she understood what their love was doing for her. You couldn't grow up in that township without becoming aware that it was best to be white, if by some good fortune you had the chance to take. God's will. When her courses wereâsuccessfullyâcompleted she and the parents studied together the situations vacant advertised in the morning and evening papers; for the first time in his life Abraham brought home both (TV was the source of news for what was happening in the world, for him) from his boss's office, with the permission and kindly interest of his Jewish employer. After all, they were family men of around the same age; there was the joking:âYou're not going down those pages because you're walking out on me?ââNo, no ⦠it's my daughter, just come through business college.â
Denise wrote her own confident letters of application, now giving the post office box number of her father's workplace for convenient reply. She read the format out to the parents for approval, and was granted several interviews in favourable response. With her very first job she could choose! Their Denise! Again the three conferred, Denise and the parents; Abraham knew something of the business world, even if he was only a factory foreman. She made the right choice: a trainee in a bank. All personnel white like her. Her starting salary was low, but enough for their girl to clothe herself, pay for daily minibus transport, enjoy a little independence, and it meant Elsie didn't have to take care of an old white lady anymoreâwork she'd found to
help pay the business school fees. But it appeared that their girl had made one friend during the business school courses, after all. Denise's appointment at the bank was to begin on the first day of the coming month, two weeks ahead; she was having a holiday, a reward she deserved after her success in her courses, helping Elsie at home to make new curtains and riding into the city quite often to see the friend. She even spent a night at the friend's family house, there was a party. In the white suburbs, they were, house and party, of course.
help pay the business school fees. But it appeared that their girl had made one friend during the business school courses, after all. Denise's appointment at the bank was to begin on the first day of the coming month, two weeks ahead; she was having a holiday, a reward she deserved after her success in her courses, helping Elsie at home to make new curtains and riding into the city quite often to see the friend. She even spent a night at the friend's family house, there was a party. In the white suburbs, they were, house and party, of course.
Abraham found the words after he and Elsie were in the dark in bed.âD'you think she's told this friend.ââTold what.âAs if there was nothing that would come out, nothing to explain. âWho she is. Us. Here.ââMust have. Otherwise what'd the friend think of never being invited back. Here.â
There was no resentment or hurt in the fact that their girl did not bring her friend home to them. Other play-whites did so, they knew, with genuinely trusted white pals, in particular that band of whites, Communists, Lefties, Liberals of one kind or another who wanted to prove themselves against the race laws. But their girl was not a play-white. She was fully entitled to be at those parties in the suburbs, sleeping over in a white's house. They knew and their girl knew what they wanted for her and she should claim for herself in order to fulfil that want.
Yet when she told them, she and her girlfriend had found a bachelor flat in the city they could afford and would be moving in togetherâit was the home address she'd given to the bankâthey felt something suddenly fallen away from them. Under the very ground they themselves had prepared. That feeling, in their hanging hands, on their faces: it was soâso what? Unreasonable. Shaming. Silly. What on earth was the matter with them,
you Abraham (her look), you mama Elsie (his look)? This was the next, the right and vital step in moving out of the cramped life they had and into the life that had everything. For her to leave them was the natural process of their act of love for her. Freed.
you Abraham (her look), you mama Elsie (his look)? This was the next, the right and vital step in moving out of the cramped life they had and into the life that had everything. For her to leave them was the natural process of their act of love for her. Freed.
The friend Angela had found a job in an attorney's office near the bank, the housing arrangement was convenient for both and they got along well together. Abraham and Elsie drew some of their small savings to help Denise buy a refrigerator and her share of the basic furniture needed. They were taken to see the flat and met the girl Angela; it was clear she knew what to expect and was friendly and respectful in the normal way of young adults meeting someone's parents. So this girl Angela was in the compact as well. They never visited the flat again; but Denise came homeâmust still be home, a flat that's passed from occupant to occupant, marks on the walls not your own, can't be homeâshe came to them often. Nearly every Sunday, Christmas and birthdays, theirs and hers (calculated as the Sunday she was found in the church toilet), sometimes sleeping the night in her old bed. Such a good girl. Others with her circumstances would have disappeared, disowned them. And that they would have understood as the final act, in their love. God's will. If he allowed the lawsâlaws that made it necessaryâto be the acts of people who prayed obedient to him in their whites' churches. This was a proviso that Abraham, growing older, had but would not pass on to Elsie, wounding her with his lapse of faith. Oddly, if there was anyone he might have conveyed it to it could have been his Jewish boss, he'd been working at the factory for more than twenty-five years and it was to himself, the foreman, that the boss one day confided he hadn't been away ill for a week,
his absence was because he had been taking his wife back and forth to doctors for tests that showed she had cancer.
his absence was because he had been taking his wife back and forth to doctors for tests that showed she had cancer.
A foundling. Who was this girl they decided was Denise? A chosen one, having no provenance, she could make for herself two lives, one where she was cradled and loved and learnt to talk, communicate in the intimate
taal
of a designated township, learnt to walkâwalk out into the second, other life: everything.
taal
of a designated township, learnt to walkâwalk out into the second, other life: everything.
Â
Denise and her flatmate had boyfriends. Angela, many. The weekends when Abraham-and-Elsie's girl was home with them, the current chap could come and make love to Angela in the flat. She never let onâthat was the phrase her best friend could be assured ofâwhere that conveniently absent best friend was. Denise, after a few trials that didn't get as far as bed, had only one boyfriend. When she knew Angela would be out for a late night, they could go to bed in the room she shared with Angela; their turn to make love. They had met at a party, the customary first stage in the white middle-class ritual of mating choicesâthe birthday of one of the other girls who worked in the bank. He was a technician with a company selling and servicing television sets; a young man from the lower end of that class, his father a retired post-master. Afrikaans was the home language but the mother was of English-speaking origin, so he was fluent in both, and attractively intelligent. A bee scenting something in her pollen: he lent books to his girl; they were there beside her bed when he wasn't and Angela was sleeping off wine and a wild night. They were novels and travel books. He was saving for a trip overseas, he knew what he wanted to see in his life, London, Paris, Rome. And Venice, she would add; one of the books described the Piazza San Marco, and the gondolas. Who, of either
of them, could have said what decided they would marryâthe love-making in her bed, the freedom beyond that she had gained for herself, the freedom he was aware of, the world outside the country, the city of a bank and a television sales shop? These were the components of falling in love; marriage was the accepted social means of protecting this and giving it permanence with an official license and vows in a church.
of them, could have said what decided they would marryâthe love-making in her bed, the freedom beyond that she had gained for herself, the freedom he was aware of, the world outside the country, the city of a bank and a television sales shop? These were the components of falling in love; marriage was the accepted social means of protecting this and giving it permanence with an official license and vows in a church.
There the usual, simple progression of the mating ritual was neither usual nor simple. Denise had told Mikeânot who she was because she didn't, couldn't knowâwho her Mama and Daddy were, and taken him back over the line she had crossed under their loving guidance, to meet them. He spoke Afrikaans with Abraham and Elsie, a common language brings ease, it didn't matter that the young white man was in a Coloured township, a Coloured home for the first time (a kind of foreign travel). Being in love is a state of the continuous present, the now; he was living only in the context of his girl's eyes and breasts and sweet thrilling entry to her body. This unfamiliar, forbidden separate place of colour she had been nurtured in was of no account to him; all that he had been nurtured to believe about the taint of contact with those of a different tint was irrelevant: being in love converted him from milk-imbibed racism, weaned him at a single encounter. And, of course, the fact was that his girl was not
theirs
, Abraham's and Elsie's, she was whiteâhe knew better than anyone how white in all the physical characteristics cited by those claiming these as superior to the characteristics of all others in the official racial categories laid down by law and followed by the church. To record that Abraham and Elsie were overjoyed at a coming marriage of the girl who had been their Denise to a good young white man with a
steady job (his own family speaking Afrikaansâa kind of link even though there probably wouldn't be the usual parents-in-law one) would be to understate the solemnity of that joy. First they had let her go; now the foundling had been found by one of her own kind. Everything: it was about to be achieved with this marriage.
theirs
, Abraham's and Elsie's, she was whiteâhe knew better than anyone how white in all the physical characteristics cited by those claiming these as superior to the characteristics of all others in the official racial categories laid down by law and followed by the church. To record that Abraham and Elsie were overjoyed at a coming marriage of the girl who had been their Denise to a good young white man with a
steady job (his own family speaking Afrikaansâa kind of link even though there probably wouldn't be the usual parents-in-law one) would be to understate the solemnity of that joy. First they had let her go; now the foundling had been found by one of her own kind. Everything: it was about to be achieved with this marriage.
He had to explain to his girl that her introduction to his parents might not be without certain problems. She looked at him as if he'd had a sudden lapse of memory. She'd been taken to their home several times, first fruit juice and beer on the verandah, where the mother talked to her about what it was like to work in a bank and the father talked to his son about soccer, then to lunch on a public holiday, and once to share the evening meal.âBut that was before they knewâabout you, I mean. I'd never thought it necessary to tell them about my girlfriends' families and so on. What interest to them. Nothing to do with their lives. Now when I say we're getting married, I'm marrying this girl, I'll have to tell them about you.â
âOf course.âBut she had not thought of this before: love is in the present, it's her hand slipping beneath his shirt to his chest, it's reading together descriptions of the places in the world maybe they'll save up to see. She did not say: they know I'm white. As if he heard the thought:âI know ⦠But that you grew up there, school and home, people who are likeâyour parents, to you.âHe came over in her silence and kissed her; he had no part in the problem his parents might represent.
He came back with the news, angry, the skin over his cheekbones taut and flushed.âThey're terrible. I don't even want to tell you about it. I'm degrading never mind myself,
them
, my sister, her kids. The country. Beautiful South Africa 1975. It doesn't
matter to them that you're white. You were brought up among Coloureds, the familyâwhich I've explained over and over again you haven't really got although you love themâis Coloured. You'd think colour is something you can catch just by being among people. Infection, it's a disease.âHis car was piled with a thrown-in muddle of clothes, shoes, books, soccer helmet, music cassettes. He left home and moved in with a friend. In servants' quarters converted to a cottage rented in someone's garden he had a room to himself where she could comfort him with love-making; she knew something of what it was like to leave behind you those who had been your parents.
them
, my sister, her kids. The country. Beautiful South Africa 1975. It doesn't
matter to them that you're white. You were brought up among Coloureds, the familyâwhich I've explained over and over again you haven't really got although you love themâis Coloured. You'd think colour is something you can catch just by being among people. Infection, it's a disease.âHis car was piled with a thrown-in muddle of clothes, shoes, books, soccer helmet, music cassettes. He left home and moved in with a friend. In servants' quarters converted to a cottage rented in someone's garden he had a room to himself where she could comfort him with love-making; she knew something of what it was like to leave behind you those who had been your parents.
They had each other, in love. They would get married. Sooner, now, an act of confirmation, even of defiance, as well as love. But if he was angry before, he was stricken, transformed by disbelief when he came back from the marriage licence office to tell her that the licence was not, could not be issued. There would have to be a birth certificate to prove she was white; he could give his date and place of birth, the names of his parents. She had no birth certificate and no place except a church toilet, and her adoptive parents had registered her in their name and residence as Coloureds in a duly designated township. Denise Appolis was a Coloured female. The Mixed Marriages Act forbade marriage between them. Even their love-making was clandestine contravention of the law.
The television technician had never needed a lawyer, he was an ordinary law-abiding young man who wanted to marry in the usual progression of life, and, white and sure of his own, he had never taken any part in organisations concerned with human rights but remembered reading in newspapers of a legal aid resource that offered help in such matters. There he was received
by a rumpled, well-rounded woman lawyer who ran her hands up through her hair as if they were going over a story she'd heard in various versions many times.âI know, I know it's an awful prospect, but your âintended' will have to go before the Population Registrar. We'll make an application for her to be reclassified. White. Don't think I'm doubting you in any way, but I must meet her, first.â
by a rumpled, well-rounded woman lawyer who ran her hands up through her hair as if they were going over a story she'd heard in various versions many times.âI know, I know it's an awful prospect, but your âintended' will have to go before the Population Registrar. We'll make an application for her to be reclassified. White. Don't think I'm doubting you in any way, but I must meet her, first.â
âYou'll see for yourself. Whoever they are can't have any doubts.â
âThe parentage questionsâhabitation, childhoodâcomplicates things, even if the physical appearance seems to fit by their invented genetic standards â¦â
Â
When there is trouble you take your shock home to those to whom you went with the hurt of grazed knees.
She took him with her to Mama and Daddy, Abraham and Elsie, there she was able to give way to tears and they wept with her, hugged the young white man who hadn't given her up but become confined, as they had been all their lives, in one of those cages of the law that made people species of exotic animals: he must understandâyesâhe's in the whites' cage. And she, their girl? If the lawyer knows the procedure, everyone in the township knows how you must present yourself before it. Everywhere, close, there are families to whom natureâGod's willâhas produced one of a brood who could play for white, Abraham and Elsie could call in all manner of advice from friends, relatives, expert in
their
ways; lore unknown to any lawyer. Without papers, registered Coloured, the girl must present herself, to that bastard looking her over, as if the girl really
is
a play-white who
must disguise herself. He'll only be convinced, by his model of a real white girl, if she gets herself up in the right way that they know, from experience, will succeed. She looks tooâwhat's itâlady-like. He'll find it fishy. He's not used to that. He's used to letting passâall right, got to make a few who do, just to show the law is goodâthe special kind of looks, it's like they're on a rubber stamp ready to his hand, he recognises as properly faked. How she must dress and make upâthat's important.
Really
white, you must look; she and her boyfriend go swimming a lot, she's rosily-dark sunburned.
their
ways; lore unknown to any lawyer. Without papers, registered Coloured, the girl must present herself, to that bastard looking her over, as if the girl really
is
a play-white who
must disguise herself. He'll only be convinced, by his model of a real white girl, if she gets herself up in the right way that they know, from experience, will succeed. She looks tooâwhat's itâlady-like. He'll find it fishy. He's not used to that. He's used to letting passâall right, got to make a few who do, just to show the law is goodâthe special kind of looks, it's like they're on a rubber stamp ready to his hand, he recognises as properly faked. How she must dress and make upâthat's important.
Really
white, you must look; she and her boyfriend go swimming a lot, she's rosily-dark sunburned.
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