Rage (62 page)

Authors: Wilbur Smith

BOOK: Rage

11.65Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

When the Cadillac pulled up the long drive to Manfred's official residence in the elite suburb of Waterkloof there was a large gathering of family and friends at the swimming-pool at the far end of the wide green lawns, and the younger ones came running to meet them and to embrace Lothar as soon as he stepped out of the Cadillac.

âWe listened on the radio,' they cried, as they clamoured for a turn to hug and kiss him. âOh, Lothie, you were wonderful.' Each of his sisters took one of his arms, while their friends and the Stander girls crowded as close as they could to him as they escorted him down to the pool where the older women waited to congratulate him.

Lothar went to his mother first, and while they embraced Manfred watched them with an indulgent smile of pride. What a fine-looking family he had. Heidi was still a magnificent woman and no man could ask for a more dutiful wife. Not once in all the years had he ever regretted his choice.

âMy friends, my family, all my loved ones,' Manfred raised his voice, and they turned to him and fell into silent expectation. Manfred was a compelling speaker, and as a nation they were susceptible to oratory and fine words, for
they were constantly exposed to them, from pulpit and political platform, from the cradle to the grave.

âWhen I look at this young man who is my son, at this fine young South African, and those of our young people like him, then I know that I need not worry for the future of our
Volk,
' Manfred proclaimed in the sonorous tones to which his listeners responded instinctively, and they applauded and cried
âHoor, hoor!'
each time he paused.

Amongst the listeners there was one at least who was not entirely captivated by his artistry. Although Sarah Stander smiled and nodded, she could feel her stomach chum and her throat burn with the acid of her rejected love.

Sitting in this lovely garden, watching the man she had loved beyond life itself, the man to whom she would have dedicated every moment of her existence, the man to whom she had given her girlish body and the tender blossom of her virginity, the man whose seed she had taken joyously into her womb, she felt that ancient, now rancid passion change its shape and texture to become hard and bitter hatred. She listened to Manfred extolling his wife, and she knew that she should have been that woman, those praises should have been for her alone. She should have been at his side to share his triumphs and his achievements.

She watched Manfred embrace Lothar and with his arm around his shoulders commend his firstborn to them all, smiling with pride as he recited his virtues, and Sarah Stander hated them both, father and son, for Lothar De La Rey was not his firstborn.

She turned her head and saw Jakobus standing on the periphery, shy and self-effacing, but every bit as handsome as the big golden-headed athlete. Jakobus, her own son, had the dark brows and pale topaz-coloured eyes of the De La Reys. If Manfred were not blind, he would see that. Jakobus was as tall as Lothar, but was not possessed of his half-brother's raw-boned frame and layers of rippling
muscle. He had an appealing fragility of body, and his features were not so dashingly masculine. Instead, he had the face of a poet, sensitive and gentle.

Sarah's own expression went dreamy and soft as she remembered his conception. She had been little more than a child, but her love had been that of a mature woman, as she crept through the silent old house to the room in which Manfred slept. She had loved him all her life, but in the morning he was leaving, sailing away to a far-off land, to Germany as a member of the Olympic team, and she had been troubled for weeks with a deep premonition of losing him for ever. She had wanted in some way to ensure against that insupportable loss, to try to make certain of his return, so she had given him everything that she had, her heart and her soul and her barely matured body, trusting him to return them to her.

Instead he had met the German woman and had married her. Sarah could still vividly recall the cablegram from Germany that had announced his dreadful betrayal, and her own devastation when she read the fateful words. Part of her had shrivelled and died on that day, part of her soul had been missing ever since.

Manfred De La Rey was still speaking, and he had them laughing now with some silly joke, but he looked towards her and saw that she was serious. Perhaps he read something of her thoughts in her eyes for his own gaze flicked across to where Jakobus stood and then back to her and for an instant she sensed an unusual emotion â regret or guilt â within him.

She wondered not for the first time if he knew about Jakobus. Surely he must at least have suspected it. Her marriage to. Roelf had been so hasty, so unheralded, and the birth of Kobus had followed so swiftly. Then the physical resemblance of son to father was so strong, surely Manfred knew it.

Roelf knew, of course. He had loved her without hope
until Manfred rejected her, and he had used her pregnancy to gain her consent. Since then he had been a good and dutiful husband and his love and concern for her had never faltered but he was not Manfred De La Rey. He was not, nor could he ever be, a man as Manfred De La Rey was a man. He had never had Manfred's force and power, his drive and personality and ruthlessness, and she could never love him as she loved Manfred.

âYes,' she admitted to herself, âI have always loved Manfred, and I will love him to the end of my life, but my hatred of him is as strong as my love and with time it will grow stronger still. It is all that I have to sustain me.'

Manfred was ending his speech now, talking about Lothar's promotion. Of course, Sarah thought bitterly, his promotion would not have been so rapid if his father had not been the Minister of Police and he had not had such skill with a rugby ball. Her own Kobus could expect no such preferment. Everything he achieved would be with his own talent and by his own efforts. She and Roelf could do little for him. Roelf's influence was minimal, and even the university fees for Jakobus' education were a serious drain on their family finances. She had been forced to face the fact that Roelf would never go much further than he was now. His entry into legal practice had been a mistake and a failure. By the time he had accepted that fact and returned to the academic life as a lecturer in law, he had lost so much seniority that it would be many years, if ever, before he was given the chair of law. No, there was not much they could do to help Kobus â but then, of course, none of the family, not even Kobus himself, knew what he wanted from life. He was a brilliant student, but he totally lacked direction or purpose, and he had always been a secretive lad. It was so difficult to draw him out. Once or twice Sarah had succeeded in doing so, but she had been frightened by the strange and radical views he expressed. Perhaps it was best not to explore her son's mind too deeply, she thought,
and smiled across at him just as, at last, Manfred stopped singing his own son's praises.

Jakobus came to her side now. âCan I get you another orange juice, Mama? Your glass is empty.'

âNo, thank you, Kobus. Stay with me for a while. I see so little of you these days.'

The men had charged their beer tankards and led by Manfred trooped towards the barbecue fires on the far side of the pool. Amid laughter and raillery Manfred and Lothar were tying candy-striped aprons around their waists and arming themselves with long-handled forks.

On a side table there was a huge array of platters piled with raw meat, lamb chops and sosaties on long skewers, German sausages and great thick steaks, enough to feed an army of starving giants and, Sarah calculated sourly, costing almost her husband's monthly salary.

Since Manfred and his one-armed demented father had mysteriously acquired shares in that fishing company in South West Africa he had become not only famous and powerful, but enormously rich as well. Heidi had a mink coat now and Manfred had purchased a large farm in the rich maize-producing belt of the Orange Free State. It was every Afrikaner's dream to own a farm, and Sarah felt her envy flare as she thought about it. All that should have been hers. She had been deprived of what was rightly hers by that German whore. The word shocked her, but she repeated it silently â whore!

He was mine, whore, and you stole him from me.

Jakobus was talking to her, but she found it difficult to follow what he was saying. Her attention kept stealing back to Manfred De La Rey. Every time his great laugh boomed out she felt her heart contract and she watched him from the corners of her eyes.

Manifred was holding court; even dressed in that silly apron and with a cooking fork in his hand, he was still the focus of all attention and respect. Every few minutes more
guests arrived to join the gathering, most of them important and powerful men, but all of them gathered slavishly around Manfred and deferred to him.

âWe should understand why he did it,' Jakobus was saying, and Sarah forced herself to concentrate on her son.

âWho did it, dear?' she asked vaguely.

âMama, you haven't been listening to a word,' Jakobus smiled gently. âYou really are a little scatterbrain sometimes.' Sarah always felt vaguely uncomfortable when he spoke to her in such a familiar fashion, none of her friends' children would show such disrespect.

âI was talking about Moses Gama,' Jakobus went on, and at the mention of that name everybody within earshot turned towards the two of them.

âThey are going to hang that black thunder, at last,' somebody said, and everybody agreed immediately.

âJa,
about time.'

âWe have to teach them a lesson â you show mercy to a kaffir and he takes it as weakness.'

âOnly one thing they understandâ'

âI think it will be a mistake to hang him,' Jakobus said clearly, and there was a stunned silence.

âKobie! Kobie!' Sarah tugged at her son's arm. âNot now, darling. People don't like that sort of talk.'

âThat is because they never hear it â and they don't understand it,' Jakobus explained reasonably, but some of them turned away deliberately while a middle-aged cousin of Manfred's said truculently, âCome on, Sarie, can't you stop your brat talking like a Commie.'

âPlease, Kobie,' she used the diminutive as a special appeal, âfor my sake.'

Manfred De La Rey had become aware of the disturbance and the flare of hostility amongst his guests, and now he looked across the fires on which the steaks were sizzling and he frowned.

âDon't you see, Mama, we have to talk about it. If we
don't, people will never hear any other point of view. None of them even read the English newspapers.'

âKobie, you will anger your Uncle Manie,' Sarah pleaded. âPlease stop it now.'

âWe Afrikaners are cut off in this little make-believe world of ours. We think that if we make enough laws the black people will cease to exist, except as our servantsâ'

Manfred had come across from the fires now, and his face was dark with anger.

âJakobus Stander,' he rumbled softly. âYour father and your mother are my oldest and dearest friends, but do not trespass on the hospitality of this house. I will not have wild and treasonable ideas bandied about in front of my family and friends. Behave yourself, or leave immediately.'

For a moment it seemed the boy might defy him. Then he dropped his gaze and mumbled. âI'm sorry,
Oom
Manie.' But when Manfred turned and strode back to the barbecue fire, he said just loud enough for Sarah to hear, âYou see, they won't listen. They don't want to hear. They are afraid of the truth. How can you make a blind man see?'

Manfred De La Rey was still inwardly seething with anger at the youth's ill-manners, but outwardly he was his usual bluff self as he resumed his self imposed duties over the cooking fires, and led the jovial banter of his male guests. Gradually his irritation subsided, and he had almost put aside Moses Gama and the long shadow that he had thrown over them all, when his youngest daughter came running down from the long low ranch-type house.

âPapa, Papa, there is a telephone call for you.'

âI can't come now,
skatjie
,' Manfred called. âWe don't want our guests to starve. Take a message.'

âIt's
Oom
Danie,' his daughter insisted, âand he says he must talk to you now. It's very important.'

Manfred sighed and grumbled good-naturedly as he
untied his apron, and handed his fork to Roelf Stander. âDon't let them burn!' and he strode up to the house.

âJa!' he barked into the telephone.

âI don't like to disturb you, Manie.'

âThen why do you do it?' Manfred demanded. Danie Leroux was a senior police general, and one of his most able officers.

âIt's this man Gama.'

âLet the black bastard hang. That is what he wants.'

âNo! He wants to do a deal.'

âSend someone else to speak to him, I do not want to waste my time.'

âHe will only talk to you, and we believe he has something important he will be able to tell you.'