The sun has set and Nthabi's house is bursting with life. The children, loud and joyful, play games in Nthabi's room while she watches her evening soap operas in the living room. Her youngest grandchild Rudi, howls along with the dog howling in the neighborhood. Nthabi sees a light in the window and thinks it might be her daughter coming to spend the night with her children.
"Keke, Kiki, go and check outside if that's your mother car." She instructs her eldest grandson and granddaughter. The kids agree without arguments and run to the door. Keke peaks out the door and doesn't see a car, Kiki sees a shadow at the fence between theirs and Mr Mahlangu's house. The shadow freezes as if evading detection. Kiki keeps her eyes on the shadow and calls out to Keke to hand there the keys to the security door. The shadow moves toward Mr Mahlangu's steps outside the door and as Kiki unlocks the security door and steps outside, the shadow open the door to Mr Mahlangu's house. The light from with it shows Mr Mahlangu standing in the door. He stands in the doorway as Kiki and Keke head outside to see if a car was coming up the road. As Kiki and Keke head back into the house, having confirmed that their mother was not coming today, Mr Mahlangu still stands in his doorway silhouetted by the light within the house.
Kiki shuts the door and immediately tell her grandmother what she'd seen.
"I could sense it my child," she replies " we'll use the herbs today to keep the bad spirits away." She concludes.
Outside, Mr Mahlangu prepares himself mentally for yet another night of planting animal parts in Nthabi's yard.
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The Witches Of Qwaqwa
General Fiction"Qwa Qwa" said the khoi-San people when they first saw the majestic snow capped mountains of the Maluti and Drakensberg range. The valley of Qwaqwa had been used for faming and herding of the BaSotho Chief Mopeli's cattle. The bushmen saw what they...
