Black & White

Prolouge

Present Day

"Argh!"

I walked slowly towards the half open door, tip toeing as best as I could. I peeked through the door and couldn't help but smile at the sight in front of me.

There she was. Comb in one hand and the other aggressively forcing her kinky, thick and tangled hair into a ponytail.

"Do you need some help?" I spoke, startling her.

"Grandma! You scared me!" She turned away from the mirror and looked at me. She was a splitting image of her mother but had her father's blue eyes. The one thing she did get from me though, was my hair. The same hair that was currently frustrating her.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see that my favourite granddaughter is struggling to tie her own hair." I smiled softly at her, opening the door even wider to let myself in.

"I am your only granddaughter." She giggled.

I walked over to where she was, stood behind her, grabbed her shoulders and gently turned her towards the mirror.

"What's the matter my angel?"

Her smile slowly turned into a frown and she stopped staring at her reflection to look at her feet instead.

"It just won't stay down. I've even ran out of hair gel."

"What if your hair is not meant to stay down?"

She scratched her head and gave me a dazed look of bewilderment. "What do you mean Khuluza?"

I smiled at her reflection and began to comb her hair with my fingers to get rid of major tangles. I took the wide tooth comb from her hands and combed her hair from root to tip. Once I was done, I ran my fingers through it gently to create a basic shape. I patted down her hair to create a perfectly shaped afro.

"And we're done." I announced once I was finished.

She looked up at the mirror but her frown only deepened. "Why am I different from the other kids at school?"

"What are you talking about angel?"

"I am the only one that looks different at school. All the coloured girls at school have a lighter complexion, curly or straight hair. All the black girls have brown or black eyes and a normal afro. And here I am, with a dark complexion, blue eyes and a strange afro."

She let out an exasperated sigh and sat down on the bed with her face down. I took a seat next to her and lifted her chin with my fingers. Once her blue eyes were on mine, I couldn't help but smile at how they reminded me of someone special.

"What if I told you there's a story behind your strange afro and blue eyes."

~*~

The word "Khuluza" means Granny. This is the term my siblings used to refer to my grandmother.