Sanity

Bride

"Son a woman using love potion on you is a compliment." Andrew grinned as they watched the truck filled with cows pull out of the yard." It means she sees you as a suitable husband, an upstanding father to her children but she also sees that you're playing games so she nugdes you to your destiny with a potion. After a while the potion wears off and you find yourself with a loving woman in a stable relationship. What more could you ask for?"

"So you are ok with being bewitched by Naledi then?" 

"Smanga I am a true Zulu man. No woman could ever bewitch me, especially not with a love potion. They'd have to go to great lengths to put me under any spell. Besides, Naledi is a city woman. What does she know about spells and potions? The only thing bewitching about her is her beauty and her mind."

It hadn't even been three months since they'd met Naledi and now she was going to be living with them full time. She wasn't a bad person and she made his father happy but this was going to be his second step mother. Mam' Livonia had been easy to deal with because she practically raised him and the only person that reminded him that they weren't actually related was his mother. Naledi on the other hand expected to be treated like a queen and Smanga just couldn't get passed the fact that she'd bewitched his father. 

Once Naledi's family had recieved the dowry everything moved at Godspeed. Soon Naledi was married to Andrew and they spent most of the day holed up in their bedroom being served from breakfast to dinner. By the time March rolled around anyone who knew Naledi knew she was with child even though it didn't show through her figure hugging dresses. 

By the strict Zulu standards that Andrew lived up to Naledi should have been taking care of the household, she should have been cooking her husband meals and staying home to protect her pregnancy. Smanga realised though, that a marriage built on witchcraft didn't require one to work on it but rather to work on the potion.

In the 5 months they'd been married their father had changed. He'd quit the job he'd been so passionate about and gotten a job closer to home. He no longer visited any of his siblings and considered their complaints an attack on his new found happiness. The most disturbing of all changes for Smanga was the easy way he'd gone from calling them 'my dear children' to 'you nuicance kids'. For Smanga that was the last straw so he packed his backpack and headed for Johannesburg. To say Andrew didn't notice was an understatement. All he expected from his children was that they treat his bride like the queen she was anything outside of that wasn't worth his attention.

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The baby's shrill cries clawed on Busisiwe's brain as she tried to figure out the correct measurements for its formular. She'd never taken care of an infant before but her father believed in her and it was always better to stay on the Naledi's good side. Once she figured out the measurements she cooled the bottle in the ice water she'd prepared. She folded the couch shawl into a cone then laid her stepsister next to it, propping the bottle into her tiny purple lips. She sucked fervently on the teat giving Busisiwe a chance to breathe and hear her own thoughts.

She was going to miss school that week but at least Naledi taught at her school so she was certain she'd bring back some homework for her. It would be exams in three weeks so Naledi must have understood how inconvenient it was for her to be home nursing her newborn. As the baby crooned in satisfaction she stood to see her resisting the sleep she'd exhausted herself into. This was her chance to collect the wood outside and make a fire in the stove. 

She crept into her father's bedroom reaching for her mother's dried herbs and spices. Soon the whole house was consumed by the aroma of roast chicken, all she needed to do was clean the house. Looking at the time she zipped through the house with the short grass broom and opened every window to let in the fresh air. At the squeel of the gate the baby started crying again so she hid thrash she'd collect with the broom behind the trash can and rushed to carry the baby just as Naledi walked in. 

"I am so tired. Make me a cup of tea." She flung herself on the couch across from Busisiwe.

Busisiwe tried to hand her the baby but she scowled and pointed her to the couch. As she boiled the water the baby started to cry so she decided to check on it but Naledi shouted for Busisiwe to make her an egg with her tea. Eggs had never taken that long to whiten and firm up as anxiety ate at her. Her step sister's cries were at the point of vibration now and Naledi just seemed unbothered.

With everything on a tray Busisiwe rushed to Naledi with her meal. She placed the tray quietly infront of her and rushed to the baby's side. 

" You don't kneel to serve me food anymore?" Naledi sat up.

"I'm sorry I was just rushing to get to the baby." Busisiwe was visibly puzzled.

"Take this food back and kneel when you serve me!" 

Busisiwe looked up to see Naledi's face twisted in anger. She decided that it would be quicker to just comply so she gently placed the baby on the couch and propped the bottle into its mouth. Eyes downcast she took the tray to the kitchen and returned kneeling to place it on the coffee table. Naledi grabbed her cup of hot water and poured it on Busisiwe's bare chest. The boiling water bit her skin like needles. Her scream startled the baby into high pitched cries at which Naledi grabbed her by the jaw and with venom in her eyes said " I will build you a house of stones."