Zakes Mda - The Whale Caller

Perhaps the latter is not a withdrawal symptom for it continues to this day. Perhaps it is part of her enchantment with ritual. When they went to the beach in the morning — not to waltz, since in June the whales took their song to the southern seas a thousand miles away, but just to walk in the freezing morning breeze — she went back to the house five times to make sure that the door was locked. On the way she elegantly puffed on a cigarette with her long black slender holder. She dropped the butt on the grass and stepped on it. But after walking for fifty metres or so she went back to make sure that the butt was completely extinguished lest it set the grass on fire. She did this three times, until the Whale Caller voiced his irritation.

Now she lies on her back on the bed looking at the ceiling while waiting for the Whale Caller, who is in the kitchen pottering around as he is wont to do every night before he comes to bed. As if he is gathering courage to face another night of untrammelled passion. She does what she does every night before she sleeps: counts the wooden panels on the ceiling of the Wendy house. He walks in and catches her at it. He laughs. She is quite piqued because he continues to laugh even as they snuggle up in the small bed. She starts from the beginning to count the panels, very deliberately this time and very much aloud so that she can be heard above his foolish laughter. Then she turns her back on him and sulks until she falls asleep. For the first time since the cleansing rituals began a month ago it is his turn to be left high and dry in the limbo of unfulfilled desire. He vows to himself never to make fun of other people’s silly compulsive habits again.

In the morning Saluni is still sulking. She announces grandly that she is going to spend the day with the Bored Twins at the mansion. She is fussing over her looks as if she is going to see a lover. She wears the green corduroy pants and black knee-high pencil-heel boots that he bought her at the flea market as a peace offering after he threw her coat away As she brushes her hair she mutters that it is cold outside and some evil person threw her coat into the ocean. She is wearing a flimsy pink sweater and she wonders aloud whether the evil person will now generate some heat around her as she walks all the way to the mansion. And if the evil person thinks that the corduroy pants and the boots make up for the lost coat, then the evil person is quite mistaken. The Whale Caller pretends not to hear any of this. He is surprised at this sudden decision to go to the mansion because since the cleansing rituals took off in earnest she has not even mentioned the Bored Twins. He knows that for some reason he is being punished, and he feels threatened by the Bored Twins. He has always felt uneasy about her relationship with the angelic girls. He is well aware of her previous addiction to their aura. He fears that going back to them will spark her relapse into the addiction. He nevertheless packs her a lunch of their staple in a “scoff tin,” which is not really a tin but a plastic container. A bright smile replaces the sulks. She gives him a goodbye peck and minces away to the countryside.

Her sweet and mouldy smell lingers in the house, leaving the poor man with further unfulfilled desires.

When Saluni is away he discovers that he no longer knows how to be on his own. He tries very hard to remember what he used to do with himself before Saluni invaded his world. He only knows that during the season of the whales he spent all his time with the whales. But when the whales had migrated to the southern seas what did he do? And why is it impossible to do whatever he used to do now that Saluni’s presence has become his habit? He wanders on the beach like the strandlopers of old. Or perhaps more like a lost oversized urchin. Whereas the strandlopers were beachcombing, his wanderings are quite aimless.

Saluni feels lost too. But she is determined to break the dependence on him that is taking hold of her like a narcotic. She wants to recapture part of her old life — at least that part that will not threaten her relationship with the Whale Caller. The Bored Twins are that part; though she knows that he is not exactly enamoured of them. But surely he will consider them a lesser evil than the taverns of Hermanus. She is so steeped in these thoughts that she does not realise that she has almost passed the mansion.

She is surprised to find the Bored Twins, who are normally high-spirited children, confined to their room.

“You don’t care for us anymore, auntie,” they greet her feebly. “You don’t love us anymore.”

“What gives you that idea?” asks Saluni.

“You don’t come to play with us now,” says one of the girls.

“It is because of what we did to you,” says the other twin. “But we said we were sorry, auntie.”

“It is not because of that. I’ve long forgotten about that. I was just busy lately. Things are not the same in my life… but, oh, you wouldn’t understand! Tell you what, I promise I’ll come and see you much more often.”

“I know,” says the first twin. “It is because Papa no longer gives you bottles of wine. But it is not his fault… really…”

“Nonsense! I don’t drink wine anymore. Even when I did, I didn’t come to see you for the bottles of wine.”

The room has an unangelic stench of fever. One of the girls is sleeping on the mattress and is sweating so much that the sheet is wet. Their parents have left them alone, despite the fact that the girl is hot and cold and sometimes delirious. The girls tell Saluni that their parents had to go to work in the vineyards even though both the mother and the father also have the flu. It is the fate of all “piece-job” workers, Saluni knows: no work, no pay; no pension; no sick leave; no maternity leave, let alone the luxury of paternity leave; no compassionate leave even if your loved one is dying. The parents had to choose between staying at home to nurse the girl back to health, and then all die of starvation; or going to work and praying the girl will not be dying at home while they harvest the grapes. The consolation, of course, is that it will be one quick death, and not the slow death of the whole family.

Saluni knows immediately what to do. She has seen in the wild garden a minty shrub whose power she learnt from the people of the inland provinces. In the villages and farmlands beyond the mountains every homestead grows this medicinal herb. From the early days of humanity in these parts grandmothers have used this herb to relieve the symptoms of flu and to bring down the temperature. Saluni gets the shrub from the garden and boils it in water on a primus stove — not in the kitchen, but in the girls’ bedroom.

She takes the boiling water from the primus stove and puts it on the floor. The shrub is still in the water. It has turned brown from the cooking. So has the water. She instructs the girl to kneel over it and covers both the girl and the steaming pot with a heavy blanket. The girl screams and tries to struggle out of the blanket.

“Take it easy,” says Saluni. “Otherwise you’ll scald yourself.”

The girl’s muffled voice can be heard whining under the blanket: “It’s too hot in here… the steam is burning me.”

“You are going to kill her, auntie… you are going to kill her,” screams the twin who is fortunate enough not to have caught the fever from her sister. She is trying to pull Saluni away from the blanket, which she is pressing hard to the floor with both hands and both knees so that neither the steam nor the girl will escape.

“Nonsense,” says Saluni. “This will help her instead. She needs to inhale the mentholated vapours and sweat the fever out. You’ll see, in no time she will be fine again.”

After all the steaming the girl falls into a deep sleep. When the parents return in the evening they are amazed at the improvement in her condition. She is almost her sprightly self again. Saluni teaches them how to prepare the remedy for their own flu, and after inhaling the vapours they feel much better as well. It is too late for her to walk back to the Wendy house, so she decides to sleep with the Bored Twins. This will also help her monitor the sick girl and to steam her some more if the flu becomes stubborn.