Chapter 8 - Chapter 7

"This is the fourth year of Movies in the Park." I grip the mic and smile out at the crowd spread across the big lawn at Zoo Lake, the grass gone lilac at the edges where the jacarandas have started coming down. "And on behalf of the Parkhurst Village Association, thank you all for coming. The bar at the back stays open till the credits roll. Now, before the light goes and we start with our feature, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Sinazo Ngwane, who owns Uju just off the Village Square, is coming up to run the quiz with you."

I hand off the mic and step down from the small dais, ready to head for the spot where Hlengiwe and Charmaine are already camped out. I haven't seen them since brunch last week, and my lips quirk with the beginning of a grin at the thought of an evening with my girls.

"So good to see you, Naledi," Ma Patience Radebe says, stopping me with a hand on my shoulder when I've almost reached my friends.

"Oh, thank you, Ma Patience."

More than once, a well-meaning neighbour stopped by, ringing the bell at the gate, waiting on the stoep with a pot of stew or a dish under foil. Some days I just ignored them until they went away. Ma Patience, one of the more persistent ones, hadn't brought food. Being the owner of our bookshop on 4th Avenue, Dog-Eared, she always came bearing books. "I've stocked the new Sarah MacLean," she says, her smile and the wicked glint in her dark eyes telling me it's a hot one. "And the new Beverly Jenkins. And an Angela Makholwa I'm holding behind the counter for you."