Chapter 2 - The House Next Door

CHAPTER 2: THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR

I learned the stranger's name only after he had walked me out into the rain.

Khaya, he said, holding the door for me. And you are?

Thando.

Thando, he repeated, as if he had been waiting years to hear it from me.

The rain had thinned to a warm mist. We walked slowly through the small municipal park that joined the older streets behind our parents' houses. Wet earth and crushed grass lifted around us. He did not touch me at first. That restraint was worse than touching. Every time his shoulder brushed mine, my body took it personally.

We spoke in fragments as we walked. He asked whether I was staying in Middelburg until Christmas. I said yes, though I had been counting the days until I could return to Sandton before I met him. I asked if he was home for long. He said he had taken a week but sounded as if he did not trust himself to promise more than that. The way he answered made me wonder whether he had someone waiting in the city. I did not ask. I had already given one man the right to make me feel foolish this week; I was not volunteering for another turn.

At the edge of the park, the lights from the old houses made the wet pavement shine. I could see the wall of my parents' home through the trees. I could still have thanked him for walking me, lifted my hand in a careful goodbye and gone back to the safety of my childhood bedroom. He gave me every chance to do exactly that.

You sure you are okay? he asked when we reached the dark line of trees. You have had drinks.

Two. I am clear.