"I don't understand why it's so long when everybody else's is much shorter and darker," Paballo said after a deep sigh, looking at her blonde hair in the mirror.
"Being unique is extraordinary love," Natalie smiled, looking at herself in the mirror just above Paballo's face, seeing how wrinkled her skin had become, the eye bags on her face and the black spots on her cheeks.
"That word is huge. I once read about it in that book dad gave me for my birthday," Paballo replied, seeing how worried her mother looked and noticing that she wasn't tying the hair anymore, instead, she was looking at herself in the mirror.
"Mama."
"Huh? I'm sorry love what were you saying?" Natalie smiled weakly, putting a blue ribbon on both ponytails and tapping them lightly.
Paballo looked beautiful in her blue and yellow uniform. A sky blue skirt, a yellow short-sleeved shirt, a blue with two stripes of yellow half jersey, blue socks and black shoes.
"Are you fine?" Paballo asked and Natalie just nodded.
Paballo looked at herself in the mirror one more time and smiled, satisfied at how neat the buns on her hair were, especially after how messy her hair was before her mother came and saved the day.
"Thank you ma," she pecked her on her left cheek and ran out of the room, but stood at the door and said, "I'm here for you ma, always." She then blew her a few kisses and left without waiting for Natalie to say anything else.
Paballo took Natalie to a trip down memory lane, something that she rarely did as her two daughters always kept her preoccupied about something. She sat on the edge of her bed and looked in the mirror, and saw Paballo's portrait looking deep into her eyes, a huge smile plastered on her face.
It amazed her now that she noticed how chubby Paballo was, something that wasn't just there in her family and also in Terrence's clan, and how much she looked like that mysterious man she met in Duke's tavern that night when her mother chased her away from home. She remembered how that guy drove her to his apartment that very same night in her dream car, and when he parked his car outside his home, she felt so comfortable, like she was back home, in her bed, something she so badly dreaded to do yet somehow her actions spoke a totally different story altogether.
"Should l pour you a glass of water?" he had asked her when they entered and he saw how tired she looked, standing in front of his fridge and glancing at Natalie, who rested her body on the couch.
The house was an open floorplan. You could see all the way through from the main door to the dining room, to the living room, to the kitchen and vice versa. The furniture in the house though, priceless.
The kitchen was the heart of the home, with L shaped white counters with grey lines on them that looked like cells and in their center was a yellow island with a marble counter top that overlapped on either side of the cabinet, forming a waterfall like design on each end of the cupboard.
From the kitchen was a living room, with a huge glass table in the middle of the room and white chairs surrounding the table. A yellow rectangular tablecloth about four meters long and just one meter wide, was placed in the middle of the glass table with a beautiful decoration of an African lady holding a vase on it. It was neatly set with plates, bowls, knives, forks, spoons, serviettes and wine glasses.
From the living room was a dining room with a U shaped couch, a small round table in the middle and a white fluffy carpet underneath it, a fireplace and a TV screen on top of it.
Everything was so white with a touch of yellow, from the white counter tops to the paint and all the way to the carpet.
"No, I'm fine," she had said before smiling at him and he sighed.
"Then I'm pouring you a glass of juice," he insisted.
She stood up from the couch and threw her bag on the floor, swaying her ass left and right before parading to him, her beasts hard and pointy.
"I don't want any of that, except_" here she licked her pink lips and pulled her skirt up, coming closer to him. "Riding you would be far much _" she moved her underwear to the side and brushed her private part. The stranger's eyes widened upon seeing what Natalie had on offer for him, and he stood fixed to his position, unsure of what to do as this was the very first time he had encountered such feelings. He could feel his manhood straightening and rising, pushing through his zip and Natalie came to hold it firmly, unzipping his trousers.
It was only the next morning that Natalie woke up in a huge bed, and next to him was that handsome stranger sleeping very peacefully, snoring lightly.
She quickly got out of bed and put on her clothes, picking up the stranger's jeans from the floor and searching its pockets. She found five two hundred rand notes in it, and smiled to herself widely when she knew she had hit the jackpot with this man. She took the notes and exited, tiptoeing slowly to the door, and once outside, ran to the gate.
"Sister, where are you from?" the security guard asked when she saw how messy her hair appeared to be, although even this early in the morning, she looked very beautiful. He sipped onto his coffee and placed his other hand in his front pocket.
"Room number seven," she lied. "That man's wife caught him and l in bed. You see..." she flashed her thighs at him and his eyes widened, losing his concentration span at that very same moment.
She cleared her throat, bringing him back to reality and it wasn't long till he opened the gate for her to exit. She winked at him and caught a taxi back home, spending all of the remaining money in Duke's tavern with Lorraine, her best friend.
"Mum," her four year old daughter brought her back to reality. "I'm hungry."
"Morning Elsie," Natalie said as Elsie pouted her lips and scratched her eyes.
"Morning mama," she managed to say, even though she didn't even want to.
They held hands and walked to the dining room, where they found Terrence tying Paballo's hair, AGAIN.
"I thought l had tied it well love," she said settling on the crate.
"Not until l tied it well enough babe," Terrence said and chuckled as Natalie rolled her eyes, dishing up for Elsie.
There was a knock at the door.
"That should be Buhle. Finish up daddy please... or else she'll leave me behind," Paballo said impatiently.
"Done," Terrence speculated and Paballo grabbed her school bag from her seat.
"Bye ma," she kissed her cheek and Natalie fixed her collar before saying, "Bye baby."
"Bye eel," she tousled Elsie's hair and she laughed. "Bye Pabi."
"I'm leaving Pabi!" Buhle shouted at the door.
"Bye dad," she kissed his cheek and rushed out of the house, looking so cute in her ponytail.
"Isn't she all grown up?" Terrence asked settling on the crate next to Natalie's.
"She is," Natalie agreed and dished up for him and herself as well. They ate breakfast over a light conversation, and Natalie bathed Elsie shortly after they finished eating.
She took a bath too, packing her lunch boxes and preparing Elsie for preschool.
"Are you guys ready?" Terrence asked pulling his car keys from his pocket.
"Yes sir!" Natalie said pulling Elsie by her hand and locking the doors as they exited, heading outside to their car.
"Sister Modiehi," Natalie waved her hand to greet her neighbor, who just stared at her for a little while and drove her car out of the garage.
"She's rude," Natalie pronounced as she buckled Elsie up in the back seat and settled on the passenger's side.
"Don't mind her babe. You know how she gets at times," Terrence advised as he fastened his seat belt, bringing the engine to life.
"Terrence, why didn't you pay for the TV license this month?" Natalie asked as the car began to move. Terrence sighed.
"Love, thing is... l used the money to buy diesel."
"But l thought we had put away enough money to last us for the whole month."
"I had three deliveries last week. That means l had six trips, two more than what we had planned initially."
"Didn't Mr Smith fill up the diesel for the week?"
"He did but..."
"And so?"
"I'm sorry love, honestly."
Terrence parked the car outside Elsie's preschool and Natalie went to help her out.
"Be a good girl okay? And stop twerking for that Bongani Elsie," Natalie reprimanded, standing in front of Elsie and helping her carry her backpack.
"I told you he's my boyfriend mama," Elsie blushed, putting her hand over her mouth as though she had just said too much. Natalie laughed when she saw her daughter's cheeks turning pink.
"Why did you..." Natalie was about to say when Elsie's teacher interrupted them, drawing in between them and looking at Elsie before holding both her shoulders with so much care in the world.
"Hello Elsie," she said to the little girl, who gazed up at her like she was some giant, the sun hitting her beautiful brown eyes.
"Hello teacher," Elsie greeted and the teacher let go of her, pointing in the direction of the creche and it wasn't long till Elsie ran off, entering the gates of preschool and disappeared into the light grey house with its colorful cartoons painted on the walls.
"Natalie," the teacher turned to face Elsie's mother as soon as the little girl left, worry and pity clouding her husky voice, making it even more deep and hoarse. "She was supposed to come with 12 tissue rolls, baby wipes and colored pencils. What happened to them?"
"Oh my!" Natalie acted so surprised, wrapping her hands on her head and dropping her lower jaw. "I completely forgot."
"What about her fees for the month?" the teacher asked with her brows furrowed, her deadly stare penetrating deep into Natalie as though she could see through her.
"I'll make a plan," Natalie brought her hands down and spoke so calmly. The teacher's facebrightened up and a thin smile appeared on her face, looking over Natalie's shoulders as though suddenly noticing Terrence's presence in the car.
"Is that Elsie's father?" she asked, mesmerized by the sight her eyes were revealing to her.
Her eyes narrowed at Terrence, who looked very uneasy on his seat.
"He looks... wo-w," the teacher added, strolling on to the car.
"See you later teacher," Natalie shook her head and went to enter on the passenger's side, and as though Terrence could see how the teacher was looking at him, he tilted Natalie's head so she could face him and kissed her lips slowly. The teacher clicked her tongue and walked away, swaying her fat ass left and right.
Natalie shut the door and laughed when Terrence pulled away from the kiss.
"You are so naughty Mr Makhubo," she chortled and looked at him deep in the eyes.
"Your lips..." he conjoined both their lips and they indulged in a French kiss. It had been long since he had such moments with his wife, and he had not realized how much he missed her, how much he missed talking to her, how much it moved things in his stomach when Natalie addressed him by his surname.
"I love you babe," Terrence admitted when Natalie pulled away, feeling out of breath.
"That was nice baby... I love you too," Natalie agreed and sat back on her chair, breathing heavily.
A few minutes later, Terrence dropped Natalie off at the taxi rank and left for work.
"How much is your change sister?" a woman sitting next to Natalie in the taxi asked as the taxi began to move.
"5 rands ma," Natalie responded. The woman handed her her change and Natalie saw the white beaded bracelet on her wrists.
"You too, were supposed to be wearing this but instead you were too stubborn and cowered behind being born again," she panted like a traditional healer and Natalie shifted uncomfortably on her chair as though she was sitting on a pair of spikes.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said reluctantly.
"You were called to be a healer, uMdau, and you've been told about it several times but you chose to turn a blind eye to it, isn't it?" the woman laughed lightly.
"Your daughter will inherit your calling since you ran away from it, because it has been passed down to her. The ancestors want to help heal the world, and since you don't want to be a healer, your daughter will become one. Short left driver!" the woman shouted and the taxi came to a halt.
"Goodbye sister," with that said the woman got off the taxi and left, disappearing into the streets, leaving Natalie as shocked as ever.
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The Ill-fated One 
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