Death Dealing (28 page)

But he was alive.

23.55.

The last remaining friends were
taking their leave on the front patio. The Ryder boys had retreated to their
rooms. Sugar-Bear lay resplendent on the thick duvet and blankets that had been
laid out especially for him on the floor of the living room. Never previously
allowed to spend the night any further indoors than the kitchen area, the dog
on this occasion was to be treated like royalty and have a different bed for
the night. He yawned, shifted position slightly, and closed his eyes as the
last of the guests moved outdoors. But one ear remained up and alert, just in
case.

The medics and photographers and
mortuary van and other officials had long since departed. Koekemoer, Dippenaar,
Pillay, Cronje, Tshabalala and Nyawula had all come around during the course of
the evening, once they had received the news, and they had remained. Despite
arriving at different times during the evening, they had all responded with
alacrity to Fiona Ryder’s extraordinary ability to rustle up extra snacks and
goodies and nibbles at short notice. So they had stayed on as the wine, beer
and whisky flowed. Sugar-Bear had received more gentle pats on the head and careful
tweaks of the ear and
baby-talk
conversations in one
day than any dog, anywhere, might be able to bear. Now, finally, they were all
preparing to depart.

‘
Yissus
, Jeremy.
Take a day off tomorrow, OK? Take the
blerrie
phone off the hook, man.
Sunday’s a day of rest. Give the bad guys in this town a break, OK?’

‘Rubbish, man, Dipps,’ Koekemoer
interjected. ‘If Jeremy takes his phone off the hook then you and I will have
to work overtime.’

‘I’m inclined to agree with Dipps,
Koeks. Jeremy delivered Thabethe for me. Not quite on a plate but at least
delivered. That’s the biggest prize I could have hoped for. So, as your boss,
I’m instructing you. Give the guy a break. And take your phone off the hook as
Dipps suggests, Jeremy.’

‘Thank you, Sibo,’ said Fiona. ‘It
will be nice to have my husband at home tomorrow. With all the unexpected
action he missed the Sharks game this afternoon, but luckily it was set on
automatic recording, so we can catch up on the game tomorrow.’

‘
Ag,
jirra
, Fiona, man.’

‘What’s wrong, Piet?’

‘
Ag
, sorry, Fiona.
But you obviously don’t know.’

‘What?’

‘What?’ added
Ryder.
‘You’re not going to tell me, Piet...’

‘I’m afraid so, Jeremy,’ replied
Cronje. ‘It’s not a game you want to watch.’

Ryder looked devastated. No prospect
yet of the Sharks recovering their form.

‘He’s telling lies, Detective Jeremy,’
said Mavis Tshabalala. ‘Sergeant Piet there is lying. You’ll like the game. I watched
it this afternoon. Our team was brilliant.’

‘
Yissus
,
are you also a Sharks fan, Mavis?’

‘Yet another thing you don’t know
about Mavis, Koeks,’ interjected Pillay. ‘Yes, she’s been a supporter of the
Sharks for a long time.’

No-one
would divulge the score.

The Ryders did their farewell hugs
and kisses and high-fives, and all the guests started moving off to their cars,
which were parked in a long line behind one another on the driveway. As they
did so, sirens could be heard.

They all paused and looked up toward
the King Cetshwayo Highway, little more than a hundred metres up the road. They
saw the flashing blue lights of two police cars hurtling down the highway
toward Durban.

Nyawula looked at his watch as he
spoke.

‘Just on midnight.
Another day in Durban.
Maybe you shouldn’t take your phone off the hook, after all, Jeremy. Lots of
devils still out there for you to deal with.’

Laughter. Final farewells. Final
wisecracks. The guests got into their cars and drove off, leaving the Ryders
alone. They watched the last car drive away up the hill, then sat down on the
edge of the patio, looking up at the full moon.

Sugar-Bear hobbled out very slowly,
in obvious pain, and stood between them.

‘Good dog,’ said Fiona, putting her
face into the dog’s furry neck.

‘Good boy,’ said Ryder, tweaking his
ears gently.

A third police car hurtled down the
highway toward Durban, its siren sounding and its blues flashing.

Sugar-Bear barked once, very softly,
almost to himself, as if encouraging the vehicle. Then he sat down. The Ryders
smiled at each other. Then each of them reached out an arm to hug the dog.

The three of them sat in the
moonlight.

The sound of the siren faded away
until it was swallowed in the dark underbelly of the city.

ag
-
ah,
oh, well

aikona
- no, no way, not there at all
(see also
haikona
)

amaBenzi
- referring to the drivers of
Mercedes Benz cars, flashy and ostentatiously wealthy people

amaIntellectuals
- the intellectuals

amaNdiya
- the Indians, used
pejoratively
 
(song by Mbongeni
Ngema, theatre practitioner)

amaphoyisa
- the police

babelas
- hangover

bakgat
-
great, excellent, fine, good

bantoe
- corruption of
bantu
, associated with racist usage

bhuti
- brother

blerrie
- bloody

bliksem
- hit, punch, strike

boere
- (referring variously to)
farmers, Afrikaners, policemen

boet
- brother, male friend, dude

bok
, bokke
- buck, bucks (
bokke
as in Springboks)

boykie
- boy: diminutive, little boy

bra
, my bra
- brother, my brother

braai
, braaivleis
- barbecue

breek
- break

broer
, bru
- brother

bulala
- kill

charra
,
charro
- slang term for person of Indian ethnicity, often racist

china
- friend, chum

chune
- to tell someone

daarsy
-
there it is, there you are, that’s it, dead right

deagle
- desert eagle

dis
reg
- that’s right

donner
- hammer, hit, beat up

doos
- box (lewd, meaning
vagina
), fool, idiot

dop
- alcoholic drink

dronkgat
- drunkard

dwaal
- in a daze, lost

eekhoring
- squirrel

eh
-heh
- yes, affirmative

eina
-
exclamation expressing pain

eish
- interjection expressing
disappointment, regret

ek
s
ê
- I say, I’m telling you

Engelsman -
Englishman

fok
-
fuck

fokall
-
fuck-all, nothing

fokken
- fucken, fucking

fokoff
- fuck off

gatvol
- fed up

geld
- money

gemors
- mess, disarray

gif
- poison, marijuana

hayi
-
no, no way (see also
tchai)

hayibo
- no, no way

haikona
- no, no way, not there at all

hau
-
expression of surprise (what? hey? oh?)

heita
-
hello, howzit, how is it?

helluva
- ‘hell of a’ (as in
helluva long time
)

hodoshe
 – (Xhosa) carrion fly that lays
its eggs in dead bodies, nickname for hated prison warder

hunnert
– hundred

impimpi
- sell-out, informer

ja
– yes

ja’k
stem saam
- yes, I agree (
ja, ek
stem saam
)

jeez
- jesus (exclamation of surprise
or frustration)

jirra
-
exclamation of surprise derived from
‘Here,’ Afrikaans for ‘God’

jislaaik
- expression of astonishment (see also
yissus
)

jong
- young man, friend

jou
-
your, you

jy
- you

kak
- crap, shit

kêrels
- guys, chaps, police

kif
- great, cool, nice

klaar
- finish

koeksister
- (lit. cake sister)
braided dough sweet delicacy

laaitie
- lighty, young one

laduma
!
-
score
!, celebrating a goal scored in football

lanie
- fancy, posh

lank
- long, a lot, very

lekker
- great, nice, tasty

likhipa
inhlanzi emanzini
- it takes the fish out
of the water (i.e. ‘it’s so hot that it takes...’)

madala
-
old man

mal
- crazy, mad

mampara
- fool, dolt, idiot

manne
- men

mBenzi
-
singular
for
amaBenzi

mense
- men, people

mina
- me

mfowethu
-
brother

moer
- murder, kill, beat up, also
the moer in (
‘fed up with’)

moerse
- large, big time, huge

moegoe
-
idiot

my
bra
- my brother

nè
?
-
not
so?

nee
- no

nek
– neck

nooit
– never

ntombazane
– girl, young woman

ntombazane
, ngifuna ukudla nawe
– girl, I want to eat (with) you

nyaope
- street drug (see also
whoonga
)

oke
, ou, ouens
- bloke, blokes

oom
- uncle

ouma
- grandmother

ou
toppie
- old man, father, old person

pallie
-
diminutive for ‘pal,’ friend

poep
- fart

praat
- talk

reg
- right

Seffrika
- South Africa

shaddup
- shut up

sharp
, sharp-sharp
- OK, yes, quick-quick

shibobo
- fancy footwork (sweet moves,
like nutmeg) from football

shweet
-
sweet, cool

sies
-
sis
,
expression of disgust

sisi
-
sister, young woman

skabenga
- crook, criminal, no-good

skelm
-
thief, crook

skollie
, skollies -
crook, gangster (from the Greek
skolios:
crooked)

skrik
vir niks
- scared of nothing

snoeks
- little fish, term of endearment

sommer
– simply

sosatie
- kebab

soutie
, soutpiel
- derogatory term for English South African (salty penis)

spookgerook
- (lit.) ghost-smoked, stoned to
the point of paranoia

struesbob
- as true as Bob

sug
-
care (‘you think I sug/care?’)

suss
-
to have suss
- to be sharp or streetwise

swak
- weak, broke

tchai
- no, no way (see also
hayi
)

thula
wena
-
shut up, you

tjaila
- time to go home

tjommie
- chum, good friend

toppie
- see
ou
toppie:
old man,
father, old person

tokoloshe
 
- evil spirit from Zulu mythology
 

trap
- stairs, staircase

trek
- pull, leave, exit

tronk
- jail, prison

tsotsi
- gangster

twak
- nonsense, rubbish

uclever
-
the
clever one

uitlander
- outlander, alien

umlungu
- white one, white man
(vocative:
mlungu
)

val
- fall

vragtig
– truly, yes, really

vrek
- die, dead

vrekked
- died

vroeg
- early

vuvuzela
- plastic horn noisemaker,
prominent at football matches

warder
- South African term for prison guard or
correctional officer, not to be confused with
warden
used in other countries, and which in South Africa would
refer to a much more senior officer.

wat
?
-
what
?