"Hey, boy!" "Go way!" "No one is coming today!" "There is no one else coming today!" "Go on!" "Go home!" "Fuck off!" "Go on!" "Fuck off!" "Boy." "Come here." "What's the matter?" "You hungry?" "You want food?" "Then be a man." "Go on." "Grandma, what about me?" " Do you want food?" " Yes." "Mama says sharing food makes you ill." "Please get the boy." "What are you doing, boy?" "Come." "Eat." "You have to eat." "It's not for you." "It's for your mama." "She's right." "Eat." "It's a sign of respect." "I'll get you something." "Pick it up." "You don't have anyone else." "We're all you have now." "Mama, I will go to school and study hard, just for you." "You'll see, Mama." "I'll do well." "I'll be success." "And I will make a big home." "For you, me and Papa." "I promise, Mama." "Over there." "Uncle." "Lucky." "Lucky?" "Mama said if anything should happen, I should come to you." "Sindile's Lucky?" "Come in." "Come in, my boy." "It's good you're here." "Your mother, very sad." "It's heartbreaking." "We'll deal with it together." "You sleep here." "Very nice, soft." "A blanket to keep you warm." "My keys?" "And my wallet." "Cigarettes?" "Thanks." "Go get my bag." "Got it?" "So Uncle's going now." "There's lots of things to enjoy." "Just don't break anything." "Watch TV... whatever..." "Uncle, what about school?" " School?" " Mama said you would send me to school." "Yes, your mama's right." "School is very useful." "The problem is money." "Your Mama left something for you." "Don't touch!" "Stay away!" "Black dogs!" "Don't touch!" "Black dogs!" "Bastard!" "Get out, you bastard!" "Out!" " What is it?" " Granny, I brought you some water to drink." "Water to drink." " Drink." "— No, it's yours." "Don't talk your rubbish." "Just drink." "Get out!" "Thief!" "I'm sorry, Granny." "I really am." "Come on, sweetie." "Let's see what you've got for me." "You líke that?" "Lucky." "Hello." "She's not my aunty." "The boy talks like he's from the village." "He's my sister's son." "Lucky, go." "There's a little something I need to do wíth your aunty." "I'll buy you a present." "That." "For my tape." "Yes, I'll get you one." " Now!" " Not now." "Everything's closed." " Then I'm not going." " No." "Let's go." "Come on." "We'll talk later." "Out." "Lucky, get out." "Look." "Look at what you did." "You have to play my tape." "Lucky," "I came here to get medicine and to get better, but now the doctors say I'm sick, too sick to see you again." "Sometimes things happen so fast." "You never get a chance to say what is really important." "In my life, I've only ever loved two people, you and your father." "And now we are both gone, so you are alone." "But I know you will be okay." "Uncle will look after you." "I have given him money so he will send you to school." "So please do not forget me." "And always keep me alive in your heart." "I love you, Lucky." "So please do not forget me." "And always keep me alive in your heart." "I love you, Lucky." "My money." "Where's my school money?" "You stole it!" "Thief!" "Come." "Come." "Here." "Eat." "You sleep here." "Inside is not for you." "What are you doing?" " Put it back." " Granny, I'm cleaning." " No." "Put it away." " Look." "It's dirty." "Don't touch." "Leave it alone." "It's not yours." " Don't touch." " It's dírty." "You're too old for this." "It's not yours." "Leave it alone." "It's dirty." "You're too old for this." "Out." "Get out!" "Go!" "Go away!" "What do you want?" "I've done enough for you." "Go away!" " This boy bothering you?" " Yes." "I let him sleep on my balcony for one night." "Now he follows me around like a dog." " He slept on your balcony?" " Just once." " Where is his family?" " Dead." "There's an uncle." "He's totally useless." "So he's alone?" "I could take him." "Boy like this, there's government money." "An Orphan Grant." "200 Rand a month." "It's good money." "He could clean, cook, wash up." "Then I'd make double." "You'd let a black man live in your house?" "Maybe." "It's the new South Africa." "You have to be tolerant." "Smile for the camera, son." "Okay, perfect." "Stand up and have a look." " You know this lady?" " Yes." " And you want to live with her?" " Yes, I do." " Sure?" " Yes." "Hello." "What can I do?" "There's a backlog." "I'm trying my best." "You people have no sense of duty." "Just look at your uncle." "Does nothing to help you." "This used to be such a good neighborhood." "All Indian." "So simple." "Everyone in their place, happy." "Rainbow Nation?" "In the rainbow, where's the black, brown and white?" "Do you know whaťs black, brown and white?" "Cows." "They should have called it Cow Nation." "Look." "It's dirty." "You see?" "Dirty." "Do your work." "Work." "Go." "Work." "Study hard." "Do well." "Don't waste my money." "Maybe if they teach me English," "I will know what you're saying." "Don't touch." "Give ít." "What do you think, coolie?" "This is your home." "We're family." "That Indian woman is just after your money." "What are you doing?" "You take this like you took Mama's money." "So this is how you thank me?" "After all I've done for you." "Give it here." "Lucky, give it." "Give it to me now." "This is for my school." "You don't need school, boy." "We will find you work." "Exactly." "Something good." "I don't want to work." "I want to go to school." "Mama was wrong about you." "You're nothing." "You waste your life." "I'm nothing?" "Your mother was nothing." "Want to know about your mother?" "She was a whore." "That's why she came to the city." "To find one last man before she died." "When no one wanted her, she came to me for help." "Because she knew she was nothing." "Remember where you came from." "A dirty stinking whore." "Dirty like your mother." "Don't worry, boy." "We'll keep you busy." "Who's there?" "Open the door!" "When I catch you, I'll send you to your mother!" "Forget him, baby." "I'm goíng to kill this kid!" "Come here, kid." "Where you from?" "Tell him." "Kwambonambí near Mtubatuba." "Come on, boy." "Stop wasting time." "I can't go there." "There's nothing for me." "I live here now." "Boy." "This is your home." "There's nothing for me here." "Hold on." "She's sorry." "Really she is." "She just wanted to see your village." "That's all." "You don't have to live here, understand?" "We have come all this way, boy." "Please." "Lucky is back." "Your father came to pay respects." "At first, we couldn't believe it." "We thought it was a ghost." "But when we approached him, he sang a song from when you were a baby." "We knew it was him." "No one else sings like that." "My father is dead." "That's what your mama said." "But your mama lied." "She lied to you and all of us." "She was angry because your father left when you were a baby." "It's lies." "Lucky, she says you have to go to your father." "Maybe your mother didn't tell the truth about your father." "My mama's not a liar." "Listen, boy." "You have to grow Up." "You're in the city now." "Adults sometimes lie." "It's how we survive." "You have to understand that and líve with it." "And when you know that, you become a man." "Mama didn't lie." "We have islands líke Zanzibar." " Like what?" " Zanzibar." "And we learn that Zanzibar is a famous island where people take holidays to have a rest." "And we have our own Robben Island." " What?" " Robben Island." "Yes." "What do we know about Robben Island?" " Yes, my boy." " Mandela." "Nelson Mandela." "Come." "I can get the money tomorrow." "I'm sorry, son." "We get many like you every month." "I will pay." "I promise." "Lucky," "I came here to get medicine and to get better," "but now the doctors say I'm sick, too sick to see you again." "You wasted my time, wasted my night." "Now you listen to me." "What's happening here?" "You like reading?" "What is this?" "What is this shít?" "Fucking books?" "You live off books, you idiot?" "Do you want to learn?" "We'll teach you something useful." "Keep walking, boy." "Come on." "Come on." "Get in!" "Hurry up!" "Make it quick!" "Go on!" "Sit down!" "Down!" "I'll be back, understand?" "You want a cigarette?" "Do you see me smoking?" "You want to smoke?" "Then get that." "Come closer, boy." "Come here." "Come here, boy." "Come on, my son." "Don't be scared of Uncle." "Keep the noise down!" "Shut Up!" "Please, sír." "I have a home." "Granny takes care of me." "Honest." "Look." "Please." " Your name?" " Padma." "And Lucky." "You're together?" "Both in one room?" "Granny, who ís this?" "Who?" "That's my grandmother." "Is this you?" "Yes, that's you." "Is this your mama?" "Also my grandmother." " Who?" " That's me." " Your mama?" " Grandmother." "And this one?" "My other grandmother." "My mother, me and aunty." "Your mother, your sister, your granny." "Aunty." "You?" "Me... study... far." "Is this you with the ring?" "Yes, from there to there." "Is this your grandpa?" "Mustache." "And this?" "Wedding." "My husband." " You got married?" " Wedding." "My husband." "Wow, you were beautiful." "And this is where I was born." "Me... baby... bigger." " Where is this?" " That's somewhere else." "Thaťs my shop." " Shop?" " Shop." "Shop... where..." "Where we sold food wood... bicycles." "We made a lot of money." "A lot of money." "Is he a good boy?" "My son." "Where is he now?" "He was very naughty." "Like you." "Hello." "You sing to dead people?" " People you know?" " No." "It's my job to say some words and sing," "then throw some of this." "You did all of this for my mother?" "Yeah." "She was a very good person." "Please sit." "Look, boy." "I lived with your mother as man and wife." "And after you came, I had to leave for work." "But I am not your father." "You were already inside your mother when we met." "I am not the man who made you." "That is someone else." "I don't know who." "I'm sorry, boy, but that's all I can say." "That's okay, because I know you cannot be my father." "My father was a strong man." "A hero." "Someone everyone respected." "He didn't live off dead people like you." "You are too weak to be him." "Okay, boy, I understand." "Just one thing." "I have something for you." "It was your mother's." "When I came to see your village for the first time, she was wearing this." "She looked so beautiful." "You see, boy, you are right." "I am weak." "In my life, I have seen so much trouble." "When I was young, in the struggle, in riots." "And when I worked in the mínes." "So many people died." "I've seen what people do to each other." "Bad things..." "And so I just want to be alone." "That's why I work with the dead." "The dead leave you alone." "I know when I sing, I give people hope, hope that death is not the end, that they will see that person again and they will survive somehow." "Thaťs what you have to do when death happens." "Help people look into the next world." "Your mother was a good woman." "She loved you a lot." "You think I will see her again?" "In the village,you sang her a song from when I was a baby." "Will you sing it for me?" "My whole life, I kept those things." "What good are they to me now?" "I am an old lady." "I will be dead soon." "At least you can live and go to school." "No, Granny." "Don't sell all this for me." "Not for my school." "Thaťs right." "School." "This is for you." "I was hoping so much you would find your father." "It's terrible for a boy to be separated from his family." "Granny, you have a good heart." "He was no bigger than you." "Granny." "You've been very kind, like a mother to me." "I miss my mama very much every day." "Without you, I would have missed her even more." "Please don't give up everything just for me." "I know you took me to that man because you wanted him to be my father." "And maybe he is." "I don't know." "Maybe he's lying." "Because I see now adults sometimes lie." "All know is he is a weak man who really loved my mother." "Same as me." "And when I was with him, it felt like Mama was with us." "I liked it very much." "So please don't miss me, Granny." "Because missing just makes you feel bad." "You were very kind, and I'll never forget you." "I promise." "Come in." " Do you want some milk?" " Yes." "Thank you." "Do you have sugar?" "Can I have more?" "You shouldn't have too much." "Thank you."