Instead of describing the book, I'd rather let the book speak for itself. Therefore I am including an excerpt and next week, Godwilling, I will follow up with another "appetizer" and include a photo of the cover image. I thing the publisher did a good job of it. It is quite cute.
Half an hour later, my elder sister arrives. I am waiting for her in the family room. A tray with two pots of tea - one with rooibos
for me and one with green tea for Anita - and biscuits is sitting on the coffee
table. As always she is dressed
stylishly and as often, in black, adorned with modest gold jewellery, her hair
in an attractive short, feathery style and freshly colored black. Her make-up is noticeable, but not overdone. It suits her.
She trots delicately on stilettos into the family room. I get up from my chair and we cheek-kiss carefully
not to transfer lipstick.
“You look well, Anita.”
“I have picked up half a kilo since last you were here. I quit smoking, you see, and now I have to
give up sugar too, otherwise I will roll down the mountain soon.” She pours herself a cup of tea and has it
without sugar. She does take a biscuit,
though.
“I am very proud of you. I knew
you could do it. And I really don’t see
the extra kilo.”
“Half a kilo!”
”Sorry, half kilo. Don’t worry
about it.” She grabs a piece of skin
below her rib-cage half a centimeter thick:
“It’s right here, see?”
I just shrug because I really don’t see one gram of fat on her body.
“Were you with Dad when he died?”
“Were you? Of course I was
not. Andrew phoned me last night, but I
was out and I did not think it was all that serious.” I cannot think of a single thing to say to
that, not without stirring up an argument.
I can hardly believe her callousness.
Doesn’t she feel anything?
Doesn’t she even...”
“What do you think is in his will for us?”
“Really, Anita, aren’t you ashamed of yourself? He is hardly cold and you think of what he
might have left you.”
“Now don’t you get all sanctimonious here. You must be hard up for a little money like
everyone else. Living in that dump, I
bet you will come back right here to the Cape where you belong the moment you
receive your inheritance. You will have
enough money to maintain this old house, staff and all.”
“I doubt it. I am quite happy
where I am. I live comfortably with
enough money of my own. I really don’t
care about the money. Right now, I’m
mourning a loss that can never be replaced.
I don’t even want to think about anything else. I’ll miss him. I really cared about him, you know.”
“That’s why I thought you might know something about his will. You were quite chummy with him lately. Perhaps he gave you a clue...”
“We never talked about money except when he advised me on some
investment possibility or managerial matter concerning my own affairs.” If I am overreacting, trying too hard to hide
the truth from her, she doesn’t seem to notice.
“Don’t tell me you never had the opportunity to hint in that direction?”
“Why on earth would I do that? I
was never interested in his money and I am not now. Even if he cut me out of his will or cut you
all out and left me his entire fortune does not bother me. I might hand it all over to you, but you will
probably squander it and be broke again in a few years…” I bite my tongue not to say more. Too much said already.
“O come on! Aren’t you just a
little bit curious? Wait a minute, what
do you mean ‘cut us out’? What do you
know that I don’t?”
“No, I’m not curious and I don’t know anything you don’t.” I hesitate for a second praying in my
thoughts: ‘Please, Lord, forgive me this
lie.’
“It’s just a way of letting you know I don’t care. I’m not going to say it one more time.”
“Well, maybe your needs are not as big as mine. Maybe you like to live the way you do. I certainly don’t want to live in relative
poverty for the rest of my life.”
“If you lived within your means, you would have coped well enough. Debt is not a good thing, but you have always
wanted more than you could afford.”
“With such a rich father I should have been able to have everything I
want.”
“He worked hard and smart and invested well. Nothing fell into his lap. He did not start on top. He was no better off than you and I when he
started his business. And his mother did
not leave him a small fortune to begin with.”
I can’t help hinting about our mom’s money.
“Why did he do it? Why did he
work so hard and build a prosperous business?
Wasn’t it to take care of his family?”
“Of course, and he did take care of us very well. He also taught us to work hard and earn our
way through life. Even thought he was
not as present in our lives as much as we’d like him to be, it was his
influence that made us work during school holidays. Mom encouraged us and showed us how to save,
but Dad urged her to see to it that we don’t grow up taking money for granted
and expecting everything to fall down from heaven”. She obviously failed with you, I thought to
myself. “Now you have your own family
and you must take care of it. Any
inheritance is a bonus and not an earned one.
It’s a blessing from above. We
should not sit back, live in debt and then expect our problems to be solved at
the death of someone rich that can leave us his fortune. If that’s the attitude, how long will the
fortune last?”
Anita rolls her eyes: “What a
speech. You’re just trying to be
difficult. And please don’t preach to
me.”
“Well, can we please talk about something else? I have no desire to argue.”
“What else is there to talk about?”
“What else is there to talk about?”
********
Happy reading,
The Author,
Magdel Roets
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