John and Ayesha looked at each other and each had a broad smile on their face. They were going home and mixed in with the overriding joy was a faint tinge of apprehension.
The Fasten Your Seatbelt lights went out and John reached across and took her hand in his. Looking into the dark pools of her eyes, set in the golden radiance of her face that had always captivated him, he asked, “Are you all right? Do you want me to order you a drink from one of the air stewards?"
“No thank you," she replied with a weary smile. “I think I'm going to try and get some sleep."
“You always have the best ideas," he replied with a smile. “I will put the Do Not Disturb sign on our seats and join you."
Relaxing back in his seat, he felt his mind slipping back in time as he started to dream...
They had grown up together, living on the farm and being only a year apart in age, she had always been his best friend.
“Innocent,” he mumbled to himself in his sleep. “We were so innocent then ..."
1976
John's parents were out for the night. His parents had gone to a neighbor's farm for their usual Saturday night barbecue. They wouldn’t be back till the small hours and John was in charge of his three younger brothers.
At seventeen he was sensible to know that the only problem he would have was trying to keep them entertained till bedtime. There were no computers, game consoles or even any television, which had recently started to broadcast but as yet his parents hadn't bought one. He decided the best thing to do was to ask Ayesha and her two younger sisters if they wanted to join in.
Well, actually, his younger brothers were demanding it and had already gone and asked Ayesha. Hearing her laughing voice as she came in through the kitchen, John found himself smiling as broadly as she was as the kids pulled her into the house.
“I think we must be playing the usual," she said with a laugh.
“So it seems," John replied, smiling.
His brother Steven had already volunteered to play “catcher”. The game was similar to hide and seek and the rules of the game were for one player to go to a spot in the house (usually the sun room ) as this gave the other players the most opportunity to hide, and count to one hundred. The twist was that the lights in the house were turned off.
After helping his little brothers hide, John realized he didn’t have much time left to hide himself. He had already picked his spot and raced for the big wardrobe in his parents room, he knew he was cutting it fine and just as he got there, he heard his brother call out that his search had begun. Quietly opening the door he backed into the wardrobe to enable him to close the door quietly ...and nearly shouted out loud in shock !! there was already somebody in there.
Simultaneously two thoughts went through his mind, It was too late to change his hiding place and the other person was Ayesha. He squeezed further into the wardrobe, turning to face her. He saw the flash of her teeth as she smiled back at him.
He whispered to her, “If we move as far to the back of the wardrobe as possible and put the coats to the front, we might not be spotted if he even opens the door.”
Giggling she replied.“Good idea.“
Quietly maneuvering they managed to further hide themselves and John gradually became aware of her presence, fully aware their bodies were pressed against each other. Suddenly he had an impulse to kiss her, almost as if he were in a dream, he couldn’t stop himself. He felt her stiffen with shock and then slowly respond and begin kissing him back. Wrapping his arms around her he caressed down her back, he heard her sigh and mold her body into his....
Bang!!
With a jolt he woke up and for a minute didn't realize where he was.
“I'm sorry sir,“ he heard a voice say, and looked up to see a stewardess anxiously looking at him, “The trolley slipped and and banged into your seat, I'm really sorry to wake you.“
Looking over at Ayesha he saw that she was still fast asleep and decided to continue to indulge himself and continue to reminiscence ....
Even at that early stage they both realized the danger and the complications of being together meant but like young lovers the world over they had dismissed them.
Perhaps it was the next day that they began to realize exactly what their love was up against. John's mom was going into town shopping and John remembered it was a really hot day. He remembers asking if she could drop him off at the municipal swimming pool to go for a swim while she did the shopping and slyly suggesting they take Ayesha as well.
After they both spent half the journey home in silence, he remembers his Mom saying, "Okay out with it," she said, "You have been too quiet all the way home,what's happened?"
He explained how they had paid at the entrance and gone into the grounds, obviously they had separated to go into different changing rooms but when he came out he was shocked to find that the separation didn't end there.
“Two pools!!” he had exclaimed with the indignity clearly heard in his voice. "We couldn't even swim together, there are separate swimming pools with a fence in between them."
His mother sighed and stopped the car, turning to face them both she said, "Listen, you two had better face up to the fact that this is 1976 in South Africa,you John are white, Ayesha is the daughter of our maid and is classed as black. I know you have been brought up together but you are reaching the age where you will have to go on separate paths.Why do you think she has to catch a different bus to you? Why do you think Ayesha has to go to a different school to you? You both need to realize it is against the law and you both will go to jail and be ostracized for the rest of your lives if you try and be together. I'm not saying you can't be friends, but at the present time, your future doesn't hold any more than that. Both yourselves and probably the majority of the country might not agree with this but it's the minority that hold the power.”
John remembers looking at Ayesha and seeing the shock and reality he felt reflected on her face. He vowed silently to himself then that he would find a way for them to be together.
1977
It was year later that he received his call up papers. Conscripted to fight for a regime and cause that he realized he detested. The night before he was due to depart,he and Ayesha had stole away to be together to sit under the baobab tree at the bottom of the farm. Laying next to her on the rug he had brought, looking up to the clear sky and the stars sparkling above he said “I'm not going to go,I can go to Britain”
“How will you pay for the airfare to get there?” Ayesha, ever the practical one, had asked. “You have no money and besides which it will mean you become a fugitive in the eyes of the law, you will never be able to return and what would happen to us then?”
Sighing, he grunted to himself as by way of agreeing with her, knowing he didn't really have an answer.
“You must go,“ she said.“There is no alternative at the moment.”
John replied "But I will be fighting for a government that wants to keep us apart, the very people that the government calls terrorists, are the only people who would give us what we want ...
