It is Saturday afternoon in late summer. The heat is intense, making the  the though of autumn, winter extremely unreal. I am seven years old and l can now climb tne huge apricot tree. The luchious,green leaves of the huge apricot tree in our backyard will turn yellow,

start falling down creating an autumn carpet underneath its branches.when autumn comes around.

I am so proud that l am now able to climb the tree! I have claimed a special space for

myself where the tree branches fork into different directions giving me a good view of the surrounding

area.

I hear radios playing,the men are listening to cricket, the rugby season has not started yet..

Then out of nowhere,l here the ominous sound of angry voices..They are speaking Fanagalo, a language or rather a dialect spoken on the mine.

The peaceful laziness of the afternoon is broken as l see them coming into, the back alley.

There is the ancient smell of fear, a sudden chill in the air

The men, about 20 of them, are half naked. Some of them have traditional blankets and hats and they

are all carrying ‘knopkieries’. They are striding fast, angrily leaving a trail of dust behind them

I am frozen with dread, afraid they will look up and see me.. The men pass our back gate, then stop at the gate next door, yelling and calling a name l have not heard before.

Selina opens the gate, shaking, petrified! She tries to talk to them , but they shout louder and louder,knocking their ‘kieries’ against the fence

Selina throws her apron over her head,wailing begging them to leave!

One of the bigger men pushes past her,entering the back yard next door. Still shouting he goes into Selina’s room where the noise becomes even louder!

Everything except the group in the drama, have somehow frozen in time! Years later l was still baffeled by the fact that nob

ody came out to investigate what was to end in a tragedy.

After a commotion in the room, another smaller man was dragged out into the alley. The men surrounded him,started to their him with the knopkieries asclubs. It felt like forever,but when the victim was down, the men left the way they came, singing what sounded like a victory song!

Selina was still crying, her friend propped against the fence.I have never seen so much blood! Selina ran to and fro with basins of water,trying to wash the blood away, but she could not stop it!

I will never forget the picture as long as l live.. The late afternoon sun glinting on the man’s now eerily red head.. Selina overwhelmed by grief, the basins full of bloody water… The terrible violence l had seen kept me in the tree for a long time..

The police came, dumped him and Selina in the van and disappears in a trail of dust and

blue lights. I never saw Selina again.. The man died in hospital. I lost my friend..