Lien se lankstaanskoene
deur Derick van der Walt
Prelude (Voorspel)
He is searching impatiently, looking for the cassette with the blue sticker in the
box. It’s his favourite one and he smiles when he finds it. He pushes it into the
VCR (videospeler) and grabs the coffee mug from the floor without taking his eyes
off the television screen. He pushes the play button and leans back in his chair. He
takes a sip of his coffee and smiles again:
The little girl is treading water in the middle of the pool. She has one arm around a
yellow floating duck and she is waving wildly with the other hand. She is talking to
someone who is just outside of view of the camera. The video has no sound.
The camera man is clearly an amateur: the image falls to the left and then zooms
in on the little girl’s face. Her mouth is constantly moving: she is talking excitedly
to the person out of view: she has no front teeth (haasbek). (This reveals
something about the little girl’s age: she must be between 6 and 8 years old.)
The camera moves to the left to where a little boy is running around the pool
after two little dogs. He’s wearing a red swimming costume and has curly black
hair.
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,It’s black dog and a white dog. They run ahead of the boy, but stop every now
again, turn around and bark at the boy. Their tails are wagging.
The boy loses interest in the dogs. He walks to the edge of the pool, takes off his
swimming costume and pees in the pool :-D The camera moves to the girl: it looks
like she is yelling and motioning wild towards the boy.
The camera moves slowly to where a man is standing on the side of the pool
behind the little girl. He is busy braaiing, holding braai tongs in his one hand and a
beer in the other. He is tall and muscular (fris); he’s wearing shorts and no shirt.
When he sees the camera is on him, he laughingly protests and motions with the
braai tongs towards the pool where the kids are.
The camera lens suddenly tilts, as though it had slipped out of the person’s hand. It
focuses on a pair of feet wearing pink flip-flops. The flip-flops (plakkies) have
yellow roses on them. (Yellow is an important colour and symbol in this book and
is used frequently throughout. The significance and meaning of the colour will be
explained throughout my notes. This is Braam watching old family videos of
happier times in the past. It makes him feel good watching them, well, some of
them. There are going to be ones that he doesn’t like as well later in the story.
These moments serve as flashbacks of their life before their father committed
fraud and embezzled money. It gives the reader more perspective on the life they
were used to living and what a stark contrast there is to the life they are living
now.)
CHAPTER 1: GEEL EN GELUKKIG (YELLOW AND HAPPY)
Lien hears the wine glass make a “clink” on the tabletop in the kitchen.
She knows the ritual (ritueel).
(This word indicates that it happens often, so much so that it has become a ritual
and habit.) A whole “ritual” of pouring wine into a glass with ice is described.
Lien looks at Braam, her younger brother. He doesn’t look at her: he just turns the
volume up on the television. (Avoiding the situation.)
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, Lien smells something burning in the kitchen: scrambled eggs (roereier) and toast
(roosterbrood). She thinks that she should probably go and help, but she doesn’t
want to.
A voice from the kitchen calls the two kids to come eat. Braam turns the volume
down on the television and gets up. Lien knows that he must be starving by now.
She follows his lead unenthusiastically.
The pan with scrambled eggs is in the middle of the table. Next to it is a tiny heap
of half-burnt toast and half a can of beans that they opened the day before. Braam
digs in.
(The reader can see from the meal that there is not really much substance to it,
especially not for a young, growing teenage boy like Braam. There is also no
effort being made with presentation: they have to serve themselves from the
pan and their mom wasn’t paying attention to the toast otherwise she would not
have burned it.)
Their mom leans with her nose against the window and stares through the lace
curtain to the few lights in the valley (dal) that they can see from the kitchen
window. She asks if they don’t just have the most wonderful view and sighs:
yellow and happy. (It is as though she is in a different world.)
A violin concerto is playing loudly on the CD-player in the corner. Lien turns it
down; she has no appetite anymore.
She opens the fridge and the box of wine is the centrepiece. There is not much
else in the fridge, so she goes and sits by Braam.
Their mom pours herself another glass of wine. She comes and stands by them,
stroking Braam’s black hair and giggles when she says that he looks more and
more like Josh Groban every day.
Braam tells her to go sleep and yanks his head away, but keeps chewing. Their
mom replies that she is sure Josh Groban is not such a sour prune and feigns hurt
from Braam’s unkind words while she leans against the doorpost. She smiles at
PROPERTY OF M SOUNES NO UNAUTHORIZED COPYING, SHARING OR DISTRIBUTION ALLOWED 3
deur Derick van der Walt
Prelude (Voorspel)
He is searching impatiently, looking for the cassette with the blue sticker in the
box. It’s his favourite one and he smiles when he finds it. He pushes it into the
VCR (videospeler) and grabs the coffee mug from the floor without taking his eyes
off the television screen. He pushes the play button and leans back in his chair. He
takes a sip of his coffee and smiles again:
The little girl is treading water in the middle of the pool. She has one arm around a
yellow floating duck and she is waving wildly with the other hand. She is talking to
someone who is just outside of view of the camera. The video has no sound.
The camera man is clearly an amateur: the image falls to the left and then zooms
in on the little girl’s face. Her mouth is constantly moving: she is talking excitedly
to the person out of view: she has no front teeth (haasbek). (This reveals
something about the little girl’s age: she must be between 6 and 8 years old.)
The camera moves to the left to where a little boy is running around the pool
after two little dogs. He’s wearing a red swimming costume and has curly black
hair.
PROPERTY OF M SOUNES NO UNAUTHORIZED COPYING, SHARING OR DISTRIBUTION ALLOWED 1
,It’s black dog and a white dog. They run ahead of the boy, but stop every now
again, turn around and bark at the boy. Their tails are wagging.
The boy loses interest in the dogs. He walks to the edge of the pool, takes off his
swimming costume and pees in the pool :-D The camera moves to the girl: it looks
like she is yelling and motioning wild towards the boy.
The camera moves slowly to where a man is standing on the side of the pool
behind the little girl. He is busy braaiing, holding braai tongs in his one hand and a
beer in the other. He is tall and muscular (fris); he’s wearing shorts and no shirt.
When he sees the camera is on him, he laughingly protests and motions with the
braai tongs towards the pool where the kids are.
The camera lens suddenly tilts, as though it had slipped out of the person’s hand. It
focuses on a pair of feet wearing pink flip-flops. The flip-flops (plakkies) have
yellow roses on them. (Yellow is an important colour and symbol in this book and
is used frequently throughout. The significance and meaning of the colour will be
explained throughout my notes. This is Braam watching old family videos of
happier times in the past. It makes him feel good watching them, well, some of
them. There are going to be ones that he doesn’t like as well later in the story.
These moments serve as flashbacks of their life before their father committed
fraud and embezzled money. It gives the reader more perspective on the life they
were used to living and what a stark contrast there is to the life they are living
now.)
CHAPTER 1: GEEL EN GELUKKIG (YELLOW AND HAPPY)
Lien hears the wine glass make a “clink” on the tabletop in the kitchen.
She knows the ritual (ritueel).
(This word indicates that it happens often, so much so that it has become a ritual
and habit.) A whole “ritual” of pouring wine into a glass with ice is described.
Lien looks at Braam, her younger brother. He doesn’t look at her: he just turns the
volume up on the television. (Avoiding the situation.)
PROPERTY OF M SOUNES NO UNAUTHORIZED COPYING, SHARING OR DISTRIBUTION ALLOWED 2
, Lien smells something burning in the kitchen: scrambled eggs (roereier) and toast
(roosterbrood). She thinks that she should probably go and help, but she doesn’t
want to.
A voice from the kitchen calls the two kids to come eat. Braam turns the volume
down on the television and gets up. Lien knows that he must be starving by now.
She follows his lead unenthusiastically.
The pan with scrambled eggs is in the middle of the table. Next to it is a tiny heap
of half-burnt toast and half a can of beans that they opened the day before. Braam
digs in.
(The reader can see from the meal that there is not really much substance to it,
especially not for a young, growing teenage boy like Braam. There is also no
effort being made with presentation: they have to serve themselves from the
pan and their mom wasn’t paying attention to the toast otherwise she would not
have burned it.)
Their mom leans with her nose against the window and stares through the lace
curtain to the few lights in the valley (dal) that they can see from the kitchen
window. She asks if they don’t just have the most wonderful view and sighs:
yellow and happy. (It is as though she is in a different world.)
A violin concerto is playing loudly on the CD-player in the corner. Lien turns it
down; she has no appetite anymore.
She opens the fridge and the box of wine is the centrepiece. There is not much
else in the fridge, so she goes and sits by Braam.
Their mom pours herself another glass of wine. She comes and stands by them,
stroking Braam’s black hair and giggles when she says that he looks more and
more like Josh Groban every day.
Braam tells her to go sleep and yanks his head away, but keeps chewing. Their
mom replies that she is sure Josh Groban is not such a sour prune and feigns hurt
from Braam’s unkind words while she leans against the doorpost. She smiles at
PROPERTY OF M SOUNES NO UNAUTHORIZED COPYING, SHARING OR DISTRIBUTION ALLOWED 3
