“Kwenzeka ntoni?!” “What’s
happening?!” There was blood
coming out of my cousin’s head. We
were all crying. My grandmother
patched up Bulelwa’s ear and made
sure to stop the bleeding. But we
kept crying. Because clearly we’d
done something we were not
supposed to do, and we knew we
were going to be punished. My
grandmother finished up with
Bulelwa’s ear and whipped out a
belt and she beat the shit out of
Bulelwa. Then she beat the shit out
of Mlungisi, too. She didn’t touch
me.
Later that night my mother