Leleti has had so many seizures in the past twenty-four hours that Zodwa has lost count of them. Zodwa hasn’t slept at all and only managed to eat half a tin of cold baked beans during a brief respite between her mother’s attacks. What keeps her going is needing to make Leleti better so she can find out where her baby is.

Zodwa shouldn’t leave Leleti alone but she needs to empty the bucket that has served as their toilet. She also has to fetch clean water to wash the soiled bedding. The stench has become so overpowering that she worries it’s contributing to Leleti’s distress. She wonders briefly where Leleti’s dog has disappeared to, as its presence would probably calm her. So much for loyalty.

Zodwa detours past Mama Beauty’s shack and knocks on her door to ask her to stay with Leleti but no one is there. Zodwa is just wondering who else she might ask for help when Mama Beauty rounds the corner carrying shopping bags.

“My child,” she exclaims, rushing to Zodwa. “I heard the news and am so sorry for your loss.” Mama Beauty puts her bags down and envelops Zodwa in a hug.

Zodwa’s thinking is so foggy from fatigue that she can barely make sense of what Mama Beauty is saying. “My loss?”

Mama Beauty clucks in sympathy. “I can see you are not handling it well but that is completely understandable. To lose a baby during birth after carrying it for nine months is a heartbreaking thing.” Mama Beauty releases Zodwa, and her eyes are filled with such compassion that it almost brings an exhausted Zodwa to her knees.

She shakes her head to clear her mind so that she can focus on the task at hand. “I was just taking this to empty it.” Zodwa nods at the bucket, which she’s covered with newspaper. “Mama is very sick. I need to get back.”

“Oh, I am sorry for keeping you! You go dispose of that, my child, and I will go see your mother.”

They part ways, Mama Beauty’s words playing in a loop through Zodwa’s mind.

To lose a baby. To lose a baby. To lose a baby.

What did she mean by that?

The laneways between the shacks are narrow and Zodwa keeps getting jostled by the people streaming into and out of the squatter camp. It takes her longer than it normally would to reach the privy. She empties the bucket and then goes to wash it out, filling the water bucket in the process. Black smoke billows from somewhere nearby and Zodwa looks up at it, fearful of what it means.

A woman walking toward her sees Zodwa’s concern. “Don’t worry, sisi. It’s a controlled fire. They’re burning down Gertie’s shack. It’s the only way to rid it of the killing disease now that she’s died.”