Dreams of Silver by Mina Baites

Author:Mina Baites [Baites, Mina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503901254
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
Published: 2018-11-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Lotte

Cape Town

The afternoon sun had sunk low over the rooftops by the time Friedrich and Lotte left the local police station.

“It’s outrageous!” Lotte fumed. “Did you notice how the police officer hardly took any notes during my statement? I’ll bet my life he tossed them straight in the wastebasket!”

Friedrich glanced sidelong at her. “I’m not surprised by any of it. They don’t give a damn about the blacks.”

He steered her smoothly toward Green Point Common, which wasn’t far from the police station. From afar they heard the cheerful voices of children running around boisterously on the neglected playing fields and soccer pitches. The walk along the Sea Point promenade rewarded them with outstanding views of the sea and Cape Peninsula jutting out into the ocean.

On reaching the park, they sat on a bench, and Lotte looked out to the fixed point in the distance that had drawn her gaze for years.

“Robben Island,” she said, feeling the customary unease that rose in her every time she looked at the prison island.

“I know,” Friedrich said. “Do you remember that day, soon after I arrived, when you showed me this place?”

“How could I forget?” Lotte replied with a small smile. “Peter, Lilian, and Sam were still asleep. It was such a beautiful morning, and we brought a flask of tea. We sat on this very bench.”

Friedrich nodded. “Robben Island was hidden by fog, and we wondered how many prisoners must have tried to escape to the mainland despite the treacherous currents.”

“Hardly anyone has succeeded, as far as I know. Most of them drown.” Lotte watched a swarm of seabirds circling overhead. She turned and looked into his eyes. “What should I do if the police refuse to pursue the case?”

“Nothing. You’ve done all you can.”

They sat in silence. A few boats swayed on the shimmering Atlantic in the evening light. A group of young white girls wandered past them, laughing. They made Lotte painfully aware that she—indeed, her whole generation—had been denied this lightheartedness. If there was anything Lotte truly wished for, it was to see whites and blacks, Christians and Jews, walking together along the seafront as though it were the most natural thing in the world. As though things had never been any different.

“My tourist visa will expire soon,” Friedrich said, rousing her from her thoughts.

She studied his familiar face with its furrowed brow and the large hands that were made for hard work, yet could hold little Niam so tenderly. Her heart grew heavy. “The time’s flown by. You must be missing Hamburg, though?”

“Not in the slightest.”

She blinked. “What about the Alster? The fresh breeze, the summer rain? You must have many good friends at home.”

“I’ve got acquaintances and neighbors with whom I enjoy the occasional chat. But friends?” He took her hand. “I’ve put in an application for a permanent residency permit. As a pensioner with a secure income, I think I’ve got a pretty good chance of getting it.”

Lotte shook her head in disbelief. “But—I don’t understand. You’ve got a house in Hamburg.

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