The Ghost at Doringkloof

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The bell was ringing to announce the start of a new school term. Pepper was late. Although he lived only two blocks away, he had overslept as usual and had had to sprint all the way. He reached the gates just as everybody was already lining up. He had time therefore only to offer a quick nod to his friends before they were leading into the classroom.

Mrs Owl was to be their teacher. Although she was not a large woman, she was known to rule her classroom with a firm hand and a voice which had once shattered a pane of glass. It was true that no-one had seen it (and none could say exactly when she had done so) but the story had been passed down faithfully from year to year and nobody doubted that the glass had once been shattered.

Her busy eyes darted everywhere and missed not even the minutest movement. She would then swoop onto any victim who dared disturb the class and carry her prey off to the corner to stand (humiliated) for the rest of the lesson.

"I trust that everybody had a restful Christmas and is now ready for some hard work?" Mrs Owl began. Icicles clung to each word.

Her pointed nose twitched several times beneath her enormous spectacles, making her look so much like an owl. In fact, most pupils had to think carefully before remembering her proper name.

"Mr Pepperoni, did you have a good holiday?" she demanded.

"Yes - er - miss," Pepper stammered.

She had pounced on him so suddenly that he was taken off guard. In an effort to scramble to his feet, he bumped the desk lid and it slammed shut with a mighty bang. The class giggled and Pepper's face turned scarlet.

"I see a new pupil has joined us," Mrs Owl continued, for once ignoring Pepper's clumsiness. "Mr . . . " She ran her finger down the class-list. "Mr Radebe," she said.

She pronounced the name in her very English fashion. Someone at the back sniggered.

"Radebe is pronounced like the Afrikaans geloop," a pupil explained. He placed great emphasis on the "g", as if he was clearing his throat, but was immediately silenced by a glare.

"Radebe," Mrs Owl repeated as if she hadn't heard. "Lwazi Radebe. Stand up, boy, when you're spoken to."

The new-comer attempted to rise but the seat of his desk wasn't properly bolted and it fell to the floor with a clatter. The class giggled again. It was not a successful start to a year among strangers.

Mrs Owl suspected that Pepper and Lwazi were perhaps up to some mischief but she let it go - for the moment - and she began her lesson. Pepper could see, however, that her eyes glinted regularly in his direction, from where they would dart across to Lwazi. Both boys sat frozen, hypnotised with fright.

Eventually the teacher turned her back on the class so she could write on the board. Immediately Pepper allowed himself the luxury of peeking round at his friends.

Rajit, who was sitting towards the back, winked at him. Pepper tried to wink back but the muscles of his eye didn't seem to work properly and he could only flutter his lashes in a rather foolish way. Pete, hiding almost behind Rajit, grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

The new pupil was seated towards the front of the class. Pepper had seen Lwazi a few days earlier when the family had moved into a house only a block away from his. He supposed that he should have gone and made friends with the stranger. After all, with both Rajit and Pete away for the holiday, he had had little else to do. Somehow the time had slipped away, however, and the opportunity was lost.

He chose that moment to try to make up for his laziness. He caught Lwazi's eye, tried to smile and saw the newcomer's face light up like a candle. It was fate that Mrs Owl stopped writing at that very moment and her eyes darted to Pepper. She saw immediately that he was attempting to contact Lwazi. So! She was right! There was a plot! Well, it would be stopped right then and there!

"Mr Pepperoni and Mr Radebe," she announced firmly.

Both boys were caught off guard and scrambled to their feet. In the process Pepper again bumped his desk lid and Lwazi's seat crashed to the floor. The class shrieked with laughter, causing Mrs Owl's beak to quiver beneath her spectacles.

"You will both come out here at once," she commanded, and her general glare silenced the class instantly.

The two boys were removed to different corners of the room where they spent the rest of the period in shame. Oh well, it could have been worse, Pepper decided. She could have fed them to her snakes.

Mrs Owl was well known for her collection of pet snakes. They were all harmless reptiles like the python, a few grass snakes and some of the simple house variety. It was, however, her favourite threat that she would feed misbehaving pupils to the python or mince them up as food for her other friends.

Nobody quite believed her but at the same time one just never knew. Stories of pupils who had disappeared without trace (probably as tasty morsels for her pets) had also been handed down through the ages.

As the lesson continued, Pepper would peep occasionally in Lwazi's direction. His partner in crime, however, stood with head bent. Pepper felt sorry for him. He hadn't meant to get the new pupil into trouble on his very first day. Perhaps he'd better speak to him at break, he thought.

The session seemed never-ending but the bell eventually rang and Mrs Owl dismissed them. Pepper hurried out to join his friends and they scurried over to their favourite bench near the cycle shed. He quite forgot his intention of speaking to Lwazi.

"I had a marvellous time," Pete informed them. "I stayed with my uncle and aunt at Oudtshoorn on the ostrich farm. I was even allowed to ride an ostrich this year. And we had scrambled egg for breakfast every day. You should see the size of their eggs. One was enough to feed the whole family."

Pepper and Rajit, on the other hand, believed that Pete had extremely boring holidays. Every year he went off to Oudtshoorn and seemed to do the same thing each time. Yet he always came back boasting about it.

Rajit had had a much more exciting time. His father loved the outdoor life and had taken the family to the Drakensberg where he had taught his son to rock-climb.

"It was super," he said. "My father showed us what to do, you know. We climbed with ropes - up difficult places - and then abseiled down."

"What's abseiled?" asked Pete.

"It's when you walk backwards down cliffs and all, holding yourself upright on a rope," Rajit explained. "I'll show you. My father has his own climbing rope so we can practise round here."

"You must have rocks in your head to walk down a cliff backwards," Pepper commented.

"It's quite safe," Rajit assured him. "It's frightening at first but once you've backed over the side and are on your way down, it's quite easy. I'll show you."

Pepper remained doubtful but, before he could argue, he caught sight of Lwazi who was standing by himself beneath the wild fig tree, looking quite lonely.

"Let's call him over," Pepper suggested to his friends, suddenly remembering his earlier intention. "He's only just arrived in the town and lives quite close to us."

Lwazi seemed delighted to see them. "Molweni," he greeted them and immediately shook hands with each in what seemed a most peculiar fashion - first both hands on either side of theirs, then shifting to cup only the thumb, and finally the hands again. The friends were amused, not quite knowing what to do.

"Why do you do that?" Pete asked. "And what's molweni?"

"I'm Xhosa," Lwazi explained. "That's how we greet people."

"Why don't you say sawubona like everyone else?" Pete demanded.

"That's Zulu, you idiot," Pepper said. "People speak differently in Xhosa. And in any case, sawubona is when you greet only one person."

"And who are you?" Lwazi asked Rajit.

"He's Chetty," said Pete. "Chetty-Chetty-Bang-Bang!"

Rajit scowled at him and for a moment Pepper sensed there might be a fight. "We'll show you the school," he proposed hastily. "Of course, we can only walk round the outside. It's strictly forbidden to set foot even on the verandahs during break - unless it rains, of course."

At that moment of confusion, however, each had forgotten "The Gang". Jumbo Rabe and his followers made it a habit of strolling clockwise round the school and any pupil who was foolish enough to be in the way was "dealt with".

They should have remembered "The Gang", Pepper thought later. Perhaps in that way they might have avoided them. As it was, however, the two groups collided as each rounded a corner and, because Pepper and his friends weren't expecting trouble, they weren't quite ready to deal with it when it happened so suddenly.

Not so Jumbo Rabe. He was always on the look-out for a scrap but the best was when he stumbled onto one by accident. What made this occasion even more to his liking was the presence of the stranger.

"So the new boy thinks he can walk wherever he wants," Jumbo began, "but we're going to show him what's allowed and what's not, aren't we?" He turned to his mates and winked at them.

"We've got a right to walk round the school, you know," Rajit protested. "Leave us alone."

"But you didn't leave us alone, you know," Jumbo mimicked Rajit's accent. "You walked right into us, you know. The new boy walked right into us, you know." With that, he suddenly gave Lwazi a shove which sent him stumbling backwards.

Both Pepper and Rajit avoided fights but Pete had a short fuse and the sight of Jumbo pushing Lwazi around simply enraged him. Without warning, he dropped his head and stormed into the large Rabe belly, both fists pumping as he went.

The attack was fast and furious, and was over within seconds. Jumbo let out a great grunt as Pete's head plunged into him. He then lost his footing, tripped and landed flat on his back, humiliated and gasping for breath.

"The Gang", with their captain down, hesitated to move against such a fiery demon. Pepper immediately saw the moment to withdraw before anything more serious could happen.

"Let him be, Pete," he called. "We don't want a fight."

Pete re-joined his friends, grinning. Yet, as they resumed their stroll round the school, Pepper knew that Jumbo Rabe would not take this defeat lightly. Another scrap seemed a distinct possibility in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime they agreed that they would all gather at Pepper's house that afternoon, once school was over.