Read The Madonna of Excelsior for Free Online Page B

Those with a higher sense of responsibility came twice a year. It was abnormal behaviour to come home every long weekend. It was the behaviour of a man possessed by demons of jealousy. A man who didn’t trust that his wife could be left to her own devices for any length of time without getting into miscliief. It was not his love, but his tight leash on her that had made him come home so often. Niki should just be happy that, unlike many other men, Pule supported his family.
    And he sent not only money. He sent clothes for Niki and Viliki as well. Two-piece costumes with broad figure-belts. Genuine leather shoes and school uniforms. Things for the house too. Floral duvets for the bed and plastic tablecloths for the “kitchen scheme” table. He even sent a china dinner set, with a note that he was replacing the Sunday plate that he had broken in a fit of temper months before. It was blue and white like the broken plate. But it didn’t have pagodas. He couldn’t get one with pagodas. It had flowers instead. Now Niki had a whole set of Sunday plates.
    Mmampe and Maria became wary of visiting her because everytime they came, she showed them new things that Pule had sent. Or that she had bought with money sent by him. It became a great strain to sit through these crass displays of wealth.
    We thought Niki would resign from the butchery, sit down and eat Pule’s money. But she continued to work at Excelsior Slaghuis and to look after Tjaart. Even after shameful things were done to her.
    C ORNELIA C RONJE HAD started a new custom of weighing workers twice a day to make sure they were not stealing any of her meat. The morning clock-in weight had to tally with the afternoon clock-off weight. Any discrepancy meant that there was some chicanery somewhere.
    Niki clocked in one morning and stepped on the black iron heavy-duty floor scale. Her weight was recorded at 61 kilograms. A good weight for a mother of one who still kept the body of her maidenhood.
    It was at the end of the month. Workers had received their wages and pensioners their old-age pensions. The butchery was a necessary stop-off whenever people had bank notes burning in their purses and pockets. So, it was a busy day for Niki and the other workers. She could only eat her lunch at four o’clock in the afternoon, an hour before knocking off. She was very hungry. She stuffed herself with a lot of pap and meat, generously supplied by the Cronjes to all their workers every lunchtime.
    At five it was time to go. As usual she stepped on the scale while Cornelia Cronje recorded her weight. It was 62 kilograms.
    â€œYou are hiding something,” said Cornelia Cronje.
    â€œIt is not true, Madam Cornelia,” protested Niki. “I am not hiding anything.”
    â€œYour weight was 61 kilograms in the morning. It can’t just increase by a kilo for nothing. You must be hiding meat under your dress,” insisted Madam Cornelia.
    Curious workers crowded around them. They wondered amongthemselves: how could Niki be so foolish? Didn’t she know that the penalty for theft was instant dismissal? How could she play with her job like this when jobs were so scarce in Excelsior? Was she not aware that the scale would catch her out? The scale never lied.
    Madam Cornelia was determined to teach Niki a lesson. And to teach the other workers by example. She ordered her to strip. Right there in front of everyone. When she hesitated, Madam Cornelia threatened to lock her up in the cold room with all the carcasses, as it was obvious that she loved meat so much that she had now become a meat thief. Niki peeled off her pink overall and then her mauve dress. She stood in her white petticoat and protested once more that she was not hiding any meat on her person. Then she peeled off the petticoat and stood in her pink knickers and fawn bra.
    â€œRaise your arms,” ordered Madam Cornelia.
    She did.
    No chunks of meat rained from her unshaved