The Miracle of Crocodile Flats, by Jenny Hobbs

The Miracle of Crocodile Flats, by Jenny Hobbs. Random House Struik Umuzi. Cape Town, South Africa 2012. ISBN 9781415200629 / ISBN 978-1-4152-0062-9

Godforsaken Crocodile Flats is the last place on earth where you'd expect any miracle. When Sweetness Moloi believes she saw the Virgin Mary there, who's going to believe her? Jenny Hobbs's novel tells the answer.

Jenny Hobbs  

MA-JESU

When Sweetness Moloi claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary on her way home from school, people in Crocodile Flats were not surprised. Since ancestors' spirits are known to remain near their graves, Catholics could expect the occasional encounter with Ma-Jesu. Nobody had an inkling that the event would change their lives forever. Sweetness was a sturdy fourteen with the awkward grace of a young heifer. Her slow-burning smile reminded old men of roast pumpkin and beaming harvest moons. Young men with baser ideas were discouraged by the powerful right hook learnt from her father, who supported her determination to pass matric without distractions. That year she was in Grade 7B, the "B" meaning the afternoon session at school. Classes began at twelve-thirty and ended when the setting sun burrowed into the dust haze over the Van der Linde farm, trailing scarves of red cloud. It was a long walk home along the dirt road. She was hungry, having eaten only a small bowl of phuthu for breakfast and a feeding-scheme peanut butter sandwich for lunch. She wondered if her mother would bring home enough meat for a stew from her afternoon pitch at the bus and taxi terminus where she sold offal: tripe, intestines, pigs' trotters and boiled sheep's heads called smileys - because their lips pulled back from their teeth when boiled. On a bad day for sales, the Molois ate whatever wouldn't last overnight. It was just as nourishing, Ma said, cooking it with chilli and curry powder. On that particular Thursday, Sweetness had stayed late at school to work on a biology project with a new teacher, and her friends had not waited. As she jogged along the road that bordered the settlement to try and catch up with them, she saw a movement in a burnt-out hut that stood on a desolate rise. Tsietsi, for sure. Her younger brother loved to run ahead of her and hide, jumping out to give her a fright. But she was tired of pretending to be scared when he came flailing out of a hiding place, all sharp elbows and knees. It was time to give him a fright of his own. She propped her bag of school books against a rock and crept towards the hut through grey saltbush that made scribbles on her legs. There was a light inside. He must have found some matches - just like all boys, playing with fire. They think they can control the little spurts of flame, throwing them at each other and starting little fires of dry grass and sticks before stamping on them. Forgetting that sparks escape to blaze up in rotten thatch and flare through flimsy shacks as people grab what they can and run screaming. There had been a runaway fire like that in the shacks last year, fanned by a Kalahari wind. She would never forget the twisted bodies of three children in a huddle with their mother. Shouting, 'You know you mustn't play with matches!' she burst through the doorway then faltered to a stop. There was no sign of Tsietsi. But someone else was there, a stranger dressed in a long blue robe that shimmered like the sky reflected in a puddle. Her smiling face glowed in the shadow of her hood as though candles had been lit behind it. Sweetness stood gawping. What could such a lady be doing in this lonely burnt-out place? [...]

This is an excerpt from: The Miracle of Crocodile Flats, by Jenny Hobbs.

Title: The Miracle of Crocodile Flats
Author: Jenny Hobbs
Genre: Novel
Publisher: Random House Struik
Imprint: Umuzi
Cape Town, South Africa 2012
ISBN 9781415200629 / ISBN 978-1-4152-0062-9
Softcover, 15 x 22 cm, 304 pages