Well... told himself that in whatever he saw on that day will never be something to talk about again because he was concerned about the reaction of his father when he asks about his father’s personal affairs with the lady called Susan. As much as they were also concerned about Aron’s harmless reaction of wishing all the happiness for his father. Besides Aron knew that his father is only person he knew his whole life so far I guess starting from the day he was a baby until a healthy little boy who never knew his mother so as soon as things got weird between him and his father. His father came clean to him after a long time of telling lies and deceit about the affair with Susan. What Simon didn’t know is that his son was never getting any younger not to see that something was going on between the two of them. However, the boy kept going to the veld as always trying to keep his fathers’ goats away from the maize field and he knew that the maize field is the only trouble he must never get close to with his father’s goats or anything else regarding his father’s will or say so. The boy feared the maize field most other than the other fields because he knew that they are people every day who are guarding there to check that no livestock will come near there or else inside there. You know Aron wasn’t a herd boy for his father but... he was even smart from school even the teachers respected him so much for his good work and they were rumours that he will awarded a full scholarship until he went to the university so he can be whatever he wants. Well... he wanted to be in the agricultural sector as he didn’t just liked animals but... he loved crops as he used to help his father in their garden at home to plant a few of y=type of crops like carrots, onions, spinaches, cabbages and etc. So they can afford a little living for themselves and in that case they knew that they will never go in bed with the empty stomach because an empty is the same as the empty mind and nothing will be going according to plan when one of those is not fed well. The rumours of Aron’s scholarship brought many jealousies amongst other children in the village of Kings and that caused to be treated different by some of the villagers whose children were schooling with Aron and they were questioning themselves that why they chose Aron to obtain the scholarship while their children didn’t get nothing. What they didn’t know is that their children needed to be as smart as Aron so they can all obtain the same achievements to get the scholarship along with Aron. Because that was so hard for them their jealousy was just nothing because they were jealous of something they cannot change or have anything to change it and it was final that Aron will the awarded one no matter what happens. So Aron as hard working as he was to obtain his marks as making sure his father’s goats were taken cared of at the veld anyway he al know that the body will tired eventually and the brains as well was going to feel the same pressure along the way. That tells eventually there will be mistakes he will make along the way and that mistakes might cause harm to his fathers’ goats as well as his father when he had to pay the fine for them just in case they stepped in that maize field of the heartless old Dutch man who has been living there for many years. Everybody in the village was scared of him because nobody ever saw him smiling or talking with anyone in the village besides his workers who worked there even to them he wasn’t a nice guy and he was always aggressive to them. Other workers even understood him that his head is always hot as hell and the hell he feels he always took on the wrong group of people who came there for peace of making a living by working from him to put a decent meal for their families. Well... the old Dutch farmer was a very strict man who believed in hard work and he knew that to build his legacy in this rainbow nation he had to be mean and serious about business. It is not a secret that our South African country is owned by the foreign people who actually owns the land in our country. However, Aron and his father owned just a portion of land in the village of Kings and the rest was owned by the old Dutch man with his family. Many fields were foreign owned and what really pissed the villagers of Kings is that the old Dutch man and his family were doing as they please in the village of Kings and they always put other villagers in hell because of their dominance in the village. For the record Aron and his father were caught herding around the maize field by the workers and they were warned that if the old Dutch man called Mr Van Roebuck found them there again their lives will be one of the living hells they don’t wish to be in. Simon didn’t pay much attention on what the workers were saying but he knew his son was extra careful about everything when regarding the goats. Anyway what Simon didn’t know is he should have taken the workers at the maize field seriously and took the matter very closer to himself because his carelessness was going to cost him his only pride at the village which is his livestock as the people were so jealous about the growth he was making rapidly on his livestock as he was helped by the lady from agricultural sector who eventually fell in love with him as well. You know sometimes it is such a bad thing to mix business with pleasure but the two seemed to know what they were doing and they looked like their affair wasn’t going to make things go sound for them.


© Makaziwe Gotyana