Karoo Moose

Now whether this story was conceived by garrulous women or a silent man, we will never know. We also have no idea where somewhere better is or even if it exists. But what we do know is that when the children left the village, it was no longer a village, it was rather a place of forgotten stories. And there was no more Thozama and there was no more wild and unimaginable and terrifying beast.

Thozama. The truck is working. I have fixed it! (They go off.)

Somewhere else! Somewhere better!

Some stories told by the very old and seemingly mad, sometimes call on the unexpected. Our story discovers that Jonas is not quite the man we expected him to be, and that perhaps those that said he was a man who once sang love songs, were less wrong than those who said he had always been a nobody.

HOLA appears from his house. He is surprised to see THOZAMA in her current state. They battle it out. KHOLA is cunning. He uses the net to trap THOZAMA. He takes out a knife and is about to slit her throat when from the shadows JONAS appears. He is carrying a belt! JONAS straps the belt around KHOLA’s neck and chokes the life out of him.

Silence…

At the riverbank, THOZAMA, naked, sits on her haunches and digs furiously with a sharp knife at some wet clay. She takes a handful of clay and smears it on her face. Next to her, lies the Moose’s head. Song starts.

She ritualistically calls on the MOOSE by smearing her body with wet earth. The NARRATORS start circling her with branches in their hands. The MOOSE moves around her and inbetween the narrators. THOZAMA and the MOOSE become one being. THOZAMA now takes on the power of the beast.

At the shabeen, Khola and David are striking a deal with sex-workers, Lucy and Sandy.

BRIAN

Don’t be stupid………… I can help you.

THOZAMA

You help me? You help me? You? You have vrot in your blood. Vrot! You think you better than him. You’re not. You’re the same. You’re the same!

(THOZAMA lets out a silent gasp.) Tucked inside the blanket is a roll of humbugs.

Suddenly, they hear the sound of a baby crying.

The family rushes to open the door. There, on the step they see a small bundle. THOZAMA picks up her baby – hugging it tightly to her, tears pouring down her face. They go back to the kitchen. BRIAN goes out into the dark and looks up and down the street.