Coming Home

A few years later, the room is now “a warm lived-in space.” Veronica, visibly unwell and distressed, prepares a meal. Alfred arrives and tries making small talk, but Veronica is unreceptive. She says Mannetjie is at school, and Alfred begins recalling in detail all the happy times of his and Veronica’s own school days. His rambling prompts an outburst from Veronica, who says memories are useless. She settles down and apologizes, saying she’s only mad at herself, not Alfred.

His attempts to cheer her up having failed, Alfred now tells Veronica directly that she must see a doctor about whatever’s bothering her. Veronica frustratedly reveals that she has AIDS. She insists that he not tell anyone, fearing the ignorant rumors that will circulate throughout the village and cause her and Mannetjie to be treated differently. When Alfred asks if Mannetjie has AIDS too, Veronica explodes in rage before cooling down and answering that he doesn’t—she contracted it after he was born. She worries that her son will hate her when he finds out, but Alfred says “[c]hildren always love their mommies.”

Veronica confides in Alfred that her letters to Oupa were filled with lies and that her life in Cape Town, where she’d been trying to make it as a singer, was harsh and miserable. She eventually met and fell in love with a black Bantu man from Mozambique named Manfred Mannyike, who got her a cleaning job in the Holiday Inn. Manfred genuinely seemed to love Veronica, but then some xenophobes killed him in a barfight. After that, Veronica found out she was pregnant. Then in quick succession she lost her job and started drinking heavily. She and her new son Mannetjie ended up in squatter camps, where she contracted AIDS from one of her many sexual partners. Once she found out about her disease, she swore off drinking and returned with Mannetjie to her childhood home.

Veronica explains to Alfred that AIDS is incurable and that treatments are far too expensive for people of average means. She now reveals her plan for Alfred to marry her and thus act as a stepfather to Mannetjie after she dies, circumventing child protective services. Alfred is aghast—they both know Mannetjie doesn’t like him. Veronica pleads with him to do his best with Mannetjie and to tell him stories to keep her memory alive.

Mannetjie now returns home, excited about a book his teacher gave him. He disparages Alfred and refuses to read aloud in his presence. Veronica now explains that Alfred will be his new stepfather. Both Alfred and Mannetjie sneer at this plan and proceed to call each other names. A frustrated Veronica finally interrupts them and insists that the plan is going ahead regardless of how they feel about it.