Free Tandia by Bryce Courtenay Page B

looking railway official and told Tandia to get out of the car. The man from the railway was the first person other than policemen Tandia had seen in what seemed to her like a lifetime. To Tandia he represented the normal world she had once known and she immediately felt more secure. The official wasn't wearing the coat of his blue serge uniform; his waistcoat was unbuttoned and his tie knot pulled down, which made him look friendlier. A bluish rash of stubble covered his jowls and he scratched at his crotch absently as though he was not yet properly awake.
    In a manner common to South African whites, Geldenhuis spoke to the railway official as though Tandia wasn't present. 'Look, man, I want you to let this girl sit on a bench until the first train.' He paused. 'By the way, when is that?' The railway official automatically reached for his pocket watch. Forgetting that his waistcoat was unbuttoned he dug his thumb and forefinger into the roll of fat where his fob pocket ought to have been. 'Ten minutes to five,' he said automatically, looking down into his empty hand. 'Ja, okay, she will be gone before then.'
    The railway official looked at Tandia for the first time. 'Has she got a pass?' He pointed at her and turned to Geldenhuis. 'She looks like she's been in a fight. She's not a tsotsi's girl is she?' The idea of her being a street hooligan's woman seemed to wake him up and he wagged the finger at Tandia. 'I don't want any trouble from a bladdy coloured or kaffir gang, you hear?'
    'No, man, no trouble,' Geldenhuis said impatiently, 'Jus' let her sit on a bench, okay, hey?'
    The railway man shrugged. 'Ja, if she's got a pass it's"okay by me.'
    Geldenhuis clicked his tongue. 'No, man, she hasn't got a pass! I just want her to sit on a bench until some people come.'
    'You better give me your name and your phone number in case some other police come,' said the stationmaster.
    Geldenhuis wrote down his phone number and name and, tearing the page from a small spiral notepad, handed it to the official who turned and walked away without bidding him goodnight.
    Geldenhuis turned to Tandia. 'Don't try and leave here; you haven't got a night pass, and if some other police pick you up you'll be charged and go to the lock-up for six days. Just stay here on a bench, okay?'
    Tandia nodded; the thought of being apprehended again terrified her. Geldenhuis opened the boot and she lifted the basin to her head. Very little strength remained in her beaten body and she rose slowly to an upright position.
    'Can I go now please, sir?' she whispered.
    'Ja, go!'
    Tandia walked up the station steps into the building. 'Hey!' Geldenhuis called. The heavy basin on her head caused Tandia to turn slowly to face him. If he called her back again she knew she would surely faint. He stood with his elbow resting on the top of the open driver's door.
    'Yes, sir?' it was hardly a whisper and the white policeman would have had difficulty even detecting the movement of her lips.
    Geldenhuis patted the breast pocket of his uniform and grinned. 'Jus' remember, jong, in the eyes of the law you nothing but a whore!'
    Tandia turned and walked into the station building where she found a bench on the platform stencilled 'Non-Whites.' She pushed the basin under the bench and sat down on the deserted platform. She was unutterably tired but the joy of having finally escaped Geldenhuis overcame her weariness for a moment and she impulsively rose from the bench and pulled the basin out from under it.
    The two cotton shifts into which Apple Sammy, Tandia's kewpie doll, had been wrapped hadn't come undone when the basin had toppled to the road. Now she removed the doll and examined it. Apple Sammy had large, ingenuous dark-blue eyes which had faded somewhat and the once bright rose rouge on his cheeks was now only faintly discernible, but he seemed no worse for wear. Tandia adjusted the doll's legs and pulled at his tiny pink organza skirt.
    Tandia sat with the small doll