Free This Thing Called the Future by J.L. Powers

money for their daughter, but we live in modern times. Mama would say it’s time men stopped buying their wives, even while Gogo would protest and say that paying lobolo isn’t buying a wife, it’s linking two families together. I’ve heard them arguing about it. Gogo chides Mama for having two children with a man and never marrying him. “At least a man has never owned me,” Mama always says, ending the argument.
    Thandi laughs at my comment. “You think my gogo is going to let me get married without lobolo ? You’re really crazy, Khosi. In my household, we follow every Zulu tradition.”
    Baba is a very traditional man, just like Thandi’s grandmother. He’ll insist on lobolo when I get married too. And I will get married. I’ll live with one man, and he’ll be faithful to me, and we’ll both avoid the three-letter plague—HIV—that’s running around killing everybody in our country. These days, getting married is more important than ever, but it better have nothing to do with a man owning me. Because if it came down to that , I agree with Mama one hundred percent.
    â€œOkay,” I say, “but that doesn’t mean you have to run around with older men. In a few years, maybe you can find a young man you like, and he can pay lobolo through an installment plan.”
    Thandi laughs at me.
    â€œWhat? Why are you laughing? A lot of men are doing that these days.”
    â€œYou think I want to wait ten years to get married because it
takes him that long to pay?” she asks. “No thanks! I’d be an old woman marrying an old man. I’m telling you, Khosi, the only solution is to get yourself a sugar daddy.”
    Just then, we spot Little Man playing around with Victory Shabangu at the other end of the hall. When he looks up, I wave. But Victory whispers something to him, and instead of waving back, he turns his back. He and Victory keep fooling around, slamming locker doors.
    My stomach clenches. “Are you sure Little Man said he wanted me to come to his brother’s party?” I ask.
    Thandi laughs. “You should give up your obsession,” she advises. “Older men know how to treat a woman. They wouldn’t ignore you like he did just now.”
    My stomach cramps and a searing fear runs through my entire body.
    â€œLittle Man’s my friend,” I say, still feeling the sting. That sting quickly changes to anger. With Thandi. “Besides, how do you know your older man isn’t already married?”
    â€œThanks, Khosi!” she shouts, offended. “You’re just jealous.”
    It’s true. I spoke in anger, but there’s more to it than that. There’s a voice inside my head, telling me that there’s something ugly in her future. “How do you know this Honest is somebody you can trust?”
    She looks wounded by my question. “Khosi, what you don’t understand is that all men like sugar on the side,” she says. “It’s just what our men do. Even my baba has a girlfriend. I bet your baba has another girlfriend besides your Mama, maybe he even has other children—”
    â€œShut up, Thandi,” I interrupt her, to stop the flow of words streaming out of her mouth. It isn’t something I want to think about, Baba putting Mama in danger like that. “If Honest has a girlfriend on the side, you should be careful.”
    â€œCareful?” she asks.
    Why is she pretending? “Don’t close your eyes, Thandi,” I say. “You see the billboards. You see the ads on TV. You know about HIV, how it spreads.”
    She shrugs. “I like the gifts Honest gives me.”
    â€œI don’t need gifts.” For sure, I don’t need the big gift that sugar
daddies leave their girlfriends, the big gift that causes them to lose weight, get sick, and die.
    But then Thandi looks shy as she says, “And he makes me feel