Whitethorn by Bryce Courtenay Page B

boxing hero and Pissy was the worst kind of a nobody, even if he was a Boer. There was another Boys Home in Pietersburg, they’d probably send him up there.
    With Mevrou standing there screaming at him my whole world exploded into smithereens.
    â€˜No! No, it wasn’t him, I swear it!’ Pissy cried out. ‘It wasn’t Fonnie du Preez who done it to me. It was the kaffir . The pig boy!’
    â€˜The pig boy? The kaffir ? The kaffir did it?’ she said incredulously. ‘When, for God’s sake! Tell me, man.’
    â€˜When I had my epileptic fit he saved my life, and then after I came out the sick room I went to see him at his hut by the pigsty to thank him for putting the stick in my mouth, like you said I should.’
    â€˜ Here , man! He did it to you then?’ she asked. ‘In his dirty kaffir hut where you went to say thank you?’
    â€˜ Ja , he threw me on his bed and did it to me!’ Pissy howled and looked up despairingly at Mevrou. ‘It hurt a lot.’
    Mevrou was nearly beside herself. ‘In his stinking bed! In his dirty blankets?’
    Pissy nodded and sniffed some snot and looked miserable.
    â€˜ Sis , man . . . Why didn’t you report it, child?’
    â€˜I couldn’t, Mevrou, I . . . I was too ashamed. I only told Fonnie du Preez.’
    â€˜You told him what the kaffir did to you, everything?’
    â€˜ Ja , Mevrou, I told him and Fonnie said he would kill the fucking kaffir , that’s why we were – Fonnie didn’t piss on me that time.’
    â€˜Say again, it wasn’t about Fonnie du Preez pissing on you?’
    â€˜No, Mevrou, I jus’ made that up,’ Pissy said, looking sort of half ashamed. ‘He was going to donder the pig boy, that’s why we were there.’
    Mevrou drew back. ‘Made it up?’ She looked at him sternly. ‘What else are you making up, Kobus?’
    â€˜No, it’s God’s truth, Mevrou,’ he sniffed.
    â€˜Stoppit!’ Mevrou yelled. ‘Calm down, no more crying, you hear? Genoeg ! Now you going to tell everything that happened, from the beginning.’
    Pissy sniffed and sobbed down to quite a quick calmness. Mevrou leaned forward and said, ‘The big rock. Now I want the truth, you hear? What were you really doing there – first it’s bush doves, then it’s pissing all over a person’s head, now it’s . . . what?’
    â€˜Fonnie sent me to tell the pig boy one of the cows was caught in a whitethorn bush at the big rock and he must come there. The pig boy came and when he got there Fonnie hit him and knocked him down. It was a good punch,’ Pissy elaborated. ‘The kaffir got angry and he jumped up on his feet and Fonnie hit him again, a left and a right, but it was no use, the pig boy jus’ kept coming at him and lifted Fonnie in the air and threw him against the big rock. I ran to tell Meneer Botha.’
    I had to admit Pissy’s lying was a genuine world championship performance and he’d even got Fonnie du Preez off the hook. Pissing on somebody wasn’t a very nice thing to do to a person, but it could be seen as just boys’ pranks, and while masturbation was a definite sin, it wasn’t Pretoria material. Fonnie would get the long cane, six or maybe even ten of Meneer Prinsloo’s special running-at-you cuts and then the tank. When he came out he’d be a hero, because he had the guts to take on and pick a fight with the stinking kaffir who, what can you expect, fought dirty and not like a white man. He’d also gone to avenge Pissy. Even if they were related, it was a most honourable thing to do. The kaffir was much bigger and stronger but Fonnie didn’t care, he took him on all the same. That’s how it would go. What’s more, when it was over Pissy Vermaak’s reputation wouldn’t be much worse, because, like me, he was a complete nobody already and what’s