Channel Esther: South Africa Chronicles #4

by Esther Cohen

ANOTHER DAY IN CAPE TOWN SISTER GRACE

People like tourist
sites museums
official
explanations
here’s what
happened signs.

Yesterday we went
to lunch
at DaVinci’s
Restaurant
with Chesray’s relatives.
Her family’s called
colored here.
Most of them ordered
Cape Town combination:
fried calamari
with ribs.

Sister Grace
a big big woman
she is 53
Aunt Cilla’s
best friend
her husband died
four years ago
she took in
a male white border
only white
in her township.
He has
a job she said.
But when he got paid
on Thursday
he just
vanished.
“I haven’t
seen him since,”
she said.
And just in case
we missed the point
she explained
to the table
of fourteen relatives
He Went With
All His Money
she said.