Chapter 7

Arriving at his destination, Santon City, Lord Balah watched as all the expensive cars he had been following vigilantly through the night entered and exited the parking lot like ants in and out of a busy anthill.  Filled suddenly with an inner sense of direction and unquestionable knowing, Lord Balah walked steadily through the sun’s early morning rays and entered Santon City as if being pulled by an invisible rope.

Lord Balah entered Santon City through entrance 2- the one by the Nino’s coffee shop- and walked slowly past the shocked onlookers who had all stopped sipping their skinny cappuccinos and were now collectively staring at him wide-eyed and fearful.  Lord Balah had forgotten about his extreme makeover, so tired was he, and now as he stood looking at his reflection in the glass door of Clicks, he realized why the rich people looked so scared:  in the 3 days that he had been in South Africa he had completely transformed physically, and now looked like a cross between Moses from the Bible and a hobo.  Still too tired to process this information, Lord Balah turned forward and proceeded to make his way through the crowded shopping mall.

Lord Balah had only taken a few steps forward when he felt a pair of eyes staring wide-eyed at him from within the Woolworths display window.  Unlike the others, these eyes seemed to recognize Lord Balah, and as Lord Balah stared back an inner knowing took hold as he realized the significance of the mysterious pair of eyes:  they were his fathers.

It was as if fate had directed him there, Lord Balah surmised, as he walked slowly towards the man who now had joyful tears in his eyes.  Dressed impeccably in trendy, tight-fitting clothes, Lord Balah’s father looked much younger than his 45 years, although their facial features were identical.  Confused as to why his father would be standing inside a Woolworths display window, Lord Balah suggested they sit down and maybe get some coffee or something.  Godfrey (that’s what his name badge said) had known Lord Balah was coming to find him (for he too had been visited by Thembi Kwokwo in his dreams) and had been expecting this visit, but yet still was overwhelmingly overjoyed by his son’s appearance, and so suggested that they rather go to MacDonalds and get a Happy Meal- because this was such a happy day for him.

Father and son collected their Happy Meals and found a quiet corner in the back of the restaurant where they sat down to eat.  Aware of the thoughts floating through Lord Balah’s mind, Godfrey began to speak and tell the story of how he- once a powerful sangoma revered and respected by all who knew him- ended up as the Creative Director of the Santon City Woolworths display window.

Godfrey spent the next 8 hours in that small McDonalds corner explaining to Lord Balah how his life as a sangoma was a difficult one.  He explained how, as a child, he had always known that he was different, and then when the village sangoma at the time chose him as the next successor this feeling was even more strongly confirmed for him.  Happy to fulfill what he thought was his destiny, Godfrey entered the unofficial sangoma training camp as an apprentice to Sangoma Zodwa, and was given the sangoma name of Sangoma Lupapwe.  Under Sangoma Zodwa’s watchful eye, Godfrey trained for 6 years until Sangoma Zodwa’s unexpected death from a heart attack pushed him into the role of Official Village Sangoma. 

Life as the official village Sangoma was a very stressful and high-pressure occupation, Godfrey explained, with people knocking on his mud-hut door constantly at all hours of the day and night, asking him to perform spells, heal illnesses, or perform some or other absolutely urgent miracle for them.  Also, Godfrey told Lord Balah, being a Sangoma can be a lonely life, since they have to take a vow of celibacy before getting the job.

Godfrey told Lord Blah of his conception:  one night, ravaged by uncontrollable thoughts of a sexual nature which he was trying to escape, Godfrey ran to the river’s edge and was about to jump in to cool off when he looked up to see a beautiful young peasant standing watching him from across the river.  In a romantic love scene that really makes no sense at all, the two humped like rabbits for all of 5 minutes (Ok so it wasn’t that romantic), and then Godfrey got up off the ground, brushed himself off, and went back to his mud-hut, never to see the girl again (they lived in neighboring villages which prevented a lot of awkwardness, one might assume).  All of this, Godfrey said, happened when he was 25 years old, and it would take another 10 years before he would finally come out of the closet and admit that he was gay.

As it turns out, dear reader, Godfrey (known then as Sangoma Lupapwe) was a flaming homosexual the whole time- albeit a non-practicing one.  To the trained eye (i.e. those with Gaydar), the writing would have been on the proverbial wall from day one:  the impeccable attention to detail, the trendy fashion sense (Sngoma Lpapwe’s animal hide outfits were always the talk of the village), and even the strange lisp he had had since the first day he could talk…Indeed, ladies and gentlemen, Godfrey was gay.

Having had homosexual thoughts since he was a small boy, Godfrey explained to Lord Balah how he had tried even harder to present a tough, macho, bad-boy image to the village people.  Being gay was a crime worthy of death, and so Godfrey knew he could never tell anyone.  The loneliness of his dark secret soon caught up with him, however, and before long Godfrey found himself hopelessly addicted to peyote and peach-flavoured mampoer.  Sometimes, he said, he would wake up on the floor of his mud-hut covered in his own vomit, and it was at that stage that he realised he had hit “rock bottom” and had to get help.  For 10 years he lived this dark double life:  a powerful and revered sangoma to the people, and a peach-flavoured mampoer  and peyote addict behind closed doors.  At the age of 35 years old Godfrey finally mustered up the courage to do what he knew  he had to do:  he had to leave his village in search of the nearest rehab facility and he needed to confess his tragic secret to another living human being.

Godfrey left his small African village in the foothills of Lesotho and traveled by foot to the neighboring country of South Africa.  There he entered a SANCA-approved drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility and began working the 12 steps.  He learnt important things coping mechanisms such as “letting go and letting God”, and “working the steps one day at a time”.  In addition to getting clean, Godfrey also fell in love for the first time with a recovering heroin addict named Peter.  Unfortunately the relationship did not last long, however, since dating in stricktly forbidden within the rehab facility, although the two men remain on good terms and still keep in touch and recently added each other as Facebook friends.  All in all, rehab was a good experience for Godfrey, and it was from there that he traveled to the nearby Santon City shopping mall in search of a job.

Being gay, Godfrey naturally had a flair for all things creative.  It was for this reason that he was instantly hired as the new Woolworths Display Manager.  Being the Display Manager, it was Godfrey’s job to put stuff wherever the Creative Director told him to.  Godfrey desperately aspired to become the Creative Director.  He eventually got his chance a few weeks later when the then Creative Director, Fabio, choked on a handful of peanuts he didn’t chew properly before swallowing.  Godfrey at this point in the story had now been Creative Director for 3 months, but aspired to even greater things:  he wanted to be the Creative Manager of the entire Woolworths store- all two levels of it.

Godfrey’s story was a lot for Lord Balah to take in, but he nevertheless sat enwrapped in his father’s words, wishing there was something he could do to help procure his fathers promotion.  Godfrey could see that his son was exhausted, and so he suggested that they go home to Godfrey’s shack in Soweto for the evening.  By this time it was about 8pm and the store would still be open for another hour (it was the week before Christmas so the shopping mall stayed open late), but Godfrey was sure his boss would let him off early.

As Godfrey walked into his boss’ office to ask if he could leave early, Godfrey was automatically handed his new name badge.  On it was written “Godfrey Shabalala:  Creative Manager”.  In that instant Godfrey knew what had just happened:  the special Sangoma powers which he himself had once possessed had now been transferred to his son, Lord Balah, who (it seemed) was unknowingly responsible for the job promotion he had only just minutes before expressed a desire for.  In that moment Godfrey decided not to tell Lord Balah of this promotion or of his special Sangoma powers, but instead decided to take the poor boy home, feed him and let him get some much needed rest.  In the morning, Gdfrey decided, he would tell Lord Balah of the changes that would occur, as Lord Balah would slowly transform into the most powerful sangoma in the universe.