"Rode, Linda - I, A Living Arrow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rode Linda)

has, since the release of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, become a Rainbow
Nation. People are beginning to love and respect one another, irre-
spective of race or religion. Nelson Mandela has succeeded in becom-
ing one of the most highly respected leaders of all time. Almost every
single South African sees him as a sign of hope and a light for the future.

Jonathan Shahim
Grade 11 - St Stithians College, Randburg

Keith Kila - Guguletu Comprehensive

Child of the pavement

Emmerentia Erasmus

She could have been fourteen years old ... or eight. You never really
know with them, unless you carefully look at the face. But if you do
look carefully there are always two pleading eyes that fill your thoughts
afterwards. Dirty-white eyes, murky around the large, dark pupils with
a mistiness that makes them look even more secretive. It is as if the
mistiness allows you to see only what they want you to see. And what
you see is only the pleading for a few cents, that nauseates you, awak-
ens your conscience and digs inside you.

I rested my eyes on the red jacket because it was the only colour in
the grey weather. The frizzy, wild hair stuck out from under a blue
beanie and hung stringily against the naked neck. She constantly
rubbed her dust-pale, bewildered hands to get some fleeting warmth.
She sat curled up in the corner. I don't know how I knew that it was a
girl. Maybe there was something feminine in her bearing.

She sat motionless and I wondered what thoughts polluted her mind.
Was she dreaming of a bottle of glue to survive the unbearable cold? Or
... was she longing for the nurturing and gentleness which her life
lacked? How do children like her land on the street? Does she really
have no refuge? Did she herself choose her future or was it fate that de-
cided? My questions floated around the quiet figure. It was as if I were
waiting for a reaction. But there was still only the cold and the wind and
the grey weather. I had to stop myself from doing something that was
not asked of me.

And then I saw the blue beanie move.

Her head turned slowly to the left, as if she had heard my thoughts.
Her dull eyes turned towards me, but they were as expressionless as two
marbles. Yet there was a softness around the corners of the mouth, al-
most a calmness. I wondered whether, hidden somewhere, there was
not a trace of emotion.

I forgot my inhibitions, my background, my education and my