My name is Lucas and since having a benefactor, my life is different, significantly different.
I should actually say I have 3 benefactors and even though they are much older than I am I have been told to call them Wil, Lila and Vi. It seemed to me to be a bit rude because they are even older than my grandparents but I am at last comfortable doing what they have asked of me.
I actually saw the vehicle in which they were travelling, swerve to miss a car and leave the road, turn in the air and leave barely a sign that they were down a steep bank. I could hardly believe my eyes so I scuttled down the bank and put my eye to a tear in the metal and saw the 3 of them, bleeding and hurt, crawling about.
Being nearly 12 I realised I was too small to help but I got to the road as fast as I could and asked Bert, (actually a boy from my school and almost my age) who had by chance stopped on that lonely stretch of road with his dad, to get help.
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It all happened so fast but we had to wait for the ambulance and the medics to arrive and we helped Wil, Vi and Lila to get away from the bus because it caught fire in the end. The heat came off it in huge waves nearly suffocating us.
After the huge fuss that day, Bert’s dad Mr de Soto saw our headmaster Mr Duvenhage and gave him the details of the rescue. He told him that I was a credit to my parents and to the school, also that I was well spoken and had good manners. (All that moaning and coaching from my Ouma and Oupa have paid off I reckon.)
Then the lady Vi tracked me down following kids wearing my school uniform. She only knew my name Lucas and on being shown a photo of a couple of Lucas’s by my headmaster who was fascinated by her story that supported Mr de Soto’s story, she identified me.
She also laid on the praise and said they would have been burnt alive if it hadn’t been for me and the rescue squad I was instrumental in calling to the scene.
Almost too much for me……..whew, my grandparents thought as much too and shook their heads in amazement. To them I had only done what any decent human being should do.
I actually have no parents but the people closest and most valued in my life are my grandparents – GRAND indeed. My parents died within a year of each other from a disease called AIDS. My Oumie and Oupa (Afrikaans is their main language) took over when I was still in nappies. Fortunately through God’s grace says my Oumie, I was born aids free and though still on the small side, boy do I want to grow some muscles, I am fit and healthy.
They are both workers at the local hospital.
My grandad who is still in his 50’s is a porter and my gran is a cafeteria lady. She serves and can work the computer and does all the ordering.
She is the one who insists that we read good books all the time in both English and Afrikaans. She does not allow slang (I save that for my mates) and I have a vocabulary list stuck on the fridge so I am competent in every aspect in both languages.
(I have to admit I have groused and even cried at times but she just smiles and insists………I do love books now especially Fantasy like Lord of the Rings.)
Since meeting so many people from the upper echelons (my latest word, smart hey?) of society and having to speak in public I am suddenly very grateful to Oumie. I see kids my age struggling so much. They’d rather die I think than speak to a crowd of people.
I am planning to join the Public Speaking extra mural club and use up some of these grand words that they say, ‘I absorb like a sponge.’
Miss Vi and I have become great friends. I even text her on the cel phone she organised for our family. Oupa has one that is so old he calls it ‘the brick,’ but it works!
She said on that presentation day, with tears in her eyes, (pride she said) that when my team was playing a home game she would be there with Wil and hopefully Lila too.
Imagine my hectic (ooops, slang) incredible surprise when Wil showed up to the match in his ‘muscle – slang for powerful vintage car….. a real beauty in anyone’s language. The car and the visitors honouring me gave me big points in the eyes of my team mates.
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I had been ready to do battle for our local soccer team but Oumie and Oupa couldn’t afford the cost of the beautiful uniform apart from the black shorts that I wear anyway. I am doing odd jobs and had R51.90 in the glass bottle in my room and every week Oupa would put in R5 and Ouma some silver and copper from her purse.
I actually cried real tears when my benefactors brought this amazing (borderline slang says Oumie) parcel to our small house (kept like a pin by the 3 of us I must say).
In it were the red T shirt with the dragon decal on front and the most divine (slang? SO annoying) soccer boots anyone ever put foot in. It makes it possible for me to play a match. The Red Dragon team holds practices 3 times a week with coaches from outside but cannot help us buy the uniforms needed. It was just a fact of my life so I concentrated instead on becoming the best soccer player in my age group.
Ouma told me constantly and cheerfully that we believed in a God who performed miracles. Now I preach that more than she ever did!
So the day dawned for our home soccer game. I had already ‘played away’ twice and got good comments mostly and a red face a few too many times for my liking. We lost each time but our coach said we did our best and that he was proud of us. I was still in the team and loving every minute. Bert, the boy I met when he was having a ‘pee’ on the side of the road on the day of the accident, had also come with me to one of our practises and is a reserve for the team.
The game got off to a very poor start as the Poisonous Puffadders surprised us with tricky moves and the score was 2 nil – a mind blowing disgrace. Never mind that one of their team should have been given a ‘card for the sin bin’ but the ref turned a blind eye according to me! My gran said later not to fret, ever, because God sees. I’ve come to believe what she says and have become more ‘laid back’ – slang, again!
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We had a pep talk at half time with our coach and he invited Wil to come and chat with the boys as he had been an English soccer player for United no less. Wil pointed out our weak point that the opposition was hammering away at and were scoring off us. Coach told us how to close that gap and thank heavens when we were back on the field we had a HUGE SURPRISE for our opponents who thought the game was theirs.
Pride really does go before a fall!
Imagine our excitement when in the closing minute of the game we scored our third goal and we won by 3 goals to 2!
Vi took off her pretty hat and threw it in the air and Lila waved her sunshade and they all shouted for joy and hugged my grandparents too. What a sight!
The second best part of the WHOLE day was Vi who lived up to her promise to buy super duper milkshakes for the WHOLE team…’win or lose’ she had said but we were so glad for our win!
I was the hero in their eyes as they selected the sprinkles and treats on top of their ‘shakes’.
A photograph of the team with my 3 benefactors, Coach Hanson and my grandparents was again on the front page of the local newspaper that comes out on a Wednesday. Each of us had a milkshake in our hands and a milk moustache on our lips.
What a triumph, what a laugh!
