Sweef | Optelgoed – Christien Neser | English Summary

Sweef en ander Verhale

Optelgoed – Christien Neser

Anita returns home to find her grandfather in front of the TV, drooling all over the chest of his pyjamas. She tries to head to her bedroom before he can see her quickly, but he notices her before she even turns the doorknob. He gestures with his functional left-hand and says “Thank you very much”. He can only say a few words after his stroke, and they usually make no sense to Anita. Somehow, her mother can piece together the chaos, but she’s the only person in the house who can. Unwilling to talk to her grandfather, she tries to cut the interaction short with excuses, but he keeps saying “No, no, no!” whenever Anita tries to leave, or call her mother. When Anita asks if her mother has left the house, her grandfather quickly responds with several triumphant yes’s. She thinks it’s like watching a sickly baby learn how to speak. He gestures half-comically to Anita’s father’s study, and she asks him if he’d like a drink. More triumphant yes’s. Anita feels something akin to kinship because for three weeks he’d been sitting there asking for something to drink and her mother would always make him a cup of Horlicks, but he’d never refuse. She feels a kinship because it’s like just like Anita, granddad might feel uncomfortable drinking in front of her mother.

Her father’s study is containing her father’s whiskey and her father’s father slurping at the glass like a thirsty animal. Anita thinks about something unpleasant – her father found someone new, and they’re enjoying their life together. She stops that thought entirely – there’s nothing Anita hates more than self-pity. While her grandfather sips at his drink, his eyes are closed as if he’s in prayer and a tear forms in his left eye, which is his weak side. She notes that her grandfather cries a lot these days, and the tears fall more from his left eye. He mouths something quietly. “Nice”. These tears are like those that come from being moved by magnificent works of art. He then uses his stronger hand to gesture at Anita’s face, and he repeats his sentiment. “Nice”. She asks him if he thinks so and he throws out his trademark “thank you very much” and “yes” over and over again. Anita looks at her reflection, seeing nothing but plainness in the image distorted by the drink within. It isn’t enough that your grandfather thinks you’re beautiful.

He struggles to put the glass down on the table in front of him, leaning so far out of his chair that Anita thinks he’ll fall out. As he sets it down, he repeats his earlier sentiment. “Nice”. Anita crouches down in front of him and grabs his shoulder for the first time since his stroke. The once muscly shoulder that could comfortably carry heavy sacks of maize meal now feels soft to the touch. Suddenly, the old man says “Wait” in a voice that does not buckle at all. He sniffs at the air like an animal tracking something, before holding her tightly with his strong arm. He looks deep into her eyes, and it is evident that he has something to say. His eyes seem almost all-knowing and fear sets into Anita because she knows she’s been found out. Without removing his blue eyes from Anita’s reddening face, he takes the bag of marijuana out of her pocket and puts it into his own. Laboriously but very clearly he says to her “goodies”.

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