It shouldn’t happen?

Erik Peeters

This happened to the mother
of a good friend of mine.
She was at home, as housewives are,
engaged in the daily battle
against dust, laundry and dirty dishes
that never can be won.
A man rattled at her garden gate,
scared there might be dogs.
She went — he looked for work
or food, or just a little money
(money obviously preferred).
She invited him in
for jam bread and milky tea,
as she did with everyone who came.
She was a Christian wife,
believed in sharing what she had,
blessing others with the blessing she’d received.
I can’t imagine what he thought
when he tied her up with electric wire
and stabbed her three times in the chest
(my friend’s youngest brother found her there).
He took the TV and the video,
no more; the cup of tea she’d made for him
left untouched, cold, on the kitchen counter.
It shouldn’t happen, should it?
Somehow, her gesture of kindness
should have cocooned her in,
suspended the rules that control this world
as it had always done before.
Yet, this was South Africa —
murder no longer is an unexpected chance.

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