THE PRICELESS VALUE OF R100

 

DISCLAIMER : The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.

The young boy stood, mesmerised by the musical talent of the performing artist.  The artist is a thin, unremarkable woman with multiple scars on her exposed arms and a few on her face.  She sings in perfect pitch while playing a ukelele in such a way that it draws a crowd of people who appear to be experiencing the delight of listening to a full orchestral band.  The young boy in the crowd belongs to a group of tourists from a docked cruise ship, and by the time his parents, with signs of obvious worry on their faces, join him and draw him into their protective embrace, he wriggles free, steps forward and drops a ZAR100 note into the artist’s collection hat. She noticed the money immediately, the only one of its kind among mostly first world currencies.  By the time she manages to transition to a catchy African tune, the crowd joined in with clapping and cheering, but the young boy and his parents had already left.  A folded, hand-written, note was attached to the boy’s ZAR100 note, but it would take many hours of daytime performing before the tired woman would discover and read the note.  

Harry and Denise were highschool sweethearts before they got married while both were still university students.  Their plan was to graduate, find employment and start a family.  Although they were successful with the first two steps, success with the third step eluded them for a painfully long time.  Their decision to adopt a child came at an emotional cost which by far exceeded the small fortune which they invested in fertility treatment, but they did not have to wait long to be rewarded for this decision.  A tiny newborn boy wrapped in a plush blue baby blanket, placed in a large cardboard gift box, was found on the steps in front of a church office.  Tim Johnson, team leading minister of the reformed church where Harry and Denise found belonging, found the baby.  Tim helped the couple follow the necessary legal steps and within a few weeks, Harry and Denise welcomed little Jacob into their home.  

Don, Ella’s uncle, convinced her parents to enrol her into his church’s student-focused program, C-WAY.  This program, grounded in Christian ethos, comprises several units representing various disciplines of creative arts and music.  Although the initial aim of C-WAY was to provide tertiary training in music and arts to school leavers planning to go into full time ministry, it has also become a popular attraction to parents of young people who have lost their Christian way.  Even by the most liberal Christian standards, it had become undeniably evident to her parents that Ella has, somehow, lost her way.  Despite Ella’s parents’ long-standing reservations about the charismatic Christian doctrine embraced by C-WAY, they had not exactly been devoted to their own, more traditional, faith approach for a very long time and they were desperate for their Ella to be saved from the destructive path which they believed her to be following.  In fact, Don’s plea had been so convincing that they decided to, also, join his church and they soon found themselves liberated by a convincing group of radical people.  People eager to take back what they consider to be God’s authority imparted on them while they pray for the lost souls of Ella and others during vivacious all-night prayer rallies.

John Morake is a first year forensic science student sharing a student house with six other university students.  Their student house is in close proximity to the university in a neighbourhood consisting of predominantly student-occupied accommodation.  John’s landlord informed him that over the last decade or so, the majority of home owners opted to relocate their families to other neighbourhoods and convert their dwellings into multiple-bedroom student houses.  A classmate of John, Stacey-Lee, lives across the street from him in a garden cottage which she rents directly from the homeowners who still occupy the main house on the property.  From only the first few conversations, John learned that Stacey-Lee is a foreign exchange student from a North African country and that her white, Afrikaans-speaking landlords (a middle-aged married couple) have taken a compassionate interest in looking out for her in a helpful and caring way.  It is also undeniably evident to John that there is something very different about Stacey-Lee and her landlords, they have a warmth and peace about them that he could not explain.  A polite, well-spoken young man, fiercely dedicated to his studies, John is liked by most of his fellow students and lecturers alike.  Most people who know John are aware that he has little interest in both politics and religion, except perhaps in secret, the religion to which Stacey-Lee and her landlords subscribe to.  Few people knew that he had changed from being a fourth year medical student to becoming a first year forensic science student and nobody knew the reason behind this.  Truth be told, John, himself, was not yet prepared to admit to the real reason behind this change. 

It does not take long for Stacey-Lee and John to become good friends, and without any romantic spark between them, their friendship is refreshingly uncomplicated.  Both are serious students and both have moved the notion of a romantic relationship on the back burner, at least for the foreseeable future.  That was until John noticed the pretty dark-haired waitress whose wallet he returned one evening at the restaurant where he had been treated to a lavish dinner by a representative of the company who awarded him his study bursary.  She served the table next to them, but from the beginning, he could not take his eyes off her.  It was only once he parted ways with his sponsor outside of the restaurant and he noticed what looked like a wallet obscurely tucked into a storm water drain, that he was able to shift all of his focus back to the waitress.  He picked up the wallet, opened it and to his delight, found an identity card displaying a picture which, undoubtedly, matched the pretty waitress upstairs in the restaurant.  He, then, promptly made his way back to the restaurant to return the wallet and, although she was suspicious of him at first, his calm demeanour and smiling eyes triggered her memory of noticing him in the restaurant earlier.  It would take two months of relentless pursuit before John was able to convince Ella to agree to a first date.  From the beginning, it contained all the makings of a beautiful, yet troubled, relationship.  Beautiful because both love and attraction were effortlessly reciprocated.  Troubled because Ella’s parents did not approve of their wayward daughter’s interracial relationship.

After months of turning down multiple invitations from Stacey-Lee to visit the community connection group hosted by her landlord, Tim Johnson, John decided to accept and attend ONE meeting.  He could no longer contain his curiosity about the friendly white man who seemed to forever tidy the neighbourhood by cleaning up the ripped trash bags in the street.  Why would a white, Afrikaans-speaking minister of a large traditional white church be so dedicated to cleaning up after predominantly African students?  Why does he care to take an interest in them?  What is the deal with him?  ONE meeting became two, then three, and soon enough, John became a regular at the weekly get-togethers.  It did not take long for John to discover the deal with Tim.  It has NOTHING to do with Tim or his white skin, but it has EVERYTHING to do with Tim’s God.  Tim faithfully serves a God Who loves ALL people, from every nation, tribe and language on earth.  Like Tim’s proficiency in English, John’s proficiency in Afrikaans was, at best, in the lower echelons of self defence.  However, God revealed His love for John through Tim, despite their communication challenges.  After an emergency phone call from John to Tim one morning just after midnight, Tim became John’s mentor and Tim’s God became John’s God.  John never spoke about the specific details of that morning, but it changed him forever.  Tim had no doubt that John’s experience was a special encounter with Jesus, but even he was unable to capture it in any language.  

By the time her parents enrolled her at C-WAY, against her will, Ella and John had become almost inseparable, and although C-WAY did not frown upon the principle of interracial relationships/marriages, they had rigid, absolute rules preventing their students from being involved in any romantic relationships.  The premise was to offer an environment, free of distraction, to promote a life devoted to God.  Ella was placed in a dormitory with 11 other young women and she was expected to adhere to strict rules about almost everything regarding her life.  No cigarettes.  No weed.  No alcohol.  No narcotics.  No self-medicating.  No social media.  No video streaming.  And also absolutely NO interest in the reason why 22-year-old Ella succumbed to self-medicating with addictive substances or even that it started many years before.  NO interest in the ignorance of indifferent parents.  AND NO interest in the diabolical dark secret of uncle Don and little Ella.

Months of creative sneakiness to meet up with his beloved Ella, were starting to take its toll on John.  Add to that his observation of the light dimming from her eyes, and John was fast approaching the end of his tether.  To him it seemed that his Ella was turning into a religious puppet, progressively losing her own identity and unique cheeky spunk.  The Jesus Tim introduced John to was most certainly NOT the same Jesus Ella encountered at C-WAY.  Tim’s Jesus powered and invigorated John’s soul and spirit, but C-WAY’s Jesus sucked the life out of Ella’s soul and spirit.  Then, one evening when C-WAY’s leader (John assigned to him the role of puppet master) called Ella into his office to lambast her about her rebellious spirit and proceeded to instruct her about how God is humbling her to show her that she needs to know her place, John had had more than enough.  He promptly marched into the building, straight into Ella’s dorm room and announced that she will no longer be participating in the C-WAY program.  When he found his beloved Ella broken, sobbing and curled up in a fetal position, it only served to fuel his anger further and the minor resistance forthcoming from a few individual exasperated bystanders could not prevent him from packing up Ella’s belongings and escorting her out to his car, never to return.  Bruno Bonetti, Italian restaurant owner and Ella’s former employer was standing by with a job and a furnished bachelor’s flat ready for her.  He was delighted with the idea of having one of his best employees back in the saddle soon.  At first, Ella’s return turned out to be everything Bruno had hoped for, but as time passed by, he noticed significant changes in her.  She became withdrawn and, unlike before, she failed to respond to his authentic concern for her.  Bruno lost his wife and only child in a horrific car accident many years before, and he believed that this tragic loss connected him to Ella in an inexplicable way.  He felt the need to look out for her, and although he knew no specific detail, he had no doubt that everything was not as it seemed.  It resembled a fathers-concern-for-a-daughter and it has been present since she first started working for him.  Although he was, essentially, powerless to intervene when Ella’s parents forced her into the church program against her will, he blamed himself for not even making any effort.  This time, however, when a desperate Ella begged him to help her escape and start a new life, he spared no time and cost.  He used his family connections and secured her a job on an Italian cruise ship.

Ella found herself in an elevated state of sheer exhaustion, but it seemed that her curiosity fuelled her determination in getting home in record time.  She was curious about the South African R100 note, but she was even more curious about the note attached to it.  Could this be related to….  No, surely THAT is not possible!  With that thought, a sudden tidal wave of memories flooded back into her mind with violent no-holds-barred ferocity.  Her barrage of carefully crafted self-defence denial came crashing down in an instant.  The secret pregnancy she managed to hide from everyone, except John.  Their precious private wedding ceremony. John’s torn loyalties between his wife-in-labour and the raging inferno which killed off all of his living relatives back in his hometown.  John’s sudden disappearance.  Newborn baby boy wrapped in a blue blanket, placed in a padded cardboard box.  Her baby boy.  After she left him on the steps in front of the church office, she watched from a distance until she saw HIM pick up the box and carry it inside.  She was satisfied, because she so desperately hoped and even half prayed that HE would show up first.  Truth be told, she had sort of stalked Tim Johnson for a while leading up to that day in order to determine a likely pattern.  She had not had enough time to get to know him well, but from observing how he lovingly fathered her fatherless husband, from the radiant kindness in his eyes and the authentic, gentle way with which he engaged her, she simply knew that she could trust him.  She was unsure about everything else (including her future), but she was sure of this one thing.  In a letter addressed to Tim, Ella waived her parental rights (essentially rendering Jacob a ward of the state), pleaded with him to find a loving home for Jacob and requested that his name not be changed.  The letter, together with a R100 note, was securely tucked in between the outer box and inner padded lining.  Up until about a month ago, Ella allowed herself to remember only John and Tim, not Jacob.  Since disembarking the cruise ship and her decision to settle in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik, Croatia two years earlier, which shared the same time zone as South Africa, she has even devoted Monday nights to following Tim’s Devotions@8 on his church’s YouTube channel.  It wasn’t until she had the very same dream about Jacob for three consecutive nights that she finally scooped up all of her courage and fired off an email to Tim.  She wanted him to tell her about Jacob AND she wanted to know if he had heard anything from John.  More than anything, she wanted to know if Jesus could still love her and if He would take her back…. Then she opened the letter.

Dearest Ella

It is with a great deal of caution that we write this note to you.  We cannot contain our excitement about finally locating you and possibly having the opportunity to meet you.  However, we do not wish to pressure you in any way.  Please feel free to consider our offer or not.

Almost ten years ago, we made a commitment to adopt and raise your son, and to date, it has been the greatest privilege and delight to do so.  We have also honoured your request to keep the name you gave him, Jacob.  Also, the R100 is the same note you left with Jacob.  We kept it in anticipation of returning it to you at the appropriate time.  

We would love the opportunity to meet you, and if you are keen, we can meet up tomorrow at 09:00 at the little Colombian coffee shop directly opposite to where you performed this morning.

In closing, we would like to share the following with you.  About a month ago, Jacob had the same dream about you for three consecutive nights.  Just before waking up, we would hear him speak the same words, “Ella, I love you and you are Mine!”  Although we have kept the memory of you, his birth mommy, alive, we did not even have a picture of you to show to him.  Yet, from his dreams, Jacob drew two pictures.  The one picture is of you and he calls it MOMMY ELLA.  The other picture is of an African man wrapped in the embrace of Jesus.  Jacob calls it JESUS AND DADDY.

With much love from

Harry, Denise & Jacob

xoxoxoxo

The young woman in seat 38B on flight BA332 en route to Johannesburg, South Africa is transfixed by the painting in her hands.  Tears are streaming down her cheeks while she studies every millimeter of a picture which resembles her in even the finest detail.  Next to her, in seat 38A, is the artist himself, 10-year-old Jacob who simply cannot contain his excitement.  On the other side of the aisle in seats 38C & 38D, a loving couple sits hand-in-hand and they, too, are crying softly.