The year the gypsies came

So you know who I am and how I live, and I am sure you have got the picture of my daily routine. But just like every family, we have our secrets, and this one is a biggy. In South Africa at this time racism is at large.

Everyone black is a servant and a slave and anyone not following those rules could be jailed or evicted from Johannesburg. So when our family bought Huigo and Amelia the town started to love us for having black servants.

But our family could not bare to fit in, we always have to be unique and that’s not always a good thing. I am told to keep this very quiet, especially at school, well they always tell me, not my sister, she is just as capable of slipping a few little words off the end of her tongue to her many friends as I am. But of course I am the younger and less mature member of the family.

But even Sarah knows I would never even think about telling my friends about Huigo and Amelia, you see Amelia does everything for Sarah and I, sometimes even makes her special homemade broths for us when mother is not it. They are delicious, well anyway I would never giver her up for any amount of friends I have. And as for Huigo, well even if I did tell my friends about Huigo, there is no way you could not like him. He is an old African Magician. He is getting very old now and struggles to move around, so night duty sitting at the gate suits him incredibly.

But that does not mean the tricks and old folk tales do not dazzle you and free your mind from rubbish school work needed to be done. Why do we need homework anyway, WHY THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE HAVE SCHOOL! Well schoolwork seems to be a doddle when Huigo is around. But in South Africa you have to treat black people like servants and scum, this is the big secret we keep.

They are treated like family, they eat with us at the table, they have there own rooms. Fabulous rooms I may add, Infact I may have squabbled with mother about me having Amelia’s room, but of course the reply was “don’t be silly Josie, they are like adult family members, treat them like grandparents”.

Well I agree now, but at the time I did not see. I usually go down to Huigo every night in the front garden by the beautiful large rose bush, he tells me story to let my imagination unwind and rewind itself round large savannah trees in the Australian bush or the vines in the Amazon rainforest. It helps me sleep and I suppose I could say if it wasn’t for him I would not be as sensible and sane as I am now But the whole story actually began ......