The Blue Bottle Blond (11/365)

A story from my memories of SA.

There are some people in the world who you will only meet once in your life; you may never exchange a single word with them; but you will know exactly how to behave with them, and the memory of them will live with you forever. Such were the people of South Africa’s apartheid period.

One weekend, we were at one of South Africa’s gorgeous beaches. It was a cold, crisp day, but we enjoyed the beach under any weather conditions; so, to the beach we went. There we were, chilling out (literally!), watching my big brother swim in the ocean, my baby brother play in the sand, with me skipping happily along the shore admiring my big bro’s braveness for actually going in, and running back to my lil bro every now and then to “help” him out. There is a season during which these poisonous things called blue bottles would wash up on the beach; we were in that season. We were being very careful to look out for them, and then comes this blond. She was in a black one-piece bathing suit, and she was the palest white you can ever imagine.

Well, when a white person comes along, non-whites clear out, even if the beach is zoned for non-whites, because there is guaranteed to be trouble if you don’t. My parents don’t like trouble, so they got my big bro out of the ocean, my younger bro and me out of the sand, and we all headed of quickly for the car. Older bro was dripping wet, didn’t have time to dry off, and was probably a little confused; then, he screams out in shock, looks down, and realizes that his foot just tried to make friends with the enemy, the blue bottle. He was laying there, half dazed, and who had time for that? The blond was backed by a few guys, now making their way over! Why did they need to be here on our beach when theirs was more flat, less rocky, and just as quiet? And why did we have to leave, when there was so much empty space on this deserted beach? Well, no time for all that…So, we lifted/dragged my bro to the car, rushed to a pharmacy, and the poor dude was in a bit of pain for a few days. And it was all because of some blond we would never know, and who never said a word, hostile or other-wise. Yet, her penchant for trouble was clearer than the sky that day.