For everyone who at some stage lost their song – WM

For Stephan and our daughters – AB

© Publication: LAPA Publishers (Pty) Ltd 380 Bosman Street, Pretoria

Tel.: (012) 401 0700E-mail: lapa@lapa.co.za

© Text: Wendy Maartens 2009© Illustrations: Alida Bothma 2009

Set in 14pt on 18pt HelveticaLayout and design: Full Circle

Printed by Creda Communications

First edition 2009Second edition 2011

ISBN 978 0 7993 4532 2

© All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without prior permission by the copyright holders.

LAPA Publ isherswww.lapa.co.za

Wendy Maartens Alida Bothma

Three cheers for Tyron!

Tyron puts his music book back into his bag. His singing teacher looks pleased as he lifts his hand to wave goodbye. He doesn’t say anything, just in case his tongue gets tied again and spoils a nice afternoon.

Miss Lea says Tyron is doing very well and one of these days he will be able to take his first singing examination.

Tyron and Miss Lea both know that he never used to stutter. Before Uncle Jaap moved in with him and his mom, the words used to glide like slippery bubbles from his tongue. But ever since Uncle Jaap has been staying in their spare room, Tyron has had a nervous knot in his tummy, and every now and then the words get stuck in his throat - just as their kitchen door gets stuck when it rains.

Tyron’s mom is a seamstress. All day long she sits huddled over her sewing machine in the sun room. She sews clothes and curtains. Some nights her sewing machine is still whirring long after Tyron has gone to bed.

Tyron knows she is working extra hard to be able to send him to Miss Lea for singing lessons twice a week. She says he has his dad’s lovely voice, and one day he will be famous.

Tyron was only a little boy when his dad passed away. And even though he cannot remember much, he knows that his dad used to sing to him at bedtime.

Uncle Jaap is his mom’s boyfriend. He says they are going to get married as soon as he earns enough money with his fruit and vegetable stall. Then his mom just laughs and says that pigs will grow wings.

Uncle Jaap takes good care of them. He treats Tyron’s mom well and always brings home a treat.

Sometimes he helps Tyron with his homework. He always makes sure that they have fresh fruit and vegetables in the kitchen, and on Sundays he takes them to church in his bakkie. Then everyone says how lucky his mom is to have such a good man.

This makes Tyron feels guilty for being the only one who thinks differently.

Tyron wishes he could tell his mom or Miss Lea who Uncle Jaap really is when they are not around. But he is too scared that they will not believe him. What if they get angry and say that it is his fault? Or worse: what if they stop loving him and chase him away if he tells Uncle Jaap’s secret? He wouldn’t want to sleep with the street kids under the bridge. He has seen how the bigger ones take the little ones’ things and how they beg from motorists. Every time he thinks about that he decides to keep quiet instead.

But Uncle Jaap keeps calling him to the outside room. There he has to help him pack the fruit and vegetables into smaller bags. Sometimes Uncle Jaap cuts the pumpkins into big chunks that Tyron has to wrap in clingfilm. Then they pack everything into boxes for Uncle Jaap to sell at the taxi rank.

Though Tyron doesn’t want the R2, he takes it anyway. He doesn’t want Uncle Jaap to get angry or tell his mother that he is rude.

Sometimes they chat and make jokes, but some days, when Uncle Jaap grows quiet, Tyron gets very scared. On those days Uncle Jaap touches him. He touches his tummy and his bottom and also the place where Mommy taught him no one else is allowed to touch him.

When that happens, Tyron can hear his heart going dum-dum, dum-dum in his head. Uncle Jaap only stops when Tyron starts to cry, and then he gives him a R2 coin. He says it’s a secret. Tyron mustn’t tell anyone. He will know. Then he points at the big stack of pumpkins in the corner and says: “Even the pumpkins have ears, so watch it!”

Then Tyron runs as fast as he can to hide behind the firewood and the little purple trumpets. These little flowers trail all over the garden and have formed a dark curtain behind which he can hide.

He sits there until the first stars appear and his mother calls him for supper. And he wonders if pumpkins really have ears and he prays and prays and asks Jesus please not to punish him because he really isn’t a bad boy.

The only time Tyron doesn’t have a knot in his tummy is when he is with Miss Lea. She lives in a big house with three cats and lots of rose bushes. She wears pink lipstick and smells very nice. There is always a vase with roses on her piano. When she plays, the roses quiver ever so gently. Miss Lea says it’s because they like music. Then Tyron can’t stop laughing at the roses shivering with pleasure.

One day Miss Lea asks: “Tyron, how would you like to be a television star?”

Tyron is so shocked that he drops his music book.Miss Lea explains. She read in the newspaper that they are looking

for a little boy with a good voice to sing the theme song for a new television series. Miss Lea phoned the number in the paper to find out more. All she and Tyron have to do is to go to the city and sing at the TV studio in a month’s time. If they choose Tyron to sing, he will be paid for it.

Tyron is very excited. He runs all the way home to tell his mom. When he finally reaches her, he is so out of breath that he can hardly speak.

“Goodness me!” shouts Mom. “Imagine that. A television star in our home. I would have to start calling you ‘sir’ then!” When Tyron’s mom laughs, her cheeks look like two round cream puffs.

But Uncle Jaap ruins everything when he calls Tyron to the outside room just before dinner. That evening Tyron does not want to eat. He has a big sad lump in his throat. His mom scolds him for not eating and all he can do to keep from crying is think about his singing.

From then on Tyron and Miss Lea practise almost every day. Tyron will have to sing two songs at the audition: one that Miss Lea has picked and one he has picked himself.

The one he has picked is the song his dad used to sing him at bed-time. Miss Lea says this song sounds like a winner to her.

Mom is very proud of Tyron. She tells everyone that he might be singing on television. She has hung a calendar in the sun room and drew a big circle around March 24. That is the day Tyron will go to the city with Miss Lea to sing. Every evening when Tyron says goodnight Mom crosses out a day on the calendar.

When Tyron goes to Miss Lea’s house to practise the two songs for the last time, Mom sends her an apron that she has made herself. It has a big orange rose with dewdrops on the front. Miss Lea claps her hands. She puts the apron on and ties the two straps at the back. “Perfect for when I’m making curry tonight,” she says and gives Tyron a big hug.

Tyron wonders whether this might the right time to tell her about the secret, but once again he decides rather not to. He doesn’t want to make trouble now. His mother and Miss Lea are so excited, and what if pumpkins really have ears?

But the minute Miss Lea sits down at the piano and Tyron has to sing, he forgets the words. He knows the songs so well that he can sing them in his sleep but it is no use. As soon as Tyron opens his mouth, the words disappear into thin air.

“Don’t worry,” Miss Lea tries to comfort him. “Let’s have some tea first.”

They go outside, each with a mug of tea, and sit on the bench overlooking the rose garden. Miss Lea’s ginger cat climbs onto Tyron’s lap. She looks at him with her big green eyes as if she can see inside his heart. Then she starts to purr softly. Tyron can’t stop himself. The sadness creeps out of his mouth and makes a horrible rasping sound in his throat.

Miss Lea takes the mug from him, puts it on the tray and holds him tightly. They sit like that for a long time. Only when the tears have become dry and sticky on his cheeks does she say: “You can tell me anything, Tyron.”

Then he tells her about Uncle Jaap and the outside room and the pumpkins with ears. He tells her about his hiding place behind the purple trumpet flowers and how ashamed he is about everything. And that his mom will probably kick him out of the house now and that he cannot go and sing in the city anymore. And that his tongue keeps getting stuck, just like their kitchen door.

Miss Lea listens patiently until he has told her everything. Then she says: “This is not your fault, Tyron. Uncle Jaap is a grown-up, and you are a child. He should not be doing this to you.”

She takes Tyron to the bathroom so that he can wash his face and puts a tissue in his shirt pocket.

Then she kneels beside him and looks into his eyes.“May I tell your mom about this?” she asks carefully.Tyron slowly nods “yes”, but all he really wants to do is start crying again.“You don’t have to be scared, Tyron,” explains Miss Lea. “When your mom

knows about this, things will change. I promise. She will be sad at first, but it will get better. And you don’t have to feel bad when she’s sad. It’s not your fault.”

Then she picks a ruby-red, scented rose for him and stands at her garden gate until he disappears around the corner.

That evening after dinner there is a knock on the door. Tyron knows that it is Miss Lea.

At any other time he would have run to open the door, but tonight he slips outside through the kitchen door. Even though he is already in his pyjamas, he hides behind the purple trumpet flower curtain and the firewood.

He knows that Mom and Miss Lea are talking in the sun room where Mom does her sewing. Uncle Jaap never goes there and, besides, he is busy loading vegetables onto his bakkie.

It feels as if they will never finish talking.

Tyron must have fallen asleep among the trumpet flowers, because when he wakes up, Uncle Jaap is loading his belongings onto his bakkie.

Mom is so angry that she throws his things at him. Uncle Jaap has to duck and dive or he’d soon be black and blue. He tries to grab another box, but when Mom comes running with the broom, he drops it, jumps into the bakkie and speeds off.

Mom is left standing alone in the road, alone. She looks so tired and lonely that Tyron crawls out from behind the stack of firewood and gently puts his arms around her soft body.

The two of them walk to the kitchen.And when Mom starts crying, Tyron knows that it is not his

fault.

Two days later Tyron stands waiting for Miss Lea on the porch with shiny, polished shoes. She is coming to fetch him with her blue Beetle. Ever since Mom and Miss Lea found out about his secret, he has been remembering all the words to his songs and he has even stopped stuttering.

Tyron and Miss Lea stop in the parking area of a tall building and take the lift to the tenth floor. When the lift starts to move, Tyron’s tummy feels as if he is riding on the merry-go-round at the funfair. Miss Lea puts her hand on his shoulder when she sees his wide eyes.

The door of the lift slides open. A friendly lady takes them to a counter and gives Tyron a ticket with the number 91 written on it. She asks them to take a seat on a couch. There are a lot of other people with numbers, also waiting. Tyron is proud to sit next to Miss Lea with her pretty pink shoes and floral handbag. He turns his number 91 over and over.

Finally it is his turn. A man with a ponytail and a brightly coloured shirt comes to take Tyron to the room next door. He makes him sit on a high chair behind a microphone. He turns a few knobs and nods at Tyron to begin.

He sings Miss Lea’s song first. The man closes his eyes and turns his head a little to one side while he listens.

When Tyron has finished the song the man just keeps sitting there with his eyes closed. Then Tyron sings his father’s lullaby. He thinks about his mother behind her sewing machine. How she crossed out dates on the calendar and wan ted to hit Uncle Jaap with the broom. He sees her cheeks puffing up when she has a good laugh. And he sings as if she were the one sitting there in front of him with her eyes closed.

When Tyron has finished singing, the man opens his eyes slowly and nods his head, up and down, up and down. Tyron does not know if it is a good or a bad sign. The man helps him get off the high chair and takes him back to Miss Lea. He talks to her for a long time and writes her telephone number down on a piece of paper.

On the way home, Miss Lea stops at the beach and buys them each an ice cream cone. After they have finished their ice creams, they stand in the shallow water and watch the waves drawing shiny streaks behind them as they pull back into the sea.

Tyron wishes the day would never end.

Early the next morning Miss Lea knocks on their door, holding a newspaper. Tyron and Mom are still in their pyjamas. Miss Lea chatters non-stop. She tells them that the man who listened to Tyron phoned her with the good news last night.

In the paper there is a photo of Tyron. The journalist must have got it from the school. Underneath it says: Cape Town boy with gol-den voice. Miss Lea reads that he has been selected out of a hun - dred boys to sing the theme song for a new television series. Tyron’s heart begins to go dum-dum, dum-dum in his head. But this time it is because a good thing is happening to him.

He looks at Mom. She grabs him and Miss Lea around the waist and laughs and cries and dances with them around the sun room. Miss Lea tries to keep the newspaper from crumpling, but eventually gives up.

At school the principal calls all the children to assembly in the hall to share the good news. He calls Tyron to the stage, shakes his hand and says how proud they are of him. Then everyone shouts:

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!”“THree cHeers for Tyron!

That evening after supper Tyron, Mom and Miss Lea sit on the bench at Miss Lea’s back door, drinking tea. Her ginger cat is sitting on Tyron’s lap again, but this time he does not feel like crying at all. In the same newspaper there was an article that said Uncle Jaap had abused other children as well and that he would be going to jail. Tyron is very happy that he will never have to see Uncle Jaap again.

“What are you going to do with all your money?” asks Miss Lea.Tyron thinks hard and then he says: “I’m going to have a rose garden

planted for my mom, just like yours, Miss Lea.”Then his mother puts her arm around him and starts singing softly. It

is his dad’s lullaby.Tyron can see her eyes glistening in the dark. He begins to sing along

and then Miss Lea joins in too.While they are singing, Tyron looks up, up, up into the night sky and

knows that his dad is listening, and that pumpkins will never have ears.

What every child should know

• You are precious and deserve to be treated with respect.

• It is not your fault if you are being abused. It does not make you a bad person either.

• There are laws that protect you but you have to talk to someone you trust and tell him or her that you are being abused.

• It is normal to feel uncomfortable when you talk to someone about it.

• The longer you keep quiet about what is happening to you, the longer the person will carry on abusing you.

• You have the right to say “no” to an adult or older child.

• Do not accept sweet or gifts from strangers. Tell your parents or an adult you trust about it immediately.

• Never go with strangers. Even if they tell you your parents have sent them.

• Screaming and running away are your most important weapons.

• Even respected people like teachers, pastors, members of the police or someone we love can disappoint us and do things that are against the law. They should be punished just like any other criminal.

• Abuse does not always mean that someone gets injured. If someone is doing something to you that makes you feel uncomfortable it is a form of abuse and you have the right to act on it.

Important telephone numbers for children:Childline 0800 055 555

Crime Stop 08600 10111

Guidelines for parents and teachers

• Make sure that you are spending enough time as a family by having at least one meal a day at the table (without the TV). It helps to lay the foundation of a trusting relationship between members of the family.

• Teach the child to trust his own judgment and to speak out when he feels un com-fortable with someone or in a situation.

• Teach the child how to differentiate between a good and a bad secret.

• Make sure that the child knows his own address and telephone number.

By providing children with the necessary information we not only contribute to their safety, but we also empower them with the self-confidence needed to do the right thing in difficult situations.

When a child takes you into his confidence, it is important to remember the following:

• Stay calm and do not react negatively. Your reaction will contribute to how the child handles the incident.

• Tell the child in no uncertain terms that you believe him. Children seldom lie about being abused.

• Explain that you will have to talk to other grown-ups about it in order to help him, but that it will not be without his knowledge.

• Assure the child that his safety and the confidentiality of the event are also important to these people.

• Report the alleged perpetrator.• Make sure that the child understands

that the perpetrator is responsible for the punishment he might receive and not the child.

• Do not hesitate to seek medical advice.• Psychological help will ensure that the

child receives the necessary objective support and that the immediate family is involved in the healing process.

Famsa Head Office 021 447 0170Family Life, Head Office 011 788 4784/5Child Care, Head Office 011 492 2888

Visit the following websites:www.health24.com

www.childline.org.za

The following organisations can be contacted Countrywide for assistance:

Possible signs of sexual abuse:• Sudden drop in academic performance.• Change in behavioral patterns: cries

easily, suddenly dependent, shyness, mood swings.

• Change in sleeping patterns or bed- wetting.

• Eating disorders.• Social withdrawal.• Avoids people he used to like.• Exaggerated interest in sexual

organs.