Love on the Menu. Lerato Matsaneng

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      Dedications

      To my loving grandparents, who after fifty-four years of marriage still perfectly embody true love

      Chapter 1

      1

      It was a typical Friday afternoon deadline at the Daily Mirror. The editorial team was putting the Saturday paper to bed and the entire newsroom was abuzz with activity. Editors were demanding their copy from journalists who were still frantically trying to get their sources to confirm their information.

      Entertainment reporter Lebo Mokoena found these anxious attempts to meet deadlines rather amusing. Her colleagues were all in a panic because they were always late to deliver, even though everybody at the paper knew perfectly well that the first deadline of the day was 2pm.

      To avoid all the deadline hustle and bustle Lebo always set her personal deadline at 12:30pm. That way she was never subjected to the often humiliating wrath of jittery editors and the even more stressed subeditors. She had built up good relationships with many celebrities and their managers, which meant she often didn’t have to search for stories – her contacts gave her leads on most of them.

      Having been a journalist at the Daily Mirror for three years, Lebo had by now fallen out of love with the job and the industry. She felt that she was beyond the mundane nine-to-five routine and reporting on celebrities’ lifestyles.

      Lebo had ambitions of being a successful businesswoman and starting her own catering company. Over the past year this ambition had grown to a passion that had become more and more insistent, and she had approached her mother, MaMokoena, and her aunt, MaMofokeng, about the idea. The three of them had done a few catering jobs in their neighbourhood and were now ready for the big time, as Lebo’s mother often put it.

      MaMokoena was the elder of the two sisters, who lived only a few streets apart. They were both teachers, and although they worked at different schools, they were inseparable. The sisters would spend their afternoons talking and drinking tea while watching their favourite soapies.

      MaMokoena and Lebo’s father had been married for twenty-five years and were entirely devoted to each other. Their marriage had survived a number of challenges, including Lebo’s father being unemployed for two years while she was in high school. However, they had worked through their challenges and managed to give Lebo and her younger sister, Dineo, a good life.

      MaMofokeng and her husband also had two daughters around the same ages as Lebo and her sister. The two families shared a special bond and often spent time together, especially on birthdays, during the festive season and over long weekends.

      Lebo had spoken to a few friends and asked them to look out for opportunities for her. Being an entertainment reporter meant she had very little contact with the corporate world. She couldn’t wait to have her own premises, website, business card and clients – just thinking about that made her smile. But until such time as that became a reality, she was stuck in this office, reporting on the ups and downs of celebrities.

      On this particular Friday Lebo browsed aimlessly on her computer as she waited for her colleagues and friends Bongi, a feature writer, and Rumbi, a business reporter, to finish filing their stories so they could go for their Freedom Friday drinks, as they called them. Lebo was planning to head down south to Sebokeng afterwards, to visit her family for the weekend.

      Tired of the waiting, she walked across the office to where Rumbi was sitting.

      “Hey, ngwanana, will I be unwinding with a chilled strawberry daiquiri in my hand any time soon? I’m quite thirsty, phela – it’s Freedom Friday,” complained Lebo.

      “I’m almost done, so we’ll leave soon enough,” Rumbi chuckled and continued typing her story. “Or how about you collect your things from your flat and we meet you at Mimmos? Then you can head home from there,” Rumbi added in that older-sister tone she often used when speaking to Lebo.

      “Okay, let me do that. But I’m giving you girls only thirty minutes, then I’m starting without you,” Lebo threatened.

      She headed back to her side of the open-plan office and started clearing her desk. Within minutes she had bidden her chaotic office goodbye and was heading for her flat.

      Lebo lived a five-minute walk from the newspaper’s offices in Rosebank. Living so close meant she could leave her little car, an old, bright red Toyota Tazz, at the flat and enjoy a brisk walk to work. It was also very convenient for days when she wanted to sleep in or when she was working the midday to 8pm shift.

      As she walked into the lobby of her block of flats, the message ringtone on her cellphone sounded. She looked and saw that the SMS was from Kgotso, her ex-boyfriend:

      Hi guys and gals, just a reminder about my party 2nyt @ Shisanyama. Bring your fat wallets & those mad dance moves! From Kgotso aka “K-Man”

      Lebo and Kgotso had grown up together. Their mothers had been very close. They went to the same church and served together in the mothers’ union and the church committee. Lebo’s mother was the head of both these committees and Kgotso’s mother the treasurer.

      The two women used to spend hours on end talking about how to make their parish the best Presbyterian church in the country. They would come up with numerous ideas on how to raise money for this and that, enjoying every moment of it.

      Kgotso was a few years older than Lebo and had always treated her like a little sister, but as she matured, he came to regard her more as a friend, and eventually as his girlfriend.

      She had been the perfect partner to him, but he had been less than appreciative and had taken her love for granted. A year into the relationship she had called it quits.

      Lately Kgotso had been trying to rekindle their love. Lebo, however, wasn’t interested in Kgotso’s pathetic attempts at winning her back – she had moved on with her life. But for the sake of peace and their families, she had decided to remain friendly with him. She didn’t want the situation between her and Kgotso to cause any tension between their mothers. So no matter how much of a pain he could sometimes be, Lebo had kept things very civil between her and Kgotso.

      She walked into her spacious bachelor flat. Her bed was in the far right corner, with simple yet classic white linen bedding. The previous weekend she had bought a table and chair and set up a tiny office in the far left corner, opposite the bed.

      The black-and-orange two-seater suede couch, her beloved orange-and-red ottomans and a dozen purple cushions were all placed a safe distance beyond the four bar stools separating the open-plan kitchen from the living-room area. On the kitchen counter she had placed a large transparent glass vase holding two dozen plastic sunflowers.

      Lebo loved her flat. She had been here for several months now and had decorated it to match her personality – colourful and energetic. It was all she could afford, what with her measly journalist’s salary and having to help her parents put her younger sister through university. But Lebo didn’t complain; when she needed extra cash, she often sold some of her freshly baked pastries at the office.

      She quickly packed her weekend bag, closed her curtains and made sure all the windows were locked. She decided to freshen up before leaving the flat. Looking in the mirror, Lebo smiled at the uncanny resemblance she bore to her mother. Like her mother, Lebo was petite, with a light caramel complexion and nicely rounded hips. Her ebony eyes and sparkling smile made her highly admired by young men. When she was done readying herself, she grabbed the bag and headed out of the door.

      * * *

      Lebo and her friends had a quiet afternoon of drinks at Mimmos. They had become regulars at the restaurant and the waiters knew the girls usually enjoyed a round of strawberry daiquiris.

      The three young women laughed about the drama they had left at the office and poked fun at all the oddly dressed passers-by. They had a beautiful friendship and were fast becoming inseparable.

      “Girls,