Shadow over Table Mountain

By Andre Barker

The Orora - the morning light, has been predicted to make a return in her people’s darkest hour. She would return when her people were down in the abyss and on the edge of being wiped out.

Lakisha’s aunts told her since she was a young child, that she is that morning light. The young girl simply could not believe that. Her whole life long she prepared to become a fashion designer. She was now at the gate of that dream of hers. She only needed to write her final examination and then she could start building her designing business out into the international powerhouse she wanted it to be.

“Aside from the fact that I’m a young girl, I’m not even interested in politics. Sure, I can see what is happening in the country - but really. Be realistic. What can I possibly do about it, even if I was interested in stuff like that? The government is protected by big business, by the UN, by the Chinese government and who knows whom else. Anyone who has even a little success in fighting the government will immediately be neutralized by these other, far more powerful entities. There is no hope and it would be a hopeless battle.”

However, destiny does not care about the reality around its chosen champion. Destiny’s hero always works on a level way above the real world. This is what Lakisha would soon learn. Her best friend is killed by the corrupt police and she ends up in a jail cell. From that point onwards, things start moving at a breakneck speed. The young girl finally embraces her destiny and the morning light comes alive, setting the world on fire.

If you like a story that moves at break neck speed, filled with violent action and political intrigue, then this is the book for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bakerman Books
• Release date: Jul 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005155162

Book preview

Foreword

Lakisha Matthews is an ordinary 24-year-old girl from Cape Town. Her current objective at the moment is to complete her studies so that she can start her fashion design business full time.  Seemingly, faith has other plans for her.

Lakisha’s aunts – who are wise women – have been telling Lakisha since she was a little girl, that she has special talents that she ought to use to help the community with.  Lakisha would have nothing of it, though.  I’m going to be a fashion designer, and that is it.  I have no powers or training to help the community in any way.  I am not interested in politics in any case.

When Lakisha and her best friend, Georgette, are on their way to write their finals, they are suddenly attacked by The Republic Police, who demand bribes from them.  With this incident things go completely south.  From this point, the story goes into an incredible adventure and a cascade of unstoppable action the reader won’t believe.

After being knocked unconscious by the police, Lakisha wakes up in a dirty, cold and dark police cell. She heard of these places, but never imagined even for one moment she would land in one. She knows that beautiful girls never come back from these evil places. She has no choice now; there is only one way to get out of this wicked place.

I had a lot of fun writing this story.  I truly hope my readers have as much fun reading it.  My contact details are at the back of the book.  Please let me know what you think of it.  Don’t forget to leave a review.

Don’t forget to enjoy life

André Barker

Monday 26 July 2021

Chapter-1

There's no escape from me, little lightbringer. The big gangster says with his menacing voice. You always knew this was going to happen, didn't you.

Lakisha can hear the laughter in his voice as he says this. He knows very well she is powerless against him and that no one will help her.

Violent crime is so completely out of control, that even a simple walk to the corner cafe can mean a brutal death or even worse. Especially women and children are in continuous danger.

That is the reason why Lakisha Matthews now has to walk with a heavy heart to the cafe on the corner.

In the past, going to a shop was an easy and even pleasurable affair. People could even sent their young children to the corner shop, to get them something. That was something of the past now. Any child, who was not accompanied, would be abducted within seconds. Why, it was even dangerous for young girls and other adults to walk in public.

So when Lakisha saw the dangerous gangster noticing her and starting to follow her, she could feel her courage sinking down to her stomach. He could do anything to her and no one would dare to help her.

In the Western Cape, like in the rest of The Republic, crime had become a way of life. Something that ordinary people had to adjust themselves to in the best way they could. After forty-seven years of ARM governance of the country, they knew they could expect no help from government or the police against these dangerous criminals.

Criminals had a special freedom and could do whatever evil they wanted to do with impunity. This was due to several factors. But it wasn't this that upset people. What upset them the most was the constant vigilance against crime. Criminals could do whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do it, but ordinary citizens were not allowed to defend themselves. Any ordinary citizen who dares to defend himself against a criminal would be incarcerated immediately. People asked authorities for assistance in this regard, but to no avail.

Now Lakisha had the notorious local gangster, Headstrong, on her heels. She just knew that this was going to lead to trouble. In addition, there is nothing she can do about it. There is no way to turn back home now. Running won't help. Moreover, the other people in the street definitely won't help her. Helping her against a criminal would lead to trouble with both the police and other dangerous gangsters. Things were so topsy-turvy in The Republic that it was mind-blowing

The Republic Police is criminal and completely corrupt. This corruption stretches from the Generals right at the top, right down to the constables down on the ground.

Then there is the National Prosecuting Bureau that is just as corrupt. The NPB is run by what people call The Twins. They are Advocate Prema Nagi as the Overall Director of Prosecutions and her second in command, Advocate Mandarmalike Sanghvi, also known as the Mandarin in the legal fraternity.

The citizens of The Republic were actually happy when Prema Nagi was put into that post. She promised that she was going to take on and destroy corruption inside government. Once she was established in the post, though, it became very clear that she was not going to do anything about the crime and corruption prevailing in The Republic government. Like her predecessor, she was only there to protect the top people of The African Resistance Movement and nothing else.

That is why Lakisha now feels a spike of fear moving up her stomach sitting in her throat as she feels the presence of the dangerous drug dealer right behind her. She suddenly feels his heavy hand on her shoulder, immediately taking control of her and holding her back from walking away from him.

It is late afternoon and thus still bright day, but she knows that no one will help her. People are too fearful of the gangsters to do anything to help her. The gangsters have free reign in the different areas of Cape Town and the police do nothing to curb their influence. There are those who claim that the police are well paid by the gangsters and that the police are seen as but another criminal gang.

Lakisha instinctively resists the gangster and struggles forward with all her might. He is too strong, though. He holds her tightly by her collar. Then he starts turning her around towards him. She hates not being in control of her own movements and she feels the anger pushing up inside of her.

Lakisha notices how other pedestrians just give a quick look at the scene and then keep on walking. Everyone is now trying to get out of the area as quickly as possible.

On the walls and buildings in the area, the familiar graffiti says:

Children of Hetsi-Atan.

Make Cape Town Atana again.

Down with ARM.

The Revolution is Now.

Away with ARM.

ARM=Corruption.

This graffiti started appearing all over the Western Cape in the last few years. It comes from an organization that had become sick and tired of the incompetence and corruption of the ruling ARM party. They wanted the Western Cape to secede from The Republic and become an independent country.

There's no escape from me, little girlie. The gangster says with his threatening voice. You always knew that this was going to happen, didn't you. Lakisha can hear the laughter in his voice as he says this. He knows very well she is powerless against him and that no one will help her.

And this makes another thousand spikes of fear combined with anger to move through her body. She had been afraid of being raped since she can remember. She can't remember it if was something she saw on the news when she was little or what, but she always had an exceptional fear of being taken against her will.

That fear, combined with her anger unleashes a new emotion inside of her. An emotion that she can't describe.

This new emotion strangely not only brings calm to her system, but also makes her blood boil fiercely inside her veins.

She puts her hand firmly over the hand of the big gangster. Then she makes a sudden turn with her whole body. This makes his arm to turn in the wrong direction and he is forced to let his grip on her go. Then she turns around and looks Headstrong in the eye. She has to look up, because he is much taller than she is, but the flames in her eyes are enough to indicate exactly how she feels.

She sees the anger in his own eyes now. His hand moves like a viper as it shoots out and grabs her by the throat. She is too slow to get out of the way.

Then…

A police van drives slowly by. The policemen in the van waves at Headstrong. There is a curious look on the policemen’s faces as they look at Lakisha, before driving on, without intervening.

She is powerless and Headstrong can now do whatever he wants to do with her.

No one will help her.

This won't work, Lakisha. Georgette says as she holds the design up so that the light from the window can shine through it and make it clearer. The top will keep on falling down when she moves.

Don't be stupid, Georgette. Lakisha says as she grabs the design from her friend and smoothes it down on the drawing table. "That part is held up by an elastic band, which is not visible from the outside.

An elastic band? But it would be very uncomfortable. You have to look at it again. Georgette says. Rethink this; it is not going to work in practice.

Then Georgette's attention is grabbed by another design done on real blueprint paper. It is clear that this wasn't just a doodle, but a well thought out design.

Lakisha, WHAT is this? Georgette asks as she looks at the design drawn on the over-sized paper on the big glass drawing board. This is not your usual flowing designs. It looks more like something for the military than anything else?

Lakisha laughs at her friend's assertion.

This, my dear Georgette, is my special suit that I started designing last week, right after we came from that concert. The costumes of those dancers gave me some bright ideas. In fact I'm surprised that I didn't think of it before.

Lakisha bends down and points out certain parts of her design.

"The pants and the top part of the suit are separate, but when the person wears it, it looks like one continuous suit. Yes, almost like a superhero costume. It can easily be changed by simply making the design of the parts different or even different colors. But I like it exactly as it is. I have many ideas for this.

"But this thing is going to be alive once it goes into production. I want to make it from a very special material. I was thinking of Retogen. I don’t know where I will be able to lay my hands on Retogen, but that is what I have in mind for it. It will be very special.

Retogen? That will make this suit one of the most expensive pieces of clothing in the universe. Georgette laughs.

Lakisha laughs again as she takes a pen and makes some more markings on her design.

Once this suit had been made and people see it, they will beg me to sell it to them. It is going to be fantastic. I am very far from done with it, but one of the things that I want to build into it is partial invisibility.

Invisibility? Why?

Okay, not invisibility. It won't be able to do that in any case, but I want to build a type of camouflage into it...the suit must be able to change itself at will. You know, you go into a building wearing a blue costume and when you come out it's red...

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, Georgette says as her eyes start to shine with understanding.

Retogen would be able to do that. She gives a little dance of excitement as the possibilities also go through her mind now.

"Yes. Another thing I want it to do, is to make the suit conform to each individual's specific built. You buy your size suit and then you put it on. Once you put it on, the suit will adjust itself to the specific built of the wearer. The wearer can also decide if the suit must be body hugging or sit more loosely on her.

Wow, Lakisha, you have really been thinking about this? But this is not something you did before. You are known for your flowing evening dresses...

"I don't understand it myself. After I saw those dancers’ costumes, it was as if something clicked in my mind. I even dreamed about it that night and it had been with me ever since. And then I started designing like crazy, with this as the end product.

It even made me to think of my crazy aunts who want me to be a fortuneteller. Can you imagine - ME a fortuneteller? Lakisha says as she laughs out loud.

Aunties Jen and Raine? But if I were you, I wouldn't laugh about it. You must remember that they seem to do very well with their fortune telling business. They are not poor. They are definitely not poor. Georgette says with a strong smirk on her face.

Don't you also start, Georgette. I'm a fashion designer and that's what I'm going to be.

Lakisha and Georgette had been friends since they were only toddlers. They went to school together and spent most of their free time with each other. Over the years that they were together, they formed a bond that is stronger than anything.

One day there was a fashion show at their school presented by real super-models. Whereas all the other girls were impressed by the models, Lakisha and Georgette were impressed by the dresses and the way in which it was handled by the fashion designer that came with the show.

Afterwards they had a long discussion with the designer. She must have carried her enthusiasm over to them, because since then the designing of clothes was all they wanted to do. Both are now in their second year at college where they are studying fashion design.

Georgette had already decided that she was going to work at a clothing factory once she has her Comprehensive Certificate in Fashion Design. In fact, she already had an offer made to her when they exhibited their work at the Cape Town Conference Centre in January.

I prefer the assured pay, Lakisha. Every month I will get my salary paid directly into my bank account, no matter what I have accomplished that month. She always said.

Lakisha, on the other had decided that she was going to work on her own. She had actually already started her own fashion design studio and is working with several dressmakers in the area.

Dressmaking was actually her first choice, because her other aunt is a famous dressmaker in the area. Since she talked to that designer, dressmaking had become a secondary option. With designing, her dressmaking knowledge won’t go to waste. It simply means she can bring her own designs to life on the sewing machine.

So with her own design studio she can never be assured of a regular income, but she can be assured of a lot of money. Good Fashion Designers are always in demand. Once she made a name for herself, everyone will want to wear a Lakisha Matthews dress.

Ooh, I can't wait for that moment. She always said when she talked about it.

Her aunts are mad. Why on earth should she be concerned about the history of the Atana people? She was born an Atana, but she didn't have any choice in the matter. She did not ask to be born, did she? And like she told them several times, she is really not interested in what happened like millions of years ago. Is the fact that the Atana people lost their land, their country somehow her fault? She has nothing to do with that. Although things are not going well in the country, she is mostly happy with the way things are.

I believe - and I also told Auntie Jen and Raine this several times - that I believe that a person and yes, even a people, must always move forward. We cannot live in the past. Nothing we can ever do can bring back the past. We can only strive forward to bring glory to ourselves in the future. She told Georgette.

She knows very well that she disappointed her parents in that she didn't want to become a doctor like them. In her favor is the fact that her father left the medical profession and became a merchant. This gave her arguments with her parents about this a bit more strength.

She wanted to be a designer and that was it. Nothing and no one was going to stand in her way.

Her father left his profession, because the Health Department in the country had collapsed completely due to the continuous corruption in government. For many doctors there really was no future, especially when Government came up with a policy that forced all health professionals to work for them at no payment.

Therefore, her father started several businesses at the same time and was very successful in all of them. Her mother kept her practice where she helped many poor people at very little cost and sometimes even at no cost to them.

Lakisha loved her parents, but she was going to be a fashion designer and no one was going to change her mind about that.

Chapter-2

Since Lakisha was very small, her aunts always told her that she had a special talent. They said it was a talent that is very scarce in the greater community, but is very common in their family. As she got older, they urged her to awake that talent inside of her and start making use of it.

"Maak nie saak hoe jy daarteen stry nie, Lakisha. Jy is met die helm gebore en daar is niks wat jy daaraan kan doen nie." Her aunt Raine loves to say whenever they are together.

Your grandmother was a wise woman and your great-great grandfather was a very famous medicine man right here in the old District Six. People came from all over the country, even White people, to be helped by him. This is a talent that is in our family, but it is especially bright in you and clearly visible.

"You have a great talent inside of you. You were born as the sun came up out of the ocean and lit up Table Mountain, Lakisha. Only very special people are born at that time of the day.

"This is not something you can run away from. This is not something you can refuse. This is something you just have to accept and the rest will be easy.

We can see it in you and there is no way to hide it. Her aunts kept on telling her.

Lakisha never took her aunts seriously when they talked about stuff like that. She didn't want to take it seriously. This mumbo-jumbo was not something that she wanted to do. It really had no meaning to her.

Her aunts always told her that they themselves were much more than fortune-tellers. She can't deny that, because she saw their weird powers with her own eyes. Still it wasn't something she was interested in. She had no interest in it at all, no matter what they say her abilities or special gifts were.

There was something, though, that bothered her and that she couldn't seem to get rid of, no matter what she did.

The dreams.

It was these weird dreams that she had been having since she can remember. She asked around about it many times. It seemed that no one else had the exact same dreams year after year. Other people have different dreams all the time. That is if they can even remember their dreams. Most of them weren't that interested in their dreams in any case.

The fact was, neither was she.

Despite that, she can remember all of her dreams, even years after having it.

In one of her recurring dreams, she is usually on a very high place. It is usually on top of a very large mountain, but it can also be a large bridge or even a very high building. She doesn’t know what she’s doing there or how she arrived there. While she is standing on that high place, a very bright light suddenly appears. She usually calls it the sun, because it stands up from behind the horizon as the sun does in the morning. It is extremely bright.

In her dream, the sun comes up out of the mountain or wherever the place is where she is. It comes directly out of the mountain and then the strong light starts to fill every creek and crevice. That is not what is strange about the dream, though. What makes it very strange is the fact that as soon as that bright light touches her, it fills her with a kind of happiness, a bliss that she never experienced in real life. It really fills her with a strength that makes her want to stay inside that dream forever. If she should really find herself in a place like that, there would be no reason to leave.

She had a lot of trouble at the high school that she attended.

The trouble came from the many gangsters that were allowed to attend the school. Even Headstrong went to school with her. When she walked pass him on the school stoep, he would always loudly proclaim what he would love to do to her. Some very nasty things that a man is not supposed to say to a young girl. He would then loudly proclaim that he would love to do it right in the open for everyone to see and enjoy.

And that filled her with a fear that she couldn't put over into words. A fear that burned in her stomach like hot acid. It filled her with anger too, but the fear was much stronger.

What made her feel so powerless that even the teachers who heard him say all those things, would just walk on, without doing anything about it. What could they do, everyone is scared of the criminal gangs that ruled the Western Cape.

Therefore, when she was inside that dream and that feeling of bliss took over, that was where she wanted to be. That was where she wanted to stay. Away from Headstrong and the other criminal- and corrupt activities that was allowed in the country.

Another recurring dream of hers was the one with the old man. The man was extremely ancient looking with a light beard hanging down his chin. He looked very frail, but there was a strength in his eyes that she could feel. His presence also made her to feel good. In almost exactly the same way as the bright light did.

In her dreams, the old man was always walking away from her. Then he would stop and look over his shoulder at her. When she got older, she tried to study everything about him inside that dream. She saw that there was always a faint smile on his face as he looked at her with those powerful eyes of his. She also noticed that when he walked, he had a slight limp as if there was something wrong with his left leg.

She never told her aunts about it, because they would just tell her one of their stories that she didn't want to hear. However, because the old man appeared so many times in her dreams, she made several drawings of him. She kept the drawing hidden away in her safe, because she didn't want anyone else to see the drawings. Nevertheless, whenever she felt really down and she needed strength she took the drawings out and had a look at it.

Then she strangely felt better again with new strength that bubbled through her body. She could then usually solve her problem without much ado.

Of course, she kept all of this to herself. She was not born to do anything else but design dresses. She didn't care what her aunts said.

She's only a girl and really-really does not feel like solving the world's problems.

Why should she?

Chapter-3

It is a bright afternoon in the city with a slight wind blowing. One can clearly feel the iciness of the ocean in the breeze.

Lakisha walks down Lower Mountain Street in Cape Town itself. She doesn't like coming to the greater city as it is always so extremely busy here. Even when she was small, she didn't like coming into the greater city with her parents. The city has been laid out in such a way that one can't easily drive with your car from one place to the next here. Driving around inside Cape Town is not very practical as you will get stuck in traffic for way longer than what it would take you to walk wherever you wanted to go.

Therefore, it is much easier to park your car in one of the many parking areas in the city and then walk to your destination. It is also much more fun like her father used to say. It was fun to him and her mother and her sister and her cousins, who usually came with them to the city. It was never fun for her. She never liked crowds. Especially not the crowds like what they had in Cape Town. Cape Town was the capital of the province. That meant that the head office to every company in the province was located here.

Her parents and siblings loved the crowds and what came with it, but not her. She would have liked to stay in her room, reading a book or making some drawings in her thick sketchbook.

That is what we are always talking about, Lakisha. Her two aunts would say. Aunt Jen and Aunt Raine. They would have those self-satisfied smiles on their faces when they said this.

"You are the child of Hetsi-Atan. You are a child of the veldt and the beach. You carry the burden of the community...of the tribe... on your shoulders and no one can help you with that. To carry that weight you need solitude and silence. That is why you see that the shamaan, the medicine man, the old wizard - call him what you want, always live alone, away from the community.

You have that in you and there is nothing you can do about it. It is your destiny.

Now she was on her way through Lower Mountain Street to meet Auntie Jen and Raine at the coffee-shop.

As she walks over the pedestrian bridge, something suddenly happens. This never happened to her before, but now that it does, she doesn't even find it strange at all. She is suddenly - just like that, while still walking over the bridge - in that dream-world. The exact same place she finds herself in when dreaming.

She is in a vast open veldt with a peculiar white sand all around her. She isn't even sure if it is sand, it can also be lime, or even something more exotic. The exotic sand has a strange glow to it. In this glow she sees a moving picture. It seems to be projected on the glowing sand from an unknown source. She can see the picture clearly, though. It comes with sound, smell and even touch.

The picture on the sand shows the very busy street that she is now crossing via the pedestrian bridge. She sees it from a completely different angle. It is as if she is standing down next to the busy road. In the picture, she sees the child.

It is a six-year-old girl that suddenly breaks away in her haste to get to the other side of the very busy road. Something startled the child. Lakisha even feels the child's fear and her feelings. The child is scared of the many huge vehicles roaring endlessly up and down the busy street. She wants to get away from them and makes a break to run across the road to the other side. Her mind tells her it would be quieter and safer on the other side. Then she falls down hard, when her foot slips out from under her in her haste.

There is the extremely loud screaming of brakes, but it is too late.

The speeding mini-bus taxi runs full speed into the little girl, crushing her little body under its wheels. The Black driver just looks into his rear view mirror and then continues driving. It is as if nothing had happened.

The picture and the feelings that go with it, is so clear that Lakisha feels the cold