Town and Country Lovers
Town and Country Lovers is divided into two parts, both depicting matters of race and the enigma behind interracial marriages.
Part I
The first narrative opens up with an introduction to the main characters, geologist Dr. Von Leinsdorf and a young beautiful African girl who works as a cashier at a grocery store. Von makes regular trips to the grocery store to purchase his supplies of food. At one time, the store runs out of razor blades that the doctor prefers to use and the African girl offers to run to another store to purchase one for him. Von asks if she could deliver it at his apartment which she does.
The week after, the young cashier makes regular deliveries to Von’s house. Not long after, the two start a romantic relationship. Von enjoys the sexual company and in return; he teaches her to type, improve her grammar, and even swim.
Word of their relationship comes out and the police arrest Von and the girl. It is against the law for people of different races to have romantic relationships. Von manages to secure their release and the two are forced to break up their relationship
Part II
Similar to the first part, this is a story of a white farmer’s son who falls in love with the daughter of an African worker. As children, the two play together and as they grow they have romantic fantasies of each other. They start engaging in sexual relations which leads to pregnancy. The pregnancy, however, does not show until the African girl is betrothed to a young and kind African man. When she gives birth, it becomes clear that the baby is not her husband’s.
Nonetheless, the husband agrees to raise the light-skinned baby as his own. The white farmer’s son hears of news of his child and driven by paranoia draws up a plan to poison the baby so no one will know he is the father. His plan succeeds, but he is arrested and later set free after the African girl claims she is not sure whether he was the one who poisoned their child.
Once Upon a Time tells a story of a white family of three, husband, wife, and child who adore each other dearly. The family lives in the suburbs which border a poverty-stricken area that is occupied by African families.
News of break-in and robberies start going around, a lot of African homes are broken into and it seems the theft cases are moving up to the suburbs. Afraid to lose their nice possessions, the white family decides to up their security. They install cameras and motion sensors all over their compound and when that is not enough, they put a big wall and electronic gates. The robberies get to the suburbs and the family becomes more paranoid-they set up metal bars on all windows and alarm systems which are very sensitive.
The burglaries continue, other white families in the neighborhood start firing their African workers, however, this family chooses not to fire them. They, however, add barbed wires on their compound wall. Feeling safe in their home, the mother decides to tell his son a story to put him to sleep. The story is one of Sleeping Beauty. The boy learns of the Prince who climbed through thorny thickets to save the princess. The boy relates these thickets to the barbed wires on their wall.
The next day the boy decides to climb the wall. Once on top, he is trapped and the razor-sharp wires cut his boy. He tries to get free but makes the cuts even worse. The African gardener hears the boy screaming and runs to his aid. When he is finally free, the boy is dead and the family mourns deeply. Their fear of the perceived outdoors has led to the death of their only child.
Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants
The short story is one of a middle-aged white secretary who spends most of her time trying to look no older than twenty-five years. She lives alone in the Suburban Johannesburg. Her life revolves around her work at a local garage and frequent trips to various shopping malls in town. She is divorced and has one daughter who she barely visits. The two are not in good terms, and she has seen her grandchildren once when they were babies. Her daughter, however, does not share her contempt for black individuals, hence the dispute between them.
Nonetheless, this woman fears to die alone, and she ends up confiding her secret to an African worker. He is compassionate in return. She asks the African man to bring people to her funeral if she ever dies. The two individuals part ways and after some time the white woman becomes paranoid and fears the African worker will use her secret against her. She tracks him down only to finds him in the park reading a newspaper. The woman becomes aware of her overly-judgmental qualities.
