dad checked our homework while mom was cooking. when we ate supper, he let zanele and mandla each sit on one knee, and he teased noluthando about how tall she had grown. but he said nothing about why he had come home. it was a hot evening and we sat outside. when mom took the little ones away to sleep, dad told us he had been retrenched from his job. we were shocked. dad was not the first man in our area to lose his job. nearly every month someone came home because the company they worked for had closed. when mom came back, dad told us to go to bed and not to worry. we said goodnight but sipho stood in the shadows for a while and listened to our parents talking. ‘mom sounded so worried. she said she didn’t know how we will cope, especially now there is zanele to look after. dad sounded calm, though. he told mom he has a plan. he also told her how proud he was that she had taken in her sister’s child when there was no one else to care for her.’ ‘i wonder when we will find out what the plan is, sipho.’