Ch.22: Immaculate Conception (The Mandela Effect, V.1 Black and White) e.1

Chapter Twenty-Two – Immaculate Conception

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus…

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for our sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.

Lieutenant Pieter Erasmus was definitely not a Catholic and did not prescribe to the above prayer. He was a Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) man through and through. His ancestors had arrived in South Africa from Holland over a century ago.

Immaculate conception in the way that Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ in a stable in Bethlehem… surely not, Erasmus.

Pieter was of the belief that Lindiwe’s father had died in the explosion at the laboratory at the Natal border.

Then Lindiwe, now in the spirit of Lindiwe Snr, dropped the bombshell.

“Pieter, did you know that my mother was a virgin before she went to the future?”

The cop looked stunned. Went to the future? What is this now? Albertina Buthelezi said that she could not remember a thing after the explosion in the laboratory. So the old lady clearly did release more information to Lindiwe after all.

“I am getting confused, you will need to explain the story to me,” said the cop.

Lindiwe smiled.

“Before you arrived in Mamelodi West, Albertina told me that she did remember what happened after the explosion,” began Lindiwe.

“The bright light in the laboratory did force her into a state of unconsciousness, but when she woke up she was naked between the silk sheets in a world class hotel room with a man getting dressed next to the double bed.”

Pieter gulped.

“Nothing wrong with that,” teased Pieter.

Lindiwe grinned.

“Yes, but wait for the juicy parts,” remarked Lindiwe.

“She said that when the man kissed her and left the hotel room, she made her way over to a huge glass window and when she finally managed to pull it open, it was like was  in heaven. She was basically on top of the clouds looking down on the world.”

Pieter gave Lindiwe a side-on look.

“Does Albertina Buthelezi consume a lot of alcohol?” he asked.

“Pieter, I am serious, this is the story she told me,” went on Lindiwe.

Pieter giggled.

“Next you will want me to believe that Mickey Mouse is more than a man in a suit and American President Ronald Reagan is the first person from Mars to become the USA’s No 1,” said the cop.

Lindiwe laughed.

“I am just telling you what Albertina told me,” she said.

“Does Albertina use any form of strong medication?” asked Pieter.

“Come on, Pieter, she still has a healthy mind,” quipped Lindiwe.

Pieter shrugged his shoulders.

“I am not so sure about that anymore,” he replied with a smile.

Lindiwe burst out into hysterical laughter.

“You must be wondering about the Buthelezi family?” she teased.

Pieter grinned.

“You said it, I thought it,” he replied.

“Let me make your day,” remarked Lindiwe.

The driver smiled.

“We don’t have time to go back to Mbabane,” he said.

Lindiwe could feel her black face turning red from embarrassment.

“No, I didn’t mean that, silly, I meant I have some more information that will blow your mind,” she said.

“Oh, this should be good, alright, out with it,” commented the Lieutenant.

Lindiwe took in a deep breath.

“Now, remember that I am only telling you what Albertina told me,” she said.

“And?” replied Pieter.

Lindiwe cleared her throat.

“Albertina said that she was a virgin when the explosion at the laboratory happened.”

“So?” enquired Pieter.

“She also said that she did not have intercourse with the man in the world class hotel room, yet soon after she found out that she was pregnant,” said Lindiwe.

Pieter giggled.

“Let me guess, she gave birth in a stable because there was no room in the inn, and the three wise men brought gifts to worship the newly born,” he went on, with reference to the birth of Jesus Christ according to the Bible.

“So that would mean that Albertina gave birth through immaculate conception and that her name is really not Albertina at all, but Mary.”

Lindiwe poked the driver in the left side of his ribs with her right hand.

“Pieter, I am serious,” she said.

“Me too,” replied the Lieutenant.

“I mean, come on Lindiwe, how can you give birth to a child without being pregnant, I mean really now?”

“Exactly, but let’s think this through,” analysed Lindiwe.

“If Albertina really went to the future and back, goodness knows, maybe your original theory is correct.”

“Which one?” asked Pieter.

“The one that she may have been impregnated by Immaculate Conception, via time travel,” said Lindiwe in an excited tone.

“I was only kidding about the immaculate conception bit,” replied Pieter.

“I know you were, but let’s not take things for granted as this is no ordinary situation,” quipped Lindiwe.

Pieter gulped.

“Lindiwe, with regard to your father…”

Lindiwe sighed.

“You sound like a stuck record, as you have asked me that before.”

“Are you one hundred percent sure that he survived the laboratory explosion?” asked Pieter.

“I am two hundred percent sure as I met him a few times,” said Lindiwe, with the remark forcing Pieter’s heart to skip a beat and he nearly lost control of the vehicle.

“You say that you met him?”

“Yes, why, do you want to go and offer lobola for me?” teased Lindiwe. Lobola is the groom offering money or assets to the bride’s family ahead of a marriage.

“No, I am just curious,” said Pieter in a serious tone.

“What did your father tell you about your mother?”

“He told me that my mother was a gentle, God-fearing woman who had a heart the size of the country,” said Lindiwe.

Pieter smiled.

“It sounds like she is a chip off the old block, meaning a younger version of her mother, Albertina Buthelezi,” he said.

“Please don’t tell me that your mother also visited the future before her passing? Let me guess, she fell pregnant on Mars with Donald Duck’s child? Is that what you are going to tell me?”

Lindiwe howled with laughter.

“That story about Albertina waking up in a world class hotel room with a glass window above the world really got to you, didn’t it?” she teased.

Pieter grinned.

“Look, if I didn’t know you or the situation better, I would have thought that you are smoking some very strong illegal stuff,” he joked.

“You are not going to hit me with some more Immaculate Conception stories, are you?” he asked.kg

Lindiwe smiled.

“I just wish that I could have known my mother better.”

Wow! What a powerful statement from Lindiwe considering that she was Lindiwe Senior, although to Pieter, she looked like Lindiwe Jnr.

“I just wish I could have spoken with my mother and learnt lots more about her as well as the identity of the man who wanted to kill Mandela,” exclaimed Lindiwe.

Pieter broke out into a cold sweat.

Erasmus, you can thank your lucky stars that Lindiwe never got to know her mother better otherwise she would be fully aware that you are the one who plans on putting a bullet or more into Mandela!

Pieter needed to get his and her mind off of the matter.

“So, ur… Lindiwe, tell me what you know about the inauguration of the first democratically-elected President of South Africa,” he asked.

Lindiwe smiled.

“What a day for South Africa!” she remarked.

“Through the spirit of travel to the future, I saw Mandela having his hand held up high by the outgoing President FW de Klerk on a stage outside of the Union Buildings in Pretoria.”

“De Klerk?” said a stunned Pieter.

“What happened to PW Botha?”

“Botha resigned as President and then Nationalist Party leader in 1989, after he lost the support of his party, and de Klerk took over,” explained Lindiwe.

“The Nationalists were fighting among themselves as some believed that meetings with the banned ANC in Lusaka, Zambia should not be allowed while others saw this as the only way forward for the country. Botha was against any form of talks with the ANC. During this time he also had a stroke and became an inconsistent decision-maker in the eyes of his colleagues.”

“Of course the road to the first democratic elections and Mandela’s eventual inauguration was not an easy one,” she went on.

“The right wing AWB even drove an armoured vehicle through the glass doors of the centre where the Nationalists and the ANC were in talks over a new constitution. The AWB also tried to help Bophuthatswana President Lucas Mangope to hang on to power and not to be a part of the New South Africa by joining his military men to defend the homeland.”

“What happened there?” asked Pieter.

“The black army of Mangope refused to give weapons to the white right wing AWB Afrikaners,” explained Lindiwe.

“The AWB eventually left but one of their vehicles opened fire on civilians in the streets of Mafikeng. The local black security officials responded with gun fire on the AWB vehicle, and killed the driver. The vehicle stopped and two other AWB men inside the car were executed in front of the media. This was the first time that the world saw white South African men being executed by black men, and basically put an end to the theory that the white minority could win a civil war over the black majority.”

“So The New South Africa came into being and Mandela became the first black President?” asked Pieter.

“Exactly, but many of his own people saw him as being too close to the Afrikaner and too lenient in terms of comprising too much with the white people,” continued Lindiwe.

“What I saw was that there was still a great anger among blacks in that the white people dominate the economy and the land situation.”

“The foreign countries would react very favourably to the New South Africa in terms of investment, with the ANC becoming a central peace making forum to end wars in other countries on the African continent,” went on Lindiwe.

“Mandela’s wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, would become a firebrand leader of the African National Congress Women’s League, but unfortunately she would divorce from her husband in later years.”

Pieter was amazed with the attention to detail that Lindiwe provided in terms of describing the future. There was no doubt in his mind that she had been there and that South Africa would turn out for the better with Mandela as the key figure.

Pieter suddenly put his foot on the brake pedal of the police vehicle to such an extent that Lindiwe had to use her hands to stop her from going hard against the dashboard.

“What now?” she asked.

“We are near the Swaziland-South Africa border, so it is time for you to get into the back of the vehicle,” quipped Pieter.

Lindiwe sighed and climbed out of the vehicle.

“So where to from here?” she asked.

“To South Africa and Mamelodi,” replied Pieter.

“No, silly, I meant what’s the masterplan’s next step?” said questioned Lindiwe.

Pieter licked his upper lip.

“It is time for another trip,” he said.

“Back to Swaziland?” Lindiwe asked.

“No, Natal,” answered Pieter.

The cop was now caught between two mind-sets. Did he continue with the plan to execute Mandela to cause chaos among the blacks and to keep white minority rule intact? Or did he step aside as potential assassin and help his country towards building the New South Africa that Lindiwe had described?

The problem was that if he did not kill Mandela, someone else could achieve the objective. His moment of glory would be gone. Little did Pieter understand that his moment of glory was still coming but in a different form.

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