The covenant - James A. Michener [557]
'Are you still angry about the arithmetic grade? Forget this silly accusation, and let's go home.'
That night the Van Valcks interrogated Minna, who said, 'Well, she's darker than me. But she talks like me.'
'You mustn't say anything about this, Minna. This is an important secret, but tomorrow ask her about her parents. Where do they live? What do they do?'
So Minna became a spy, and after much interrogation, was able to report to her parents: 'Her family is all right. Her father is foreman in a garage. Her mother runs a store. She says that's where she learned to add so fast, in the store.'
This did not appease Mrs. van Valck, who arranged for her husband to visit the school so that he, too, could see the suspected child, and when he did, his jaw dropped and he would utter no further words inside the school, but when he joined his wife in their car he said, 'My God! That girl is Coloured.'
The Van Valcks stayed awake most of that night, trying to decide what decent course they must pursue. For a Coloured child to pass as white was immoral, illegal, and crucially dangerous to their daughter, since the two were not only thrown together, but had established bonds of friendship, if not downright love. A thing like this could ruin a white girl, could tarnish her for life if it became known in the community. And it was not only the
Van Valck family that was endangered; any school had to be constantly protective of its reputation, and the easiest way to lose it would be for it to harbor children of the wrong color.
Toward morning the Van Valcks decided that they must place this difficult problem in the lap of Dr. Sterk, a man of demonstrated competence and a stout defender of Afrikanerdom. Indeed, many supposed that he must be the head of the the local Broederbond. So after Minna was safely in her classes, they drove inconspicuously to the school and slipped in to the principal's office. 'Dr. Sterk,' Mrs. van Valck said sternly, 'we have reason to believe that Petra Albertyn is Coloured.'
He choked. 'Mevrou van Valck! That's a serious charge to make.'
'We're making it. That girl is not white.'
'Impossible.'
And then something happened that sent a chill down his spine. The two Van Valcks simply sat there, firm in their chairs, their fists clenched, staring at him. They said nothing, made no threats, just waited. Finally he coughed, then said, 'You really are serious about this.'
'We are,' Leopold van Valck said.
'You're charging Petra Albertyn with being Coloured?'
'We are.'
'You're aware of the grave consequences? To the girl? To her parents? To the school?'
'We are.'
'Let me consult with her teachers.'
'That's not necessary,' Mrs. van Valck snapped. 'You can tell by looking at her that she's trying to pass. And she's endangering our daughter.'
'I need time to consider this,' he said firmly. 'Now you return home and I'll visit you tonight, after I've spoken with my people.'
That night, at half past eight, he came to their door, accepted the coffee and biscuits they offered, and reported: 'Not one of our teachers ever suspected Petra of trying to pass. She's a splendid little girl'
'She's Coloured,' Mrs. van Valck said firmly.
'We find absolutely no evidence'
'Have you checked her family?'
'I do not know her family,' Dr. Sterk confessed. 'Their I.D. cards say they are white.'
'I shall visit them tomorrow,' Mrs. van Valck said. 'Can you give me their address?'
'They live at Blinkfontein.'
On Friday afternoon she drove forty-eight miles north of Venloo to a crossroads village with a single store, Albertyn Super Shop. Parking her car, she looked for the police, but there were none. She walked to the post office and asked to see the man in charge, whom she swore to silence: 'It's a most important matter, Meneer. Things are being said about those people across the road. Back in Venloo. Their child Petra is in school there.'
'What are you talking about, Mevrou?'
'What do you know of the Albertyns?' Shrugging one shoulder toward the store, she added, 'Over there . . . '
'They've