Rooftop
SCENE 21: ROOFTOP
Dusk. SILUMKO and VALERIA are hanging washing on the roof of her building. The washing billows gently. SILUMKO is hanging a pair of Valeria's panties. It is an intimate act.
CHORUS: And lo, on the mines / as the wind stirs the dust from the dunes / a cloud of uranium passes silently over the skyline / and drifts towards two people on a rooftop in Hillbrow at dusk.
VALERIA: It's weird when you look out over Joburg from high up.
SILUMKO: Like it's nice to look at for once?
[...]
SILUMKO: It’s called Alice, where I come from. The British people came there to start a mission station.
VALERIA: (in a posh voice) I’ll have a side of religious domination with my piece of the colonial pie, thank you! (beat) My sister says you’re going to win the case. They’re close to settling.
SILUMKO: Ja. I know.
VALERIA: Are you going back to Alice?
SILUMKO: I haven’t made up my mind yet.
VALERIA: Well. I for one will miss you. And I need you to help me with my business, I’m getting so many orders in I can’t keep up.
They hang washing in silence for a while.
VALERIA: You’re different, hey.
SILUMKO: Different from what?
VALERIA: From when I met you. You’re like… calm.
SILUMKO: Ja. I am.
She rips a sheet off the line and drapes him in it.
VALERIA: Now do a fashion show with me or get off my fucking rooftop.
He pauses for a minute, then struts.
VALERIA: And YASSSSS! She's serving queer royalty, she's serving Hillbrow laundry chic, she's serving Sta Soft Realness ! (Silu howls with laughter)
CHORUS: Follow my voice now / follow it as we drift over the Hillbrow skyline / trace, with us, the outlines of these suburbs that were carved out of the veld / named for some Johannes or other / this place, which has weathered many cycles of boom and dust / this Witwatersrand / this Ridge of White Waters / Ponte City / the Telkom Tower / From up here you can see the railway tracks / the few trains moving slowly along them / the roads crisscrossing through the land / the trucks, the cars, the buses / carrying bodies towards and away from home / which will it be, Silumko?
Dusk. SILUMKO and VALERIA are hanging washing on the roof of her building. The washing billows gently. SILUMKO is hanging a pair of Valeria's panties. It is an intimate act.
CHORUS: And lo, on the mines / as the wind stirs the dust from the dunes / a cloud of uranium passes silently over the skyline / and drifts towards two people on a rooftop in Hillbrow at dusk.
VALERIA: It's weird when you look out over Joburg from high up.
SILUMKO: Like it's nice to look at for once?
[...]
SILUMKO: It’s called Alice, where I come from. The British people came there to start a mission station.
VALERIA: (in a posh voice) I’ll have a side of religious domination with my piece of the colonial pie, thank you! (beat) My sister says you’re going to win the case. They’re close to settling.
SILUMKO: Ja. I know.
VALERIA: Are you going back to Alice?
SILUMKO: I haven’t made up my mind yet.
VALERIA: Well. I for one will miss you. And I need you to help me with my business, I’m getting so many orders in I can’t keep up.
They hang washing in silence for a while.
VALERIA: You’re different, hey.
SILUMKO: Different from what?
VALERIA: From when I met you. You’re like… calm.
SILUMKO: Ja. I am.
She rips a sheet off the line and drapes him in it.
VALERIA: Now do a fashion show with me or get off my fucking rooftop.
He pauses for a minute, then struts.
VALERIA: And YASSSSS! She's serving queer royalty, she's serving Hillbrow laundry chic, she's serving Sta Soft Realness ! (Silu howls with laughter)
CHORUS: Follow my voice now / follow it as we drift over the Hillbrow skyline / trace, with us, the outlines of these suburbs that were carved out of the veld / named for some Johannes or other / this place, which has weathered many cycles of boom and dust / this Witwatersrand / this Ridge of White Waters / Ponte City / the Telkom Tower / From up here you can see the railway tracks / the few trains moving slowly along them / the roads crisscrossing through the land / the trucks, the cars, the buses / carrying bodies towards and away from home / which will it be, Silumko?
