“Oh!” She gave a gasp and her hand went to her mouth. “You’re the good uncle who saved my cart!”
“Don’t uncle me, please. My name is Ruben Lemeko. The boys at the factory call me China. Yours?”
“Zodwa.”
His eyes travelled from her small tender fingers as she washed a few things, to her man’s jersey which was a faded green and too big for her, her thin frock, and then to her peach-coloured face, not well fed, but well framed and compelling under a soiled black beret. As he ate hungrily she shot a side-glance at him occasionally.
There was something sly in those soft, moist, slit eyes, but the modest stoop at the shoulders gave him a benign appearance; otherwise he would have looked twisted and rather fiendish. There was something she felt in his presence: a repelling admiration. She felt he was the kind of man who could be quite attractive so long as he remained more than a touch away from the contemplator; just like those wax figures she once saw in the chamber of horrors. 

Answers

1. The strikers become violent. ✓ The strikers destroy some of the carts. ✓ China pulls Pinkie’s cart across the street. ✓
2. To show respect. ✓/He is older than Pinkie. ✓
3. C/annoyance ✓
4. She is poor. ✓/She appears to be undernourished. ✓
5. She finds him attractive yet repulsive. ✓ She is attracted to him but  realises that he might be dangerous. ✓
6.              
   1. simile ✓
   2. He is beautiful/scary/emotionless ✓
7. He loses his job. ✓
8. Pinkie leads a poor life. ✓/She cannot get a proper job. ✓/ She is no longer allowed to operate her cart. ✓ China is underpaid. ✓/He loses his job when he participates in a protest strike. ✓/He has trouble finding a new job. ✓ (2)
9. She is ✓/ She is caring. ✓ / She is sympathetic. ✓/ She is unselfish. ✓ / She is grateful. ✓       (2)
10. The action of the police is not justified because the coffee-cart was how Pinkie made her living and now she would have no work. ✓
    OR
    The action of the police is justified because it was enforcing the laws of the city to keep it clean. ✓                                                (2) [17]

At that very moment she realised fully the ghastliness of a man’s jealousy, which gleamed and glanced on the blade and seemed to have raised a film which steadied the slit eyes. Against the back wall she managed to speak.
“All right, China, maybe you’ve done this many times before. Go ahead and kill me; I won’t cry for help, do what you like with me.”
She panted like a timid little mouse cornered by a cat. He couldn’t finish the job he had set out to do. Why? He had sent two men packing with a knife before. They had tried to fight, but this creature wasn’t resisting at all. Why, why, why? He felt the heat pounding in his temples; the knife dropped, and he sank on to a stool and rested his head on the wall, his hands trembling.
After a moment he stood up, looking away from Pinkie. ‘I’m sorry, Pinkie, I pray you never in your life to think about this day.”
She looked at him, mystified.
“Say you forgive me.” She nodded twice.
Then she packed up for the day, much earlier than usual.
The following day China did not visit Pinkie; nor the next. He could not decide to go there. Things were all in a barbed wire tangle in his mind. But see her he must, he thought. He would just go and hug her; say nothing but just press her to himself because he felt too mean even to tell her not to be afraid of him any more.

Answers

1.                                  
   1. ring ✓
   2. jealous ✓
   3. aggressive ✓
   4. guilty ✓ (4)
2. He is a cheapjack/hawker/vendor ✓ (1)
3. False. Naidoo gave her the ring as payment for the coffee and cakes. ✓✓          (2)
4. A cat is ferocious and a mouse is timid✓
   OR
   Just as a cat can overpower a mouse so, too, can China overpower Pinkie. ✓
   OR
   She has no chance against China, as he is much stronger than she is. ✓                     (2)
5. He was aggressive ✓/violent ✓/He was a murderer✓ (1)
6. She is puzzled ✓/does not understand that his aggressive behaviour has changed to that of being apologetic ✓ (2)
7.                                          
   1. He realises that she is ✓/He still loves her. ✓ (1)
   2. He is being realistic because she nods her head to say she forgives him and he knows he must never be violent with her again. ✓✓
      OR
      He is not being realistic. Now that she has seen for herself how violent China can be, she will never be able to trust him again. ✓✓ (2)
8. Yes, Pinkie forgives She shows this by nodding twice when he asks for her forgiveness. ✓
   OR
   No, Pinkie has not forgiven China. She may have nodded that she had forgiven him, but she packs up early to get away from him because she is afraid. ✓  (1)
9. It is an effective conclusion to the story because it shows how uncertain their lives are and keeps us guessing about what happens next ✓✓
   OR
   It is not an effective conclusion to the story because it is dissatisfying to the reader not to know what happens next. The writer should have been clearer about the outcome. ✓✓(2) [18]