THE SWEET SMELL OF APPLES. <i> St. Martin’s: 200 pp., $21.95</i>
<i> Mark Behr was born in Tanzania in 1963, and later moved to South Africa with his family. He was educated in South Africa, Norway and the United States, and currently lives in Johannesburg, where he works as a lecturer in English literature</i>
My name is really Marnus, but when Dad speaks to me he mostly says ‘my son’ or ‘my little bull’, and him and Mum also like calling me ‘my little piccanin’.
For my birthday in November, I got a Scalextric with two 918 Porsches, one red and one green. Me and Frikkie Delport helped Dad to mount the whole thing on hardboard and the track has stayed on my bedroom floor ever since. During the week I’m allowed to play with the set after my homework is finished and once Mum has signed my homework book.
