A few streets away from Andrew's Shelters apartment was a rivulet that formed the boundary between Orlando East and Phomolong, a section of Orlando West. It was a notorious nuisance – whenever it rained it filled up and hindered the movement of people across it.

Andrew still used the train for travelling to and from work. He had become used to the morning and afternoon rush and knew the destinations of all the trains that passed through the Orlando railway station by their numbers. He still did not have the ambition to buy himself a car or get a driver's licence.

A few streets below the Orlando railway station lived his relative Moses Mlangeni, who was already married. His wife Mary was from Kroonstad. In that same street was a shop belonging to a quiet man who appeared sickly and had no children. He was assisted by a young woman whom Andrew observed did not stay with him, but walked daily to and from the shop. When he visited Moses he would watch this young lady and observed that she would arrive at the shop in the morning and leave for home later in the afternoon in the direction of Mzimhlophe, a township north of Orlando West. The young woman was beautiful, tall, slender and maintained her natural complexion and humility. Although he had never spoken to her, he had a feeling that she was full of confidence and down to earth, but had dignity and respect. He presumed from the day he saw her for the first time that she may have come from a good family and had benefited from her upbringing. For several days he watched her movements and hoped to approach her one day to greet and even to get to know her better. He took his time to do that, though. One day, sitting outside Moses's home with Mary, he felt braver than usual and gathered enough courage to ask Mary about her. Mary responded by asking him if he liked her and went on: ‘She works at the shop. If you like her, I can tell her.’ Andrew merely asked about her knock-off time, which he found to coincide with the time he disembarked from the Orlando railway station on his way back from work.