The Smell of Apples

The Erasmus household is shaken by news that Little-Neville, the 10-year-old son of their housekeeper, Doreen, has gone missing while visiting a nearby all-white township where he attends private school. Marnus shares a recollection about Tannie Karla, his maternal aunt, who has been long ostracized from the family. In a pivotal conversation between his mother and his aunt at an ice cream stand, Karla disparaged Leonore’s marriage and how her sister gave up her music, sacrificing everything for a husband who only oppressed her freedom, her integrity, and her spirit. The remark so angered Marnus’s mother that the sisters did not speak for years. Karla since moved to London. Marnus recounts that earlier that year, a letter arrived from Karla that Leonore promptly threw away unopened. Ilse, who visited her aunt during her trip abroad to the Netherlands, rescues the letter and reads it aloud while Marnus listens. The letter is a passionate plea for Leonore to allow her children to grow up with compassion and open-mindedness and to live unafraid of those who are different. The letter inspires Ilse but merely confuses Marnus.

Although Doreen is quite upset over her missing child, the family continues to entertain the General, driving him to a gorgeous overlook to watch the sunset where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet.