The destination he has was not far from his friend’s place. It was an old abandoned house with the roof still in good condition but the windows were completely busted. There were no doors either. He snuck in silently, he even breathed quietly. He heard voices and walked towards the sound.

When he was close enough, he peeped his head out, there wasn’t a door. He hid behind the wall and spotted five guys. The were about his age and had a lot of groceries with them. Taku recognised three of them; Simon, Peter and Lucas. He doesn’t know the remaining two.

A candle was burning and a torch lit up, he could now see everything in the room. He peeped in again, observing around the room, he didn’t want anyone to see or feel his presence.

“Mr Dube, what a fool, he thought he is clever,” Simon laughed.

“Do you know how rude he was? ‘You hooligan, you think I don’t know you come to steal?’ … I only begged him for two Rands,”

“That day he said he will report me for eating those biscuits. I was just hungry,” the short guy said.

“He deserves it,” Simon gave Peter a high five and laughed loudly.

“How much did we steal?” Lucas asked, smiling.

“R1800. What kind of a man keeps that money in his cash box?” The short guy said chuckling.

Taku could see the other unknown guy laughing. He didn’t really talk much. He hid again when the short guy looked at the door. He remained silent, holding his breath.

“This is South Africa, we do anything for a living, even stealing!” they all started laughing and hitting hands.

Taku heard footsteps and ran away quietly. The short guy sighed when he saw nothing behind the wall. He felt like someone was watching. Taku waited in the other room but could still hear them.

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought someone was watching us, as if we were being spied on,” he answered.

“You are the dog whose ears hear every sound. You keep us safe,” Peter exclaimed.

“Yeah, maybe it’s just my instincts,” short guy sighed.

They shared the money while laughing at Mr Dube.

“You know that boy who took the fall for us?” Lucas asked with his eyes wide opened.

“Better, they will never find us if they think he’s the thief,” Simon laughed.

They continue to laugh and smoked nyaope, making a noise. The house was not close to any other houses; it was on the corner, a kilometre from the next house. It was surrounded with thorn trees. The neighbours never came complaining, especially because of how everyone was frightened with bushes and abandoned places.

Taku walked out and ran through the trees until he was back home. He looked back, thinking how he will catch these thieves. He decided to go to the police station but waited to see if they had gone. The brightness in the room the guys were in was gone. He ran to the police station and
found a female Constable at the reception.

He breathed in fast and exhaled slowly. The Constable consistently kept her eyes on him.

“ I… found… Mr Dube’s…goods,” he said inhaling quickly.

“I know about Mr Dube’s shop, how can you tell it’s his goods?” she asked, chewing her gum, clearly becoming annoyed by Taku spoiling her quiet night.

“I heard them, they robbed Mr Dube’s shop,” he bent down, his legs pained him.

“What if you are lying?” she said looking at the door.

“Ma’am please,” he pleaded.

“I can’t leave the reception, I am the only one working here. The rest are patrolling,” she said chewing her bubble-gum.

“Call Detective Mambo please,” he said leaning on the table.

“And say what? How do you even know these things,” she shouted, pushing his body from the table.

Taku heard a siren and walked towards the door. It was a police van. He saw Detective Mambo with another uniformed policeman coming. He smiled and looked at the Constable who started to reading a magazine.

***

Tell us: Do you think the police will believe Taku?