Thembi went to check up on him and she found him sleeping. It was getting late so she decided not to wake him.

Elihle woke up early in the morning to get to school. The thoughts he had before he slept felt like a dream.

How can I dream of such a terrible thing? He thought to himself. He couldn’t be a thief after what happened to his father. He was preparing for school and Thembi was also awake preparing for work.

“Morning my boy, can I make a lunch box for you?”

“No Aunty, I will be fine. I have to go to school now, see you later.”

On his way to school he found Andile, his friend, waiting for him. They were always walking together. Andile was a funny guy who talked too much, in the hood everyone called him Danger. He always had a story to tell, most of them were lies.

Andile started telling Elihle about a gangster movie he watched the night before.

In the movie there were two poor boys and they were in high school. They suffered and other learners made them jokes about their poor situations at school. They met a guy and he said he would teach them how to drive. He gave them money and said he wanted them to be like other kids at school. They thought he was their friend and he understood and liked them.

After he taught them how to drive he told them if they could steal a car and give it to him, he would make them the richest kids in their neighbourhood and they could have girls of their dreams. They laughed at him and thought he was kidding but the guy was serious. They told him they couldn’t steal cars and they don’t want to die, they would rather be poor. He gave them his numbers for when they changed their minds.

After school the boys were just walking back to their homes when a black, beautiful Audi sport car stopped next to them asking for directions.

The old man came out of the car and asked them the way that could lead him back into town. While the other boy was giving him directions, the other boy saw a gun on the old man’s back. He took the gun and pointed at the old man. They told him to drive the car. They dropped him on the way and they disappeared. They called the guy and he directed them to where they would find him. He gave them money for the car. They thought their problems were solved and they wouldn’t have to steal ever again.

That was when the school bang rang.

Elihle was not happy; he wanted to hear the end of the movie but there was nothing he could do as classes were about to start. They were doing the same grade but their classes were not the same. Elihle couldn’t concentrate; he wanted to hear the end of the movie.

It was the last period before school was out when Mr Ndlovu noticed that Elihle was acting strange.

Before the bell rang, he asked him to take books to his office. He wanted to talk to him but Elihle thought he would put the books on his desk and run back to Andile to hear the end of the movie.

When he was about to walk out, Mr Ndlovu invited him to sit.

There was a big, brown wooden table in his office, he took a black plastic chair and joined him.

“I want to talk to you my boy. What is wrong with you? Since yesterday you have not been right. You left early and today you are not concentrating; the teachers in the staffroom complained about you. You are one of our best students, what’s wrong?” Mr Ndlovu asked.

“Am fine, Sir. I am just tired after the long trip from Witbank and I didn’t sleep well last night. I promise I won’t lie to you. You know you are always the first to know if I have problems.”

“If you are sure boy you can go. I will see you tomorrow and you better concentrate in the class.”

Elihle ran out to try and reach Andile. Lucky he was waiting for him in the tuck shop near the school.

“Let’s go boy, you know you have an interesting movie to finish.”

“Ah boy, is that why you are running? I thought you missed me but all you want is for me to finish that movie. I know it’s interesting but why are you obsessed with a movie?”

“You know I love watching movies.”

Andile continue with the movie.

The man kept pestering the boys; he called and told them to come to his place. When they got there he told them he had a little job for them. At first they said they can’t do dirty work for him anymore then he promised them a lot of money if they did the job very well.

He wanted to rob the bank trucks. He told them they will have to pretend like they work in the road, put on green overalls and they had to distract the cars. That was when his other guys will hit them and it will look like accident. The plan was to get two trucks; the one that will hit the cars and the other with bags where they will put money and weapons. The boys would alert them if the cars come.

The plan went very well and they got all the money. The road was full of cameras and the police recognised that the boys were working with the gangsters. They were all hunted and they had to fly to Mexico to hide there.

“That’s all I remember,” Andile said. “You know I can’t tell you the whole movie, you have to watch it if you want to know how it ended,”

“Crime does pay, it’s just that you have to be smart.” Elihle said thoughtfully.

“I wonder what is wrong with you little boy. Since you came back you have changed. How can you say that crime does pay?” Andile asked laughing.

They both went their separate ways.

***

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