It looked like Sam didn’t hear very well, so he asked again, “You in love with Thandi, bra?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Bongi said.

Sam and I had just come in from the mini-market. We were enjoying our food with a 2 litre coke.

“Hey, Sam, did you hear that noise coming from that old house last night,” I said, trying to change the subject.

“Ya, hey, last night … did you catch the news? Another dude got killed yesterday,” Sam said.

“Yeah, do you think it could be the same people who killed that guy by the river?”

“I don’t know – maybe…” Sam said, eating a mouthful of food.

It was one-fifteen already, time to eat.

“Hey, Ms Dlamini, my next-door neighbour doesn’t even set foot outside her yard any longer,” Sam said.

“You kidding!” I exclaimed.

“Nah, man, that old woman is scared out of her mind,” Sam continued.

“With good reason,” I added.

“Who do you think it will be next?” Sam asked.

“I dont even want to think about it,” I replied.

“Yo, Bongi, thanks for the chow, bra. I’ve got to go,” Sam said after we had finished eating.

“Yo, it’s a pleasure, bra,” I said. “You know since my mama got that job I’ve been eating all by myself. It was good to have some company for a change, bra,” I said to Sam as he left.

As Sam walked down the street, loud noises become even louder from the old house behind the mini-market. Sam couldn’t see what was going on because the house was surrounded by a high brick wall.

So, he went around to the mini-market. Inside he heard Mr Martin, the shop-owner complaining about the noise.

Sam walked around the brick wall trying to find a way to peek over. But no such luck. So he finally quit. The music stopped suddenly for a short while, and Sam then had to tip toe around the wall, hoping not to draw attention to himself. At last he found a low portion of the wall.

He looked inside and saw in the yard two cars. BMWs. There were a few people hanging out in the yard drinking. When did they move in and who are these people, Sam wondered.

Leaning against the wall of the house near to Sam were two men, sitting and drinking beer. Both of them were smoking cigarettes. Sam could see that they were really drunk – they wanted to stand up but couldn’t.

“Hey, Mfethu, this plan of bra Zali’s is brilliant,” one said to the other.

“Yeah, this place is perfect,” the other slurred.

Both took another sip.

“Yeah, the cops will never look for us here…”

“Yeah, the cops have probably arrested someone for the murder of those two fools,” the one said laughing and then coughing on his cigarette smoke.

Sam couldn’t believe what he was hearing – he leaned against the wall trying not to make a sound.

“That will teach them not to mess with bra Zali,” one said.

“Yeah!

They both laughed as the tried to help each other up.

“Let us toast,” one said.

“Yeah, let’s,” the other man replied. “Here’s to Zali and his brilliant plan!”

Sam ran home as fast as could, uncertain of what he should do.

***

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