I pretended to be sick the next day. I told Lehlogonolo I couldn’t stand the cold outside and I preferred being in bed, because I had a terrible headache and a running nose.

Shame my poor cuz! She treated me like royalty the whole day before she departed for work, and once she had totally gone, I jumped out of bed and dressed in my T-shirt and jeans and went in search for the Nyaope boys Lehlogonolo had mentioned the other day. If Katlego wanted to see a sick, sad psychopath, I was more than willing to show him one.

Such a great honour that he transferred money to me before he could start throwing accusations at me. Little did he know that his own money was going to be used to make his life miserable. Firstly, I walked to the hardware store not far from my cousin’s place. He’d better have changed his locks because I was going for him with every inch of my being. I spotted a group of teenagers playing dice, and I found their conversation very interesting.

“Entlek game ye ke flop majita,” (This game is just whack)

“Gwa tshwana are beche arena nyongo, arena le zaka ya kwae simple kwae bafethu,” (What’s the point, there is no bet. We don’t have money, we can’t even afford a simple cigarette) said one of the boys playing dice, and that’s when I decided to introduce myself to the party.

“Ola magents, dintshang?” (Hello boys. How’s it?) They all looked up in annoyance and continued playing their dice as if no one had greeted them.

“Hai man kganthe altitude ke ya eng, akere nna ke hieso go thusha Lena, ke eng a le nyake machangura boys?” (What’s with the attitude? I’m here to help you. Don’t you want to make money, boys?)

And that was when I got their full attention. Even though at first they were very doubtful, in the end they all wanted to take part in my mission. I was going to get a key at the hardware store, a key for the Mangena residence. If by chance they found the locks changed, I needed them to do whatever it took to break into that house and steal every valuable asset there.

Even if they had changed the locks, there was Thateho’s bedroom that didn’t have bars on the windows. There was no one sleeping in there. That was going to be the main entrance to the house. I needed them to take everything, and when they were done, I wanted them to flatten that dog’s car tyres, and smash the car windows as a bonus. This was one lesson I never wanted him to recover from.

“Eh, suster! So once deal ye e hlakana vele, what’s in it for us?” asked one of the boys they called Shaku.

“It’s simple boys. We sell everything you manage to get out of the house and split all the money equally,” I replied with a smile.

They told me that they never did robberies without any protection. There was a hyena tail which they got from some Inyanga, and they burnt the tail before robberies and the smoke drugged people in the house so they didn’t hear anything. I was more than willing to give them R1500 for the hyena tail. This was one battle I was not willing to lose; Katlego had to pay.

I warned them never to come to Lehlogonolo ‘s place, or to even tell anyone about our operation. That way, the police would never associate me with them. The best thing that happened to me that night was when my cousin told me she was off for the night. That way, I could have an alibi about being at her home and nowhere near the Mangena’s residence.

I kept tossing and turning, wishing, hoping, praying that they succeeded because if they didn’t, I was going to be forced to make another plan. I was not going to bow down until that cruel, heart-breaker bent down on his knees and begged for my commitment.

At around ten o’clock the following day, I was to meet the gang at Faku’s place and I still hadn’t thought where I would tell Hlogi I was going. Good thing she was still fast asleep, and it was easier to leave her a simple note:

I went out for a walk, don’t be worried when you don’t find me.
Love Mantoa

I found the boys waiting for me at Faku’s shack. They were all too excited for my liking, two of the boys were already fighting over the plasma TV. When they saw me, they all settled down. I guess I chose the wrong career if you could call what I was doing a career, because around those boys I really felt like the boss.

I looked around me in disbelief; they had managed to get away with so many things, the plasma TV, microwave, toaster, music system, his laptop, tablet, his car tape. His Rolex was an extra bonus. I was overwhelmed.

“Sure sister,” said Faku. “We told you about that hyena tail, ya spana die ding, if we wanted that moegoe’s bed, we could have taken it and he wouldn’t have felt a thing.

“Sure boys! You nailed it! So about the car? Did you manage to do what I asked you?”

“His car is unrecognisable susster. Mfana saka Dealer,o e shapile ka special paint, just after we re-arranged it with bricks Wa bona die man sister, he won’t know what hit him. Mara wena o clever sister, key ya gago e spaniel sister. We got into the house without having to break anything. Nice one!”

“Okay! Enough with the talking. What are we doing with these things?”

“Nna nka le thusha ka buyer sister, said Dealer. Me and Faku can go there now to negotiate and the rest can stay here and wait for us.”

I didn’t see any problem with that. I was too thrilled for words. The money we were going to make was going to be enough for me to start a new life without that bastard, even though I still loved him with all my heart. Maybe one day he would think of me, and he would realise what he had missed and come look for me, but I was done with him after the robbery. It was my way of saying: Don’t mess with Mantoa!

***

Tell us: Do you believe that this gang is going to rip her off? Do you think working with a gang in a crime is a good idea?