It had been an exhausting week with the boss away. But after tomorrow, he would catch the thief red handed. Jan slept peacefully after having dinner with his mother. He woke up at 5 a.m. It was summer days, the sun came out at half past 5. He went and washed his clothes.

Jan did his laundry every two weeks; he didn’t want his mother to do it for him. He hid his clothes under the mattress, between the base and mattress. By six he was hanging his clothes on the line. He then did the dishes and made breakfast. He was in a very good mood.

His mother saw it and took a bath. She came dressed in her fleece gown. “Today you are in a good mood. Is Mr Tari back?” she sat on the chair.

“I am just feeling happy,” he answered.

“I wonder what it is, you have been stressed the whole week.” she said, concerned.

Jan ate in silence and said his goodbye to his mother. The street was full of people rushing to go to work. The supermarket wasn’t far from his home. He arrived at the shop and Sheila had opened it. All five of them had keys except the till key, the till key was given to those who worked by the till.

Jan sat next to the till operator. It was not busy. A few people bought one thing and few had to buy trolley groceries.

“Heita, how you doing?” Thomas asked him.

“I am so good, dude,” he answered, smiling.

Thomas kept looking at him.

“You look happy.” he spoke and walked away.

At lunch time, Jan saw Thomas holding mealie meal, four packs and 2kg of sugar. “And that?” he asked.

“I am buying for home.” he said and walked to put them by a corner. After lunch, he carried on serving customers. At 4 p.m. the shop was crowded, he didn’t notice Thomas going out the shop with stolen goods.

The cash was short by a thousand rand. He locked the shop after everyone left. Jan walked down the road to Shingi’s home. There was darkness and quietness that made him uncomfortable. He went to knock. Shingi let him in. He sat down.

“Why is it so dark here?” he asked curiously.

“The curtains are dark. I want Thomas to think I am not home.” he whispered. The room had a light but if you were outside, you’d think people were not there or sleeping. There weren’t lights outside his home.

Shingi switched on the computer, he rewound the video. The eyes were looking at the screen. Suddenly Thomas was seen taking the goods and hiding them. They saw Thomas checking if no one saw him. He opened the counter and took money. Jan remembered he had gone to the toilet after lunch. Jan stood, shocked. Thomas had been stealing since Mr Tari went away.

Jan couldn’t settle his heart. He didn’t sleep well with the evidence. He had told Shingi not to speak to anyone about the matter. The night was long, Jan got worried how he would handle the situation, the boss wasn’t going to be pleased.

***

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