Airtime walked down the street behind K8. He kept looking around, checking in alleys and behind cars and making sure that none of the gang of robbers was following him.

“Stop doing that,” said K8, as Airtime peered over a wall to make sure there was no one hiding on the other side. “There’s nobody there.”

“Ja, there’s no one that I can see,” said Airtime. “That’s why I have to be extra careful. These are dodgy people. They’re sneakers.”

At the end of the road there was a row of cars stopped at the traffic lights. Airtime checked between each of them, and got some weird looks from the drivers.

“They won’t catch me off guard. I’ve got to keep my eyes open. I’ve got to stay on point. Hey! Where did you go?”

Airtime realised he was talking to empty air. He looked around. K8 had turned left at the intersection, and was now walking away up the main road. He chased after her.

“Where are you going?” he said. “Your ride is back this way.”

“I’m not going to the car,” said K8. “I’m taking you to the police station.”

“Whoa, hold up. What? No! I don’t want to go to the police station. I’ll be screwed if I do!”

“No you won’t,” said K8. “Look, I don’t blame you for running away from those guys. But you don’t want them going around robbing people, do you?”

“Well, no.”

“So make things right. Tell the police what you saw. And get rid of that money.”

Airtime instinctively put his hand into his pocket to touch the R100 note. “What? Why should I get rid of it?”

“You don’t want to keep it, do you?” said K8. “You don’t want to owe a criminal anything.”

At the next traffic light there was a vendor selling Big Issue magazines. K8 pointed at him.

“You can give it to that guy.”

“Hell no!” said Airtime. “Why should I give it away? I need it as much as that guy – it’s going to go towards Song’s new camera.”

“Fine,” said K8. “As long as it’s going towards something good. But you’ve really got to tell the cops what happened. Okay?”

“Aight,” Airtime grumbled. He was annoyed that K8 was bossing him around. He was even more annoyed that she was right.

Image: Mallix, CC-BY-NC-ND

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Have you ever witnessed a crime? Did you report it to the cops?