The policeman shook his head, amazed. He was very surprised by what Thato had told him. But he knew Thato couldn’t have made the story up, and it was his duty to check out all the details.

“I will phone the station in George. They will know if anything unusual has happened,” he said. “I’ll tell them to get in touch with your families. They will want to know that you are both safe and well.”

“Thank you, sergeant,” Mildred said.

When he put the telephone down he was smiling.

“Yes, there has been a robbery at the jewellery store in George. It seems our robbers stole gold Nelson Mandela coins. They have been looking for the robbers all day. They’re sending someone to your houses to tell your families that you are OK.”

“Do you think you could show us exactly where they hid those coins, if we take you back to Ben’s village?”

“Yes,” Thato smiled. “It was in a large termite hill near the side of the road. I saw one of the men marking it with some stones.”

The policemen laughed. “We shouldn’t have any trouble finding the coins then. Let’s go!”

Thato and Mildred sat in the back of the police car with two policemen. It was late afternoon now. They followed Ben back to the village and then on to the dirt road that the robbers had used as a landing strip. The policeman driving the car, whose name was Joseph, lived in the same village as the old lady and her son, Ben. Thato and Mildred kept their eyes peeled for the giraffe-shaped termite mound. Soon they showed them the spot where the robbers had hidden the coins.

While Joseph shone his torch into the mound, the other policeman put his hand inside. He pulled out the packages that the two men had hidden. When he opened the packages they were full of gold coins.

Everybody laughed. “Thanks to you, Thato, we’ve found the coins!” cried Joseph. He took his cellphone out of his pocket and called George station.

Joseph asked his colleagues in George to stake out The Stage Door – a well-known restaurant – and pick up the two men.

“Well they certainly won’t get to enjoy that steak tonight,” Joseph grinned. Then his expression turned serious.

“You were both very brave coming to tell us everything that happened,” Joseph said. “I’m very happy that things turned out well for both of you. But don’t ever do anything like that again. You could have both been killed.”

The two teenagers nodded their heads. They were well aware that things could have turned out very differently.

“These men, or some others in the syndicate, were obviously planning to drive here and pick up the coins. They had it all worked out. There have been quite a few break-ins to jewellery shops lately. Seems like we’ve caught the culprits, or some of them at least. I dare say there are more people involved than those that flew the aeroplane. I’m sure in time, though, that we’ll catch them all.”

Everybody laughed again. They were very pleased the robbers would be caught.

“And now I must get you two home to your families,” Joseph said. “You’ve had a very long day.”

Thato yawned, realising how tired he was. It had been a long but very exciting day at the same time.

On the drive home, Mildred fell asleep with her head on Thato’s shoulder. He looked down at her and felt his love for her soar. He thought, ashamed, of all the things that could have gone wrong today. He should never have gotten onto that aeroplane. He should never have put Mildred into such a dangerous situation.

Mildred opened one eye and smiled tiredly at him. “There’s no use in beating yourself up over what you did, Thato. You never forced me to get on the aeroplane.”

Sometimes it seemed as if Mildred could read his very thoughts.

It was a long drive from East London to George. Soon Thato closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He only opened them when the car stopped outside his house. Mildred must have given the policeman directions on how to get there.

It was nearly 2 a.m. but Gogo and Mildred’s Mum were sitting anxiously waiting for them, outside the door of his home.

Thato’s father was doing night shift at the local clothes factory in George.

Gogo cried with relief when she saw Thato. Mildred’s mother pulled her daughter into her arms and cried unashamedly.

“I was so worried,” she kept saying. “Thank God you are both home safely.”

“Thato made sure nothing happened to me, Mama.”

“Thank you, Thato!” Mildred’s mum hugged Thato to her. “You’ve both been very brave.”

“Brave and silly at the same time,” Gogo said.

“You know it was wrong to go on the aeroplane, Thato. But you behaved very sensibly. I’m proud of you for going to the police and helping to catch the robbers.”

“I promise I’ll never do anything like that ever again!”

Gogo made the kind police officers some tea and a plate of sandwiches.

“We’re all very happy that you two returned home safe and well. Life does not always turn out that way.”

Nobody said anything. They were only too aware that things could have turned out very differently.

*****

One week later, Thato received a letter. He had never received a letter in his life before this. He was wondering who would be writing to him.

He rushed over to Mildred’s house and showed her the letter.

“I wonder who it is from?” he said, puzzled.

“Well you’re not going to know until you open the letter and read it,” Mildred said matter-of-factly.

“What a clever young lady you are!” Thato teased her but he ripped the envelope open.

He couldn’t believe what he was reading. Somebody must be playing a cruel joke on him.

The letter was from the owner of the jewellery store in George. He wanted to thank Thato and Mildred for their help in catching the robbers. The coins were now safely locked away. They were worth a great deal of money.

He was told to report to George Airport the following Saturday morning, when he would be given a free plane ride over the Addo Elephant National Park. Best of all, he was to take Mildred.

“I’ll get to see all the wild animals,” Mildred could hardly believe it. “When you were sleeping I chatted to the policeman. I told him that you wanted to be a pilot and I wanted to fly aeroplanes one day but my dream was to be a vet.”

The letter went on to tell them that food and drinks would be served to them on the aeroplane. They were not to worry about any little thing. They were even going to land at a landing strip in the park. There they would be treated to a slap-up lunch in the restaurant. The pilot and his assistant would look after them very well.

They also sent the teenagers a large sum of money for their help in catching the robbers. Thato gave half the money to Mildred. They decided to save the money in the bank for their future education.

Thato laughed out loud. Mildred laughed too and wound her arms around him. They were each other’s heroes.

***

Tell us: What’s your opinion of Thato and Mildred? Did you like them? Did you feel you could connect with them as two teenagers?