Linda and I didn’t have to speak to understand the gravity of the situation.

Flight was now the only thing on our minds. We just had to get away from the Rest Easy Inn. My eyes were on the rear-view mirror often. We held our breath when headlights appeared on the opposite road and behind us. At a stop street I rolled down the window and threw the cellphone into a stream by the road.

We reached a T-junction. Left pointed us further down the coast to the Eastern Cape, right pointed us north back to Durban.

“Where are we going, Spha?” asked Linda.

I turned right, towards the eye of the storm.

“No, Spha! Are you mad?” she grabbed me by my T-shirt. “What are you doing?”

“Trust me babe,” I said. “I have a plan.”

“No, Spha! What plan is this that is taking us back towards people who want us dead?”

“Linda, just listen to me,” I said.

“No, Spha. We can’t risk going back to Durban. These people want us dead!”

“These people will go to the ends of the earth to find us, Linda. We need to get protection. Just let me think for a minute,” I said.

“Who will protect us? We have no-one, Spha! Turn around! Let’s go further down the coast to a place where they’ll never find us!”

“And be on the run for how long, babe? It’s obvious that Mpilo won’t rest until he finds us.”

“We’ll be on the run for as long as possible. Anything is better than heading back towards Durban!”

“No! Linda, we have to take a stand. Just let me think, please! We need protection.”

“Where will we find protection? We have been on our own all along!”

My mind raced – until a picture of my father appeared clear in my mind.

“We will find protection in my village in Msinga!” I said. “I can buy protection if we can get to my father. He has connections to taxi bosses in Msinga. We have the money!”

“You were telling me just a few hours ago about how things work in the taxi industry in Msinga. Now you want us to be in the midst of those killers?”

“We don’t have a choice, babe. You saw what Mpilo did to our house. He wants us dead. He was only drawing us in to kill us. He may have power, but I can also buy this power. But I need to get to my father.”

“What about our plans? The future we spoke about? About you learning a trade and me studying teaching?”

“For now that future is on hold, babe. We need the protection of men more powerful than Mpilo.”

“And your father is that protection? You told me he only has a stall at a taxi rank.”

“But he knows taxi bosses more powerful than Mpilo. We have all this money. Surely we can buy the protection of those bosses.”

Linda was quiet for hours as the Corolla ate up the road.

“Do you think they will give us this protection?” she said.

“They have to give us protection, babe. I’m one of their own.”

Linda shook her head, sighed and said, “The sun will rise soon, Spha. We need a place to stay until it is dark again.”

***

Tell us: Do you support Linda’s wishes, or Spha’s, at this point? Why or why not?