Jack and Bongani quickly put together the few coins they had with them and passed them on to the tall guy in front of them. He counted the handful of coins silently and threw them into a bag. His hand came out with a small parcel. He handed it to Bongani, who stashed it in his pants. Finally, the two boys made their way out of the dark alley. Jumping over broken bottles, they made it to MTN taxi rank where the morning buzz was in full swing.

They hurried down the streets to Doornfontein train station, butting their shoulders against the crowds. Once near the station they were stopped by a woman selling at the corner.“Heyyy, you boys, I see you here every day, when do you go to school? Do your parents know that you’ve turned into junkies? Get a life, maan.” 

The vendor threw insults at the boys but they ignored her. They finally stopped at the train platform and watched the railway stretch into the horizon as the train followed it. Jack’s smile widened as he lit the roll of weed in between his fingers. He took one long draw of the herb and danced to the tune of weed carrying him to cloud nine. He was surfing the clouds when Bongani snatched away the joint and huffed it too, drawing the smoke slowly. He sighed and shut his eyes, letting out his dreams.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to be a sailor and travel the world,” Bongani said. 

“Slow down, Captain Hook, have you ever seen a black sailor? Black people are afraid of water. Those seas will swallow you. Can you even swim?” Jack laughed and Bongani joined him.

“Mina, I wanted to be a soldier like my father.” Suddenly there was sadness on Jack’s face. He puffed the joint vigorously and looked away. The moment turned sour.

“Nice couple!” laughed a deep voice behind the boys. They turned around to be greeted by a group of street kids laughing at them. In front of them stood what seemed to be the leader of the pack. He looked dangerous for his age as he moved towards the boys and pushed them around.

“You boys have got big dreams for the streets, this is no place to dream…it’s a place to hustle. Especially not in my zone, boys. If you wanna dream, go back home!” He spat on the ground.

“Your place, you say? No one owns the streets, bra,” Jack snapped. 

“Jack, whoa!” Bongani called him to order; he knew that his buddy might explode.

“Listen to your boyfriend, charmer, don’t grow balls in front of me, I might crash you!” the ringleader said, patting Jack’s cheeks. The rest of his gang broke out into laughter. The sound fuelled Jack’s rage: he jumped on top of the guy and began pounding his head. There were whistles and screams from the people passing by. Bongani pulled Jack off and dragged him to the side.

“What’s wrong with you, Jackie? Do you want to get yourself killed?”

“Ey voetsek wena sarn, you broke my bracelet, you know how much this thing costs?” shouted Costa, the ringleader. He spat on the ground again but this time his saliva contained bits of blood.

“There are better ways to prove that you’re a man, more manly ways. Tell you what, you hot-wire a good car, we take it to the scrapyard and split the cash. In that way you’ll repay my bracelet.” Costa’s eyes were bloodshot and he was sweating.

Bongani prayed inside that Jack would turn down the challenge, but one glance at his best friend and he knew it was hopeless. Jack was already in front of the goons, nodding in agreement. It was settled — the kasi boys were going to prove their manhood by stealing a car.

Costa and his goons galloped onto the train leaving the platform,  their coats flying into the air. The two friends watched in awe and ran next to the train. As soon as the front took a turn, Costa and his goons jumped off, and insults followed them from the train where they’d been picking pockets.

“Hayi suka!” Costa responded to one of the men swearing at him for stealing his phone. He shoved it in one of the many pockets in his trench coat and showed the boys where they were going to steal the car.

Bongani and Jack followed behind the gang. As they approached the gate, Jack’s conscience began throbbing, questioning his decision, but his ego dismissed it. Neither of the friends said anything to each other, but the look in Bongani’s eyes had a lot to tell. 

Tell us: Do you think that the boys are really going to go through with the plan?