The business of the Smooth Move vans breaking down so often is still bothering Spha when he travels to work in the morning. It just seems so inefficient.

“Maybe the repair place is ripping us off,” he says to Morgan Malapane from SM Loading, who also lives in KaNyamazane and is sometimes on the same bus as Spha. “Like, not doing the repairs properly, so we keep having to send the vans back to them.”

“I haven’t noticed anything wrong when I’ve been seeing to the loading,” Morgan says. “But then, I’m not a mechanic and it’s not really my job. As long as our parcels and envelopes are going into a clean space where they won’t get knocked around, I’m happy. It’s for the drivers to report any problems.”

“I suppose they call in breakdowns to Nolwazi.”

“I guess, and she’s quite senior, so she’d be able to authorize the vans going in for fixing.”

“Then she’s using the wrong workshop.”

Morgan laughs. “Well, what do women know about such things?”

“My girlfriend is a car mechanic.”

Spha always enjoys men’s reactions when he tells them about Babalo, especially if they’ve made a remark like Morgan’s.

“Jeez, sorry man. Just kidding.” Then Morgan laughs again, because he’s not the sort of guy who takes anything very seriously. “Hey, I bought this rust-bucket on wheels that I’m trying to get going. Maybe your babe can help me.”

When they reach work, Mr Sibuyi has a whole lot of small jobs for Spha, so it’s mid-morning by the time he sits down at the absent Felix Ngobe’s desk, ready to make sure incoming and outgoing invoices and receipts are sent to the right people, or files. He’s still thinking about the record of payments he noticed yesterday, all to a vehicle repair place called Fastest Fixes.

Maybe too fast? As in sloppy?

He’s curious to see what their invoices look like, if he can find them.

The trouble is that people keep interrupting him. First, it’s Venetia from Dispatch who also acts as Nolwazi’s assistant, and sometimes as Morgan’s too. She’s bringing Spha some coffee, looking for an excuse to chat.

“It’s cool you’re here and I’m not the office baby anymore,” she says. “Hey, Morgan says you’re worried about our vans breaking down or something?”

“I was just about to start looking for the garage’s invoices,” Spha tells her, stirring his coffee.

Venetia doesn’t respond. What she’s really interested in, is finding out if Morgan has talked about her to Spha. Spha can’t remember, but he guesses why she’s asking, so, playing Cupid, he says, “I think he likes you.”

He hopes it’s true.

After Venetia has gone, it’s Nolwazi, taking a break. “What are you busy with?”

“Checking invoices,” he says, wondering how she manages to look so shiny all over: lips, eyelids, skin, and hair, not to mention her scarily long, orange fingernails.

“Boring.” She looks over his shoulder at the unopened Fastest Fixes invoice file he has just found.

Then Mr Sibuyi is back with more jobs for Spha, and he’s too busy to give Fastest Fixes another thought – until he’s on the bus back to KaNyamazane that evening, and his phone goes. He doesn’t know the number, but he answers it anyway, to give himself a break from having to make conversation with the Gogo beside him.

“Yebo?”

“You. You Spha! Back off, laaitie.” The male voice is rough. “You stay out of Fixes’ things. We’ll hurt you.”

Tell us: It’s clear that someone is worried about what Spha might uncover. Should he do as he’s told and back off?