The Wall

20

How should you move if you don’t want to attract attention? And where were the next cameras?

Moses was back out on a street in the middle of The Pines. It had a slight curve to it, and he could see a fair distance in both directions. Good, if he wanted to see what was going on. Bad, if he wanted to avoid being seen, he thought.

The outer wall was behind the row of houses behind this one. He weighed his options. It was hard to see the wall from the street since it was always at the back end of someone’s property line. This was a good thing since he could climb it without being seen by the referee, his wingman, or the security guy. The down side was that anyone stuck in bed sick or skipping out on work today would see him. Someone with a phone. Someone with a weapon.

Moses reached the next T-intersection. Looked around, then to the left and right. Disappeared between a two-storied house and a waist-high wall. A swift survey of the windows, a brief listening for threatening sounds. Nothing.

He was standing at the wall.

He couldn’t hear the river from here, since the land rose uphill on the other side of the wall. Moses stood on his tiptoes. With his arms outstretched, he could just reach the upper edge. No protrusions or holes that would make the climb any easier. However, the greatest obstacles were the wires that ran along the top of the wall. Moses counted them. Four all told. He had no idea if he’d feel a twinge if he touched them, or if he’d end up roasted like a chicken in the oven. And there was no way he was going to test it. He just wanted out. Somewhere behind him, the sound of an engine. He looked around, but couldn’t see anything from here.

He suddenly recalled a TV show he’d once seen. Not on SABC, probably online, maybe on YouTube. Some kind of scientific experiment in which someone had thrown aluminum foil over an electric fence in order to disrupt the current. Something from the US. It had been easy to climb over the fence after that. Breaking in for beginners. Was that realistic? he wondered. And if so: Where the hell could he get some aluminum foil?