The Wall

24

“What is that?” Thembinkosi asked. Nozipho just looked at him.

“What is that? Why in the world did you even open the freezer?”

“You found 20,000 rand in a freezer once,” Nozipho shot back. “Stop with your questions. That’s a dead woman.”

“Did you look at her?”

“Only a little.”

“And?”

“Older than us. White. Not poor.”

“White.”

“Mmhmm.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“What should we do with her?”

“Nothing. We wait until the folks out there leave, and we get lost,” Nozipho declared.

“We never should’ve come in here.”

“But you didn’t say anything beforehand.”

“I know, but I had a bad feeling. And…”

Nozipho opened the freezer again. “We didn’t put her in there. We didn’t kill her. We simply disappear, and that’s that.” She lowered the lid.

“How do you know she was killed?” Thembinkosi studied Nozipho.

She gazed back at him. “I don’t.”

“Then why did you say that?”

Nozipho needed a few seconds to collect her thoughts. “Why would someone stick a woman in a freezer?”

“So she wouldn’t smell?”

Nozipho said nothing.

“Because…” Thembinkosi continued. “It is the hottest day of the year?”

Nozipho nodded, looking thoughtful. “But… what did you do when your mother died?”

“Called a doctor.”

“But she was dead. Why a doctor?”

“Because… because… I had to do something.”

“But you knew she was dead.”

“Sure,” Thembinkosi said. “I somehow knew that, but maybe part of me wasn’t certain.”

“And on that day, did it ever occur to you to stick your mother in a freezer?”

“Are you nuts?”

“But it was hot when she died. I remember that.”

“But still!”

“See?”

“See what?”

“That people don’t stick women in freezers. That’s what I wanted to say. Even if they’re dead.”

“True,” Thembinkosi said. “I know that, too. That’s just not something you do.”

He stared at the floor. He saw a spot in front of the freezer that reminded him of something, but he wasn’t sure what. The light in the garage wasn’t bright enough for him to recognize what had dribbled on the gray floor. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, leaned down, and shone a light on the spot. And then he remembered.

He slowly straightened up and opened the chest. The woman looked so peaceful, like only a person lying dead in a freezer possibly could. The light from his phone revealed a slightly wrinkled face, sparse gray hair, a striped t-shirt, and denim shorts covered with appliques.

“Hold the lid,” Thembinkosi said before slowly stretching one hand into the freezer. He touched the corpse’s knee and quickly yanked back his hand.

“What is it?” Nozipho asked.

“She’s still warm!”