The Wall

36

Moses slowly moved away from the terrace door and further into the house.

As he walked by, he glanced once more at the photos, at the picture of the woman in the bikini that stood in the back.

He now knew exactly what he had heard. The kitchen door was there, the bathroom across the hall. Further on was another door, had to be one of the bedrooms. However, Moses strode straight toward the staircase.

He could once again hear the siren that wasn’t a siren. He was glad his shoes had soft soles and that the stairs were covered in carpet squares. Eight, nine, ten. Four steps to go. Right before he reached the top, he leaned a little forward. Another hallway, a wardrobe, and two dressers which looked antique. At the end of the hall, a mirror was hanging on the wall at about his height. In the mirror, he caught sight of a bright glow from one of the rooms. The edge of a bed covered in white sheets. Sunlight reflected off the white walls. He was almost blinded.

The sound resumed. Moses moved a step forward. Climbed the final step to the top. Slid his foot further into the hallway. Pulled his body up after it. Very slowly. Then the other foot, followed again by his body.

He could now see the woman’s hair in the mirror. Her head was moving up and down, though simultaneously forward and backward as well. Even without the sound—which was rising and falling, like the body he could partially see—he would have known what was happening. Just a bit farther. He could now see the contours of the brunette’s body. Her back, her ass, her breast in profile. Her groaning grew more intense. Just a little farther.

Moses was so far down the hall that he was about to lose sight of the reflection in the mirror. One step to the side, and he had a direct line of vision into the room. Wow. The woman was straddling a man. She wasn’t a lesbian at all. The man’s legs were stretched underneath the sheet, his body was completely covered by the woman. He could now hear a sound coming from his mouth as well. He was responding with a slow rhythm to the woman’s continuous tone. A bass line.

Moses then realized why the space was so bright. Numerous mirrors in all shapes and sizes were hung on the walls, reflecting back the light of day.

He focused again on the woman. She was lifting and thrusting her crotch faster and faster, and Moses could hardly believe his eyes. She was sitting on a black cock. He still couldn’t see any other part of the man.

She had to be a foreigner. White South African women never slept with black men. Black men all had AIDS anyway. At least, that’s what white women seemed to think.

Hmmm, Moses thought, they knew each other pretty well. They weren’t using a condom. He felt himself get hard. No wonder. He’d been so excited at the thought of having sex with Sandi. And he was now watching two other people make love. Of course, he didn’t have to, but he couldn’t seem to stop. What a beautiful woman. Her movements simply aroused him even though she was straddling another man. Just a little more to the side. He was now standing at the wall on which the large mirror was hanging, the one he had just been staring into. The man was no longer young. He could see part of his head. Bald actually, but the stubble was silvery. He now raised his arms and reached for the woman’s buttocks, slowly brushing his fingers across her skin. The woman lifted her head and breathed deeply. As she did this, she opened her eyes. In the mirror on the wall next to the bed, he could see her aroused face. Her hair clung in sweaty tendrils across her eyes and nose.

Moses realized all he needed to have done was glance out of one of the house’s front windows, where he would have probably seen two cars, and known instantly that he wasn’t alone in the house. Rookie mistake. Well, he wasn’t exactly an experienced burglar. He wondered if it was time for him to disappear, regardless of how much he was enjoying what he was watching. One more look, he told himself. The woman’s movements were slowing down. She was brushing her hair back with one hand while she gazed forward contentedly.

That was the moment their eyes met. Moses froze there in the hallway. The woman’s eyes widened as she went through the endless transformation, the escalating and highly complex process that evolved from seeing and comprehension to classification and confirmation. Her body, which had been so relaxed and lovely, now went rigid. Right before her eyes were about to leave their sockets, she emitted a high-pitched, panicked scream.

Moses spun around and dashed down the stairs.