The Wall

44

The garage door rolled down.

“Didn’t I tell you?” A high masculine voice. No answer to the question.

“You almost lost it.” The same voice. Pissing in the toilet. Followed by flushing.

“You know what?” Again the high voice. “It’s funny how long you can smell perfume. I mean… Gwen’s been gone… How long is her training? Five days. And yet that perfume is still in the air. I can smell it so clearly. Really weird.”

The sound of boots in the house. “I gave her that for her birthday, remember? The salesgirl had just looked at me when I’d asked her about it. Well… you know already. And then I gave her a super sexy slip as well. Hot. Really hot. You know.”

Thembinkosi grew warm. Hopefully, High Voice wouldn’t want to show the other man the slip. Was that what he had? In his jacket pocket? And had Nozipho really tidied up the bedroom?

“What should we do now?” Again, High Voice.

“Can you shut up for just a second?” Notably deeper, different. Someone who didn’t say much.

“Of course!” High Voice. “You know I can keep my trap shut. But that was awesome with the security guys out there. I mean…”

“Just be quiet!”

“Okay. Okay.”

Footsteps. The boots and other shoes. Was High Voice wearing soft soles? Quiet squeaking on the floor. What kind of floor was that anyway? Didn’t matter. Tiles, Thembinkosi thought, of course. It was hotter in the wardrobe than it was outside of it. He wanted to wipe the sweat from his face, but it was too tight for that.

He very cautiously scratched the wardrobe partition that separated him from Nozipho. A responding scratch came instantly from the other side.

“What should we do now?” High Voice. “We can’t just take her out of here now.”

“No, we can’t!”