The Wall

59

The security guy instantly released his hold on Moses. From his mouth emerged a sound of surprise, more than of pain.

Stand up, quickly look around. Nobody else was nearby. Back around the house. His ears were still throbbing from the blow that hadn’t even struck him. Had he been seen from inside this time? No time to worry about that. Quickly into the next yard. Pause at the wall where he had earlier eavesdropped on the white guy with the club and the other voice. They would shoot him. He had to escape, but he also needed to be careful.

The street was empty. No face in a window, as far as he could see. The two white men had headed to the left. He took off to the right. That was the wrong direction. Away from the exit. Once again. Then again, if this was about survival, he thought, there actually wasn’t a wrong direction.

Moses sprinted down the street and saw the small hill off to his right. So, he was heading toward the river. That was the direction he’d taken at the beginning. A T-intersection in front of him, twenty or thirty meters off. He’d cover the distance rapidly. But which way after he did? Right or left? Make up your mind, Moses chided himself.

To the right of the intersection, three people materialized. Moses slowed down slightly.

Two old women and an old man. The man with a stick, both women with dogs. A senior citizens’ patrol.

“There he is!” the man cried.

One of the two women screamed. One of the dogs began to yap. The other followed suit. The group had now reached the middle of the intersection. The man spread out his arms, using his stick as a barrier. Don’t do that, Moses thought. And: Hopefully, they aren’t armed. He started to run faster.

The other woman yelled: “Here! Help! Help!”

Past them into the T-crossing and down the next street. Moses could still hear one last “Hellllp!” with a very long L.

Dogs, Moses thought fleetingly. Real dogs. They weren’t here yet. Keep running. Forward and to the right toward the river. Straight ahead and slightly downhill toward… Toward where? There were no directions. Everything here was offlimits, everything was cut off by an endless wall. Make up your mind.

Somewhere behind him, he heard the short yelp of a police siren. A guard appeared in front of him. So to the right it was. Free until the next T-intersection. Very close to the river. Then see from there. Run.

Moses couldn’t see the guard who had hidden behind one of the walls. He was mid-stride with both feet off the ground when the body check came. Stumbled to the side, couldn’t regain his balance, landed with his chest against a trash can that fell over. He somersaulted over the large plastic container and landed in the filth that was now spilling out of the can. The other man fell on top of him and kept rolling due to his momentum. The guard crashed into the wall of the next house with his shoulder and yelled loudly with pain.

But he was quickly back up on his feet, faster than Moses, who was still sliding around in the garbage. The security guy planted himself in front of him, legs spread, as he held his shoulder. Moses slowly stood up as the whee-ooo, whee-oo of the police siren grew closer. The guard was obviously in extreme pain as he cried: “Just stand there! They’ll catch you!”

The police car rounded the corner. Moses turned around, slid precariously on the trash again, regained his balance, and sprinted across the street.

“Stop!” came the order from the police loudspeaker. “This is the police! Stop immediately.”

Moses was just vaulting over a waist-high wall. As he took off, he noticed that something slimy was stuck to his shoe. He was lucky he hadn’t face planted against the wall.

The police sped up, and as Moses slipped down the side of the house, he could already hear the brakes. Doors opening, doors slamming, boots running. Moses was behind the house, paused to consider his options, ran along the house toward the neighboring yard instead of making a beeline for the next street. A hedge with yellow flowers, thick but not too tall. He dove across it and landed on the other side. A soft impact this time. He hunched up small. Wanted to be invisible. Once again. Forever now.

“Where is he?” he heard a man ask.

“Has to be back there,” a woman said.

Back there meant not here in the front. They were looking somewhere else. The voices soon moved away.

“Do you see him?” The man. Further off.

“Not here.” The woman.

Moses looked around, but didn’t stand up. Hanging in the window, a poster of Itumeleng Khune. The Kaizer Chiefs’ goalie. And captain. Was he actually where he’d wanted to be? The house had two stories, as he recalled. He got to his feet and crouched over as he ran toward the front facade. There was the tricot in the window. There was the mailbox which had caused him to even notice the house in the first place. Moses walked up to the front door and hoped to remain out of sight until the door opened. He knocked and waited.