Robbed again
From now on I’m only buying cheap shoes, watches and cellphones. These are the first things thieves steal from you, and I seem to be their target right now. The latest robbery on the growing list took place on Tuesday night at my own home. Five guys, just out of their teens, one with a gun, and there is nothing you can do – even Bruce Lee can’t do much against a pistol. Myself being the only male in a group of four women, they made for me right off, but knowing the drill I kept my head down and lay on the floor as instructed. The mother of the four-month-old child gave them backchat, and for this she was pistol-whipped. My hands were tied behind my head with electric cable, and I lay on my stomach hoping nothing violent would happen. These were relatively ‘nice’ burglars, who did not stab or punch me, but they really took their time. They turned over my place and my friends completely, taking everything they thought that could possibly have value, eating, drinking, smoking – clearly not worried about being caught. I lay on my stomach for an hour, praying that the baby would not wake or that one my friends did something stupid. It was the longest hour of my life. I had just smoked a spliff prior to the arrival of the thieves. Music played for the first half hour before that appliance was carefully packed into a bag. I stared at a patch of carpet and recanted yoga mantras while my muscles shook with the strain of my un-natural position. Trying not be angry. There are no jobs out there for youngsters, after all.
Eventually they left and the whole process of reporting the matter to totally disinterested cops and replacing locks and contacting insurance companies and retrieving my cellphone number had to be done. What am I doing in this place where we have forgotten how to live with each other? It’s really easy to succumb to hatred and fear and racism as a means of coping. But I gotta keep that love channel open.
It’s becoming clear I have to leave my house: the only question is, how far do I move? Out of Joburg? Out of South Africa? Out of Africa entirely? I mean, fuck the programme Survivor. Why put yourself in danger deliberately when it’s right here already?.
May 14th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
woah…
May 14th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
woah..indeed