Broken (23 page)

“
Nothing.” I
replied. “I’m just a little worried that I still haven’t been able
to find a job. I can’t live off a hundred and fifty Rand a
day.”

“
Well,
something will come along.” Cindy said. “The country’s doing well.
You’re bound to find something soon.”

No sooner had
we got home than Cindy’s cell phone rang. I went into the kitchen
to get a beer. I stood staring out of the kitchen window trying to
relax. Cindy came into the room.

“
That was my
mom.” she said. “Earlier this morning my father began complaining
of pains in his chest so he went to the hospital for a check-up.
The doctor’s decided that he needed to stay there overnight so that
they could keep him under observation. So I’m going to visit my mom
this afternoon while my father’s not there.”

“
Okay.” I
said. “I’m going to stay here and watch sport on
television.”

An hour later
Cindy left to visit he mother. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was
becoming more and more difficult for me to stay calm and relaxed. I
took some beers and a packet of peanuts into the lounge and settled
down on the couch in front of the television. The time dragged by.
I found it impossible to concentrate. My mind raced from one thing
to another as I tried to stop myself from thinking about the big
race to come and by the time it started I had drunk eight beers. My
mind was a little fuzzy but as the horses broke from the starting
gates it became clear and alert.

By the
halfway mark it was still anyone’s race and Pocket Power looked
sluggish. Big City Life was in the pack but looking good. Gradually
the horses settled into a more spread-out pattern and with two
hundred metres to go the leading horse, Alvaro, led Pocket Power by
about a length. Suddenly Big City Life started to move up and with
less than a hundred metres to the finish line my horse had narrowed
the gap between it and Alvaro to half a length. Then, just as Big
City Life got ahead of Alvaro, Pocket Power surged forward and
together the two horses passed the leader.

I jumped up from the couch,
spilling my beer onto the carpet. Pocket Power and Big City Life
were neck-and neck and then, to my horror, Pocket Power surged
ahead to beat Big City Life by a neck. I blinked my eyes in
disbelief as I realised what had happened. My horse had lost. The
money I’d borrowed from Rocky Bogdanovic was gone. Ten thousand
Rand down the drain. And I had three days in which to find the
first instalment of one thousand Rand and the interest for the
first week, also one thousand Rand. I stared blankly at the
television screen as Pocket Power was led into the winner’s circle,
trying desperately to convince myself that this was all a dream and
that I would wake up from the nightmare at any moment. But it
wasn’t a dream. I had lost.

***

“
Your
Honour.” my attorney, Paul Greave, said addressing Judge Warren
Bester. “Once more I would like Garth Gilmore to step down from the
witness stand and bring back Cindy Bedford.”

“You may.” the judge said,
nodding his head.

CHAPTER 9

I sat down on the witness stand.
James Foster smiled at me.

"Cindy." he said. "Please tell
the court what happened when you got home on the day that you
discovered that Garth Gilmore had borrowed ten thousand Rand from a
money lender and then lost it all betting on the horses."

***

I closed the
front door and glanced into the lounge. Garth sat slumped on the
couch staring vacantly at the television screen in front of him.
Empty beer cans were scattered across the carpet and lying on the
couch next to him. The smell of spilt beer filled the air. I put my
handbag down on the small table near the front door
a
nd walked into the lounge. Garth
continued to stare at the television set.

“
Hi.” I said.
“You seem to have a good afternoon.”

I pointed to the empty beer
cans.

Garth
stared up at me briefly, frowning slightly as
his bleary eyes struggling to focus.

“
I’ve had a
terrible afternoon.” he muttered. “But I don’t want to talk about
it now. Maybe later this evening.”

“
Okay.” I
said. “Can I get you another beer or would you like something to
eat?”

“
Neither.”
Garth said. “Just leave me alone. I’ll talk to you
later.”

I left the
lounge and went to the kitchen and began getting the ingredients
for our supper together. What did Garth mean when he’d said that
he’d had a terrible afternoon? And he’d looked very drunk,
something I’d never seen him do before. There must have been at
least twelve empty beer cans lying around him. Had he started
gambling again and lost money that wasn’t his? I sighed. I would
just have to be patient. If I tried to quiz Garth now I would only
succeed in angering him.

I
deliberately delayed the evening meal to give Garth time to sober
up. The fact that he’d said that he would talk to me later about
what had happened that afternoon worried me. Garth was usually so
secretive and getting him to talk about anything was extremely
difficult. But now he had offered to talk. I heard him leave the
lounge and go into the bathroom. He closed and locked the door. I
went to the lounge and quickly gathered up the empty beer cans and
the empty peanut packet. I returned to the kitchen and threw them
into the rubbish bin. Garth came out of the bathroom and walked
into the kitchen.

“
Are you
ready to eat?” I asked.

Garth
nodded and sat down at the kitchen table. I
served the meal and sat down. Garth picked up his fork and began
toying with the food while I ate. I finished my meal and looked up
at Garth.

“
Aren’t you
hungry?” I asked.

“
No.” Garth
replied.

“
What’s
troubling you, Garth?” I asked. “You said earlier that you’d had a
terrible afternoon. What happened?”

“
Cindy.”
Garth said quietly. “I’ve done something that’s got me into big
trouble.”

I stared
across the table at Garth
.

“
I borrowed
some money from a money lender and used it to bet on the horses.”
Garth continued, staring down at the plate of cold food in front of
him.”

“
You lost the
money.” I said.

Garth
nodded, still staring at the food in front of
him.

“
Yes.” he
said. “I was so sure that the horse that I’d backed would win. I’d
analysed the horses, jockeys and trainers very carefully. To me
this was a chance to make a lot of money. I was desperate. I know
that I’m not going to find a decent job. The horse lost by half a
head. Do you know how close that is?”

I stared at
Garth
. I could clearly see the
frustration and shame that he was experiencing.

“
How much did
you borrow?” I asked.

“
Ten thousand
Rand.” Garth whispered.

A feeling of depression fell
over me like a suffocating cloak.

“
When do you
have to pay it back?” I asked.

“
The first
instalment with the interest is due on Wednesday.” Garth
said.

“
How
much?”

“
Two thousand
Rand.” Garth said.

I looked down
at the empty plate in front of me as I tried to put into
perspective what Grant had just told me. Two thousand Rand wasn’t
as much as I’d expected.

“
Do you have
to pay it on Wednesday?” I asked. “Can’t you pay it on Friday? I’ll
be getting my pay of Thursday and we can draw the two thousand Rand
in cash on Friday morning.”

Garth
shook his head.

“
You have no
idea of what kind of bastard I’m dealing with.” Garth said. “This
man is as hard and as cold as ice. He won’t accept a late payment,
even if it’s a minute late.”

“
What will he
do if you don’t pay on time?” I asked.

“
Firstly, the
whole debt plus the interest will become due immediately.” Garth
said. “And if I can’t pay that he’ll send his goons around here.
They’ll probably beat me up first and then take all the furniture
in the house. I had to put it up as surety.”

The cloak of depression grew
heavier.

“
Go and speak
to the man, Garth.” I said. “What have you got to lose? Tell him
we’ll pay the first instalment and the interest on Friday. Surely
two days can’t make that much difference.”

Garth
sighed.

“Okay.” he said. “I’ll go and
speak to him on Monday morning.”

***

On the Monday
I tried several times
during the day to
contact Garth on his cell phone but for some or other reason he’d
switched it off. I fretted through the day struggling to
concentrate on my work. When four thirty finally arrived I hurried
home. I found Garth sitting in the lounge. His left eye was badly
bruised and so swollen that his eye had been reduced to a slit. The
left side of his jaw was also red and badly swollen. I sat down on
the couch next to him.

“
What
happened?” I asked.

“
I went to
see Bogdanovic as I said I would.” Garth said. “The moment I asked
for an extension of my first instalment he flew into a rage. He
swore at me and threatened to have me beaten up. I tried to explain
that I would be able to pay the instalment on Friday but he
wouldn’t listen. When I got angry he called in two of his thugs.
They hauled me out of the chair that I was sitting in and, while
the one held me, the other one hit me. They were much too strong. I
was helpless. Then Bogdanovic told me that if I didn’t pay the
first instalment and the interest on Wednesday, not only would he
take all the furniture in the house, he would also have his guys
beat me up so badly that I’d be in hospital for six
months.”

“
But they
can’t do that!” I said.

“
Cindy.”
Garth said. “These people are gangsters. They’re not afraid of the
law. They’re a law unto themselves. Believe me; they won’t hesitate
for a second to hurt me and possibly you as well. They’re vicious
bastards!”

We sat in silence. I car swished
past in the street. A dog began barking a few houses away. Children
laughed as they played in the street nearby.

“
I’ll borrow
the two thousand Rand from the company.” I said. “They can take it
off my salary on Friday.”

“
Will they do
that?” Garth asked.

“
I don’t
know.” I said. “Otherwise I’ll take the money out of the cash that
that I get from the early shift cashiers when they come to cash in
their takings for the day. Nobody will notice as I’m the only
person who handles the cash. Then I’ll alter the total on the
deposit slip and on Friday I’ll add the cash back into that day’s
total. The cash total in my books for the week will then balance
with the total deposited for the week. . If anyone queries it I’ll
say that I added up the money incorrectly on the Tuesday and when I
noticed the mistake I rectified it on Friday.”

“
Okay.” Garth
said. “But just be careful. Are you sure that nobody will notice
the incorrect total?”

“
Yes.” I
said. “I’m the only one in the office that works with the cash and
nobody ever checks my totals.”

The following
day when all the cashiers on the early shift had brought me their
takings, I totalled the amount, put two thousand Rand into my
handbag and filled in the reduced total on the deposit slip. On
Friday morning I would replace the two thousand Rand and add it to
that day’s total. The week’s takings in my book would then balance
with the total deposited.

When I got
home I gave the money to Garth.

“
Garth.” I
said. “Please promise me that you’ll take the money straight to
Mister Bogdanovic first thing tomorrow morning.”

“I promise.” Garth said.

I went to
work on the Wednesday, sick with worry. What if, instead of taking
the two thousand
Rand to Mister
Bogdanovic, Garth used the money to bet on the horses? Being a
Wednesday there would be a race meeting that afternoon. He had
promised me that he would go straight to the money lender and pay
the instalment, but then, he’d also promised some time ago that he
would stop gambling. I tried to call him on his cell phone but,
once again, it was switched off. Then, just before my lunch break,
Misses Hawkins, my immediate boss, called me into her
office.

“
Sit down,
Cindy.” she said pointing to one of the visitor’s
chairs.

I sat down trying desperately
not to panic.

“
Cindy.”
Misses Hawkins said quietly. “You’ve been working here for just
over a year now and we’ve been very pleased with your work.
However, yesterday the total takings that you entered into the
deposit book didn’t tally with the total takings recorded by the
teller’s cash registers. It was two thousand Rand short. As I’m
sure you know, all the cash registers are linked to the central
computer which collects the total takings for the day from each
one, deducts their floats, and gives us a total for all their
takings.”

My whole body
went cold. It had never occurred to me that the cash registers were
all connected to the main computer although it was now obvious to
me that they would be. That was why I never saw anyone checking my
work. They didn’t have to. The main computer did that for them. As
there had never been a discrepancy in the past I had never been
aware of the main computer’s function.