balance. He had made a small movement with his head and she knew what he meant and followed, her staff unknowing but silently watching them.
It was not the change in the balance of power between her and the Zulu that clamped around her heart, it was the knowledge that she was no longer in control, that perception and reality had drifted apart like two moving targets.
He waited until she was inside, closed the door, and stood still. He looked unblinkingly at her. ?That is not the CIA, Janina,? he said.
?I know.?
?Who is it??
She sat down, although he had not invited her. ?I don'?t know.?
?And the drive that Mpayipheli has??
She shook her head.
He walked slowly through the room, around the desk. She saw his calm. He did not sit, but stood behind his chair, looking down at her.
?Have you told me everything, Janina??
One man, the situation was surreal. He was moving in a dream world as he climbed off the motorbike, pulled off his gloves and helmet. ?That?s a beautiful bike,? said the traffic officer.
For a moment he considered the irony: the traffic cop saw the removal of his accessories as submission; he knew he did it for ease of movement, should he need to react. Retreating from the threat of violence, he forced himself into pacifist mode. He could see the weapon in the shiny leather holster on the officer?s hip.
?We don'?t see many of those around here.?
The blood was pulsing through him, he was aware of his readiness. As long as he recognized it, he could control it. He still felt unreal; the conversation was impossibly banal. ?It is the biggest-selling bike bigger than seven-fifty cc in the country,? he said, keeping his voice even with difficulty.
?You don'?t say??
He didn?'t know how to answer. The motorbike was between them? he wanted to reduce the gap but also maintain it.
?You were going quite fast.?
?I was.? Was he going to get a ticket? Would it be as ridiculous as that?
?Let me see your driver?s license.?
Suspicion: he must know something, he could not be alone.
?Of course.? He took the key from the ignition, unlocked the luggage case, tried to scan the line of thorn trees and bushes surreptitiously. Where were the others?
?Lots of packing space, hey?? There was an ingenuous quality in the man, and the question loosened something in his belly, a strange feeling.
He zipped open the blue sports bag, looking for his wallet, took out the card, and handed it over. He kept a vigilant watch on the officer?s face, looking for covertness or deceit.
?Mpay??
?Mpayipheli.? He helped the man pronounce it.
?Is this your motorbike, Mr. Mpayipheli??
Then he knew what was happening, and the urge to giggle was overwhelming, pushing up in him without warning as his brain grasped the possibility that this provincial representative had absolutely no idea. It almost overcame him. He allowed it to bubble up modestly careful not to lose it but suddenly relaxing, laughing heartily, ?I could never afford one of these.?
The officer laughed along with him, bonding? two middle-class men admiring the toys of the rich. ?What do these things cost??
?Just over ninety thousand.?
The man whistled through his teeth. ?Whose is it??
?My boss?s. He has an agency in the Cape. For BMW.? And again the laugh bubbled up in him, any minute now he was going to wake up under the tarpaulin of the El Camino, these moments of drama could not be real.
The traffic officer handed back his driver?s license. ?I rode a Kawasaki when I did traffic in Bloemfontein. A seven-fifty. Big. I don'?t see a chance for that anymore.? Trying to strengthen the bond.
?I'?ve got a Honda Benly at home.?
?Those things last forever.?
They both knew the moment of truth was coming, a defining factor in the budding relationship. It hung in a moment of silence between them. The officer shrugged his shoulders apologetically. ?I really should ticket you.?
Fuck, he could not hold it in. It was filling his body with the urgency of a call of nature. ?I know? was all he could manage.
?You?d better go, before I change my mind.?
He smiled perhaps too widely, put out his hand. ?Thank you.? He turned away quickly, putting away the license in the wallet, wallet in the bag, bag in the motorbike.
