Chapter 14 - Chapter 13

I drive home from uPhuthu slowly, windows down on the wet tar smell, barely registering all the things that so captivated us about Parkhurst when we first moved here. My mind is still buzzing from a day that started before the sun was up and ended long after it was down. I turn into First Avenue, our road lined with clipped lawns and neat hedges fronting multimillion-rand houses. It had been the perfect setting for all our ambitions. You don't live in the heart of Parkhurst without paying the price for the address, and the price is high. Had things gone according to plan, we'd have no problem paying that price, but things went to shit, and our bond has become an albatross hanging around my neck. Mentally drowning in a sea of bills and final demands, I almost miss the white paper pinned to the gate.

"Hhayibo. What the hell?" I mutter, taking in our slightly overgrown grass and the shabby hedge. The garden service that does most of the houses in this road was booked to come today. I get out of the car and snatch the note. Debit order returned unpaid.