The Disappeared (27 page)

‘Shit, how
could I forget?’

Just like now –
walking the deserted streets – they had been brooding in silence. Each
contemplating the meaning of what Duggan had said. After a few moments Duggan
got up and walked towards the counter. ‘This is depressing. Let’s put on some
music.’ He fidgeted with the computer located behind the counter. ‘R.E.M.?’
Lindiwe nodded. ‘I promise I won’t play
It’s the End of the World
,’ he
said laughing at his joke.
Lindiwe managed a soft chuckle. The silence
was beaten into sudden retreat with the strains of
Shiny Happy People
.
Lindiwe smiled wryly and shook her head. Even at a time like this Duggan couldn’t
resist. ‘Hey, you feel like a chocolate,’ he said holding up a Bar One. Lindiwe
indicated that she didn’t want one. ‘Okay, suit yourself. You never know if you’re
ever going to get another chance.’ When he saw Lindiwe’s acrimonious look he
said, ‘Hey, I’m just trying to make your last few moments as pleasant as possible.’

Lindiwe was no
longer amused. ‘Duggan please stop. I’m begging you.’

Duggan’s wide
smile disappeared into real contrition. ‘I’m sorry. That was screwed up. I was
only trying to cheer you up a bit, okay? Sorry.’

‘It’s fine.’

Duggan shot
Lindiwe a goofy smile and tore off the chocolate wrapper with his teeth
growling like a wild animal. Lindiwe smiled at his silly antics. When he came
to join her again she reminded him of the encounter with Ryneke. ‘Why do you
mention it?’

‘Well,
remember you said to him, when he asked you if you knew what was happening, you
said you had a few ideas. Remember?’

‘Uh-huh,’
Duggan said with a mouthful of chocolate.

‘Well?’

‘Well what?’

‘Oh Duggan,
for God’s sake. Do you?’

‘What? Have a
few ideas?

‘Yes,’ Lindiwe
said in exasperation.

Duggan sat
back and exhaled loudly. Slowly. He stared at the
Call of Duty
poster on
the wall behind Lindi. ‘Yeah, I guess I do.’

‘Well?’
Lindiwe had an idea Duggan enjoyed stringing her along.

He continued
staring at an area over her shoulder. ‘Yes, I do. Would you be interested in
hearing them?’

‘Duggan.’
Lindiwe was starting to become genuinely irate.

‘Okay okay
okay.’ Duggan sensed her mood and immediately dropped his games. ‘Okay,’ he
said gathering his thoughts. ‘Okay. Ever since this morning when I first
noticed the networks were done ... I’ve been thinking. I mean I started
noticing other things too, you know. First it was the networks, right? But then
I noticed the empty streets. Not just people. But cars. I noticed there weren’t
any cars. I mean, there was no traffic through Bishop. Outside traffic, right?
You know this place. Any day of the week, there’s a constant stream of traffic
through Main Street. Right?’

Lindiwe
nodded. It was true. Bishop sat slap bang in the middle of a road that
connected three fair-sized towns. And besides that. Bishop had become somewhat
of a tourist town in the last decade or so. And that meant a steady flow of
visitors. So yes. Duggan was right. No outside traffic was odd to say the
least. ‘Okay.’

‘Right.’ He
leaned forward and fixed her with a dramatic stare. ‘But that wasn’t the only
thing I noticed.

Lindiwe
expected him to continue but he didn’t. She felt irritation rise in her again. ‘Yes.
And?’

Duggan jumped
from the desk he was sitting on. ‘I think I need to show you what I mean.’

And so they
had ended up standing in the middle of River Road. At first Lindi had been
vexed at Duggan’s suggestion that they take a walk. But she had to admit that
the stroll had done her some good. Being outside was strangely liberating. And
standing here. Embraced by the soft shade of the leafy canopy that the tree
lined streets of Bishop’s northern district afforded, certainly calmed her
frazzled nerves. It was also true, she admitted to herself, that getting away
from the Bishop CBD with its unsettling ghost town quality was a welcome
relief. Lindiwe looked expectantly at Duggan. ‘Well?’

Duggan didn’t
return her gaze. He raised both hands into the air as if conducting the
silence. ‘Nothing.’

Lindi sighed.
She didn’t feel like another round of this. ‘I’m going back to the restaurant.’

‘No wait,’
Duggan said grabbing her arm. ‘Listen.’

Lindiwe paused
listening. ‘Okay. What are we listening for? I don’t hear anything.’

‘Exactly. That’s
my point. Nothing, right. Nothing at all.’ He spun around pointing at the
trees. ‘But that’s impossible. I mean, that’s why I brought you here.’ He
pointed up. ‘On any normal day, these trees should be like, crammed with birds,
right? But not today.’ Suddenly Lindi understood why the silence had been so
overwhelming. So comprehensive. It wasn’t just the absence of people. ‘I mean
isn’t that strange? Not even one
frikking
bird.’

‘Okay, I see
what you mean.’ Lindiwe looked around frowning. ‘It’s eerie. And scary.’

‘Damn right it
is. But that’s not all.’ Duggan came right up to her face. ‘What else do you
notice. Or should I say, what else
don’t
you notice.’

Lindiwe looked
around uncertainly. ‘Um, I guess ...’

‘Man’s best
friend, baby.’

Suddenly her
early morning experience came rushing back to her. She remembered the disquiet
she had felt when she noticed the neighbours’ dogs were missing. And of course
there was
Bloop
and
Blaps
– gogo’s two Yorkies who had been
noticeably absent that morning. In the flurry of activity since then, she had
completely forgotten about them.

‘I haven’t
seen or heard one dog all day. Not even one
flippin’
dog.’ Duggan looked
at her with expectation. ‘And ... I mean, I’m just guessing ... but I’m sure
the same is true for all pets. Cats, budgies, whatever. I mean, let’s just say
some evil aliens came and abducted all the people overnight, right? Why take
the dogs? I mean ...’ Duggan laughed hysterically. ‘The pet snatchers! How
crazy is that? And what happened to the birds? Did they take them too?’ Lindiwe
felt dizzy. Suddenly the leafy street didn’t appear so pleasant anymore. ‘Look
here, I don’t quite understand the dog thing, but I can tell you this. The
birds weren’t frikking kidnapped. Or beamed up to some alien mothership.’
Duggan laughed at the ridiculousness of his statement.

‘What do you
mean?’

‘They fled,
Lindi. They just flew away. That’s what happened. Or at least, that’s what I
think happened.’

‘They fled?
But from what?’

‘From whatever
caused this,’ Duggan said pointing all around him. ‘Don’t ask me what happened
to the domestic pets. I haven’t figured that one out yet.’ He looked around
expansively. ‘I do have a theory though.’

And then, from
nowhere, Lindiwe had a terrifying claustrophobic thought. She felt her skin
grow cold. Her heartbeat thumped loudly in her ears. ‘Duggan.’

Duggan noticed
the sudden change in her demeanour. ‘What’s wrong?’

Lindiwe
swallowed hard. ‘You said we’ve been cut off, right? That we can’t contact
anybody in the outside world?’

‘Yeah.’

‘But what if
there
is
no-one? What if the same thing happened to them? What if we’re
the only ones left?’ Duggan said nothing. A darkness fell over his face.
Lindiwe could see this was not something he had contemplated.

‘Yeah,’ he
said softly. ‘I don’t know.’ For a few moments they stood. Silent in the silent
dead street surrounded by silent dead houses. ‘Come. Let’s go back.’

And so they
followed the same route back. And just like before, the click clack of their
footsteps was the only sound that pierced the silence. As they entered Main
Street Lindiwe had a sudden thought. ‘Hey, did you see that guy?’

‘Huh? Which
guy?’

‘The one in
the jail cells.’

‘What? There’s
a guy in jail? You’re kidding me.’

‘No. Inspector
Coetzee brought him in this morning.’ Lindiwe omitted that she had met the
prisoner before that incident. ‘Well, in any case, he’s from outside. I mean,
he was apparently moving through town when he was arrested. My point is, maybe
he saw something ... on the outside. You said you had a theory, right?

‘Yeah, kinda.’

‘Well, maybe
he can help us figure this whole thing out.’

Duggan thought
it over as they walked. ‘Okay. Yeah. Why not. Let’s do it.’ Their footsteps
became enlivened with the energy of new purpose as they headed for the police
station. ‘So tell me, what’s this guy in for?’

Lindiwe paused,
uncertain whether to tell Duggan the truth. It seem pointless to lie at this
stage though. ‘Armed robbery and murder.’

‘Murder!’
Duggan stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes exploded with boyish glee. ‘
Frikking
awesome.’

Everybody
was dying.

Minki sat in
the cubicle next to aunty Katya, listlessly licking her second swirly of the
day. Normally she would never be allowed to have more than one at a time. Daddy
simply wouldn’t tolerate it. She felt a sting of anxiety as she recalled the
last meeting with her father that morning. A cold chill swept through her. She
hated to admit it, but she felt relief that he wasn’t here right now in aunty
Moira’s restaurant. The thought of him showing up at that very moment sent a
cold shadow of fear through her. She shuddered. Katya Vladislavic interpreted
the child’s shiver as a cold chill and pulled her closer, draping an arm over
her. She smiled down at Minki.

The Abbot was
strangely quiet. The shock of earlier had now settled into a stunned numbness.
Everybody

(
was dying
)

seemed
embroiled in dark sullen thoughts. Caught up in morose interior worlds. Many
had some kind of beverage in front of them. Coffee. Tea. Milkshakes. Thabo
Mohapi was having a beer. Although Moira was surreptitious about it, everybody
knew that Stoffel’s Coke was similarly fortified with alcohol. Today was
special and all drinks were on the house. Nobody was talking. Dora Cooper was
cradling Bridgette Le Roux to her bosom. Across from them, the Lovisas were
sitting upright, calmly holding hands and staring into an unfocused distance. To
Minki they appeared almost ... relaxed. Mrs Sacks was lying in Mr Sacks’s lap.
Only Mr Jones and Max Theron were talking. Hunched over the table, they were
engaged in a whispered but intense conversation. When Mr Jones saw Minki
staring at him she quickly averted her eyes from his accusing glance. She
really didn’t like him. And she was scared of him. He was one of those adults
who treated kids like naughty pets. Minki was sure that’s exactly how he
thought of her. As some irritating little barking poodle. Mr Jones lived only a
few houses from them. More than once he had shouted at Minki when she dared to
ride her bike on the grassy sidewalk outside his house. Yes. He was a nasty
man. Minki felt sorry for his wife. Mrs Jones always looked like she was sorry
about something she had done. Like she had stolen cookies from the cookie jar.
Minki once heard her dad say Mrs Jones looked too deep into the bottle.
Whatever that meant.

Everybody
was dying.

Minki took a
big lick from her ice cream, hoping it would make the bad thoughts go away. Her
dreams from that morning were still vivid and ugly in her mind. She couldn’t
understand where the scary dreams had come from. Or why it had to happen to
her.

Across the
room Mr Jones stood up. He walked over to the bar counter behind which Moira
sat on a bar stool, lost in thought. ‘Moira,’ he said gruffly.

She seemed
startled by the sudden interruption of her thoughts. ‘Mr Jones,’ she said,
smiling sheepishly. ‘How may I help you?’ Moira was without doubt one of the
most beautiful women Minki had ever seen. Rich dark Burgundy hair spilled over
her shoulders. She was curvaceous and luscious. Voluptuous and deeply sensual.
She was already in her forties and yet it didn’t show.

‘Can I use
your cellphone?’

Moira looked
confused for a moment. ‘Uh, yes, I guess so.’ She dug inside the pocket on the
front of her apron. ‘Um, but don’t you remember what Duggan said. All the
networks are down.’

‘Yes yes, I
know,’ he said in undisguised irritation. ‘But can I just try?’

‘Yes, of
course.’ Moira found the cellphone and handed it to him. He grabbed it and
started pushing buttons. Moira looked at him with ... sympathy? Minki couldn’t
tell. ‘Mr Jones?’

‘Yes,’ he
responded absently focused intently on the cellphone screen. He didn’t look at
her.

‘Mr Jones, I’m
so sorry about your wife.’ Minki guessed that since Mr Jones was alone, Moira had
made the same assumption as her. That Mrs Jones was gone. He looked up in
irritation. ‘What? Oh yes. Terrible.’ He pressed buttons with increasing
ferocity and vexation. Something like a snarl broke out across his mouth. When
he realised it wasn’t working he cursed loudly. ‘Dammit. Dammit. Dammit!’

‘Mr Jones,’
Moira said uncertainly.  She caught Minki’s eye.

‘Oh just leave
me alone.’ Mr Jones slammed the cellphone down on the counter and walked away.
Minki felt terrified at this outburst. Her fear must have shown because Moira
smiled at her in encouragement. A beautiful tender smile. Aunty Moira was so
beautiful. It was so sad. How could something like that happen to her?

Minki quickly looked
away. She didn’t want aunty Moira to see the tears in her eyes. One of the last
visions Minki had experienced that morning was of aunty Moira. She was crawling
across the floor, her beautiful long hair wet plastered to her face. She was
slipping and falling in the blood that was pouring from her mouth. She was
dying.

How could
something like that happen to her?