“Well, cool, I have to . . . uh . . .” I took another step backward, just as a phone delivered a loud ring. Thembi looked at the phone in her hand and then quickly looked back at me.

“I have to take this.” I nodded as she raised the phone to her ear and started talking.

“Yes, hi.” She spoke into the phone and I watched her intently. “Her dress is almost ready. I was just finishing some of the beading upstairs . . .” A pause as she listened. “I’ll go check quickly.” She rushed up the staircase and disappeared again, and the relief that washed over me was palpable. As fast as I could, I pulled the dress off, put my own clothes back on, and ran, tossing the dress on an ottoman as I went. As soon as I was out of the shop, the second my feet touched the ground, the tears came.

24

I turned my back on the shop and walked away as fast as I could. My heart thumped and my chest was tight and sore and . . . I was in the pool again. The wetness on my face confirmed it. The world was starting to disappear behind a veil of blurry water.

Not now. Not now . . .

I continued walking. Nothing around me looked familiar anymore and I couldn’t remember where I’d left my car. But that didn’t seem important right now. I was so embarrassed. The embarrassment clawed its way across my cheeks, making them red and hot. As I walked, the ground beneath me felt like it was curving under me, making it hard to keep my balance. The pavement seemed to twist around a singular point, bending and lifting to meet me, like I was inside a work of anamorphic art. But as I continued, I finally saw what the singular point was, and it stopped me dead in my tracks.

Red and white danger tape was wrapped around four bright-orange cones standing upright on the pavement. As I was trying to figure out what this dramatic show was for, two women walked past me.

“You think they would have fixed this by now,” one woman—the one with the high clickety-click heels—said as she stomped past and stepped over one of the bright-orange cones. “It’s so ugly, plus it’s dangerous.”

“And it’s been like this for months,” the other one in sporty trainers and tight activewear pants said. “Letting our roads go to ruin like this. And everyone has complained, but you think they’ve fixed it!”

“I know. Such a bloody eyesore!” clicky heel added. I looked up and watched these two women walk away, the one casting an almost disgusted glance over her shoulder at whatever this thing was. This thing that was so damn offensive to their sensibilities. I looked down expecting to see . . . well, I wasn’t sure exactly. But when I saw it, I was shocked.