Twinkle toes

4.By Dumisani khumalo*

Rush hour came and they called his escape a botched one .Who knew he would reappear on the highway with his fast footed legs in front of the armoured car with the money he intended to rob .

Such a bold attempt was unheard of ,the prison inmates were locked on television watching the events unravel themselves .Who was the alley cat as smart to take down the governments reserves,leaving a turn table of events that got many people's jobs on the line.

It was a curious one as Morris Greens' preying paces up and down and taking the breath out of his competition and competitors in a clean way .He was back about to hit the big picture of things in a hundred metres track race in record time and still keep bouncing back with a win.

It is his win he thought .How a first attempt ended up in the second only Billy knew ,since he realised that there is no honour among thieves.

Every mugger is known by his crime. Billy got to be known by his prime fast pace at school that also worked on the wind when he ran ,and now after getting the whiff of his mates secret plans .

They had a plan up their sleeves.They were planning to have one of them as the sacrificial lamb and the stupid culprit ,pinning the crime on him if a lack of an escape plan was not there.

Plan B was needed as Luis' wish list put it all on the table when he made out how they were to take down the motorcade with guns,threaten the drivers to open their metal caskets so that they would take away their loot.One of them was to pretend he was the victim of a fake accident that would close off the road in front of the armoured car.

Billy was to take that risk first of all ,and the other guys come out of the bush to ambush the truck.  

They lined up each piece of their plan to the letter and timing ,even when they took no cue to the events ,as they were and as they had planned them when they started happening .

They were to have the main highway closed off and the ambush take place and that did not happen when Billy sat in his botched attempt at robbery.

Billy found himself alone ,sirens coming closer to the time they were to appear.The armoured carriers moved past him and up the road trying to weave their way out of the traffic jam,as police arrived and got Billy still in the car.Many thoughts ran through his mind ,and he remembered his own escape plan.

He had taken his plan to the place where they had been sure they would execute it,before the inevitable thing happened.His calculations and timing of making off with the swards of money needed a hands on approach and his personal bravery.He saw the bushy area and made for it as fast as he could that they could tail him, on the run.

The helicopter was closed out by the tree canopy as the police made it on foot to try and catch up with him .

The traffic jam was closing off everyone and the armoured truck still out on the road answering questions asked by police only made it to secure their safety.

A bushy area was one route that drew the most attention as he came to trump an escape by car was even the worse off.They would be cars blocking the way, with cars chasing each other ,road blocks ,and in so much chaos and noise as he reappeared to the truck,like a surprise when they went for him in the wrong direction ,he went in and pulled his weapon and sack while the guards were just about to close themselves in and make way on the highway.

The guards were caught off guard ,he could fill one full bag and hop out into the forest across the street from the one he had been chased in, stopped a car and went out into a different direction.The police radios were surprised of their own supposed chase and how Billy managed to go back to the truckload again.The news chopper only picked up a glimpse of him.

He had those fast feet that were called twinkle toes in school and the envy of many he did not make it on the field of sport for lack of fees.

 While he made his move up the corner ,he could see that his friends were onto him as well,and singing his praises.

It was daring .of him but he could not trust them after his predication ,and twinkle disappeared out of their sight knowing they were betraying him again as they did themselves come out of his favour.

The car he stopped at the end of the forest when bikes criss crossed each other out of the blue in both directions, was his path to go out into town to find a hiding place and count the loot ,repack it and move to another town.

He had raced up to the eastern bush , both ways and back, after being taken by police that he denied having anything to do with the crime henceforth, as no one had made the robbery swelling sirens that were as crude and deafeningly loud and conspicuous as the jungle to the left and to the right.

No one believed it was a robbery until he got out to out pace them by running circles around them in the dark shadows..

Why did he run ,they asked, until the toes twinkles radioed for them to come back from the chase ,as sports came in to show how fast his feet were.after he made off again at dazzling speed.

 It did not spoil his good habit for competition it worked for him. It made him feel the edge was still in him.

He ran like an animal running away from man ,and each time he was gaining momentum as he ran them out of their tight suits and exhaustive energy.He would have turned right in front of them in a flash and left them spell bound,but he had other ideas.

He was a soldier before come back home and made worse of a civilian ,in search of sense in life after it all broke down for him coming back from war ,and in his heart ,he was forgotten so easily and so early enough his pension said it all ,that money was not convincing heroism for the country.