Read Online Ntshona by Matthew A Robinson - Free Book Online Page B

buildings surrounding the square. It would have been a perfect day to relax in the city, had it not been for the current circumstances.
    “Does it seem like there are more police to you?” Lon asked Eve.
    “I’m not sure,” she replied, “there are always a lot on Saturdays”.
    “But I’m sure there aren’t usually this many, we should be extra careful”.
    There were indeed a large number of police personnel located throughout the plaza, something common on busy days, especially in the run up to the holidays.
    The pair proceeded west of their current location and exited the vicinity of the building in which they had been hiding. Just as the previous night when they had been walking through the plaza to get to Chris’ workshop, the two were extremely vigilant and stuck to the crowds. After several minutes walking they took a left turn out of the pedestrianised plaza and into a long business street lined mainly with office buildings and banks.
    “Damn, I never realised how annoyingly slow crowds are,” said Lon. “We need to get to Tan as quickly as possible, but we need to avoid the police as well, just to be careful”.
    “Tell me how we got into this situation,” said Eve.
    “I have no idea,” Lon said sombrely, “and I don’t have a clue how we’re gonna get out of it either. All we can do now is what Chris tells us to. Thankfully he’s not an idiot”.
    The time flowed quickly, much unlike the pedestrian traffic in which Lon and Eve were encapsulated.
    “We need to get a move on if we want to meet Tan and get to the suburbs before eleven,” said Lon as he took a mental picture of the map on his palm screen. Using his free right hand he grabbed Eve by the wrist. “Come, we need to leave this crowd”.
    Eve was removed from the safety of numbers and directed around the crowds by Lon, who was still scanning his field of vision for potential threats. Thus far, their presence in public had not been contended. “Are you sure it’s safe to literally stand out from the crowd?” she asked. “Couldn’t it look suspicious?”
    “I don’t know,” replied Lon, “but so far everything’s normal. Maybe we were worrying for nothing”.
    “Okay,” said Eve, “but we should still be careful”.
    The two walked past several very wide buildings, and passed over several crossings.
    The morning was very slow and uneventful, in contrast to the traffic on the pavements and the roads; thousands of cars whizzed past thousands of people. It would be like this for nearly twenty-four hours on weekends, and weekdays were mostly similar.
    Eventually, after many minutes of walking, Lon and Eve came upon another crossroad, this one more significant than the last due to it being situated near the entrance of the parliamentary buildings complex partially shadowed by the huge pillar-like towers that rose behind it. Here was an abundance of greenery and water features, surprisingly not so uncommon in the high-tech, high altitude city, but certainly more lavish and extravagant in style, typical of the self-loving, self-pleasing, self-promoting, self-righteous government. Yet the place’s significance was not due to its aesthetic beauty, but in fact owing to the level of security around the area.
    “Eve,” said Lon, “we need to be really careful here, we should mix back in with the crowd”.
    There were far fewer people in this area, but perhaps still enough to shield one’s self from the eyes of onlookers if so was needed. Facing towards the parliament buildings before the intersection were two small greens, large enough for small families to picnic on, one to the left, one to the right.
    Lon and Eve followed the road to their west, orientating themselves so that on their left was one of the small fields, and to the right the parliament buildings.
    Many things were running through both their minds; thoughts of what happened yesterday, what was happening today, and what would happen tomorrow.
    There was something that