No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo Page B

shorter after Mr. Danny had an argument with Maria. It was about her being late. When Mr. Danny shouted that he was going to take some money off her wages, Maria declaredthat she wanted to be paid right away. She was leaving. Her brother was getting her a job in a supermarket right near her home. And it was going to be more money. Mr. Danny could keep his job!
    “You people are all the same!” Mr. Danny said angrily. “You want something for nothing. You come late but I must pay you. Then you hear about an easier job and you leave.”
    Sipho was inside the shop, watching the whole scene. Mr. Danny opened the register and flung some notes and a few coins down on the counter in front of her. Catching Sipho’s eye, Maria nodded at him grimly. With a loud complaint about bosses who expected you to work for next to nothing, she strode angrily out into the street. Seeing Sipho silently standing there, Mr. Danny suddenly turned on him. His face was still red from the argument, and his mouth and mustache twitched as he spoke sharply.
    “What are you doing there, just standing? You’ll have to help with Maria’s work until I can find someone else!”
    By the time they were going home in the car, he seemed a little calmer. He even said that he was sorry for having been short-tempered with Sipho.
    “But you know it’s not easy to run a shop. There’s always something to worry about.”
    It was a few days later that Mr. Danny announced that some of his stock was missing. There had been a delivery of jeans, but some of the batch seemed to be gone. They hadn’t been sold—and that could mean only one thing. Mr. Danny questioned Sipho.
    “I don’t know, Mr. Danny,” was all he could say.
    But when Mr. Danny started talking about malunde, he became worried.
    ‘Are you sure that some of your street friends aren’t wearing nice new jeans, Sipho?” The one eyebrow was raised.
    Was Mr. Danny accusing him? Of stealing the jeans for his friends? He was almost too shocked to reply. He shook his head fiercely. A lump in his stomach seemed to shoot up to his throat and stick there. At last he swallowed and managed to get out some words.
    “How can I do that, sir?”
    “Well, it’s very strange, Sipho…very strange. But I’ll get to the bottom of it in the end. I always do.”
    Mr. Danny’s words hung like a threat over Sipho for the rest of the day.
    It felt as if Mr. Danny’s eyes too were following him everywhere in the shop. Whenever he happened to look in Mr. Danny’s direction,there were the eyes looking at him. As they traveled back to the house after work, Mr. Danny usually talked. But this evening he remained completely silent. Mama Ada knew something was wrong as soon as she opened the door. There was no “Evening, Ada!” Just a surly glance. Copper seemed to guess his master’s mood too. His eyes looked doleful and his tail less jaunty as he rubbed himself up against Sipho’s legs.
    At dinner, when Judy asked what was wrong, her father replied in a low, serious tone that some stock was missing.
    “How could that happen, Dad?”
    “That’s just what I don’t know, Jude…just what I don’t know.”
    As he looked up from his plate, Sipho caught Judy’s eyes flicking away from him. He didn’t look at David. He could imagine the fixed stare and, this time, a sneer.
    He went to his bedroom early to avoid being in the family room with them all. How could he prove that he knew nothing about the missing jeans? Judy wouldn’t want to believe he was a thief, but if her father said it was very suspicious, then what would she think? Once again, he began to think it would be simplest if he went back to the streets. But if he went now, they would all believe he was guilty…
    Thirsty for a drink of water, he went to thekitchen. Mama Ada was just preparing to leave but stopped when she saw him.
    “What is this I hear, my child?” she said, frowning.
    He hoped her deep, searching eyes would know that he was telling