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onto him like a new skin. He kissed her and a smile grew over his mean mouth. Head Bobber bounced faster on his bhunna below. Here was a happy man.
    â€œBoss Jonni, you mind I’z early, sa?” I said.
    Boss Jonni did not look away from Gold Bikini. “What? Jus’ take tha white an’ fook off.” He kissed her more. It was obvious: he was happy that I was early. I thought, I will tell Wolf that.
    The bedroom door was closed. I was about to open it when Boss Jonni shouted at me over the hooker noises, “Serena here want ta know if your dick is meejit, too. Come an’ show us.” The girls laughed. He added, “Now!”
    â€œYes, Boss Jonni Sa,” I said.
    I went back and stood in front of them. Head Bobber stopped and turned round to look. I put the brown paper bag on the floor, undid my trousers, and pushed them down. All three of them gasped. Head Bobber’s face was ugly.
    I pulled up my trousers and picked up the brown paper bag. Gold Bikini whispered in Boss Jonni’s ear. Boss Jonni said, “Serena says you have three legs, ya.” The three of them went into hysterics. Head Bobber sniffed white, laughed, and went back to work.
    I went back into the bedroom. Hammers smashed potholes in my thinking. Through the door I heard Boss Jonni laugh, the girls giggling. My neck thudded under my skin. What a fooka!
    Boss Jonni’s bedroom was bigger than a shack in Kibera. The black shiny sheets on the big bed were messed up. The room had a large TV. It smelled of hookers, sweat, and sex.
    At the end of the room by the window was a large wooden table. On it was a mountain of white blocks. Each block was wrapped in plastic. I needed eight. I emptied the money onto the bed and put eight blocks in the Hareef Food Supplies bag. But growth retards see shadows others do not. Under the bed I saw the edge of something. I bent down and pulled out a black businessman case.
    Boss Jonni screamed from his sofa, “Get the fook outta there.”
    â€œYes, sa, Boss Jonni,” I shouted back through the closed door. Fast, I knelt on the carpet, clicked the gold locks, and opened the case. Inside was a green field of money—mainly dollars, some shillings. Piles were wrapped with rubber bands. I touched it. The hundreds were all together, the twenties, too. The money smelled of dagga and white. I guessed there was at least $200,000 and 50,000 shillings. A new drumbeat smashed in my ears: “Take! Take! Take!”
    Boss Jonni shouted again. This time just “Fook.” I slapped the case shut, shoved it under the bed, and ran to the bedroom door. I started to open the door but stopped.
    Loud blasts: “Bah bah, bah!” One, then three, then seven gunshots.
    My thinking, legs, breathing stopped. My chest banged up my neck.
    I put one eye to the door crack. Wolf stood in front of Boss Jonni and the hookers. He smiled as he looked down at them. I smelled gun smoke. He wiped the gun on his shirt. I knew what he was doing—wiping off Wolf prints. He dropped the gun and it landed beside Head Bobber’s mouth.
    In my head I screamed to myself, “Get behind the bed. Lie. Be still.” But my legs wouldn’t move. “Bingo’s legs, move!” my head screamed, but I stood still.
    I looked through the door crack again. Wolf turned toward me. I was sure he could smell me—Wolf smells fear the way Slo-George smells baking. “Shut up,” I shouted in my head. Wolf’s thick eyebrows narrowed. He stepped toward my terror. Then a step more. Three steps. A door slammed somewhere; there was a shout. Wolf rushed out of view. I heard the door to 19B open and bang shut. Wolf was gone.

Chapter 9
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Bingo’s Run
    I stood still behind the bedroom door and waited in the silence after Wolf. There was a siren down below. I opened the bedroom door and walked to the sofa. Boss Jonni lay back, head to the side as if he was asleep. Head Bobber was crumpled at