This Thing Called the Future by J.L. Powers Read Free Book Online

toyi-toyi , winding my way through the maze of streets that make up Imbali.
    The cell phone rings, interrupting my dance. It’s Gogo, wondering where I am.
    â€œI’m coming now now,” I say, hanging up just as somebody grabs me from behind with the crook of his arm.
    The cell phone flies through the air and lands in the dirt.
    I start screaming.
    â€œShut up,” the drunk man says, rough, choking me with one arm, forcing all sound back into my throat. He holds me firm against him, his body curving around mine, his fingers brushing against my neck, scaly and cold.
    Crocodile skin.
    God, please please help me.
    I struggle against his arm, kicking at his leg—all the time, gulping at air, the way I imagine I would if I flew up, up, up, so high that oxygen disappears. Black light creeps up over my eyes, blocking the world out, but not before I see his face looming over me as I crash onto the packed dirt road.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    MAMA’S GUMPTION
    â€œThis drunk man I saw sitting at the tuck shop the other day just attacked me,” I tell Mama and Gogo. They are sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea, the door open to provide a breeze.
    Mama inspects the red marks on my arms where he grabbed me. My head aches, but I don’t know if it was the choking or falling that caused it. He touched my neck. The neck is the place of anger. If somebody touches you there, they want you to die. He is that angry with me. But why? What did I do to him, except refuse to let him be my sugar daddy?
    I don’t mention the way his skin felt, like crocodile skin—Mama would scoff at me if I said anything—but I wonder: Could he be a sorcerer? There’s something evil about him. Something more than just a drunk man.
    â€œMen!” Mama rages. “They think they can just get away with anything.”
    â€œBut what are we going to do, Elizabeth?” Gogo rocks back and forth on her chair, one of the legs wobblier than the others. “There are drunk men everywhere.”
    â€œThat is true. But this drunk man attacked our daughter.”
    â€œDo we know this man, Khosi?” Gogo asks. “Do we know his family?”
    I shake my head. “But lately, he is always at the tuck shop around the corner.”
    â€œWhat is happening to us?” Gogo sips her tea and looks out the open
door, her eyes distant, seeing nothing in front of her. “In the past, it was always the men who protected the community. And now, they are the ones we must fear.”
    She reaches out and grabs my hand, her eyes focusing on mine. “You must be careful, Khosi,” she says. “Not just with this man, but with every man, especially if they are drunk.”
    I nod even though this is something I already know.
    â€œI am not going to sit here and scold my girls to be more careful.” All Mama’s anger gives her sudden energy. “Come with me, Khosi! We’re going to pay this little coward a visit.”
    She grabs my hand and, like two determined crazy women, we march out the door and down the street. Actually, Mama’s the mad woman and I’m lagging behind, wishing I hadn’t told her who attacked and robbed me.
    â€œDon’t go so fast, Mama.” I hope maybe she’ll turn around and we’ll go back to the house and pretend this never happened.
    She glances at me, quick quick, then turns back to the road. “Why didn’t you fight him off?” Her voice, demanding.
    â€œI tried.” Now the tears are spilling down my face. Why is Mama blaming me for something I couldn’t help? “He surprised me. I wasn’t prepared.”
    â€œIzzit?” She slows down so that I’m beside her. She reaches out with a rough hand and wipes the tears from my face. It stings where she touches me. “You didn’t try hard enough,” she says.
    â€œHe was stronger than me,” I protest. “He was choking me!” I point to the red marks on my