Robbery
By PG Jonker
Thomas* came from Zimbabwe. There was a time when his fortunes were better. He had his own karate dojo in Harare. But if people don’t have money for food, they don’t exercise that much, nor do they pay their fees. So Thomas became one of the millions of Zimbaweans to come in search of a better future here in Africa’s land of milk and honey.
The road down to Cape Town runs through Johannesburg. So Thomas found himself in downtown Johannesburg with one bag of luggage, on his way to go look for the end of the rainbow in Cape Town.
Johannesburg can be a cruel place, Thomas was about to find out. Three gentlemen approached him, indicating that they will happily relieve him of his luggage. Finding Thomas not to be excessively amenable to this transaction, they exercised some duress. One with a pistol, the other with a knife, and the last one with a screw driver.
By that time a simple obliging gesture from Thomas was not enough any more. The smell of blood was in the air and had to be taken to the next level, as the bad guys in the movies would say.
Now, in spite of Thomas’s 66kg frame he can pretty much fight any guy. And in the ring he can stand 60 one-minute fights with no breather in between without appearing to be unduly tired at the end. However, his adversaries’ armaments, more in particular the pistol, poses a bit of a problem.
By the time Thomas went down to the ground he already had two gashing wounds on his upper right arm, courtesy of the knife and the screw driver respectively. However, as he looked up he saw that there was no magazine in the pistol. There might have been a round in the chamber, but it was worth taking the risk.
Getting up from the ground and hitting the guy with the pistol was one movement. In spite of Thomas’s (lack of body) weight, years of training and skill, combined with that weight, can have the same effect than the kick of a mule. The guy with the pistol hit the ground not even knowing where the blow came from.
His two side-kicks quickly re-assessed their position, and in spite of their numbers and the fact that they were armed, decided to perform the ultimate maneuvre of self defence and to run away. A flash of wisdom must have hit the chap with the pistol too, as he then decided to join his to fleeing friends.
And as the dust literally settled down, the two policieman who were watching the fracas from a safe distance approached Thomas to ask whether he is OK. He was, thank you.
PGJ