I opened my eyes, stretched, and looked at my phone. I’d only dozed off in my compartment for half an hour or so, but even during that short time, the landscape had changed completely. I’d closed my eyes on endless rows of ramshackle, corrugated-iron-roofed, single-story shanties on the outskirts of Johannesburg, and opened them to equally wide vistas of flat uncultivated scrubland. There were now no signs of human habita...

I stirred and opened my eyes, nudged into wakefulness by the light of the dawning sun sneaking in through the curtains. The night had been warm and humid, and I’d slept nude under a single sheet. Now I wriggled happily in the bed for a few minutes, blissfully enjoying the knowledge that I was on holiday, and there was absolutely no need to get up if I didn’t want to. It wasn’t even five o’clock yet, but the fresh morning...

On Saturday morning, Janet announced that she’d invited her sister, Rosemary, and Rosemary’s boyfriend over for an alfresco lunch. We went to the market in the morning and bought fresh bread, cheese and cold meats, as well as a plentiful supply of local wine; very cheap and very good, as I’d already discovered. The local beer was mostly gassy and expensive, but the wine was better even than the varieties I’d drunk in the...

“Ah, bollocks,” said Janet, coming into the kitchen with her phone in her hand. “Who was it this time?” I asked, taking another sip of my rooibos tea. “Work. Natasha’s screwed something up again, and they want me to come in and sort it out.” “Do you have to go?” “I don’t have to, but if I don’t, the whole place will be in complete meltdown by the time I get back next week.” I smiled. “I wish my work missed me as much when...

“I think he’s looking at you, Annie.” “What, him over there?” “Yes, can’t you see? He’s pretending to drink his milk-shake, but he keeps looking across at you.” “I dunno, maybe you’re right. He might just be waiting for his girlfriend or something.” “In that case, he’d better stop staring at your legs. I told you that skirt was too short.” “Bollocks. It’s fine. Anyway, I’ve got clean knickers on.” Janet sniggers. We’re si...

I had just got back from the shops and was putting the meat for the evening braai in the fridge when I heard a giggle from outside by the cocktail pool. I slid open the doors and stepped out onto the patio, at which point the source of the laughter was immediately revealed. Janet was riding up and down on the dick of someone whose face I couldn’t see, but who was certainly well endowed. The anonymous dick-owner was lying...

“So, did you have a good time in Cape Town?” asked Maria, as she manoeuvred the Mercedes out of the airport car-park, narrowly avoiding being mown down by an enormous truck carrying a teetering load of timber that seemed to be secured with little more than string and a prayer. “It was awesome,” I said, truthfully. What had seemed like an opportunity to spend a relaxing week in the company of an old friend from university...