Behind bars

Johannesburg

The South African sun is beating down on my brother’s garden. We have just returned from a shopping mall in Johannesburg. Jo’burg is full of shopping malls, massive American-style walkways. My brother and I have been sitting outside the Seattle Coffee Company watching people as they pass by. South Africans are averse to tanning. Some claim this is latent racism, others argue that in a country where the sun shines nearly every day they simply wish to preserve an element of youthfulness for as long as possible.

My brother lives in one of those high-security compounds. It has walls with electric barbed-wire and armed guards. I am supposed to wear a panic button around my neck. It is on a heavy chain and is red and unwieldy. If I press it, six armed guards are supposed to leap over the wall. I imagine that this is the closest I will ever come to living like a Hollywood celebrity.