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.Noëlla confirmed that Agathe had never been to school.“Do you think she’d like to learn to read?” asked Angel.“Of course she would! She’s often said that it’s embarrassing for her when her children come home from school and they want to show her what they’ve written that day.But she cannot go to school herself at her age, and anyway she needs to be at work: she has to feed and educate her children.”“Do you give her time off for a break every day? Maybe to eat her lunch?”“Of course I do.”“Now what if I told you that she could go to school to learn to read during that time every day?”“What?” Noëlla looked sceptical.“Where? How would she pay for it?”“The school is free and the teacher knows French.Agathe would learn to read in French.It would be nearby, in my compound.She would just have to walk two streets along and then two streets down and she would be there.”“Agathe!” called Noëlla loudly, her voice filled with excitement.A FEW moments later, Angel was on her way back two streets along and two streets down.She was just passing a half-built house that had never been completed because the people who had planned to live there had not survived, when Ken Akimoto’s vehicle slowed beside her.“Hello, Auntie!” called Bosco.“Eh! What are you doing walking in the street with such a beautiful hairstyle? A lady with such a hairstyle must travel in a car with a driver.”Angel laughed.“Hello, Bosco! Are you offering me a lift?”“Yes, Auntie.I’m on my way to your compound but I can take you anywhere.”“Thank you, Bosco, I’m on my way home.” Angel opened the door and struggled to climb up into the Pajero without splitting the long skirt that was already straining over her expanding hips.Really, these big vehicles with their high seats were not designed with ladies in mind; it was almost impossible for a lady to remain elegant as she got in.How did the big women in government manage? She must remember to ask Catherine if the Minister she worked with had any tips on how to get in and out of a big vehicle with dignity while wearing a skirt.It was an important thing to know how to do, especially if a television camera might be watching you—or a photographer from Muraho! magazine.Angel thought she might also use the opportunity of tonight’s embassy function to observe ladies’ techniques; there were bound to be many big vehicles there.Fortunately the children always thought it a great honour to be the one chosen to sit up in the front of the Tungarazas’ red microbus, and Angel was happy to sit on one of the seats in the back part that could be entered via a more manageable step.“I’ve been shopping at the market for Mr Akimoto,” explained Bosco, noticing Angel glancing at the big cardboard box of vegetables in the back as they set off towards the compound.“He’s having guests for dinner again this weekend.”“I know.I’ll be making a cake for him again.But tell me, Bosco, how is Perfect?”“Eh, Auntie, she’s a very, very nice baby! She’s quiet and still, not like Leocadie’s baby.Eh, that Beckham can cry! And he’s always hungry or else he’s wriggling around and moaning about something.When Perfect cries, you can be sure it’s not for nothing.”“That’s the difference between boys and girls, Bosco.But remember that Perfect is still very small.Maybe when she’s bigger she’ll become more like Beckham.”“No, Auntie, don’t tell me that! I used to think I wanted lots of babies, then I met Beckham and I thought uh-uh, babies are not a good idea.But then Perfect came, and she’s very, very good, and I can see how much Florence loves to be her mother, so I thought again that babies were a very, very good idea.You’re confusing me now, Auntie.”Angel laughed.“I think you’re confusing yourself, Bosco.You haven’t even met the lady yet who will help you to get all these babies.”Bosco pulled the Pajero to a stop outside the compound and turned to look at Angel with a big happy smile on his face.“Bosco?”Bosco continued to beam.“Eh, Bosco! Have you met the girl who is going to become your wife? Tell me!”Bosco looked shyly down at his left trouser leg, where a speck of dirt needed attention.“I have met a very, very nice girl, Auntie.”“Then you must come in and drink tea with me and tell me all about her!”“I can’t come now, Auntie.I still have to unpack Mr Akimoto’s vegetables in his apartment and take his crate of empties to Leocadie for sodas for his party, and then I must fetch him from his meeting.”“Then tell me quickly now, Bosco.Who is this girl that you’ve met?”“Do you remember that when I came to fetch the cake for Perfect’s christening, I gave a lift to Odile?”“Eh! Odile! You’re in love with Odile! I was just telling the ladies in the salon about the place where she works.”Bosco laughed.“No, Auntie, it’s not Odile that I love.When I took her to her house I met her brother Emmanuel and his very, very beautiful wife.”Angel felt her heart sinking.“Bosco, please tell me that you have not fallen in love with Emmanuel’s wife.”“No, Auntie!” Bosco tried to look annoyed but he was too busy smiling.“Emmanuel’s very, very beautiful wife has a young sister who is also very, very beautiful.That sister has a friend called Alice.Alice is the one that I love.”Angel shook Bosco’s hand.“Eh, Bosco, I am too happy! You must bring Alice to meet me soon.”“Yes, Auntie.But I think Modeste is waiting for you.He is with a man.Perhaps he is a customer.”The young man with Modeste was indeed a customer.Arriving at the compound, he had asked Modeste in which apartment he might find the Madame of the cakes, and Modeste had reported that Angel was out but would probably be back soon.She had not waited for a pikipiki-taxi at this corner, and she had not gone along the unsurfaced road to where she could catch a minibus-taxi; she had gone up the hill on foot, so she had not gone far.The man had decided to wait.Now he sat opposite Angel in her apartment, dressed in a suit and tie and looking extremely handsome and smart.There was something familiar about him, but Angel could not place him.“Madame, allow me to present myself to you,” he said in English.“I am Kayibanda Dieudonné.”The local formality of stating a name backwards with the first name last had initially confused Angel, but she was accustomed to it now.She still found it too uncomfortable, though, to introduce herself to anyone as Tungaraza Angel.“And I am Angel Tungaraza, but you must please call me Angel.May I call you Dieudonné?”“Of course, Madame.”“Not Madame.Angel.”“Forgive me.” The young man flashed a smile that made him look even more handsome.“Angel.”“Do I know you, Dieudonné? There is something about your face that makes me think that we have spoken before.”“We have never spoken, Mad … Angel.Not you and I.But I have spoken to Dr Tungaraza when you have been with him.I’m a teller at BCDR.”“Eh! Of course!” declared Angel, suddenly able to place her guest.Her husband’s salary was supposed to be paid into his account at the Banque Commerciale du Rwanda at each month-end, but for one or another reason payment of expatriate salaries—in U.S.dollars—was invariably delayed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]