This day was not supposed to hold much excitement for us. I planned to spend my time on the garden veranda, reading and catching up with email. Then, there would be some laundry to do and dinner to make, Nothing very taxing. John always gets up early and works on his computer for an hour or more before I finally arise for the day. When he sees me or hears me banging around, he comes back to the apartment and we have breakfast together. Afterwards, he frequently thinks of a reason to take a dalla-dalla ride and a long walk back. That was the routine on this day, too.
Today, when John returned from his trek, I was still on the garden terrace. He went into the apartment to sit at our little kitchen table and do something on his computer. I cannot see our apartment from the garden, but all of a sudden, Mazo, who had been on the restaurant terrace, came and said that I needed to go see John. I thought Mazo said that John was nodding off, as he often does when he’s too tired to stay alert. However, Mazo told me that John had fallen out of his chair, and Mazo and someone else had to go pick him up! I hurried to our apartment and found John lying on the bed, seemingly okay, but how was I to know for certain? I decided he must have fainted from the heat and dehydration, so I gave him a cold pack for his head, had him drink water, and told him to stay lying down for awhile. John had never fainted before, and he seemed a bit sobered by this incidence. He thinks he’s invincible, but he had walked a very long distance in extreme heat—it was above 90ยบ—and did not take any extra water. He seemed fine by evening, and maybe now he will heed my nagging about wearing a hat, drinking lots of water, and even limiting how much he walks in the hottest hours of the day.
During the afternoon, we heard singing and loud, animated speaking from behind Mama’s wall, which separates her house from the public compound. Mary Lou said she could glimpse a figure walking back and forth and speaking with great passion. It was a gathering of Mama’s prayer group. They meet monthly and rotate among the members’ houses, so Mama doesn’t host them often. Hosting is considered a very important duty, and last week a preparatory committee had called and brought a big wooden cross for Mama to set up for the meeting. I am sure Mama was well prepared. The speaker we heard was a young man in the group. I had forgotten that this isn’t just a women’s group. Now, I need to ask Mama if any of the women ever get to speak to the group.
For dinner, we had pan-grilled pork chops, a creamy rice dish made from a packet I brought from the States, African greens from the Kundayo kitchen, the most perfect avocado so far this year, and cold watermelon cubes. John remarked that it was a dinner fit for royalty. That depends on the kingdom, I think.
Mama and Mazo had been sitting out in the courtyard for quite a while after dark. Around 9:00 p.m. I decided I should walk over to greet Mama, who could see I was still up and about. Greetings lead to an invitation to sit and talk with Mazo serving as interpreter. At first, Mama and Mazo wanted to ask a lot of questions about Trump’s meeting with Kim Jung Un and the Congressional hearings with Michael Cohen. John had wandered over to join us, so the conversation got pretty detailed and animated. These people know their news!
Finally, when there was a pause, I asked Mama if she could tell me the rest of the story about the vanishing bride and jilted groom. It turns out that this story may or may not have a happy ending. In the week following the canceled wedding, the two families met to discuss the situation and decide how to proceed. Eventually, the families agreed that it would impossible to untangle and return all the many gifts which they and others had given for this marriage, so the couple should go ahead and get married after all. Thus, a week ago, there was a smaller, more private wedding at another church, and now the bride and groom are to live, if not happily ever after, at least responsibly. Mama and Mazo don’t have any romanticized view of this marriage. He says in the end it was all about money; she says the young woman will cheat again. I’m hoping for a much better future for this couple.
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| Queen of Kundayo |
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