“I missed you so much, little princess, look at you, haven’t you grown so?”
Mara responded, “Yes, Papa Haga, I have and you have got more wrinkles and more grey hair now, you are really getting old now.” She giggled.
“I guess I am,” said Papa Haga. At that moment, Mabige walked in almost out of breath and took Tamura’s hand with a wide smile on his face.
He said, “I take it you are the young man who has given me the land to live on?”
Tamura replied, “Well, it’s you who is looking after it, so it’s practically yours to be honest and I am grateful you are looking after it so well.”
Mabige felt proud of himself over the compliment and responded, “Well, I love doing it anyway, it’s what keeps me alive. All I need now is a wife and children to enjoy the fruits of my labour.”
Instantly Tamura felt a tug at his heart as he took his seat, when he remembered how much he missed Leona already since he last saw her this morning, as they said goodbye. He quickly came back to his senses and said to Mabige jokingly, “There are lots of women in Goza and you can come and pick one for a wife!”
Mabige’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and said enthusiastically, “Really?” Tamura nodded, and Mabige continued, “I would love to come and marry the best of the bunch as you know all those we have here are either too young or married and too old.” He laughed and signalled to Mama Haga who was his sister-in-law for approval, and she just smiled and nodded to him.
After a short pause, Mara joined in and said, “Beko is beautiful and single, she works very hard and cooks the best food, she lives with her parents, Mama Mondo, and her father Elder Mondo. She is very kind-hearted, but Mama Mondo is scary because she shouts all the time at us when we are playing around her. Her brother, Chinaga, is nice and he looks after everyone.”
Tamura interjected, “That’s enough, Mara, I am sure Mama Haga is not interested in all the stories, besides she doesn’t even know who we are talking about.” He said, shaking his head apologetically towards Mama Haga.
“I understand,” Mama Haga retorted, “at least she is highlighting on the simple but important facts of the people that Mabige should be prepared to meet, if he intends to meet this lovely lady Beko of Goza. I am sure you now have an inkling of what to expect according to Mara’s elaborate description?” She nodded towards Mabige, who just shrugged and smiled coyly, with a mischievous grin.
After a few giggles, Papa Haga rose up and sat straight to ask, “What brings you here so unexpectedly, my children, is everything well with you? Baka is not in trouble or sick, is he?”
Tamura hesitantly replied, “No, no, no, Baka is well, he was too lazy to come with us you know what he is like.” They all chuckled as if to say they were thinking alike in that instance.
“That’s very well, my children, have something to eat and then we will talk,” Mama Haga said with a sigh of relief.
Tamura replied, “Yes, that’s a good idea, for we are starving and we still need to make our way back before it’s too dark tonight.” He said this looking at Mara as if he was looking for confirmation from Mara that she would be able to make the journey back.
While he was waiting for Mara to respond, she just looked down and didn’t want to engage with Tamura’s probing eyes. Mama Haga saved the day by saying, “Nonsense, are you trying to kill this child from walking?” She continued, “She is only but a baby and needs to rest her poor little fragile bones before she can face that horrendous journey again, in fact I insist!”
Mama Haga busied herself to prepare them something to eat while Mara took centre stage telling her many stories about Goza and the friends she had now made. All were in awe at the way she could talk nonstop for so long without taking in a breath and jumping from one story to another.
Tamura added, “She seems to have come alive since we arrived, she has been awful quiet for days and I was getting rather worried that something might have been wrong with her.”
Papa Haga interjected, “No, she was just missing home I suppose, she looks a brighter colour for sure and she has brought sunshine to my day for definite!” He chuckled and started coughing. Mara thought he was looking rather sickly and said, “Papa Haga, are you all right? You seem to be poorly, you are not suffering from old age or something worse, are you?”
Papa Haga retorted, “Oh, yes, there is old age creeping in all right, but I am as fit as a fiddle and I will be right as rain very soon. I was rained on a couple of days ago and that gave me a chill.”
Mama Haga shouted, “I keep telling him to stay warm and cover up well as he is not getting any younger, but he never listens, stubborn goat!”
“I have prepared food from the first crop of the harvest season, sweet potatoes, pumpkin leaves and goat stew with ground rice, and for pudding you will have steamed fruit sorbet of wild berries, guava and mango. I am sure you will love it!”
“Mmmm, sounds yummy, Mama Haga, I missed all that food we used to eat here, the king’s place don’t eat this kind of food, we now eat rice cakes and honey and fried banana and eggs for breakfast and we eat wild boar and deer for meat stew. I don’t really like all that smelly game meat, to be honest, but Tamura says it’s good for me.”
She continued, “Sometimes I just want
