On the other hand, she wondered if she would turn out to be like her great-great aunt, Queen Winona, who was too ambitious to get married and have children.
On the same token, she was looking forward to seeing Tamura and travelling with him before she could make up her mind about settling down as a wife.
Back in the jungle, Tamura huddled forwards to help the fallen man back on his feet and to help him wash off the mud. He was almost apologetic when he helped him up. The man thanked him and told him to keep up with the others as they had carried on walking after their hysterical laughter.
He said he would wait for him while he cleaned up with some fresh water in a nearby stream. They hurried and caught up with the others. It was now late afternoon when they decided to take a rest and have something to eat.
The leader wanted them to go on for a few more miles before they could settle down, but the others protested of feeling fatigued, hungry and thirsty.
The leader, Chief Bongo, suggested they set up camp where they were as it would be dark soon and they might miss a chance of finding a good spot to set up camp for the night since it was the rainy season and was getting dark earlier than normal. They all agreed to stay put for the night and start off early the next morning after a good night’s rest.
Tamura didn’t say one word but was quietly disappointed as he thought it was going to be a one-day trip. He asked the man nearest to him quietly to avoid the others hearing him and thinking that he was complaining, “What time do you think we will get there tomorrow?”
Makada, Mondo’s son, sensed his apprehension and said to him, “If we make it till the morning, we might get there around midday, but if the monsters watching us right now decide to have a feast on us, well, too bad!”
He said rolling his eyes and looking in the direction of the woods surrounding them as if he was scanning for the monsters. Tamura felt a chill down his spine and swallowed hard. Chief Bongo shouted at Makada to stop talking nonsense and start gathering firewood for cooking, warmth and light as it was getting dark fast.
Makada jumped to his feet and summoned Tamura to go with him. He did not mess around when the chief spoke with authority. Chief Bongo told Tamura, “Don’t take any notice of Makada’s fairy tales, he gets that off his father, Mondo, it’s an old fairy tale about monsters and spirits lurking in the woods lying in wait to eat people alive, but this has never been proven.” He continued, “I have lived in Goza for many years and we have never as much as heard of any trouble from the so-called spirits and monsters, except the wild animals.”
Tamura felt a little relieved, although he didn’t like this nick of woods, he felt like someone was watching him, ever since he was told about the monsters. The others busied themselves with clearing a place they felt was conducive for setting up camp.
They dug holes and stuck poles in them and tied ropes to secure the big tent. They covered the bottom ends of the tent with stones and sand to secure it in case of a storm, and from any creeping creatures that might come while they slept.
They hung an oil lamp on one of the hooks above the sleeping area in the tent, in case they needed it in the night and to keep night animals away. After a while, they unpacked their foodstuffs and gathered around a huge fire.
They made fish soup and potatoes and ate it with some dry bread they carried along. The group leader, Chief Bongo, brought out some herbs, which he mixed with some honey and brought to the boil to make a herbal tea brew.
Tamura didn’t like the taste at first, but he realised it was not so bad and it made a refreshing change to just drinking water. As if he could hear him thinking, Chief Bongo said to Tamura, “That stuff is good for you, my boy, it chases away fever and colds in this chilly weather, so drink up!”
Tamura nodded at him and took another sip while his thoughts drifted to thinking of Leona whose smile he could see and almost felt like she was standing right there in front of him.
He thought to himself that this was the first time ever that he felt this way about a girl. He had always dismissed his little sister whom he thought was always moody and difficult to understand and had secretly vowed that he would never mix with women or try to understand them. He had encountered and fought unwanted attention from neighbouring village girls who used to come to his parents’ home to buy produce from the farm, but he had very little or no interest in any of them as such.
He had seen how his father used to grumble about his mother in her absence, but when the two were alone, they behaved like lovebirds. He never understood that and got even more confused when he used to see how inseparable the Hagas were, even though they spent most of their time moaning and complaining about each other and at each other.
But with Leona, he felt like he couldn’t get enough of her presence, even if she was the only thing he saw whether he was awake or asleep. “Don’t let it go cold or it loses its strength, boy!” Chief Bongo shouted to Tamura when he noticed his absent-minded state and tried to bring him back to the present. He added, “Whoever you are thinking about must be very dear to you, young man.”
“Yes, sir,” Tamura added still nonplussed with what
