‘Stop! Stop it – that’s bloody stupid!’ Hannah muttered to herself. Things couldn’t go to ruin like that so fast. Someone would write, old friends or neighbours, and warn them if there were problems. But Hannah wanted to be there to see for herself. Suddenly, she wanted it more than anything in the world. It was her farm too, as well as Piet’s. She had ideas – maybe not a degree in agriculture like her brother, but other skills that would be of value. She had discovered that she was good at her business studies. She had an excellent head for figures and organisation, her teachers said. They were impressed with her work. Piet wanted to develop a game reserve, bring tourists in. She could help with that. He could run the farm, and maybe the Norwegian would stay on to help. And she could manage the tourist side of things. Yes, that was it! What she must do now was persuade Piet to take her on, to understand that she wasn’t just his nuisance little sister, but a partner who could make a useful contribution to the farm. He’d have to see that. It was her heritage as well. She was sure that her brother cared enough for her to accept that he should give her a chance. A part to play.

The persistent worm of envy was murmuring again. ‘If you’d been a brother instead of a sister, you wouldn’t have to fight like this to be recognised.’ A part of her acknowledged that this was true, but now she felt that Piet would understand. He’d be back from Scotland next month, full of new ideas and plans, and he would surely have too much to do. This was a perfect time to make her appeal. He would back her if she could show him she was serious.

In all her letters to him since she had come south, she had railed against the tobacco farm, the business course, everything. She had felt guilty about complaining so much, but it was a way of letting off steam. His answers had been typically blunt, pointing out that naturally it was a drag, but it was only for a couple of years, and Pa and Ma needed her. She had to put up with it, was what he was saying, more or less. It had compounded her anger and her sense of injustice. All very well for him to be pontificating from his lofty position in Scotland. He wasn’t stuck in this miserable dump. She remembered how she had felt constrained in Langani as a teenager, far away from Nairobi and all the excitement she believed she was missing. Man, if she could only get home now, back to the farm, there would be no more complaints.