But the worst instance of all had been that business with the sponsored parachute jump, when Mma Potokwane had cajoled Mr J.L.B. Matekoni into agreeing to jump from an aeroplane to raise money for the orphan farm. That had been a dreadful thing to do, and Mma Ramotswe had found herself quite cross over the whole episode. Although she had managed to arrange for Charlie to jump in his employer’s stead—and she would never forget how Charlie had landed on a large acacia thorn—the whole matter had caused great anxiety to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni. One had to watch Mma Potokwane, then, so that she did not manoeuvre people into positions in which they felt uncomfortable. This was always the case with pushy people; their pushy schemes were sometimes put into effect without one’s being aware of what was going on. And then suddenly one would discover that one had agreed to do something one had no wish to do.

Of course, let she who is without pushiness cast the first stone. Mma Ramotswe would have to admit that she herself was not above the occasional attempt to get people to do things. She would not have called that pushiness; she would rather have described it as … Well, it was difficult for her to think of an exact word to express the mixture of psychology and determination which one had to be able to invoke if one was to get anything done. And it should always be borne in mind that even if Mma Potokwane was pushy, she never pushed for things for herself. She used her undoubted talents in this direction for the benefit of the orphans, and there were many of them who had a great deal to thank her for.

There was that small boy with the club foot, for example. Mma Ramotswe remembered when she had first seen him at the orphan farm four or five years ago. He had been taken in at the age of six, having been sent down from Selibi Pickwe, or somewhere in those parts. Mma Potokwane had explained the background to her, and had told her how the boy had been deserted by his mother, who had gone off with a man and had left him with an aunt who was an alcoholic. This aunt had let a fire get out of control, and the small traditional house in which they lived, with its walls of brushwood, had gone up in flames while the boy was inside it. The aunt had staggered off, and nobody had been aware of the fact that the boy was inside until the fire had died down. He had spent months in hospital and had then been given a home at the orphan farm.