So you know. When school education came here, all his children were too old to go to school except Mansa. And he used to boast that he was only going to feel he had done his best by her when she reached the biggest college in the white man’s land.

‘And did he have the money?’

Don’t ask me. As if I was in his pocket! Whether he had the money or not, he was certainly saying these things. But then people also knew him to add on these occasions, ‘let us say it will be good, so it shall be good’. Don’t laugh, my sister. Now, you can imagine how he felt when Ato did this to his daughter Mansa. I remember they reported him as saying that he was going to sue Ato for heavy damages. But luckily, Ato just stopped coming here in the holidays. But of course, his mother Auntie Araba was here. And she got something from Mansa’s father. And under his very nose was Mansa’s own mother. He used to go up and down ranting about some women who had no sense to advise their sons to keep their manhoods between their thighs, until they could afford the consequences of letting them loose, and other mothers who had not the courage to tie their daughters to their mats.

‘O Lord.’

Yes, my sister.

‘Hmm, I never knew any of these things.’

This is because you have been away in the Mines all the time. But me, I have been here. I am one of those who sit in that village waiting for the travellers. But also in connection with this story, I have had the chance to know so much because my husband’s family house is in that quarter. I say, Mansa’s father never let anyone sleep. And so about the sixth month of Mansa’s pregnancy, her mother and Auntie Araba decided to do something about the situation. Auntie Araba would take Mansa in, see her through until the baby was born and then later, they would think about what to do. So Mansa went to live with her. And from that moment, people did not even know how to describe the relationship between the two. Some people said they were like mother and daughter. Others that they were like sisters. Still more others even said they were like friends. When the baby was born, Auntie Araba took one or two of her relatives with her to Mansa’s parents. Their purpose was simple. Mansa had returned from the battlefield safe. The baby looked strong and sound. If Mansa’s father wanted her to go back to school . . .

‘Yes, some girls do this.’

But Mansa’s father had lost interest in Mansa’s education.

‘I can understand him.’