After I’ve eaten I feel even better. I spend some time around the farm. It is good to keep busy. It is good to keep your mind on the things you are doing and nothing else. I slop the hogs and feed the chickens. I fix a door on our small barn that was starting to loosen on its hinges. I bring in more wood for the fireplace. I hum one of the Christian hymns that the missionary was teaching us when I went to his school. It has a pleasant sound to it, that song about grace being an amazing thing. I do not know all the words, but I have always been good at remembering tunes.

Ulelanugo, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

My mother sometimes says that I was born singing.

I’m still humming that tune as I walk back to the cabin.

My mother is standing at the door. There is a look I cannot quite understand on her face.

“You are happy today, Uwohali,” she says.

“That is true,” I say.

She presses her lips together. She only does that when she is thinking about saying something but is unsure whether or not to say it. And as I see her do that I realize what she wants to know but hesitates to ask.

How was my visit with my father? I didn’t say anything about it when I got home last night. My mother didn’t press me. But I know what she is wondering. How did it go? What happened? Am I going back to see him again.

Everything about the previous day comes back in my mind like floodwater bursting through a dam. All my efforts have failed at trying to turn my confused thoughts to something else.

My mother is still looking at me. Perhaps I should answer those unasked questions of hers. Perhaps I would—if I knew the answers myself.

So, instead of saying anything about the battle going on in my mind, I pick up my chunkey stick and twirl it between my fingers.

“I am going down to the town house,” I say. I keep my voice light.

My mother smiles at that. I know what she is thinking.

Good. He is not going back to his father.

Am I going to go back and see him again? I am not sure about that. The thoughts in my head are like a whirlwind. The only thing I can decide now is that I need to do something—anything. Then it comes to me. Chunkey. That’s it! A game with my friends is just what I need to calm the storm in my mind.

“My friends Yugi and Ugama will be waiting for me there. We are going to play.”

Despite my inner turmoil, I’ve managed to keep my face calm. As a result, my mother still looks happy and relieved.