FOLLOWING, AS HE DID, the progress of his new house with some interest, Phuti Radiphuti had now taken to visiting the site every day on his way home from work at the Double Comfort Furniture Store. Mma Makutsi sometimes accompanied him on these visits, although she was less interested in the technical details than he was. She wanted to see the walls plastered and painted; she wanted to see the tiles in position in the bathroom; she wanted to stand in her new, finished kitchen and savour the cooking smell coming from the oven. That was the prospect to which she looked forward and that she had heard would be achieved on time, just as Mr. Clarkson Putumelo had promised.

Clarkson Putumelo himself was rarely on site when Phuti or Mma Makutsi visited, which was a relief from her point of view. Most of the time, building operations seemed to be under the control of a foreman, a thickset man with a moustache who had set up a table on which the house plans were spread out and from which he directed operations. This man was pleasant enough, and seemed to take the trouble to explain what was happening in a way that could be appreciated by those to whom building was a closed book.

Thomas, the builder whom Phuti had met at the beginning of the project and whom he had glimpsed briefly at the petrol station, was still working on the site, though he barely acknowledged Phuti when he saw him. Mma Makutsi had tried to engage him in conversation on one or two occasions, and although he had answered her, he had seemed embarrassed by the contact.

“It is probably because he is working illegally,” said Phuti. “Poor man. He will have a big family back at his place and no work permit. It’s probably life and death for him.”

“He’s a hard worker,” said Mma Makutsi. “Have you seen him? He never sits about when the others are having their breaks—he carries on with what he’s doing.”

Phuti had seen that. “I feel very sorry for him,” he said. “It cannot be easy, being him.”

The day after the dinner with Clovis Andersen, Phuti Radiphuti and Mma Makutsi both paid a visit to the building site. The large wooden beams that would bear the roof were now installed on the already completed walls, and in many of the rooms the window frames had been placed in position.

“It is looking very much like a house now,” said Mma Makutsi. “It will make all the difference having a roof.”