‘Do not be upset, Mma,’ she whispered. ‘What has happened has happened. The boy is not to blame. And now he will be getting something that will make up for it. That can happen in life, Mma, can’t it? Things start badly – very badly – and then they change for the better and those who have nothing, or who are unhappy, or who live in fear, suddenly find that these things that were bad for them have gone.’

‘It’s like rain,’ said Mma Potokwani, who had not said much but had clearly been affected by the story. ‘The rains come and they wash everything away. The dryness, the thirst, the dust on your skin – these are washed away, Mma, all washed away.’

Chapter Seventeen

The Best Woman in Botswana

When he arrived in his carrycot at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency the following morning, Itumelang Clovis Radiphuti was wearing a red baby outfit with a jaunty matching cap. Charlie wriggled out from under a car to greet him.

‘I see you, my brother!’ he shouted. ‘I see you, Itumelang Cl…’ He turned to Mma Makutsi. ‘What’s the rest of it, Mma?’

‘Itumelang Clovis Radiphuti,’ said Mma Makutsi obligingly. She usually addressed Charlie with a note of irritation in her voice, but now that he was showing such attachment to her son her tone was more forgiving.

‘Itumelang Clovis Radiphuti,’ repeated Charlie, reaching out to stroke him. ‘A big, important name for a big, important young man!’

‘Don’t touch him, Charlie,’ said Mma Makutsi, pointing at his hands. ‘You’re covered in grease.’

Charlie looked down at his hands, as if he would be surprised at the suggestion of grease. ‘I have been thinking about him, Mma,’ he said. ‘I’ve been thinking that he could be a mechanic when he grows up. He could be my apprentice.’

Mma Makutsi’s eyes widened. ‘Your apprentice? But…’ She did not finish her sentence. She had been about to say that Charlie might not have finished his own apprenticeship in sixteen years’ time. But she decided not to.

‘Lovely boy,’ Charlie crooned, looking admiringly at the baby. ‘Who’s the most handsome baby in Gaborone – in all Botswana? You are! Yes, you!’

Mma Makutsi smiled as she went into the office to put Itumelang into his office cot. This enthusiasm for babies on Charlie’s part was most unexpected but very welcome. Of course, if it got out that Charlie was looking for a wife and was prepared to have a baby and stay, then there would be no shortage of suitable young women. Charlie might be trampled in the rush and go to the altar covered in sticking plasters where the girls had tried to grab hold of him. She smiled at the thought.

‘Something funny, Mma Makutsi?’

Mma Ramotswe was already behind her desk, the day’s newspaper spread out in front of her.