‘It is the modern thing,’ said Phuti. ‘We shall have a girl to feed the baby. There is already somebody there.’

‘A wet nurse?’ asked Mma Ramotswe. She was surprised, and wondered why this would be necessary. Phuti meanwhile looked puzzled, and it occurred to Mma Ramotswe that he might not have understood what she meant.

‘Wet nursing is where some other woman feeds the baby,’ said Mma Ramotswe.

‘That is what we are going to do,’ he said. ‘We already have a girl working in the kitchen. She will be feeding me too.’

Mma Ramotswe tried to keep a straight face. ‘I think we are talking about different things, Rra. A wet nurse is a woman who feeds the baby with her own milk.’

Phuti frowned. ‘From her fridge?’

Mma Ramotswe lost the battle against laughter. She chuckled, and then went on. ‘No, from herself. Mother’s milk, not cow’s milk.’

Phuti shook his head. ‘You mean one woman – a different woman – gives another woman’s baby the milk that her own baby…’

‘That is exactly what I mean,’ said Mma Ramotswe. ‘It is unusual, but it happens. It may be a sister or a cousin who helps in this way if the woman herself cannot manage to feed the baby. It is a kindness, you see.’ She paused. ‘There is usually a reason.’

He looked at her with interest, and she thought, This is a man who needs to go to those classes they have for new fathers.

‘What is the reason?’ he asked.

‘It may be uncomfortable for the mother,’ said Mma Ramotswe. ‘That is a good reason. But I believe that there are some places where the mother just doesn’t have time to feed the baby. Maybe she is too important.’

‘But feeding a baby is very important,’ said Phuti.

Mma Ramotswe was inclined to agree. You passed on more than mere sustenance in feeding a baby – you passed on love, and tenderness, and a bit of Botswana too, she thought. A bit of what it was to come from this place and be born into this nation.

‘So the young woman in the kitchen —’

He interrupted her. ‘No, she will not be doing that – certainly not. She will make the baby’s food and give it to him if Grace is busy at the office.’ He paused. ‘Grace also thought that it would be all right to bring the baby to the office. Not every day, of course, but from time to time.’