And yet that, surely, was what life was like. There would inevitably be certain days when things changed dramatically—days when we received bad news or good, which could dictate the shape of the rest of our lives. That had happened to her on that day, that fateful day, when Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni had proposed to her, on the verandah of the house, as the sun went down. She had started that day without a fiancé and ended the day with one. And in Mma Makutsi’s case there must have been a day, some time ago, when she had begun the day as an ordinary student of the Botswana Secretarial College and ended it as the college’s most distinguished graduate in its entire history.

The news that one had a sister surely should be good news. It was possible that there were some people who did not want a sister, but she felt that there was no reason to assume that Mr. Sekape would be one of these. Most people would be concerned that a newly discovered relative would make some sort of claim on them—a perfectly reasonable concern in a country where there was strong pressure to look after relatives. But Mma Sebina showed every sign of being quite well off, and she would not be asking Mr. Sekape for money. So there was no reason to hold back from telling him.

But what swayed her most was the fact that Mma Sebina might not be back until the following day, and Mma Ramotswe, quite simply, felt that she could not wait that long. The discovery was so thrilling that she wanted to tell somebody; no bearer of such momentous news could be expected to wait. So that decided that: she would go to the bank just before lunchtime and speak to Mr. Sekape during his lunch hour. That would give him time to compose himself again for the start of the afternoon’s business.