Salif makes a point of not looking in her direction as he dip slices of his bacon in ketchup and yolk. His habit of eating his bacon this way is part of family lore. Wendy could never abide it and thought it unrefined. “What are knives and forks for if not to be used, and why would anyone bother to place them on your table if you are going to end up behaving like some savage from Africa?” Bella can hear her saying.
Dahaba looks as if she can hardly bear the thought of waiting for her own breakfast, but in a little while it is ready, though Bella’s porridge is now cold. She puts a lump of butter in it and microwaves it until it is hot again, then eats it. When Bella gets up to make herself a macchiato, Dahaba asks, “What is your answer, Auntie? Do you have another camera like the one you’ve given to Salif or not?”
Salif can’t restrain himself anymore. With a touch of sarcasm, he says, “Yours is right outside your bedroom door, wrapped in the most beautiful wrapping paper.”
Dahaba abandons her breakfast and darts up and down the stairs with remarkable alacrity. Yet she unwraps the present with surprising delicacy, like someone removing a Band-Aid. Salif, impatient, offers to do the dishes before Valerie and Padmini arrive.
Bella says, “I’ll give you both a brief demo of the art of nondigital photography. I hope you will appreciate the cameras and look after them with great care. My hope is to train you to do your own printing here in this house, where there is plenty of space to set up a darkroom.”
Dahaba’s concentration falters as she fingers the knobs on the camera. This is the first time she has held such a camera, and it frustrates her that it doesn’t react to her touch the way the digital camera did. “What is the difference between digital and nondigital cameras, Auntie?” she says at last.
“Good question,” says Bella, pleased. This is as good a place to start as any. And she begins to speak, picking her way through a minefield of data and information that she knows won’t make much sense to novices such as Dahaba and Salif.
“Nondigital cameras differ from their analog predecessors in that they do not have film inside them, is that right, Auntie?” says Salif.
“What are analog predecessors?” Dahaba cries. “I have no idea what you two are talking about.” She pleads with them to use words she can make sense of. “Analog predecessors? I know what ‘predecessor’ is, but not what ‘analog’ means. Please.”
While Bella is thinking of a way to explain these concepts, Salif adds to Dahaba’s confusion. “In place of having black-and-white or color films in them, digital cameras save the images they capture on a digital memory card or cards, in addition to some form of internal chemical storage.”
Dahaba screams, “Stop showing off, you fool.”
Bella falls sadly silent, knowing that in this, as in so much else with these children, it is not going to be easy to negotiate the obstacles. She will need time to work out a course of action that will allow Salif and Dahaba to grow into who they wish to be — not into what she wants them to be.
—
Valerie and Padmini’s taxi drops them at the gate more than half an hour early. They are waiting to be let in. Bella suggests Dahaba put away the cameras while Salif goes and welcomes their guests. Dahaba seems to be torn between greeting her mother and partner and going upstairs to shower and get ready. Bella encourages her to do the latter, saying, “We don’t want to get a late start.”
Padmini enters, and she and Bella hug and exchange kisses on their cheeks. Bella observes that Padmini is a touch warmer than before. In fact, it occurs to her that the two of them have never been alone in a room before — and therefore have never had the pleasure (or displeasure) of exchanging their views on matters of common concern, namely Valerie and the children. Maybe the time has come to cultivate Padmini.
“How are things?” asks Bella. “It’s lovely to have you here. You and Valerie should come and spend more time with us. Chill out, play cards, watch movies together, and get to know one another. We would all enjoy it, especially the children.”
Something is making Padmini a tad uncomfortable. Bella entertains a suspicion that Padmini does not want Valerie to see them conversing or to overhear them. Bella cranes her neck, trying to see where Valerie is before she says anything. “Not to worry,” she says to Padmini. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk, you and I.”
Then in they come, Valerie and Salif. Valerie embraces Bella, and after exchanging cursory greetings, asks, “Where is my daughter?”
“She is showering and changing,” says Bella.
“Was she late in waking up as usual?”
Bella says protectively, “She was up early.”
“And we all had breakfast together,” adds Salif.
Bella washes her hands and dries them and offers to make coffee or tea. Padmini opts for coffee and Valerie for tea with milk and sugar.
Salif, in the meantime, goes upstairs and discovers that his sister has decided not to bother with showering. She is in her bedroom wearing a pair of many-pocketed safari pants, but she has decided she isn’t happy with how they look or feel. She takes them off and puts on a pair of jeans, but they are too tight. She complains that it is all the eating they’ve been doing lately that has made her gain so much weight. Salif, still standing in the doorway, looks from the clothes on the bed to Dahaba and back. He urges her to get on with it. “We’re going on an outing, not on a photo shoot.”
But this only throws her into more of a muddle. She takes off the jeans and puts the safari pants back on. But now she can’t undo the knots in the laces of her tennis shoes. Salif also observes that she has on socks mismatched in both color and size.
“I’ll go ahead if you don’t mind,” he says.
“Give me another minute.”
Salif cannot figure out why she is so nervous, nor why she is fussing about what to wear, especially in a country where outdoor clothing is an all-year affair. He importunes her to get moving when he hears their mother shouting from downstairs. “Where are my darlings?”
Bella says, “What has become of you two?”
He goes downstairs to find everyone waiting. “Dahaba will be here pronto,” he says. But when she does ultimately join them, Dahaba is back in the jeans and has on a pair of sneakers different from the pair whose laces she must have failed to untangle. Salif fights back a fledgling grin forming around his lips at the memory of the many occasions when Dahaba couldn’t decide what to wear, what to eat, or whether she was a friend or foe to this or that person.
Valerie says, “Are we all set?”
Dahaba nods her head. “Yes, Mummy.”
“Auntie Padmini, who I understand has motion sickness, will sit in the front,” says Bella. “And I will drive.”
“And where is Mum going to sit?” asks Dahaba.
“In the back, between you and Salif.”
Valerie wraps herself around Dahaba, and the two of them walk ahead in the direction of Aar’s car. Salif hangs back to set the house alarm then locks up and hurries to join them. When they are all seated, Valerie, sandwiched between her son and daughter, whispers, “Are you okay?” to Dahaba. Dahaba says that she has an upset stomach. But when Valerie asks if she is well enough to come on the outing, Dahaba waves her away.
Salif attributes Dahaba’s discomfort to nerves and her lack of control over the seating arrangements, which have deprived her of the front seat. Well, if she wanted to be present when that matter was being decided, Salif thinks, then she should have made up her mind which pair of pants she wished to wear a little sooner.
Dahaba wants to know if the restaurant where they will have their lunch has been decided on.
“I prepared all kinds of finger food yesterday when you were with your friends,” Bella says. “We have drumsticks, salad, pita bread, and a couple of baguettes from that French bakery opposite the Nakumatt supermarket. Plus we have all manner of soft drinks and bottled water. I was thinking we’d have a picnic near Lake Naivasha.”