Gracious for once, Valerie says, “Thanks for the invite.”
After dinner, Bella drops them off at their hotel.
—
When she gets back home, Bella writes an e-mail to the Kariukis to give the house address and directions as she promised. Then she rings Marcella and leaves yet another message on her voice mail.
Finally, Bella takes the time to set up the darkroom. She puts all the equipment in place: an enlarger, an optical apparatus, a slide projector, sheets of photographic paper, a safelight, and the chemicals in which the paper will be immersed. To make sure everything is shipshape, she test prints a handful of photographs she took when she arrived here. The first images come out grainy and she isn’t terribly pleased with them, but she works at the images until they are sharp and clean. And because she doesn’t wish to sleep before Salif and Dahaba are back from the movies, she devotes half an hour to a long letter to Marcella, in which she brings the old dear of a woman up to speed on all that has transpired.
Salif and Dahaba get home close to midnight, full of beans and ready to chat about the film they saw. Bella, remembering that she has a dinner party to organize for tomorrow night, pleads exhaustion and retires to her bedroom, saying, “Good night. See you tomorrow, darlings.”
20
It is nine in the morning and Bella is in the kitchen drawing up her shopping list for tonight’s dinner party when her mobile phone rings. It’s Padmini, who offers to give a hand with the cooking. “And if you haven’t done the shopping yet,” she goes on, her voice low, almost whispering, “you can come and get me, and we can go to the Indian spice shop close to the Nakumatt.”
“Would Valerie like to come too?” Bella asks.
“I doubt it.”
“Is everything okay?”
“It was quite a fitful night.”
Bella knows there is no point in questioning her further; it’s clear there is a reason Padmini is not being more forthcoming. So she simply says, “Please expect me in an hour.”
She showers, puts on a pair of slacks and a pair of sneakers, and knocks gently on Salif’s door. “Wait,” he says, and when he opens the door, he is dressed. “Morning, Auntie,” he says. “What’s up?” He is ready to roll.
She tells him what her plan is. He says, “I know the routine. You want me to stay put and look after my sister and the house, right?”
She hugs and kisses him and drives off to get Padmini, thinking about her plight, especially if she can’t persuade Valerie to return to India with Padmini. She thinks to herself that one day, without warning, a door will open somewhere in Padmini’s mind or, rather, a sense of despair will stroll in and take up residence. Then the poor woman will say enough is enough and she will leave Valerie. That is the damage that divided loyalty does, and the signs of an inevitable split are there. Bella can smell it the way you can smell an approaching storm. Maybe Padmini senses it is time she ups and flees, the way frightened people flee an oncoming hurricane. But Bella selfishly hopes that the women manage to leave together and that their parting of ways takes place after they are back in India.
Bella parks in front of the hotel and doesn’t get out of the vehicle. She calls Padmini’s mobile, but there is no answer, so Bella just waits; she does not want to risk running into Valerie. It occurs to her that they are behaving like a couple having a clandestine affair. But Valerie doesn’t seem to care.
Bella’s thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Padmini, and she drives off in the direction of the Nakumatt shopping mall.
“So what is all this cloak-and-dagger stuff?”
“After you dropped us off last night, Ulrika, the lesbian who has a financial stake in that raided club, BIH, came to the door of our chalet, veiled.”
“Veiled, as in looking like a devout Muslim?”
“Yes. And there was a man with her, a German. Ulrika was in need of a place to hide from the police. I didn’t want to oblige them but Valerie insisted. So Ulrika slept on the couch, and her friend slept on the floor of our chalet. Early this morning, the man left, but Ulrika is still there.”
It doesn’t escape Bella that it is her own munificence that is now paying to keep Ulrika free. I might as well join the movement myself, she thinks. And of course, here in Africa, where gays are victimized, harassed, and harangued, they could do with all the help they can get.
“Any idea what effect the current situation will have on your plans for departure tomorrow?”
“No.”
It’s clear to Bella — and must be to Padmini too, Bella thinks — that Ulrika and Valerie have already had at least a fling. Will they continue their interrupted liaison now? Bella suspects that they might, which does not auger well for either Padmini’s or Bella’s plans.
Padmini says, “Valerie says that Ulrika is safe with us until tomorrow morning, when we are due to depart, thanks to your generosity in paying for the room until then. After that, she says, it’s up to Ulrika to find another sanctuary.”
“Is that arrangement okay with you?”
“No. What if the police find out where she is? We’ll be considered accessories to the crime for offering shelter to a fugitive.”
“What is Valerie’s response to this?”
“She maintains that the likelihood of that happening is minimal and that we should give Ulrika shelter until an hour or so before we are scheduled to leave.”
“Remind me when that is, your departure time.”
“We are due to check in at Ugandan Air at five.”
“Tight,” comments Bella.
“I said it is too tight for my liking. But she insists that she wants to leave. She says she wants no repeat of what occurred in Kampala. She threw another stinker of a fit when she discovered you had paid the hotel bill up through tomorrow morning, by the way.”
“Why?” says Bella. “Is the woman mad?”
“Anyhow, she was raving and ranting and calling you all sorts of terrible names until Ulrika and her friend showed up. Then she was singing a different tune.”
“She still doesn’t know how to show gratitude.”
“Valerie doesn’t know the meaning of the concept.”
“So you are set to go?”
“Cross your fingers we are.”
—
In the mall, Bella leaves Padmini in the spice shop and walks across to the Nakumatt. She gets arugula for the salad, and the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon, pepper, and Dijon mustard she needs for her favorite salad dressing. She also gets pasta and peppers and tomatoes for the penne all’arrabbiata she is planning. For Padmini’s dish, she gets basmati rice, chicken pieces, yogurt, fresh ginger, and fresh hot chilies, some green, some red. For dessert, she gets several types of cheese from the Nakumatt deli.
They meet at the checkout counter, and Bella pays. A youth elbows Padmini out of the way and takes hold of the cart Padmini is pushing. Not wanting to fight about it, they let him wheel it to the car, where Bella tips him.
They arrive home to a joyous brouhaha upstairs. Qamar and Zubair have arrived, and the four young people are up in Salif’s room “having fun,” as Qamar puts it, after a hug and a kiss from Auntie Bella when she looks in. Bella informs them that Auntie Padmini is with her downstairs, but that Valerie is delayed.
“But she is okay, though?” asks Dahaba.
“Of course she is.”
“And she will be here in time for dinner?”
“Of course she will be.”
Bella is surprised not to have received warning of their children’s arrival from Fatima or Mahdi. Not that this upsets her, but it is unlike them. She checks her phone and discovers she has inadvertently turned it off. There are several messages from them explaining that they are attending a funeral service for a relative on the outskirts of town and so it made sense to drop the children at Aar’s place first. Bella relaxes, happy that their relationship is already such that they don’t have to stand on formality.