They used Munira’s bicycle. Sometimes all three would walk, one person pushing the bicycle. Sometimes all three would ride the bicycle with Munira on the saddle, Karega on the frame and Wanja on the carrier. But mostly they rode in a kind of relay. Karega would walk. Munira would take Wanja for a mile or so and leave her to walk on. He would come back for Karega and take him a mile or so past Wanja. Then Munira would walk. Karega would take the bicycle and go back for Wanja. Soon they all looked like the earth on which they trod, enveloped by an enormous sky of white and blue. As he walked, Munira was struck over and over by the oddity of the present situation. He felt as if he had been away for three years instead of only three days. So many things he did not understand: his father’s action and attitudes . . . the mystery of Mukami’s death . . . his father’s cryptic reference to Mariamu . . . what was the connection? And here he was with Mariamu’s son – the teacher he had recruited from a bar – and Wanja, all going to seek a home in Ilmorog.
