But there was no point in throwing up one's hands in despair. People had always
done that--the throwing up of hands, the shrug--but one got nowhere in doing so.
The world might have changed for the worse in some respects, but in others it
was a much better place, and it was important to remember this. Lights went off
in some places, but went on in others. Look at Africa--there had been so much to
shake one's head over--corruption, civil wars, and the rest--but there was also
so much which was now much better. There had been slavery in the past, and all
the suffering which that had brought, and there had been all the cruelties of
apartheid just those few miles away over the border, but all that was now over.
There had been ignorance, but now more and more people were learning to write,
and were graduating from universities. Women had been held in such servitude,
and now they could vote and express themselves and claim lives for themselves,
even if there were still many men who did not want such things to be. These were
the good things that happened and one had to remember them.
Mma Ramotswe raised her tea cup to her lips and looked out over the brim. At the
edge of the car park, immediately in front of the café, a small market had been
set up, with traders' stalls and trays of colourful goods. She watched as a man
attempted to persuade a customer to buy a pair of sunglasses. The woman tried on
several pairs, but was not satisfied, and moved on to the next stall. There she
pointed to a small piece of silver jewellery, a bangle, and the trader, a short
man wearing a wide--brimmed felt hat, passed it across to her to try on. Mma
Ramotswe watched as the woman held out her wrist to be admired by the trader,
who nodded encouragement. But the woman seemed not to agree with his verdict,
and handed the bangle back, pointing to another item at the back of the stall.
And at that moment, while the trader turned round to stretch for whatever it was
that she had singled out, the woman quickly slipped another bangle into the
pocket of the jacket she was wearing.
Mma Ramotswe gasped. This time, she could not sit back and allow a crime to be
committed before her very eyes. If people did nothing, then no wonder that
things were getting worse. So she stood up, and began to walk firmly towards the
stall where the woman had now engaged the trader in earnest discussion about the
merits of the merchandise which he was showing her.
"Excuse me, Mma." The voice came from behind her, and Mma Ramotswe turned round
to see who had addressed her. It was the waitress, a young woman whom Mma
Ramotswe had not seen at the café before.
"Yes, Mma, what is it?"
The waitress pointed an accusing finger at her. "You cannot run away like that,"
she said. "I saw you. You're trying to go away without paying the bill. I saw
you."
For a moment Mma Ramotswe was unable to speak. The accusation was a terrible
one, and so unwarranted. Of course she had not been trying to get away without
paying the bill--she would never do such a thing; all she was doing was trying
to stop a crime being committed before her eyes.
She recovered herself sufficiently to reply. "I am not trying to go away, Mma,"
she said. "I am just trying to stop that person over there from stealing from
that man. Then I would have come back to pay." The waitress smiled knowingly.
"They all find some excuse," she said. "Every day there are people like you.
They come and eat our food and then they run away and hide. You people are all
the same."
Mma Ramotswe looked over towards the stall. The woman had begun to walk away,
presumably with the bangle still firmly in her pocket. It would now be too late
to do anything about it, and all because of this silly young woman who had
misunderstood what she was doing.
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