Precious and Grace (25 page)

“He is looking after them,” said the housemother. “He is very fond of them.”

Mma Ramotswe turned away. She did not want others to see her tears.

“It is good to have somebody to watch over you,” said Mma Potokwane. “It is very good.” And then she looked at her watch. “And somebody to make you tea too.”

“That is very good,” said Mma Ramotswe, just managing to keep her voice even.

They walked back to Mma Potokwane's office in silence. Above them the sky of Botswana was empty, except for a small corner in the distance, behind the wind, beyond the hills—a small patch of purple that was a great cloud of life-giving rain, the rain the parched land so yearned for; small now, but heading their way like an angel of mercy on great wings.

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Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is a professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served with many national and international organizations concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland.