As we were both pariahs for the time being, we thought it best to leave town for a few days. In any case, we still had the original field work we came to this country for.
Some three weeks later, we were back in the area. We entered town very carefully. However, people greeted us as usual, with friendly cries of "My, my."
Whatever they thought we were stricken with before had evidently had time to run its course.
We were having some difficulty with our Land Rover. During a long field trip north, the vehicle had been serviced at a Botswana garage. On the return drive to Tkubbo the engine would shriek when it first turned over.
And, it tended to overheat. My suspicion was that the fan belt was too tight. Back in Tkubbo, I took the vehicle to the local mechanic. This fellow, Mbekko, ran the only garage and was the general handyman for the area. It was his father who had sold us petrol on the day we arrived.
I pulled into the dirt yard in front of the garage building and propped open the hood. All repair work was done out in the yard. I shouted and soon Mbekko came out. We knew each other quite well by this time, as he had already replaced a flat tire and broken headlight for us from parts scrounged from abandoned vehicles.
"My, my," I said in friendly greeting.
"My," he replied, more somberly since this was obviously not purely a social call. He took auto repair very seriously.
I led him over to the front of the vehicle and indicated he should wait while I started the engine. As usual, there was a loud SHRIEK! as it turned over. I left it running, got out of the cab, and stood beside Mbekko.
"Too?" I asked.
"Too," he replied.
I waved my hand vaguely in the direction of the engine. "Is too tight."
He nodded but seemed a bit confused. I didn't know the word for fan belt so I pointed directly at it. "Too tight," I said.
Now he seemed to understand. "Underwear," he said, thoughtfully.
He dug his toe into the dust.
I pointed at the fan belt. "Underwear?" I asked.
"Underwear," he replied. "Underwear too tight." He mulled over the problem and looked at the fan belt. "Underwear is too tight."
"My underwear is too tight," I said.
He smiled and marched off to the shop, indicating for me to wait. I finally felt I was getting somewhere with this crazy language. Benny had meanwhile been quietly waiting in the shade of an acacia tree. I said to him, "Mbekko's gone to get a fan belt and some tools." In a few minutes Mbekko was back with a canvas bag. He reached into the bag and handed me an enormous pair of boxer shorts.
