The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith Page B

detail sink in.
    “The stationery cupboard,” said Mma Phumele.
    Mma Ramotswe imagined what Mma Makutsi’s reaction to that would be.
Stationery, Mma? They were carrying on in the stationery cupboard?
There was no doubt that Mma Makutsi’s secretarial soul would be deeply offended by the very idea of conducting an affair in a stationery cupboard.
    “But what if somebody came to get some paper?” asked one of the women. “Or a pencil? What then?”
    “I think they probably locked it from inside,” said Mma Gabane Gabane. “These people are very cunning once they start to get up to their tricks. They think of all the angles. I have seen it so many times before.”
    Now all eyes shifted to her; eyes widened at the thought of the subterfuges of those engaged in illicit affairs. What exactly had Mma Gabane Gabane seen? And would she share it with them?
    But the conversation had to move on.
    “What happened then?” asked a woman who up to that point had said nothing. “Were they found out?”
    Mma Gabane Gabane drew in her breath in preparation for the denouement. “I will tell you what happened,” she said. “The husband had no idea that his wife was having an affair with this…this boy. He had no idea at all. But—and here she’s going to learn her lesson, ladies—but what she didn’t know, that shameless woman, was that because of all the security they have to have in the diamond building, there were closed-circuit television cameras all over the place, including in the stationery cupboard. They have them there in case anybody might be tempted to take some diamonds in there to conceal them about their person.”
    “Ah!” exclaimed Mma Phumele. “They take that very seriously at the diamond place. If you go out to the mines, you know, you have to be X-rayed in case you swallow any of the diamonds.”
    “It is very important,” said Mma Ramotswe. “We do not want people to steal our diamonds. We do not want any of this smuggling that goes on elsewhere.”
    “You are right, Mma Ramotswe,” said Mma Gabane Gabane. “My son is always telling me about that. He says that we must keep our diamonds clean. He says that our Botswana diamonds are the cleanest in the world.” She paused. “So there was a camera in there, and it was recording all the goings-on between this woman and this boy. And the man in the security department who looks at all these recordings is the cousin of that good man who is like a strong tree. He went to him and said, ‘Your wife, Rra, is becoming a film star.’ That is what he said, Bomma. Those were his actual words.”
    “Ow!” said Mma Phumele. “Was that the end for that woman?”
    Mma Gabane Gabane nodded. “It is a big offence to carry on in a stationery cupboard. Not a criminal offence, of course, but an offence in terms of company regulations. That woman was fired from her job and her husband sent her home to Francistown. He was very, very sad. What is the use of having a good job and a nice house and then finding that your wife is meeting a young lover in a stationery cupboard?”
    “That man must have been very let down,” said Mma Potokwane’s friend. “I feel very sorry for him.”
    “You are right,” said Mma Gabane Gabane. “He was very sad and he lost a lot of weight. I saw him a few days ago. He is thin, thin now. He is a very unhappy man.”
    “Well,” said Mma Phumele. “People who do that sort of thing may reap what they sow, but they also destroy the harvest of those who are around them.”
    “That is very true,” said Mma Gabane Gabane. “But I need more tea now, I think. Who is ready for more tea? Once we have more tea we can come back to this lady in the stationery cupboard.”
    Tea was poured, and the conversation drifted along. Then Mma Gabane Gabane said to Mma Phumele, “I see there is a new place.”
    Mma Phumele asked her what the new place was. “Everything is new these days,” she said. “You close your eyes and there is some new