Lesedi awoke. He was lying on his back looking up into the branches of an acacia tree. Vaguely wondering what the tree was doing in his hut, he sat up and looked around. Then the memories of the night before came flooding back. He wasn\u2019t in his hut, he was in the cart. Everything looked very normal and peaceful around him. The donkeys were quietly grazing off to one side and he could hear some village noises in the background. Down on the ground sat his grandfather with a fire going and a pot of water on for tea. He was starting to wonder if it had all been a dream when Kgatwe popped his head out of his pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, that was quite a night. Good thing I was around to sort things out,\u201d declared the little gecko. <\/p>\n
Lesedi looked at him with his eyebrows raised and then across to Lorato. He saw a faint glimmer of amusement run across the old man\u2019s face before he said, \u201cCome and have some tea. We must get going before the villagers find out we are here and I have to start attending to their needs.\u201d As he said this an old man walked out of the bush towards them. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh no!\u201d he said in his head, outwardly greeting the old man with courtesy and respect. Lesedi moved back a bit to allow them to talk but made sure he could still hear what was being said. He was a curious young man and liked to know what was going on in the grown-up world even if he didn\u2019t always understand it. After all the formal greetings and enquiries into everyone\u2019s health, which he could feel Lorato wanted to get over with as quickly as possible, the old man said, \u201cThere is trouble brewing in the north.\u201d Lorato looked at him. He thought the trouble was in the west from The Hills. \u201cThey are planning to take our water.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are they? And how?\u201d asked Lorato, his attention now focused. There had often been talk of the people in the north doing this but it had never come to much. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe desert people of the north. They are building a wall which will stop the water coming through to us and they are being helped by Bosula.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBosula!? But how will that benefit him? He wishes to take over the Delta because he has used up all the resources in The Hills. What use is the Delta without water?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sure he has a plan. Maybe he will take over the desert people as well, and then when we are all gone break the wall down and take over the Delta. The trouble is he is so powerful our people are helpless against him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to The Hills,\u201d said Lorato.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are!?\u201d Lesedi could see the fear in the old man\u2019s eyes. \u201cIs that wise?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have business to do there, I have no option,\u201d Lorato said, not explaining any further. There were many legends about the stone but nobody really knew whether it actually existed or not. He did not want them to know that it did exist and that at the moment it was in The Hills. That would just cause unnecessary panic. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wish you well. Maybe you can try and find out what Bosula plans to do,\u201d said the old man, getting up. \u201cThe wall is half built and we can see the flow of the river getting less. If this continues we will have to move, to where I do not know.\u201d The old man took his leave and walked slowly away, his head down and shoulders stooped.<\/p>\n
Lesedi sat there stunned by what he had heard. He couldn\u2019t imagine a world without water. It was all around him all the time\u2014how could it just go away?<\/p>\n
\u201cMake it easier for me to get to my island,\u201d chirped Kgatwe, apparently unperturbed by all this. He was sunning himself on a log next to Lesedi. \u201cQuite frankly after last night I\u2019ve had enough water.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt won\u2019t be an island if there is no water,\u201d snapped Lesedi. He felt annoyed that Kgatwe took this thing so lightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly joking,\u201d said Kgatwe, jumping back into Lesedi\u2019s pocket. \u201cLet\u2019s get going then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lorato was busy packing up the cart. He whistled and James and Mary ran to take up their positions. He harnessed them and they took off down the dusty road. Lorato tried to keep to the back roads so that they weren\u2019t seen by too many people. They were going really fast, really fast that is for a very fast motor car let alone a donkey cart. Lesedi held on tightly, the wind in his face, enjoying every minute of it. He had never been in a motor car and this was the fastest he had ever been. Kgatwe wasn\u2019t that impressed and stayed hunkered down in Lesedi\u2019s pocket. When people did see the cart they stopped and stared in awe. Then they saw it was Lorato\u2019s cart and remembered what he had told them about the amazing new food he had found that gave his donkeys all this extra energy. They made a note to talk to him about it the next time they saw him. A few speedier donkeys around there would make a big difference.<\/p>\n