Papa is the one who enjoys sitting and talking to her, in the evenings when he relaxes on the stoep [veranda] after a long day’s work on the farm. When she was a little girl, he would speak to her in English and read to her from his few precious books. As she grew older, he had taught her to read in English, patiently helping her sound out the words until she could do it on her own.

Papa had told her that she was just like his grandmother, Anne, who had died when he was sixteen years old. He had a small suitcase containing a few of her things: her large leather-bound King James Bible, an old copy of a book called Aesop’s Fables, wrapped in plain brown paper, a few letters written in spidery handwriting on yellowed paper and some of her clothes. Estelle knew these few memories of his deceased grandmother were precious to him.

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