The Sleeping Baobab Tree by Paula Leyden Page A

But none of us was going to point that out to her. We were all relieved, I think, to be able to escape into the tent, where we could talk without her listening in. We needed to decide what to do.
    When we got into the tent, before either Madillo or I could say anything Fred blurted out, “She’s evil. She planned all along that we’d stay here. My own great-grandmother, lying to me.” He sat down on one of the rolled-up sleeping bags. “And those disappearances, Aunt Kiki and the others, I bet she’s behind them. She’s so … mean sometimes. And rude.”
    “It’s not her,” I said.
    The others looked at me. Neither of them were in the mood right then to hear someone defending Nokokulu.
    “I’m not saying she’s not evil or anything,” I explained, “just that she’s no longer the prime suspect in the abductions.”
    There I was, talking about the disappearances as abductions, like Madillo.
    “So who is, if it’s not her?” asked Fred, looking a little relieved. I think in a funny way he does love Nokokulu. It’s just that sometimes she makes herself unlovable. Like today.
    “The primary suspects have just been reinstated,” I said, getting a little carried away with myself. “I just know.”
    “You just know?” Madillo said. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “I’m not going to go into the details now,” I said. “But trust me. We will have a peaceful day and night here. Knowing Nokokulu, she’s probably brought really good food with her. If her temper improves, she might even share it with us. And when we get home tomorrow I will prove to you that somebody else is to blame for the disappearances, which means we’ll be able to find Aunt Kiki and the others.”
    I was quite wrong about the peaceful night part.

BULL - BOO
Life’s Sorrows
    Madillo and Fred both looked at me as if I’d lost my mind, which was understandable really as I wasn’t exactly giving them much to go on. Just that I had a strong hunch that was growing by the minute. The hunch was based on evidence; I just didn’t want to talk to them about it till I really knew.
    “Your phone had a bar of signal over by the car,” said Madillo. “Maybe we ought to phone home and tell them the truth, then they’ll come and fetch us.”
    This wasn’t like Madillo. She likes adventure better than anyone I know. Certainly more than I do. Nowhere spooks her. But something here was spooking her badly.
    Before I could respond we suddenly heard a strange sound from the other tent. Fred looked at me and Madillo, who shrugged. I crept out of our tent towards the noise. The others followed. First we heard the snores. Then they stopped abruptly and Nokokulu started talking. Very fast.
    “She’s in a trance,” whispered Madillo. “She’s casting a spell.”
    “Or maybe she’s just talking in her sleep,” I said.
    Nokokulu’s voice grew softer. She was speaking in Bemba.
    “When you took my flower away from me I should have come after you. Now you are taking the next one. This time I am here. If it’s me you want, I am here. If you will spare my Kiki, you can have me without a fight. My powers are passing to my boy. You will not be able to touch him. He is beyond your reach. He is here to witness. He has come to take Kiki home.”
    We were all quiet. Fred had tears in his eyes. I looked down at my shoes. Suddenly Nokokulu had gone back to being a very sad old lady. Who knew how many sorrows a person could pick up in a hundred years. My mum was much younger than Nokokulu and she already had sorrows. Why had I never thought of it like that before? The reason Fred’s great-granny was bent down and crotchety was because of the load of life’s sorrows she was carrying.
    Of course that still didn’t make her a very nice old lady. All of us knew enough about Nokokulu not to expect her to come out of the tent transformed into someone gentle and kind. But she was definitely not our serial killer.
    “We must stay the night now,” said