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Oak glanced into the back.  Why didn't he say that himself? He speaks excellent English.
 Kakombe is an Alaunoni. As such he is expected to be perfect in all things. He will speak English when
he feels confident with the words, but he is too proud to make a mistake. This comes from when he was
a child and had a speech defect. The other children used to make fun of him.
Merry studied the powerful bulk scrunched up on the other half of the seat.  I bet they only did it once.
We're glad to have you with us, Kakombe.
 Be careful of what you say and how you say it, Merry Sharrow, Olkeloki said.
She sounded suddenly concerned.  Did I say something wrong?
 No, but you must also be careful not to say things too right. The old man spoke firmly to the giant and
Kakombe responded irritably.
 Remember, Olkeloki explained,  that Kakombe is an Alaunoni. When a woman smiles favorably on
him and speaks words of praise, it would be natural for him to think she might have more than casual
conversation on her mind. Kakombe knows your language but not your ways, and you are not yet
familiar enough with his.
 Oh, I didn't mean to give him the wrong impression. How so I correct myself?
 Stop smiling at him like that, for one thing.
 It's the only way I know how to smile.
 Um. Olkeloki assumed the look of a confused parent.
 Are you telling us that after fighting for his life against a few thousand nightmares the hulk here can still
have sex on his mind? Oak inquired.
 Josh! Merry's jaw dropped.
 Grow up, Merry. Some guys are turned on by fighting. Plenty of women, too.
She looked as though she wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words.
 It is the business of a senior warrior, Olkeloki intoned,  to think only of three things, fighting, cattle,
and women.
Oak nodded understandingly.  I've got friends back in the Bureau who'd go along with two out of
three. He squinted into the night.  Hey, isn't that the road?
 Yes. Olkeloki did not squint.  Turn to the right here. Soon we will be back at the kraal. There we will
find food and rest waiting for us. In the morning we will rise early and start south.
Oak looked thoughtful.  Who do you have to see at this Manyara place?
 Lake Manyara. There is one there who has lived long and knows much. His perception differs from
ours and he is more sensitive to the places between the real world and the other. Between the worlds lies
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a hollow space, like the cavity between the two panes of an insulated window. I cannot see into it, but
the Patriarch can.
 Sounds like an interesting person, Merry opined.
 Most interesting. I have talked many times with him and have always emerged from such conversations
wiser than when they began. No one knows how old the Patriarch is, but as you will see, his age is
written on his skin and his teeth.
 Lost them all, has he? Merry sounded sympathetic.  My maternal grandfather went through that.
 No, he still has his teeth. The sign of age is not that they are gone, but that they are crossed. Now let
me rest. This has been a strenuous evening and I am tired. Merry sensed he would answer no more
questions that night.
18
Lake Manyara 24 June
The vast sheet of open water shimmered in the morning sun, a quicksilver valley between two
escarpments. As they drew near, Oak and Merry were able to gauge its true extent. And according to
Olkeloki, Manyara was one of the Rift Valley'ssmaller lakes.
During the morning they'd stopped twice, once for a cold drink and again to top off the Land Rover's
water bags. Both times they overheard tourists discussing the previous night's brief but violent eruption of
Ol Doinyo Lengai.
Ever attuned to irony, Oak conjured up an image of the busloads of tourists standing on the laibon hill
snapping away with their little automatic cameras as ilmoran did battle with shetani and complaining about
the poor lighting. Many would be incapable of seeing a battle for survival as anything more than another
attraction staged for their benefit. That's all Africa was to most Americans and Europeans: a gigantic
exotic tourist attraction, Disneyland with real animals instead of audio-animatronics. No doubt such
people found the little towns Oak and his companions had driven through all morning  quaint. Back
home they would be called slums. Location was everything!
As the single-lane road crowded down the escarpment they entered a real forest, the first they'd
encountered since leaving Virginia. Birds sang from secret places in the canopy. The forest clung to the
well-watered slope of the escarpment. Beyond lay open plains and the lake. Wildebeest and hartebeest
roamed the shoreline in uncountable number, the herds spotted here and there with clumps of zebra and
gazelle. Looking like water-worn brown boulders, hippos lined the far shore of the main stream that fed
the lake. Their stentorian oinks reverberated across the banks, a lexicon of unsullied grouchiness.
After his surprisingly sound night's sleep on the floor of a laibon's hut, Oak was full of confidence and
high spirits. The shetani had been thrown back into whatever black pit they'd emerged from and he,
Merry, Olkeloki, and Kakombe were on their way south to fix things so such an intrusion could never
happen again.
Merry wiped sweat from her forehead and cheeks.  It's hotter here.
 It will be hotter still in the south, Olkeloki warned her.  And it is not hot enough to use the air
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conditioning. We must conserve petrol.
She studied the crank set in the center of the roof.  Why don't we open the top, then?
 That would not be a good idea here.
 Why not?
 Yeah, why not? Oak added.  I could use a little fresh air myself. These windows don't let much of a
breeze in.
 Because the forest of Manyara, the old man explained as they bounced down the narrow dirt track.  is
the only place in Africa where lions are known to live in trees. If one were to roll lazily off a branch
beneath which we happened to be passing, it would become too crowded in here and the lion, being the
guest, would immediately set about rearranging the seating to suit his own preferences.
That was the last time either Merry or Oak suggested opening the roof. Oak, who had been driving with
his left elbow stuck out the window, discreetly tucked it against his side.
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