Chapter 20
“So where on earth have you been?” Jabu asked.
After a three hour lecture on African Philosophy in a chilly lecture room, most of the students had made their way to the lawns to catch a little bit of sunshine before their next class.They trudged down the passage and out of the History Department buildings. The sunshine washed over Luyanda like a warm wave, and he smiled inspite of himself.
“Hello?” Jabu said.
“Eh, sorry, Jabz. What were you saying?”
“I asked where on earth have you been the past couple of weeks.”
“What do you mean?” Luyanda answered. “I’ve been around.”
“We haven’t seen much of you between classes,” Nomsa said.
“You guys make it sound as though we’ve got tons of free time. I’ve been around. Where have you guys been?”
“Trying to turn the tables on us,” Nomsa said.
“Or trying to be all secretive,” Jabu added.
“I’m not being secretive. I’ve just been working with Keita on some stuff.”
“What sort of stuff?” Jabu asked.
Luyanda opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly went blank. He didn’t want to lie to his friends, but he couldn’t tell them the truth either.
“He’s been helping me with some assignments. Remember that group project that we had to submit?”
“We finished that weeks ago,” Nomsa said.
“Yeah, but there was some other stuff that he asked me to help him out with, because he saw that I was pretty interested.”
“You’re doing extra work because you’re interested?” Jabu asked.
“Yes.”
“Whoa, dude, you’ve changed. There’s no way on earth I’d spend time with a lecturer doing extra work just out of interest’s sake. The guy would have to be paying me or something.”
“Then that means you’d never make it in post-grad,” Nomsa said. “And besides, you’ve also been spending a fair bit of time with Uru, haven’t you?”
“But that’s different,” Jabu replied haltingly. “That’s museum related.”
“Oh, that’s news,” Luyanda replied. “What have you and Uru been up to.”
“It’s none of your business,” Jabu shot back. “If you can’t tell us about Keita, why must I tell you about Uru?”
“Because it’s different with Uru.”
“Oh, yeah? How.”
Luyanda frowned. He couldn’t possibly tell Jabu that he thought Uru was a dangerous man who was to be avoided at all costs. He cleared his throat nervously.
“I just think that he’s a bit strange, that’s all.”
“I agree,” Nomsa added.
“And Keita isn’t?” Jabu asked.
“All our lecturers are strange,” Luyanda answered. “But Uru is strange in his own weird way.”
“Sounds to me like you’re just jealous because you’re not the only one getting special attention from a lecturer.”
“Dude, are you being serious?”
“Jealousy is an ugly thing my friend.”
Luyanda was about to reply, but held back. Jabu continued.
“But since you asked, Uru needed my help running some experiments on the indigenous plants he’s been collecting. He says its for our next exhibition.”
“This is the first I hear of it,” Nomsa said.
“Seems Uru has a pet,” Luyanda retorted. Jabu scowled.
“It’s not my fault if Uru wants my advice. Besides, all of us will start tagging the plants from next week.”
“What’s so special about them?” Nomsa asked.
“They’re medicinal,” Jabu answered. “Quite interesting, actually.”
They found a nice, sunny spot on the lawns and sat down. Luyanda’s pad chimed.
“What is it, Vero?”
“Dr. Uru would like to see you in his office right now.”
“Speak of the devil. Can’t it wait? I’m busy.”
“He says it’s urgent.”
“Just go,” Nomsa said. Luyanda stood up reluctantly and glanced at Jabu. Jabu shot him a dirty look, closed his eyes, and basked in the sun. Luyanda shrugged.
“I’ll catch up with you in class,” he said, and trudged off towards Uru’s office.
A few minutes later he knocked on the door to Uru’s office.
“Yes, come in,” Uru’s voice drifted from inside.
Luyanda stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. Uru stood beside his bookshelf, holding a heavy volume in his hands. He levelled Luyanda with a cold, hard stare that contrasted sharply with a mechanical grin on his lips.
“Take a seat,” he said.
Luyanda shuddered in spite of himself, and lowered himself into the seat that Uru’s thin, bony finger pointed at.
“I won’t be long,” Uru said, snapping the book shut. “I know that you’ve got class in a few minutes. Tell me, do you remember a certain stool that you asked me about a few weeks ago?”
Luyanda’s throat tightened. He coughed and nodded wordlessly.
“What happened to it?”
“You asked me to return it, sir.”
“And you did?”
Luyanda nodded again.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I put in the ship out zone. Is there a problem?”
“I can’t seem to trace it at all.”
Luyanda’s stomach churned. “Did you contact the sender?” he asked.
“That’s the problem. There seems to not have been a sender. You don’t remember who sent it, do you?”
“Now that you mention it,” Luyanda said, creasing his brow, “ I don’t. Jabu and I just unpacked it, and then we left it there because it didn’t pass the test. We didn’t even check the sender’s address. As soon as you asked us to return it, we returned it.”
Uru’s eyes lit up. “So Jabu was there?”
Luyanda immediately regretted offering him that piece of information. “Yes,” Luyanda nodded. “We unboxed it together. Well, not exactly together. We had split the work. He did some of the crates and I did others.”
“Interesting,” Uru mused. “I wasn’t aware of that.”
“Can I leave now?” Luyanda asked. Uru didn’t answer. He just peered at him. Luyanda felt his skin tingling. He wished he could just stand up and leave, but his feet were glued to the floor. After what felt like an eternity, Uru answered.
“Yes you may.”
The warmth returned to Luyanda’s legs, and he shot to his feet. He hurried out of the office, and slammed the door shut behind him. As he made his way to his next class, only one thought ran through his mind. He had to find Keita, and let him know that Uru was hunting for the stool.