‘So how have the children been doing in school?’ he asked.

Teacher shifted in his seat to adjust the extra weight that pride had suddenly attached to him.

‘Oh, very, very well,’ he replied. ‘All of them made very high scores in Arithmetic.’

Engineer smiled.

‘Go on… bring your exercise books. Show him,’ Teacher said.

The children trooped out like a battalion of soldier ants, the eldest leading the way. They returned in the same order, each holding an orange exercise book. Engineer perused each book page by page and smiled like an apostle whose new converts were reciting the creed. Finally, he got to the last child, who was about four years old. As soon as he held out his exercise book, his mother leaned over and landed a stout knock on the little boy’s head.

‘How many times have I told you to stop giving your elders things with your left hand?’ she glared. ‘Next time, I’m going to use a knife to cut it off.’

Engineer jumped in.

‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘it’s not really the boy’s fault if he uses his left hand sometimes.’

‘Children are born foolish,’ Teacher replied sorrowfully. ‘If one doesn’t teach them properly from an early age, they grow up and continue that way. He’ll soon learn.’

‘No, no, no… What I’m saying is that the way his brain is arranged, he uses his left hand to do things that other people normally do with their right hands.’

Teacher laughed.

‘I’m very serious,’ Engineer said. ‘It’s the white people who found that out.’

‘Engineer, it doesn’t matter what the white people have found out. The white people may not mind what hand they use to eat and do other things, but in our culture, it’s disrespectful for a child to give something to his elders with his left hand. You know that.’

‘I know. But what I’m saying is that, no matter what culture says, it’s not the fault of any child who does this.’

‘Engineer, I think you’re taking things too far. You need to be careful that the ways of the white man don’t make you mad. The way it is, people are already saying that you’re no longer an African man.’