One of our earliest bookings was a lady from Harare. When she arrived, she recognised me, saying she had gone to a school I had taught at, although I hadn't actually taught her. She looked around the cottage, oohing and ahhing at everything. She even asked if she could take photos and advertise for us on social media. Despite her apparent joy at everything - 'Oh, what a wonderful bathroom! Ah, the kitchen is fantastic and, oh look, the bed is just so inviting. The floor ...' - there appeared to be an underlying 'but' and I was right - but did we not have a television? When I said we didn't, she appeared to brush it off, but then said she was going to go into town to get money out of the cash machine and would be back later. Needless to say, she did not come back.
A few weeks later, a man from Gwanda arrived to stay for a couple of days as he was writing UNISA exams. It was night time and there was a woman with him who he said wasn't staying. I showed him into the cottage and she came in, carrying one of his bags. However, she had a scarf wrapped round her face so that only her eyes and hair could be seen. She didn't seem to want to make eye contact with me and I found her furtive behaviour quite strange.
There was something nagging me about her. I felt I had met her before as her voice sounded familiar. It suddenly came to me that she was the woman who had booked a few weeks earlier and not stayed. She obviously didn't want me to recognise her so she had covered her face to come into the cottage. The absence of a television suited the man who probably didn't want any distractions whilst he was studying.
It is quite funny to watch the actions of people like this who think they have fooled you. I just go along with it as I think life would be quite dull otherwise.
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