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Muraya seemed determined to share with his landlord.
    Lara focused on Jeremiah again, and he was still staring. If the man wasn’t calculating her pizza intake, what was he gawking at? All evening, she had noticed his eyes following her. If she was making a bed, he was putting clothing in dresser drawers…and watching her. If she was helping Tabitha put food in the refrigerator, he was setting cans in the pantry…and watching her. Did she look that bad in her jeans and ratty sweatshirt? Was it the hair or what?
    “In 1963,” Peter said, “Kenya finally received independence from British rule. We call this Uhuru Day. Uhuru means ‘freedom’ in Kiswahili. It is like the Fourth of July for you. A very happy time of celebration each year.”
    Lara nodded, trying to be polite and attentive about information she already knew. She had been in and out of Kenya several times while working for the hunger relief agency. She had also studied the country’s history when she accepted the position as director of the international student program. Jeremiah downed the last of his soda and leaned back in the chair. He couldn’t have been listening to much of what Peter had said. Throughout the meal he had been gnawing on pizza, answering his cell phone or scrutinizing Lara.
    “Jomo Kenyatta was your first president,” Jeremiah said, focusing in on Peter. “A few years ago, you changed to a multiparty system of government, I believe.”
    “Oh, you know about our country! Tabitha, Mr. Maddox is very knowledgeable.” Peter beamed at his wife. She had put Tobias to bed a few moments before and had just rejoined them.
    “This is most unusual,” she said. “Few Americans understand the history of Africa.”
    “I minored in political science,” Jeremiah told the couple. “I was interested in going to Africa at one time. The history and geography fascinated me, but the thing that intrigued me the most was the architecture.”
    “Architecture?” Peter’s brow furrowed deeply. “Do you speak of the Egyptian Pyramids? Or the old mosques in Mali? Africa has many things of which to boast—a long history, interesting cultures, beautiful art. But I cannot say we have much architecture that is noteworthy. Most of our early structures were built of primitive materials and have long ago vanished due to erosion, warfare or the encroachment of colonization.”
    Jeremiah shook his head. “No, I’m talking about round huts. Domes. You were building the most efficient structures in the world long before the modern world figured it out. A square or a rectangle isn’t nearly as strong, as weather resistant or even as useful as a circle. Depending on what it’s made from, a cube can easily crack, leak, burst or even collapse. The dome or cylinder shape withstands environmental pressures much longer.”
    “You must go to Kenya, sir,” Tabitha said, her dark eyes flashing sideways at him. “The Masai tribe builds domes of sticks, mud and cow dung.”
    “This story will amuse you,” Peter told the group. “When I was a boy, a man came to our village to assist us. He built a square tank for water containment. A cube. The sides cracked, and the rainwater ran out straight away, and we all laughed greatly at him. Next, he built a round water tank, and that catchment is still full to this very day.”
    “There you go,” Jeremiah said.
    At that pronouncement, Lara decided the landlord and his tenants were getting along fine. It was time for her to head out. She had a full Saturday planned, and she had been hoping for an early bedtime. But as she opened her mouth to bid her farewells, the cottage doorbell rang.
    At the shrill sound, the puppy began to bark frantically and the baby started wailing in the bedroom. Daniel lunged for the door, nearly tripping on Benjamin, who had headed in the same direction. Justice jumped to his feet and knocked his soda onto the floor. Tabitha let out a cry of dismay and leaped toward the kitchen to grab a